Something about the act made her uncomfortable. Dax, the man who rarely spoke to her, was the one who came.
And now he knew about the NDA.
Jo hadn’t touched it since Dax left a few days before, but it was time. Time to close the book on Blake Coleman and open a new one where alien baby was the star. With a deep breath, she slid the document into a brown envelope that already had stamps on it.
She got to her aching feet and hesitated at the door before remembering she couldn’t leave in case someone saw her. Scrolling through her phone, she found the number for the front desk.
A security guard answered. “Hello?”
“Um, hi. It’s Jo Jackson in apartment three-fifteen. I was wondering if you could send someone up to fetch a piece of mail.”
If she were a normal person, she might have to explain herself further, but she wasn’t normal. She was Jo Jackson.
“I’ll have someone up in a few minutes, Ms. Jackson. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No, that’s all. Thanks.”
It wasn’t long before there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find a female security guard. The woman had the decency not to gawk at Jo’s pregnant state. The people who worked in the building knew their jobs depended on secrecy. “Ms. Jackson.” She smiled. “I’m told you have some mail you need help with.”
Jo nodded and handed the envelope over. “I…” She looked down at herself. “Well, I can’t very well go down to the mailboxes.”
“Of course.” She smiled again. How did people do that so easily? “We’re here to help. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No.” Jo didn’t want anyone else in her apartment, her life. She was a private person before, but now… it felt wrong. Famous people weren’t allowed their privacy. She’d known that since the day she and Noah signed the recording contract. “I’m okay.”
“Well, I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Arya. I work the night shift. Ask for me next time you call, and I’ll be more than happy to help you.” She gave one final smile and turned to walk down the hall.
“Thank you!” Jo called after her before shutting the door. There, it was done. Soon, that document would be in Blake’s hands—hands she’d let touch her. A shiver ran down her spine. The group didn’t understand. She’d seen it in their eyes. They tried not to judge, kept themselves from asking about her and Blake, but let’s face it, even she judged herself a little for it.
And it did the opposite.
She hadn’t told anyone why she did it or what had led her to that desperate place, but maybe that didn’t matter. It still happened, and now she had her alien.
It took her months to stop hating the pregnancy, but she’d gotten to the point of thinking of herself as a mom, and it wasn’t an awful feeling. Even when the doubts crept in, they weren’t strong enough to overcome the love she felt for a kid she had yet to meet.
Dax’s album was still playing from her Spotify list, his soft voice calming her nerves. She walked into her bedroom and climbed onto the bed, settling against the back pillow that wrapped around her. If any of her fans could see the hard core drummer now, they’d laugh at her fuzzy pajama pants and oversized sweatshirt that wasn’t so oversized anymore.
Nothing would ever be the same in her life, but instead of scaring her, that thought was comforting.
“I’m not doing this alone, baby.” She had her kid.
Jo’s eyes shot open as pain wound through her stomach, threatening to crack her right open. She grit her teeth and tried to sit up, but she didn’t have the strength.
“No, no, no, no.” Another pain speared her. “I can’t…” The words were lost in a howl of pain. “This cannot be happening.” The pain abated as she breathed deeply. The pain wasn’t any worse than cramps, but she was pregnant. It was not cramps, which left one thing.
“Breathe in. Breathe out.” She recited the mantra from the birthing book. “Why didn’t I do birthing classes?” She could have kicked herself for that. Patting under her butt, she found no wetness. “Okay, water hasn’t broken. I have time.” At least, she hoped she did. She was supposed to have two more months of waddling around her apartment, looking for snacks. What happened if she had the baby this early?
That question scared her more than any pain she could feel.
She had to get up. Reaching for her phone on the nightstand, she powered it on to light up the dark room and called the front desk.
“Hello?”
“Hi, hello. I need you to send Arya to apartment three-fifteen. Now, please.” She hung up. The security guard would probably regret telling Jo to send for her, but right now she was all Jo had. Jo’s stomach cramped as she managed to sit.
A knock sounded on the door before she could get out of bed.
“Come in,” Jo yelled.
A moment later, Arya with her blond hair and kind eyes, walked into the bedroom and stopped. “Ms. Jackson.”
“Arya, I need to get to the hospital, but I can’t be seen going. If you can help me downstairs, I can call a cab.”
And the cab driver might recognize her. She glanced around her room, her eyes falling to the closet where she knew her old Halloween costumes sat in a box.
“What can I do?” Arya asked.
Jo pointed to the closet. “Look there for a box of costumes.” Noah had made her dress up for every Halloween she could remember whether she wanted to or not. And he’d made their costumes match.
Arya pulled the box out.
“Good, you found it. There’s a Batwoman mask. Hand it over.” She stretched out a hand.
Arya found it and gave it to Jo with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m not about to change from my pajamas. Can you please hand me a hair tie from the dresser?” Once she did, Jo swept her hair back, pulling it into a bun that hid her pink tips. Last, she settled the Batwoman mask on her face. “How do I look?”
Arya stifled a laugh. “Very good, Ms. Jackson.”
