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He looked down as his phone started to ring.
“Aurora’s a pain in the ass,” Aunt Meg said, glancing at the screen.
“I’ll call her back later,” Carter said, sliding an arm around Aunt Meg’s shoulders. “I’ve got a date tonight. Aurora’s going to have to wait.” He stuffed his phone back in his pocket just as we pulled up to the hotel.
36
Zeke
Presley and I had been up late, talking and making love and enjoying our first night as a married couple. Despite the chaos surrounding the press finding out so quickly, it had been a good day. Today we were going ring shopping and while we had temporary wedding bands, I planned to buy her a fantastic wedding band/engagement ring set that matched. I liked the simple titanium band we’d chosen for me, but she needed something unique and extraordinary because she was unique and extraordinary.
I’d only slept about five hours, but for some reason I was wide awake at nine on the dot. Like I had a day job waiting for me somewhere. I glanced down at where Presley was sprawled on her stomach, long dark hair fanning around her, her bare back enticing me to touch the creamy skin I’d been lucky enough to caress for most of the night. My wife was beautiful. Sweet. Perfect.
My only fear was that the insanity of Onyx Knight would touch her, or somehow change her. For whatever reason, I didn’t relish the idea of meshing my two worlds or exposing her to the rock and roll lifestyle. I loved it, craved it even, but keeping her and our son out of it would have been my preference.
Except that wasn’t reality.
I couldn’t just keep her locked away at home while I toured the world and played music. She had to be there with me at least part of the time, whether I wanted her to be or not. We’d go back to flying from city to city on the next tour, which would make things easier, and for now, Jeremy was easily transportable. We’d have to revisit the conversation in a few years, but I was slowly formulating a plan.
We already had a tour in the works beginning in September to go along with the September release of our next album, but it was possible to move the album release up a little if we needed to. It wouldn’t change anything to do with the tour, but it would get a buzz going. It was almost June now, which meant the next phase of the band’s success was right around the corner.
Obviously, I’d never been married during a release before, so everything would be different this time, but I didn’t mind that. I just wanted Presley to be prepared. I hated the way she’d found out about Aurora and me, and there were a lot of women I’d slept with out there for her to potentially run into. Some of them had standing backstage access in different cities, and it was hard to remember all of them. I could and would tell my crew that all backstage passes I’d previously approved needed to be revoked, but a lot of the ladies had other connections. Hell, some of them even worked in the industry.
It would be a hard road to navigate, so Presley and I were going to have to talk about those things.
There were so many damn things we had to talk about.
If I was honest, we still didn’t know each other that well. I felt like we knew the important things, the big things, but the minutiae of my life would come crashing down on us hard. And I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. Allowing my sweet young wife to be hurt wasn’t in the plans.
I’d just rolled over, planning to wake her up with an orgasm, when my phone buzzed. I had every intention of ignoring it but then her phone started to ring, and she hadn’t turned off her ringer since we’d left L.A., in case my parents needed to reach us about the baby.
Presley immediately rolled over, her maternal instincts overruling her fatigue and she groaned as she looked at the screen.
“It’s Meg,” she mumbled, putting the phone back down.
“We can call them back,” I said, reaching for her.
“That sounds like a lovely idea.” She melted into my arms.
Then her phone started to ring again.
“You think she’s okay?” she asked, hesitantly reaching for her phone.
I sighed. “Answer it. Hopefully, she and Carter aren’t in jail.”
She snickered. “I hope not—good morning.” She stiffened as she put the phone to her ear. “Wait, Meg, stop crying, I can’t understand you.” Her eyes flew to mine as she pulled away and sat up. “What are you talking about… oh my god. Zeke, get dressed.” She was already on her feet, practically vaulting across the room to where her suitcase was open.
“What’s going on?” I asked, springing into action and reaching for my boxers.
“Aunt Meg, we’re coming. Breathe. Two minutes.” She disconnected and turned to me, her eyes wide and filled with tears.
“Honey, what is it? Is it the baby?” I asked, my heart squeezing painfully.
“No.” She swallowed. Hard. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks.
“Presley, you’re scaring me. What is it?”
“It’s… Carter.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “He’s dead.”
