Rockstar 04 Interlude(32)

"Nah. She was pissed about my socks but not sad," Xander answers.         

     



 

"Pick up your shit, dude. How fucking hard is it?" Jesse asks.

"About as hard as you not saying 'fuck'," Xander teases.

Jesse opens his mouth but stops himself and just flips Xander off.

"There you go, bro. Teach the kids to swear in sign language as well as English," Ben scoffs.

"Suck it," Jesse tells him and I laugh.

"Better. Not great, but better," I tell him, rewarding him with a kiss for his attempt to not use the F bomb.

"I might as well just put a roll of quarters in the swear jar the minute I wake up."

I turn to hug Jesse. "Aww, babe. You're doing much better."

He shakes his head. "Don't bullshit me, Cupcake. It's only been two days and the jar's almost full."

I look at the jar-the very large jar. He's right.

I pat his cheek. "What matters is you're trying."

"I'm gonna suck as a dad."

My breath catches. "What?"

He nods. "It's true. They're gonna learn all the wrong words, learn  about my past and think it's okay to treat women the way I did, and what  if we have girls? They're going to think I'm an asshole or, fu--, hell,  they might even think it's okay to be treated that way."

"Jesse Kingston! I don't ever want to hear you talk like this again," I  scold him. "You are going to be an incredible father. You're going to  teach them all the right things because you learned them the hard way.  You're going to love them and protect them and let them know they are  cherished. Your children would never think you're an asshole-well, maybe  when you're not letting them go on dates or taking their cell phone for  getting in trouble or something."

One side of his mouth kicks up in a smirk.

"They're gonna be hellions," Xander laughs.

"And then some," Ben agrees.

I look at Kennedy, waiting for his remark, and panic starts to set in at the thought of troublemaking triplets. He just grins.

Ethan walks in. "They're gonna raise holy hell and we're going to be there to make sure they don't raise too much."

Ethan puts a hand on my back. "Breathe little mama. We got this."

I let out a breath of relief and nod. "We totally do."

"How is it Ethan doesn't get yelled at for leaving his shit laying around?" Xander asks, tapping his drumsticks on the table.

"That'd be because he doesn't leave any of his shit laying around," I tell him with a pointed look. "He even rinses his dishes."

"Kiss ass," Kennedy murmurs.

"He's not a kiss ass," Ben states. "It's his OCD. He can't stand his shit being out of place."

"True that," Xander agrees. "Remember the time I put his guitar on the wrong stand?"

"Dude," Kennedy says with a shake of his head.

Ethan's eye twitches and his hands clench and unclench in fists. "We agreed to never talk about that again."

Xander's eyes widen. "Shit. Sorry man."

Ethan nods and walks over to where his guitars are lined up along the  wall. He picks one and sits down next to Kennedy. They start strumming,  making up a melody, harmonizing, playing off one another, and I sit down  to watch. Xan taps his sticks in time. Sera, Cage, Meggie, and Trace  join us, taking a seat.

I close my eyes and let the beat flow through me. It's bluesy and just a little sad.

What do you do when the one you want doesn't want you back

What do you do when your plans derail and everything's off track

Do you give up? Do you cry? Do you live? Do you try?

Jesse touches my shoulder when I pause, his grin infectious.

She broke my heart, smashed it into dust

It was love to me, to her it was all about lust

I wanted to give up. I wanted to cry. I didn't want to live or fuckin' try

Sera sits forward.

He won my heart, his love was true

He wanted marriage but no can do

I choose to live my way, to love my way, he gave up, he didn't stay.

Ben leans in.

She told me she loves me, I love her too

I asked her to be mine forever, she said always with you

We chose to live, we chose to try. We'll never give up til the day we die.

Xander nods his head.

When you know it's right, it's meant to be

Near or far, no matter where you are

You love. You live. You try. You give.

A new voice is heard by the door.

When it's love.

When it's love.

When it's love.

It's forever.

That's why it's love.

Silence descends. I know who she is but I had no clue her voice was as beautiful as she is.

"You must be Nicole," I say, standing up and walking toward her.

