by Rye Hart
“Come on. Pick the fuck up,” I said with a murmur.
“Hello?”
“Sam. Hey. It’s Levi.”
“I know. Is everything okay?” she asked.
“I was wondering—well, we were all wondering—if you could swing by the hotel today? You know, to hang out. Get you out of your parent’s place for a bit.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said.
“Sam please, it’s clear that you’re struggling with something and we just want to help you. Why won’t you let us help you?”
She fell silent, and I worried that still wouldn’t convince her to come over.
“Can you give me an hour? I haven’t showered yet,” she said.
“Take your time. We’ll be right here,” I said.
I hung up the phone and told the guys she was coming over. They were all shocked I had convinced her to come, but then we all scrambled to get ready. The hotel suite we booked looked like it had blown up overnight. In our mutual worry for Sam had caused us to drink and eat and commiserate long into the night. Clothes, bottles, and empty pizza boxes were strewn about the place and it looked like a frat party gone wrong. We cleaned it up and made ourselves presentable before Sam could come over.
Finally, there was a knock on the door, and Liam strode over to open it. Sam smiled that weak little smile she’d been donning since we’d been there, and Liam showed her in. Her eyes connected with mine, and I felt my fucking heart melt.
She was going to be pissed when I cornered her.
“Hey guys,” Sam said.
Her eyes darted around the room at us, like prey in the midst of a feeding frenzy.
“If it’s uncomfortable for you to be here, we can take you out,” Luke said.
“Yeah. Some lunch or something,” Logan said.
“Anywhere you want. I know you like that hot dog place down the road from here,” Liam said.
I watched Sam intently as her face turned a shade of green before she darted into one of our rooms.
I guess cornering her wasn’t going to be too much of an issue.
I heard the fan cut on before the door slammed shut. Water was running, and I sighed as I waited out what was happening. Fuck. My suspicions from our dinner were correct.
She was sick. But not with some horrible, uncurable illness. “Is she sick?” Liam asked.
“Is she throwing up?” Luke asked.
“Someone should be in there with her if she’s sick like that,” Logan said.
“Give her some time,” I said. “There’s a reason I asked her to come over.”
“What do you know that we don’t?” Liam asked.
“I don’t like being left in the dark,” Logan said.
“What gives?” Luke asked.
“You guys aren’t idiots. Fucking think about it,” I said. “Not drinking. Always tired. Throwing up.”
I watched my brother’s faces dawn with realization as Sam came out of the room.
“I’m sorry guys,” she said with a tight grin.
“Are you pregnant?” I asked.
“What are you talking about?” Sam asked.
“Are you pregnant?” I asked again.
“No. Of course I’m not pregnant,” she said.
“Then why didn’t you have a drink with us last night?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t feel like drinking.”
“You didn’t eat anything either,” Liam said.
“I wasn’t hungry,” she said curtly.
“What about the puking? We heard you, Sam,” Logan said.
“I wasn’t. It’s not that. I’m—”
It killed me inside to watch her struggle. But this was serious. I’d had my suspicions at dinner, but a lot of that shit could be explained away with the stress. But running off to puke at the mere mention of the food she usually loved?
It was obvious.
“Come on, Sam,” I said as I stepped toward her. “This is us you’re talking to. Not some stranger. We’ve been trying to tell you repeatedly that we don’t think anything less of you after Vegas. In fact, I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us when I tell you that we think even more of you. We all care about you Sam, and if you’re pregnant, then we want to be here for you. With you,” I said.
A heavy silence fell over the room as Sam’s eyes went to each of us in turn. She must have seen what she was looking for because she finally let out the breath she’d been holding and nodded her head as tears crested her eyes.
“Yes, okay, yes. I’m pregnant, and it happened in Vegas,” she said.
I looked around at my brothers who all stood rooted to their places, unsure of how to react. I closed my eyes and tried to compose myself as Sam quietly cried. Then, we all surrounded her and held her within our protective warmth.
My brothers and I took turns murmuring to her, telling her that everything was going to be alright. We would take care of her and the baby no matter what. No matter who the father was.
Though our words should have made her feel better, they seemed to only agitate her. She began to push against us until she worked her way out of the circle we’d formed around her and stood by the window, looking out over downtown L.A.
“Please, you’re smothering me,” she said. “I know you mean well, that you’re saying what you think I need and want to hear. But I am not some invalid who needs you to take care of me. I can take care of myself. I just have to make a new plan is all.”
I started to walk over to where she stood, but she flashed me a warning glance and held her hand up to stop me. I could see the emotions warring on her face. If there was one thing Sam hated more than anything, it was not being in control. And us trying to step in and do for her, while well-intentioned, was just that – us trying to control the situation we all found ourselves in.
“Just tell us what you need from us,” Luke asked.
“Yeah, what is it you want us to do?” Liam inquired.
She shook her head and thought for a moment before speaking. “I need you to let me stand on my own two feet and figure this out. For starters, I don’t even know which one of you is the father,” she said.
“Honestly, we don’t care about that,” Logan chimed in.
