His Distraction (Assured Distraction Book 2) (21 page)

Hayden was getting up again when they arrived back at his apartment. He’d had a show the night before returning home in the early morning hours. He rarely had the opportunity to drink at his shows since he was underage, but some of the bartenders would slip him a beer now and then. Last night he wanted a drink badly, worried over facing Ryan after keeping Krissy’s condition from his cousin. Krissy threatened to reign hell down on him if he said anything. She wanted to be the one to tell him, so he let it ride. Now he wasn’t sure it was the right decision.

“You have a show last night?” Ryan observed Hayden’s tired face.

“Yeah, and that bartender is pretty cool with letting me drink as long as I don’t make a big thing out of it and have a ride home. I guess I got in around four this morning.” Ryan just nodded at him, realizing that this was a lifestyle he was well-acquainted with and one that was hardly conducive to raising a kid.

“From the look on your faces, I guess you’ve talked to Krissy, huh?” He made his way to the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot.

“Yeah, that’s right. What I want to know is why the hell you didn’t think that was important enough to tell me about, especially when she was in the damn hospital?” Ryan didn’t yell, but Hayden knew he was angry.

“She warned me not to. She said she wanted to be the one to tell you since it is y’all’s baby.” Ryan didn’t know to say to him.

“I guess I’ll start searching for a place of my own now that you’re back. I was hoping to stay a little longer but it looks like I need to do it a lot sooner.

“A head’s up would have been fucking nice, Hayden. Shocked the shit out of me when she dropped that fucking bomb on me.” Ryan’s anger came out.

“I know. I was shocked when she told me too, but I should have known when she got up every morning sick like that. She couldn’t keep anything down for so long. I was afraid to leave her alone.”

“Kid, I’m sorry you had to deal with her shit in my absence. I suppose I should have been here for her when all that was happening. She should have told me herself rather than waiting all this time for me to come home.”

“I think she was too afraid. At first, she didn’t want to believe it herself. I kept telling her to tell you, but she wanted to wait until you got back. I think she just needed time to accept it and hoped when you saw her, you would be happy about it and take her back. But I guess from the face you’re making, you’re not too happy about it?” He poured his first cup and gestured an offer to Ryan and Peri before taking his first hot sip.

“You think? I am definitely not happy about it. I can’t help but wonder if the manipulative bitch did it on purpose. She wanted me to quit the fucking band and stay home with her, and when I told her that was not happening, I think she made up a plan. Baby or not, Krissy or not, I would never quit the band.” He and the rest of the guys worked too hard to get where they were now. It was ludicrous to think he would back away now.

Ryan walked into his bedroom Krissy had taken over in his absence, and searched around. He stuck his head out the door, “I’m going to take the rest of my stuff today over to Peri’s house. What I want to know is how you feel about staying here with Krissy?”

Hayden looked at him over the top of the cup. “I guess it will be fine.”

“No, I want the damn truth. I told you that you could live here until you were ready to move on. I doubt you are making enough to move out yet, but I don’t want to burden you with my shit, either. Believe me, I know Krissy is going to be a problem.” Ryan loaded his things into a duffel bag while he talked. He finally returned to the living room and sat down next to Peri, who had been watching the exchange.

“Honestly, she hasn’t been that much of a problem. She’s been pretty nice to me. She usually cooks dinner when she feels good enough, so I get to eat good food before I have to go to play my set. I give her money for groceries since she takes care of shopping. We get along now.”

“Yeah, I know she was a huge pain in the ass in the beginning. I guess a letter from the lawyers helped out.”

“After she figured out she was pregnant, she got in a panic over where she was going to live. I told her not to worry about it since I was the one who told you about what she was doing. Seemed like she was sick all the time after that so I didn’t have to worry about her getting in my bed.”

“That’s a good thing, then, huh? I don’t like hearing she was sick.” Ryan reached for Peri’s hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He was glad she responded to him and allowed their contact.

“Has she been sick since she got out of the hospital? She looks like hell and way too skinny.” Ryan finally asked Hayden. He’d never been around a pregnant woman, but he didn’t think they were supposed to lose weight or appear as bad as she did.

“Yeah, she wakes up and eats crackers before she gets out of bed, and that seems to help. I make sure she has them before I get into bed every night because waking up to someone yakking is not my idea of a good morning.” Hayden smiled a little at his admission.

“So, if this plan is alright with you, she can to live here until the baby’s born, and then we’ll see what’s what. You can live here until you are ready to move. I’ll pay the rent because I don’t want her living in some hell hole, and I’ll pay for groceries, too. I want her eating right for the baby and all. She has insurance now, and mine will cover the baby, too.”

He turned to Peri. “What did you say about seeing a special doctor? You were telling me things I needed to know at the studio, but my damn mind was in a bit of a haze at the time.”

“She might need to see a specialist since she’s already tried to miscarry once. You need to talk to her about that complication. Also, you have to be nicer to her. She’s already feeling bad and is hormonal. The last thing she needs is you yelling at her or saying mean things to her.” He knew Peri was probably already angry for what he had already said.

“I know and I’m sorry for doing that, but she brings out the worst in me. I’m not a dick, you know that. I’ll be nicer from now on. I still want to check into having a paternity test done before the baby’s born. I want to know for sure it’s my kid.”

“Whether it is or not, she needs to be in a calm environment. Her getting upset is not great for that little one.” Peri told him and he knew she was right.