"Sorry," she murmurs. "I didn't mean to interrupt." She looks around at everyone staring at her.

"No, no," I reassure her. "That was really amazing. I didn't know you could sing like that."         

     



 

She shrugs and shakes my hand when I offer. "Oh, to hell with this." I  lean in and give her a hug. She stands stiffly for a moment before  awkwardly patting my back in return.

"It's so nice to finally have you here."

She cocks her head. "Why am I here? I mean, not that I'm not grateful  for you getting me out of that hellhole they call a 'system'. But what  could you possibly want with me?"

Her attitude shouldn't be a surprise nor should her skepticism, but it  catches me off guard. A hand goes to my chest and I take a deep breath.  She's only seventeen and so very jaded.

"For the Blush Baby campaign, of course," I tell her.

"Right," she says, cracking her gum and hiking her bag higher up on her arm. "I'm here but the guy isn't, right?"

I nod. "That's right."

"Why?"

"I just wanted … " I'm not sure how to go on. I look around.

Cage steps forward. "Cage Nichols," he says by way of introduction then  holds his hand out to her. Her breath catches and she shakes his hand.  Yeah, he has that effect.

"We just wanted to take you along to do more promotion. We were going to  take Jake, but his parents weren't on board with him not attending  school even if we do have tutors in place," Cage tells her.

Xander snorts. "I think it was more along the lines of her not wanting us big bad rockstars corrupting her baby boy."

Nicole raises a brow.

"We really are a very unconventional group," I explain.

She looks around the room slowly. Jace walks in and sits down. Her gaze  pauses on Ben, who is staring intently at her, and she cocks out a hip  and rolls her eyes. "I can see that," she responds.

"So, Nicole. We have five buses. One is strictly road crew, two are  lounge buses but also have some sleeping quarters, and the other two are  standard tour buses with more room for sleeping than anything else,"  Cage explains.

She nods.

I lick my lips. Boy, she's a tough one but, really, who can blame her?  "You choose where you sleep and stay. If you're comfortable here with  all of us, that's great. If not, then you can find whichever suits you."

"M'kay." She snaps her gum again.

"Come on in and meet everyone," I invite.

She steps forward and stands next to me.

"We'll just go around. That's Kennedy, guitarist for Falling Down, and Ethan, bass guitarist for FD."

The guys tip their heads in a nod and she salutes with one finger.

"Next are Meggie and Trace, guitarist and drummer for Blush, respectively."

"Welcome," Meggie bounces and Trace just nods.

"Thanks," Nicole replies.

"You already met Cage who is the big boss man, owner of Nichols Records.  And next to him is Sera, his wife and lead guitarist for Blush."

Sera waves and Nicole waves back.

"Now we've got Jace, bassist for Blush; Ben lead guitarist for FD; and Jesse, my husband and singer for FD."

Jace leans forward and shakes her hand. "Welcome."

Nicole nods and frowns in Ben's direction-Ben, who keeps staring at her.  What the hell is his problem? She's nervous enough. She doesn't need  him looking at her as if he doesn't approve. I give Jesse a silent stare  and my eyes bounce to Ben and back. Jesse looks over, sees Ben staring,  and elbows him in the side.

"What the fuck?" Ben growls.

Xander hoots. "That's a quarter in the jar, sucker!"

"Whatever." Ben digs into his pocket and pulls out a quarter and tosses it into the half-full jar.

"That," I say pointing, "is Xander, drummer for FD."

"Who is playing my guitar," Ben seethes.

Xander flips Ben off.

"What's up," Xander says by way of greeting and Nicole snorts. Xander's eyes narrow.

Misty comes walking in from outside and pauses. "Oh."

"Misty, this is Nicole. The Blush Baby."

"It's so nice to have you here," Misty greets.

"Nice to meetcha," Nicole replies, then she cracks that damn gum.

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" Misty offers her as I lead Nicole to sit down.

"Sure. A Coke would be great, thanks."

"I'll get that for you," Misty says with a smile.

"So," Xander says.

"So?" Nicole asks.

"How was your drive in?" he asks, strumming absent-mindedly.