“How can you not?” she asked, an incredulous look on her face.
“Because,” I said. “We’ve told you a hundred times that we all care about you very much Sam. Every single one of us. We don’t care which of us is the biological father. That baby is an Anderson, and frankly, so are you.”
She looked at each of us and fresh tears began to fall down her cheeks. She suddenly looked exhausted, and I stepped toward her again. This time she didn’t resist when I took her into my arms. I wrapped her up in my embrace and held her close to me as my brothers stepped around her once again.
“Do you know who the father is?” I asked calmly.
She shook her head as tears streaked her cheeks.
“Sam, it’s okay,” I said. “Take a deep breath.”
“I have no idea what I was thinking in Vegas. None whatsoever.”
My eyes widened momentarily before she had a chance to look at me.
Oh shit. She was pregnant from Vegas.
“I don’t know whose it is,” Sam said, sighing.
She wiped at her tears as my hand fell from her face.
“I haven’t been with anyone since Vegas,” she said in barely a whisper.
“Sam?” Logan asked.
“Yeah?”
“Why haven’t you filed the divorce papers?” he asked.
My head snapped over to his, and I told him with my eyes to shut the fuck up.
“Because I’ve been busy dealing with a lot. Could you guys just—back up a bit? It’s getting hard to breathe.”
In an instant, all of us stepped back. Trying to give her the space she needed. She drew in a deep breath through her nose and wiped at the rest of her tears and it hurt my heart. She raked her hand through her hair, her loose bun working its way down her b
ack.
“I don’t know who the father is,” Sam said as she looked at me. “It could be any one of you. And I haven’t filed the divorce papers because the shock of this dropped into my lap before I could look at them. Everything is careening out of control. I can’t make one decision before something else kicks up dust. I’m stuck in a bit of a whirlwind right now, guys. And I need your support. I need you to stop with the questions and just give me a second.”
If there was one thing Sam fucking hated, it was not having control. And it made sense, being raised by her parents. They fucking controlled everything in her life. And when they couldn’t anymore, they cut her out. Off. Away from everything that had to do with their picture-perfect fucking life. I stepped back up to Sam, and she held her hand out, but I knocked it out of the way and wrapped my arms around her.
“Levi, I need space.”
“Just trust me,” I said.
“No, let go of me.”
“I need you to stop fighting.”
“Levi, cut it out!”
“Calm down,” I said into her ear.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said as tears welled in her eyes. “I feel so lost.”
Her legs gave out from underneath her, and she collapsed into me. Everyone else rushed to my side as I slowly lowered her ass to the floor. Liam blew on the back of her neck while Logan and Luke took her hands. I held her as close to me as I could get while she sobbed into my chest. There she was. The scared Sam that had run because she was embarrassed. And with her world crashing down around her, she could no longer be strong enough for herself.
Which was fine.
Because we could all be strong enough for her.
“You aren’t doing this alone,” Liam said. “Regardless of who the father is.”
“That child is an Anderson. And you’re an Anderson, married or not. You always have been,” Logan said.
“You aren’t alone in this, so don’t convince yourself that you are,” Luke said.
“We’re taking care of you, Sam. Okay? Whatever you need to help you get through this,” I said.
We coddled her and cradled her until her tears finally dried up. My shirt was fucking soaked and her arms were wound tightly around my body. Her sobbing quieted, and her shoulders stopped jumping, and I felt her sigh into me before she wiped her face against the fabric of my clothes.
“You’re not alone in this,” I said. “Not with us around. Not ever.”
And for the first time since Sam had run from Bakersfield, she pulled us closer instead of pushing us away.
CHAPTER 17
SAM
I was woken up by a group text message from the guys. They were all asking me if I could meet up with them for lunch and promised they wouldn’t try to make me eat, which was good, because my stomach was already rolling with nausea again. I pulled myself out of bed and made my way to the shower, hoping a nice hot stream of water would do me some good. I stood in the shower until the water ran cold before climbing out and quickly drying off.
I pulled on some decent clothes, hoping that they would make me feel better. I grabbed my things and headed for the door, letting the guys know I was headed back to the hotel restaurant. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I didn’t feel like going anywhere else. All I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed and sleep off the nauseous feeling in my stomach, but I needed to talk with the guys.
Now that they knew about the baby, communication between all of us would be imperative. Whether I wanted it to be or not.
I made my way down the stairs and drew in a deep breath. Meeting the guys for lunch solidified their role in all this. Made things much more complicated than I’d ever planned for them to be. Divorce or no divorce, they were all in this for the long haul.
“Sam.”
I closed my eyes and sighed at my father’s voice.
“Can you come into the kitchen, please?”
Suddenly, I wanted to run from the house and sprint all the way to the hotel restaurant.
I turned away from the front door and walked into the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the table, her lips pursed, and her hands folded neatly into her lap. Uh-oh. This wasn’t good. I choked down the bile rising up the back of my throat as my heart slammed against my chest. Then, my father ushered me to sit.