“You now know what a nerd I am, so call me Jo.” Pain throbbed in her stomach. “Okay, time to go.”
Arya pursed her lips. “You aren’t seriously thinking about taking a cab to give birth.”
Jo shrugged as she lifted her legs over the side of the bed. “I need a little help.” The panic that came with the first waves of pain ebbed away as she went into control mode, action mode.
Arya took her arm and helped Jo to her feet. “Let’s go.”
Jo directed Arya to grab her go bag by the front door, and they stepped out into the hall. Jo locked the door, trying to remain calm.
Down in the lobby, the other night guards stared as she walked by in her mask.
“I’ll take you.”
Arya’s words took Jo by surprise. It wasn’t often she met people who’d help no strings attached. “You’re working. The plan has always been to take a cab.” She lifted a finger to scratch under the mask.
“Consider this part of my job. Come on.”
Jo didn’t argue further as Arya led her across the parking lot to her car.
On the drive, she called her doctor, who promised to meet her at the hospital.
Because it was time. The day she’d waited for was finally here. Months early. “Baby alien is going to be okay,” she whispered to herself.
Arya looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “Boy or girl?”
Jo was thankful for the small talk that eased her fear. “I don’t know. For so long, I’ve tried not to think of the baby coming. I didn’t want to know the gender. Now, I’m not prepared. I don’t even have a crib set up.” She’d assumed Noah would be here to help her with that.
But he wasn’t.
She was going to have her baby, and her best friend wasn’t here.
Tears filled her eyes, but she wiped them away before they could fall. Stupid hormones.
“Do you have names picked out?” Arya tried her hardest to keep the conversation going.
“No!” Jo gave her a panicke
d look. “I thought I had more time. Oh my gosh, my baby is going to come into this world nameless. I’ve already failed it.”
One corner of Arya’s mouth ticked up. “You haven’t failed anything, and you won’t. Ms. Jackson… Jo, you will make mistakes. Many of them. There will be days you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. But the only way you can truly fail this kid is if you don’t love it. Once the love is there, everything else will fall into place. No matter what struggles you and your child face, just be there.”
What if she didn’t know how to love? She’d never had parents teach her what a family should be like, no examples set for her.
Arya reached over and took her hand. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that. You barely know me or the screw up I am.”
“That’s true. I don’t know you, but I know the look in your eye. You’re a mom now, and that changes a person.”
They pulled up to the emergency room, and Jo opened her door as another cramp came. “You can leave. My doctor will be here. I’m…” She sighed. “I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Go.” She used all her strength to pull herself from the car, bag swinging off one shoulder. With a final glance back, she walked through the sliding doors.
At this time of night, the ER was a quiet place save for a few people wandering about. They stared at the pregnant Batwoman for too long. Jo reached up to adjust her mask. She wouldn’t remove it until she was in a private room.
Approaching the front desk, she leaned against it. “I think I’m having my baby.”
“Ma’am,” the older woman behind the counter started. “You must remove your mask for the safety of our patients.”
Safety? She wasn’t going to rob the place. “I can’t.” She glanced toward the waiting room where a few people sat. Any of them could sell a picture of a pregnant Jo Jackson to the paparazzi. She leaned down, reading the name tag pinned to his navy blue scrubs. “Mr. Thompson, please. This baby is coming. I can’t let people see me. Get me up to OB and into a private room to wait for my doctor. Then, I’ll remove the mask. Call up to OB if you want. Ask them if they’re waiting on a Josephine Taylor.” That was the name she’d agreed to give to the hospital. It wasn’t a lie. Taylor was her middle name.
As the nurse picked up his phone, a wave of dizziness washed over Jo, and she stumbled back, using all her strength just to remain upright. Her legs weakened beneath her, and she didn’t know what was happening until the nurse started yelling.
“I need a wheelchair.” He ran around the desk to catch Jo before she fell.
Someone else came running, pushing a wheelchair in front of them. She couldn’t stop them when they removed her mask. She was helpless as they lowered her into the wheelchair.
And when the iPhone camera flashed, she was too far gone to care.
6
Dax
Dax ignored his phone the first time it rang. And the second. He didn’t need any distractions while he sat in his home studio. Normally, he wouldn’t have brought his phone in here, but he’d kept it on him in case a certain drummer decided she needed his help after all.
This time, it wasn’t Jo. Noah’s face flashed across the screen. Dax could talk to him later. Right now, he had a song to work on. Piper sent over some lyrics almost the minute she heard Dax was doing a collaboration with the band Fate. Normally, Ben wrote the music to go with the lyrics, but Dax wouldn’t cede control even for his friend.
Piper was good, more than good. Her words spoke to something deep inside him. He hummed a line before singing the lyrics.
She is everything I wanted
Everything I cannot have
All I ever dreamed of
And more than I could ever see.
He pursed his lips as he tapped a pen on the page. A piano. This song needed a piano. He stood and crossed the studio to his keyboard. Propping the lyrics up, he rested his hands on the keys. She is everything I wanted. The tips of his fingers barely pressed down on keys before moving to the next. These words deserved a slow, melodic tune. Though, he’d eventually have to punch it up to fit Fate’s brand.