“Okay, Dr. Oz, I’ll make sure to hold off on the bitching. Don’t want to see the pregnant woman get mad. And you,” he pointed to Hayden. “No more secrets about her health. If she’s having a problem, I want to be the first one to know.” Hayden nodded his head. “Also, if she gets to be too much, I want you to tell me. She is my damn problem, kid, and I don’t want you to feel responsible for taking care of any of the shit I’ve caused. You’re caught in the middle too much as it is.”

“Right, you’ll be the first one I call when she’s got barf between her toes and all over the damn wall. That was just great fun cleaning up. She was crying and I was cleaning. Let me tell you, it was not a good sight.” Hayden laughed at Krissy’s expense, but he knew she ended up laughing that night too when it was all over.

“That’s some fucked up shit there, Hayden. You can keep that information to yourself. I probably would have been cleaning up after myself, too.” They all laughed at that comment as Ryan and Peri made their way out the door with the last of Ryan’s bags.

On Monday, all of AD made their way back to the studio to listen to the music the producers mixed while they were gone. They needed to start rehearsing the new music they worked on while on tour, too. It was a great way to spend their down time, not that they had much of it.

Peri walked in the rehearsal room and gazed around at the group as they lounged around. “What’s going on in here? Y’all are supposed to be working, not being lazy.”

“Damn, girl, we just got home. I’m still living on Paris time.” Gunner said.

“You wouldn’t be if you’d stop your fucking crazy hours Skyping with your hot little French piece.” Carter slapped him on the back of the head.

Gunner jumped up and rounded on him. “Don’t talk like that about Layla. She’s not a piece of anything to you.”

“Whoa, dude. Sorry, I didn’t know that subject was off limits.” Carter backed away.

“She’s off limits to your brain, fuckface. Don’t think about her in any of your usual terms.” Gunner sat back down on the stool.

The rest of the group openly gawked at Gunner. He had never given a second thought about a single girl he’d met on the road, especially one as far away as France.

“That’s a long fucking distance relationship you’ve got going there, Gunner,” KeeMac told him with a laugh. “How are you going to pull that off?”

“Don’t know yet, but we’re only talking right now.”

“And spending a lot of time with your right hand?” Carter added.

“Shut the fuck up, asshat. That’s it. I’m not fucking telling you shit anymore.” Gunner went after him again.

Peri stepped in between them this time. “That’s enough Carter. What he does in his time isn’t any of your business. You do have work to do, so you all need to get started.” She eyed at each one separately and left the room.

“Guess we might as well get on with the magic.” KeeMac grabbed his guitar out of the case and did a little tuning while the rest got setup. “Chandler and I worked on the first song before we got here, so let us show your punk asses what we’ve got so far.”

They spent the next four hours fine-tuning the song that was started on the bus somewhere in Austria. They worked the music over, and it sounded close to perfect by the time they quit for the evening and everyone, including Cash who had stopped in to listen, was satisfied that it would be perfect to finish out the album.

Cash talked to them about the tour and how happy the label was with the play they were getting in Europe. He wanted to stick around when Peri spoke up to tell them the good news: their sales had skyrocketed while they were touring, which meant their royalties had, too.

“I wanted to tell you all,” Peri started, “that two of the singles that dropped while we were in Europe have now been at number one on the charts for the last ten weeks, and your last album has gone platinum. You know this means that you’ve sold over a million copies of the cd, right? The band has also garnered multi-platinum status for digital downloads which means there has been over 400,000.”

The noise level rose with all of their cheers and whistles of celebration over the news. “You’ve all worked hard and paid your dues, and the work is finally paying off. You will each be getting a check deposited to your accounts for royalties. It will be a little more than you’ve been getting while we were gone.” Another round of hurrahs erupted. “We’ll see you back here tomorrow morning at nine, please. I expect you to put in a full day.”

“Wow, listen to our little Peri being all authoritative and bossy,” Gunner said to the group.

“I kinda like the new you. Dominant women are HOT! I’d let you dominate me anytime, sweet thang,” Carter added, moving toward her suggestively.

“Back off, fucker. The only ‘new you’ for you is the one picked up on the side of the road on the way home.” Ryan said jokingly, but the group knew deep down there was no joke to it. No one ever knew what he was liable to do.

The door opened when the group was making their way to leave. Krissy stuck in her head. “Ryan, honey, can I talk to you for a minute, please?”

Ryan stared at her. So today she was going to use a different tactic on him, he guessed. “Yeah, I’ll stop by your desk on my way out.”

“That would be awesome, thanks.” She smiled and closed the door behind her.

“What’s up with that?” KeeMac asked. “Yesterday she was trying to rip your fucking head off and today she calls you ‘honey.' Mood swing much?”

No one else was aware she was pregnant yet, and Ryan did not want to be the one to let the news out. He still was not convinced he was the father of the baby, but he would play along for now. He shrugged his shoulders at KeeMac and walked out the door.

“What do you need Krissy?” He tried to keep things pleasant with her, but he found placating her difficult and keeping the acrimony out of his voice just as much of a struggle.

“I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and want you to take me. I think it would be a good idea if we went to them together, don’t you?” She was smiling when she finished.

“I suppose, but we have rehearsal tomorrow. You are going to have to make your appointments around rehearsal schedule,” then he added, “please” to the end.