“You know when you’re with us you live by our rules, correct?” my mother asked.
“I know there are certain expectations I need to abide by, yes,” I said.
“Would you like to tell us anything then?” she asked.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’ve found?” I asked. “I’m late for lunch, and I need to get out of here.”
“Are you going to meet those Anderson boys?” my father asked.
I furrowed my brow as my mother sighed.
“We’ve seen the security footage of the house, Sam. We know the boys have been hanging around here lately. We assume with you,” my father said.
“You know how we feel about those boys,” my mother said. “You know they aren’t allowed here.”
“First of all, they’re grown men. Like I’m a grown woman,” I said. “Second of all, I’m not sure why you guys have always treated them so poorly. They grew up next door to us. Their parents were just as rich as you two are.”
“It doesn’t matter why we don’t want them around here,” my father said. “The point is, that’s the rule. It was the rule when you were growing up, and it’s the rule now.”
“You guys are being serious,” I said. “This is insane. I’ve known those guys for years. They’re incredible people. Good men. What in the world do you have against them?”
“Don’t throw that attitude around with us,” my father said.
“It’s not an attitude! All I did was ask you a question. Can I not do that now either?” I asked.
“When you came wandering up onto our doorstep three weeks ago, we took you in without a second thought,” my father said.
“I’m your daughter! You should take me in, and not make me feel like crap about it,” I said. “That’s what parents do, among other things.”
“The circumstances and the rules of this house haven’t changed. Our expectations of you haven’t changed,” my mother said.
“Then maybe it was too much to expect my parents to take me in during an emotional time in my life,” I said.
“Just because you need time to breathe in whatever it is you do with your life doesn’t mean you get to run around with a bunch of boys we don’t approve of,” my mother said.
“They aren’t dogs,” I said. “They’re good men, Mom. The best of men.”
“I saw the way they used to look at you,” my father said. “I’m a man. I know what they wanted. Why did you think we always wanted Lauren coming over here instead of you going over there? Money doesn’t make a man decent, Sam. Just because their family is rich doesn’t mean they have a moral code when it comes to impressionable young women.”
I glared at my father and bit down onto my tongue. It wasn’t worth the energy to fight with him. It never had been, and it wouldn’t be now. A silence fell over the kitchen table, and I drew in a deep breath to try and settle myself. It had been a mistake coming home. I knew that from the start, and yet I had continued to punish myself by staying.
“You will follow the rules of this house, or you’ll go back to your own home. It’s as simple as that,” my father said. “Those men are not allowed on this property or in this house so long as you’re here. We don’t like you hanging around them, and it won’t happen. Not under this roof. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” I said. I climbed the steps to the room I’d been staying in. The room that should have always been mine to come back to, but now looked less inviting than the Holiday Inn. I grabbed the few things I’d brought with me and stuffed them into my suitcase. I was done with this shit. I was leaving, and I wouldn’t be coming back. Not again.
Not ever.
I rushed down
the stairs, not even bothering to look at my parents who were standing in the doorway of the kitchen. I rolled my suitcase out the door and slammed it behind me as I left.
I climbed into my car feeling both defeated and relieved. I drove over to the hotel to meet the guys and parked in the lot of the hotel. I briefly closed my eyes and rested my head against my steering wheel. Once I felt calm and composed, I walked into the restaurant where all of the guys were waiting for me.
One look at my face had them all rushing over to me in an instant.
“What’s wrong?” Liam asked. “What happened?”
“Are you not feeling well? Should we get you to a doctor?” Luke asked.
“I’m fine. It’s my fucking parents,” I said breathlessly.
“Do they know?” Levi asked.
“They know you guys have been over and they sat me down like a fucking teenager and lectured me about the rules of the house. They told me I could follow them, or I could leave. So I left. It just feels so shitty. Why can’t they be more like your parents were?” she asked.
“So, you’re ready to come home now?” Liam asked.
“We really wish you would. We can help out with whatever you need,” Logan said. “When you ask, if you ask,” he quickly added.
Levi handed me a glass of water and I drank down the cold liquid. I relaxed back into the seat and dried my tears, and I watched the rest of them relax along with me. The guys were right. I really needed to go back to Bakersfield. My life was there. My home was there. The father of my child was there. Whichever one of these beautiful men that happened to be.
I looked at each of them in turn and rested my hand on my stomach.
“At least this baby will never have to worry about being raised the way I was. There is no way in hell I’m going to treat him or her the way my parents treated, and continue to treat me,” I said. “We all know that, Sam,” Liam said. “You’re going to be a great mother.”
“And you’ll have us,” Luke said. “Always.”
“Are you hungry?” Liam asked.
“Still pretty nauseous,” I said.
“Ok, we’ll just stick with the water and maybe some Ginger Ale then,” Levi offered.
We sat and talked for a little while and thankfully, the conversation was much lighter than it had been in the previous weeks. I wasn’t sure I could handle any more of the drama that had been hanging over my head as of late. It was exhausting, and the pregnancy had me exhausted enough as it was.