He shifted his eyes to the chorus.
We own the hearts
We own the places
That draw us together
Before we fall away
We own the world
We own the lips
That guide us
Before we lose our way
It needed more than a keyboard. With the notes he’d played still in his mind, he reached for his guitar and tried out a few chords before settling on a combination.
We own the hearts.
Yeah, that was good.
There was no place Dax felt more at home than the studio he’d built in his house.
He cursed as he saw his phone light up with Noah’s name again. The guy just wouldn’t give up. Dax set the guitar aside and answered. “Four calls? This better be important.”
“It is, Dax.” Noah’s voice held none of his usual joking tone.
Dax sat in a rolling chair behind the mixing board. “What’s wrong? Is it Stella? Is she okay?” If anything happened to that little girl, Dax would be crushed.
“It’s not Stella, everyone here is good. But…” Noah’s voice shook with worry, and it scared Dax
“But what? Tell me what’s going on.”
“Jo.” He sucked in a breath. “She’s in the hospital.”
Dax jumped to his feet and paced the length of the room. “Please tell me she’s okay.”
“I haven’t talked to her, so I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you haven’t talked to her?” Dax tried to keep his worry from turning into anger.
Noah sighed. “I’m her emergency contact, so they called me, but they wouldn’t tell me more than she’s at UCLA. I can’t get to L.A. until tomorrow. The flights are booked, but I’m coming. I don’t like her being there all alone, Dax. If anything happens to Jo…”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence because Dax knew how he felt. Jo was special to all of them. “I’ll go.”
“Really?”
Dax marched from the studio and crossed the house. “Yes. I don’t want her to be alone either.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re not the only one who cares about her, you know.”
“I do know that, Dax.” He sounded tired. “I’ll see you soon. Take care of our girl.”
Our girl.
He pushed out a breath. “I will.” He hung up and yanked on his shoes before grabbing his keys and practically sprinting out to his car.
It took too long to get to the hospital in L.A. traffic. He stopped in front of valet and jumped out, throwing his keys to the guy behind a podium and taking the ticket he was offered. He didn’t notice them at first, the reporters. But the closer he got to the sliding entrance doors, the louder they became.
Dax hadn’t thought to bring his hat or hide himself in any way. It wasn’t like they’d recognize him, but they still made him uncomfortable. Ducking his head to avoid making eye contact, he neared the door.
Their chatter reached his ears.
“Jo Jackson is pregnant.”
“Who is the father?”
“She fainted right in the ER.”
That last bit scared him. The doors slid open as he approached. Stepping into the main lobby, he searched for someone who could help him. A young woman sat behind a tall desk typing away on her computer. She looked up when she saw him.
“Hello, how can I help you today?”
“I’m looking for someone.” His words came out in a rush. “Can you tell me where Jo Jackson’s room is.”
She pursed her lips. “Are you family?”
“Well, no. Not exactly.”
“Then, I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”
He pushed a hand through his hair. “I’m a friend, and she needs me. Please help me out.” He wasn’t above begging.
; The woman didn’t look like she believed him. “There is no Jo Jackson here.”
“But you just asked if I was family. Of course she’s here.” His face heated.
“Like I said, there is no Jo Jackson on the premises. You can tell your friends outside that they can keep sending people in, but the answer will always be the same.”
It was hopeless. While Jo rested in a hospital bed alone, he was stuck out in this crowded lobby. He’d never been more thankful not to be recognized, but also wished he had. Maybe they’d let him through if he said he was Dax Nelson.
No, that was ridiculous. He still wouldn’t be able to see Jo, and the paparazzi would never leave him alone.
He dropped into a chair and removed his glasses to clean them on his shirt. Images of a sickly Jo filled his mind. What if something happened to her? What about the baby? He needed answers.
He looked at the swinging doors that led the way into the main hospital. OB was on the third floor. He knew that because he had an in. If she was working.
His thumb tapped a name on his phone, and he brought it to his ear.
“Sweetie?” his mom answered. “I’m sorry, I can’t chat right now. I was just called in to help a patient.”
“Is she here, Mom?” His mom would have at least heard if Jo Jackson was on her floor. “Jo, is she still there?”
His mom was quiet for a moment. “I can’t tell you how she’s doing, son, but yes, she’s here.”
“I need to see her.” He didn’t understand it, this draw to Jo. It had been there since the day they met in the very first Rockstars Anonymous meeting. When she’d heard he was Dax Nelson, curiosity lit in her eyes but not surprise. He knew he didn’t look like people expected the chart topper to look. He closed his eyes. “Please, Mom.”
“You, boy, are in trouble.” She let out a soft laugh. “I’ll call the desk and say you’re allowed to come up.”
“Thank you.”
“Just be careful, son.”
“I will. See you in a few.”
His mom didn’t approve of his infatuation with a girl who was pregnant with another man’s baby, but she’d never tell him that. His mom and stepdad were big on people making their own decisions.
Love is a Drum Beat (Rockstars Anonymous) Page 4
