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“Blues?”
“Complicated guitar riffs in all three genres. The main difference between rock and country is the drums.”
“And the twangy singing.”
She laughed. “Fact.”
“Gabe and Shade will be glad they kept the band out of country music territory.”
“Adam’s guitar work is all blues inspired. He’s hardened the sound considerably, but if you listen to blues at all, you’ll hear it in his playing.”
“I haven’t listened to much blues.”
“Me neither,” she said. “I read that in an interview of Adam’s.”
He laughed again. “You had me going there. I thought you were some sort of music expert.”
“A Sole Regret expert, yes. Music expert, absolutely not.”
“So the situation that got you pregnant? That was a Sole Regret expert kind of thing, wasn’t it?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Probably not, but tell me anyway.”
She was quiet for a long moment, not wanting him to think she was trash. Enough people thought of her that way already, but she supposed if he couldn’t handle the truth, he had never liked her much anyway.
“My friend and I were at a benefit concert the band performed in my hometown on Christmas Eve. When we were leaving the venue, we spotted the tour bus pulling out and decided to follow it. It was snowing like crazy, so the bus had to pull over in the mountain pass outside of town. I stopped to meet the band and one thing led to another and another and another . . . We were just having fun.”
And if she could do it all over again, she wouldn’t change a thing. Not even getting pregnant.
Chad was silent for a long moment, and she was glad she couldn’t read minds. He must be thinking horrible things about her.
“Did you sleep with all of them?” he asked.
Her hand stopped moving against his skin, and her stomach dropped. She didn’t want him to be like all the other people who knew what had happened on that tour bus. By the time she’d left home for good, everyone in town had known, and so had a lot of people on Facebook that she didn’t know. Lindsey didn’t want Chad to think she was some whore who’d fuck around with any man. She’d been starstruck that night, and the encounters had been fun, frivolous, and wild. She’d never done anything like that in her life, but her one night of wanton behavior had come with more responsibility than she’d bargained for. And she hadn’t thought anyone besides the guys and her partner-in-orgy, Vanessa, would know about their crazy adventure. Lindsey hadn’t told a soul about that night, but Vanessa had gotten drunk at a party and thought bragging about their wild night with the band was a good idea. When Lindsey had found out she was pregnant, it didn’t take long for the news to spread to her family, her boss, and her coworkers. That was when her life had gone to shit.
“Yes,” she said flatly. “I slept with all of them.”
His arm tightened around her waist. “Don’t stop.”
She crinkled her forehead. “Don’t stop, what?”
“Touching me. It’s . . .” He released a shaky breath. “Nice.”
“I’m surprised you want me to touch you at all now that you know I slept with six men in one night.”
“Six? Sole Regret has five—”
“Tex too,” she blurted.
“Tex . . . The bus driver?”
“Yeah.” She steeled herself for his disdain, but he just laughed softly.
“Lucky bastard.”
The baby chose that moment to kick him in the head.
Chad’s hand slid from her back to her belly, where a tiny foot was repeatedly trying to kick itself free. He spoke to the suddenly active little one growing inside her. “Easy there, tiger. I’ll behave myself. I have nothing but respect for your beautiful mama.”
Lindsey snorted. Respect? Yeah, right. No one who knew she’d gone “total groupie” on Sole Regret respected her. Thought she was a slut and an easy lay because of it? Oh yeah, she’d run into that with a number of men in her hometown.
“What are you snorting about?” Chad said.
“You don’t respect me.” How could he?
“Of course I do, angel.”
“You can’t possibly. Not after I—”
He shifted so that they were eye to eye. It was too dark to read his expression clearly, but she could feel a change in his intensity.
“So you had a good time one night with some guys in a band. So what?” His hand slid over her belly. “You were given this precious gift as a result.”
“Precious gift?” No one referred to her baby as a gift. The little guy had been called a burden, a mistake, a complication, a huge responsibility, and even a bastard, but never a gift.
“All babies are a gift,” he said. “Josie and I had always planned to have three . . . Never mind.” He settled back onto her lap again. “Hum some more to us.”
She did her best but, considering that she suddenly couldn’t breathe due to the emotions choking her, the Sole Regret ballad she attempted became unrecognizable. He’d had dreams for his future that would never be because of a chance occurrence, and so had she. They were both teetering on the edge of an uncertain future. But now was nice. Now didn’t feel overwhelming. Now felt safe.
Her terrible humming didn’t matter, apparently, because the baby settled down immediately and a moment later Chad went limp, his breathing slow and regular. As she continued to hum and stroke Chad’s forehead rhythmically, his words played through her head.
. . . nothing but respect . . .
. . . beautiful . . .
. . . this precious gift . . .
Did he truly feel that way about her? About the baby? Chad didn’t seem like the kind of guy who lied easily. Josie was a fool for tossing him aside.
Maybe Lindsey had been focusing on the wrong brother. Maybe the rock star wasn’t the Mitchell she should fangirl over.
*~*~*
Something hit Lindsey in the stomach, and for once the blow came from the outside instead of the inside. Still resting his head in her lap, Chad was thrashing about in his sleep, apparently caught up in a vivid nightmare.
She grabbed his shoulder and shook it. “Chad, wake up. You’re dreaming.”
“Jawa?” A sob ripped lose from his throat. “Jawa?” He wrapped his arms around his chest, and then twisted his body violently, almost hitting Lindsey in the face.
“Chad?”
He went still. She took a relived breath, glad that was over, but then his entire body went rigid. “Emerson!” He reached down toward his amputated leg and pressed the foot of the opposite leg against the sofa arm. “Emerson, hold on!” He grunted as if trying to lift an enormous weight. “I can’t . . . My leg is stuck. Just hold on.”
“Chad!” Lindsey shook him even harder. “Wake up!”
He gasped, his body jerking as he regained consciousness. “Where am I?”
The house was dark and completely silent now except for a clock clicking on the mantel and Chad’s harsh breathing.
“You’re at Owen’s house. On the sofa.”
“Angel?”
“Yeah, it’s Lindsey. It’s okay. You’re safe here.”
He curled into her belly, his arm tightening around her. “Thanks for waking me,” he said. “Before he . . . before . . .”
He went quiet, his arm so tight around her that she wanted to pull away, but she didn’t. She held him and stroked his arm where her hand was resting until his biceps finally relaxed.
“You can talk to me about it if it will help,” she said.
His face rubbed against her abdomen as he shook his head. “I don’t want anyone to have to imagine the things I’ve seen, especially not you.”
“I can handle it.” Maybe.
“Apparently, I can’t.”
