“What are you doing?”
“I’m watching you eat that.”
“Bossy.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to find another job if you die.”
I frown at her, trying my best not to laugh. I don’t like being babied. Still, her soup smells heavenly until I scoop it into my mouth. My stomach rolls over, and I do not like that. I try to eat it, but once I swallow it, bile rises in my throat. I set the soup down and run to the bathroom.
As soon as I’m done throwing up, I sit back, and she sets a washcloth on my forehead. “You look like hell.”
“I thought we already established that fact.”
“I hate to be a little indelicate.”
“Since when?”
She ignores that question and goes on.
“But, did you use protection when you and you know who had sex?”
“Yes.”
Then I remember that one time, right before dawn, when we didn’t. He promised he was clean, and I am on the pill, and…I start counting.
“Oh, no.”
“You’re late?”
I nod. Two weeks. How did I not notice? Because I’ve been depressed. When I started getting tired, I just thought it was depression. It happened when my grandma died, and I finally heard about my parents dying. It was a couple of months, but I still slept a lot afterward.
“Let me slip down and get you a pregnancy test. No reason to freak out over nothing, right?”
“If you go in town, everyone will think it is you.”
“First of all, I don’t care, but I buy mine online. I have some in my apartment. I’ll pick it up and be back before the lunch rush, okay?”
I nod.
She looks me in the eye. “No matter what happens, you have me by your side, boss. Don’t you worry.”
Tears fill my eyes. Abby is one of my few good friends until I met Francie when I hired her. She has been in my corner from the very beginning.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t worry.” She helps me up off the floor. “Get some comfy clothes on and get snuggled up in your bed. I’ll be right back.”
It takes me forever to change because I am so damned tired. I’m sweaty and feel like I got hit over the head with an anvil. I don’t think I have ever been this exhausted in my life.
Once I slip into bed, I fall asleep almost immediately. I don’t know how long I’m out, but it’s dark in my bedroom when I wake up. I sit up, and for some reason, I’m still tired.
It takes all my energy to swing my legs to the side and stand up. The light in the living room is on, so I walk there to find Francie sitting on my couch scrolling on her phone.
“What time is it?”
She jumps at the sound of my voice, and that makes me laugh. It’s been a few days since I have had a good laugh.
“It’s just past six. You were sleeping when I got back, so I took care of closing and then came back up here.”
Her thoughtfulness has a lump lodged in my throat, and the tears catch me by surprise.
“Oh, hey,” she says, getting up from the couch and pulling me into a big hug. She pats my back and rocks me back and forth. “No need for tears.”
After a few moments of that—I mean, Francie gives the best hugs—she pulls back. “Now, are you ready to pee on the stick?”
I don’t want to do it, but I need to. I nod. She pulls the test out of her purse and hands it to me. “Just pee on it, and we will know in a few minutes.”
Taking the test, I force myself to walk to the bathroom. I decide that no matter what, that this changes nothing. That life comes at you like this, and sometimes, things happen that you didn’t plan. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good for you.
Once I’m finished, I set the test on the edge of the sink and open the door. I scream because Francie is standing right there.
“Sorry,” she says, but she doesn’t sound sorry.
Again, I’m chuckling. “No problem.”
“Have you thought about what you’ll do?”
I lean against the vanity and cross my arms beneath my breasts. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say until I know.”
She nods. “You going to tell the rockstar?”
“Of course.”
She doesn’t look at me, and I know something is up.
“What?”
“I don’t want to be the person who tells you.”
I roll my eyes. “I won’t blame you.”
“Yeah, but since I’m the one who helped you realize you might be pregnant, telling you this would be like a double whammy.”
My heart shivers with pain because I have a feeling I know what’s coming. I knew from the beginning there was probably not going to be a repeat. I was fooling myself, thinking that he really wanted to slow down. Singers always say they are on their last tour, and a couple years later, they are back to the grind.
“It’s that Babette or whatever her name is, right?”
“Brigette, but yes. Stuff on Insta.”
Even though I expected for a few days, I can’t say it doesn’t hurt. “Stuff? Should I look?”
The sigh she releases tells me the answer to that. When he was here, Niall was all about me, and we do talk a lot. He sends me lots of texts, and we talk about every day. But that doesn’t mean anything. Not by rockstar standards. He is known for not really having a regular girlfriend. When we talked two nights ago, he said he was done with that, but maybe he was mistaken. Once he was out on the road, he realized he didn’t want me anymore.
That thought alone brings tears to my eyes. I blink them back. Crying right now would be useless. I’ll do it later after I have a look for myself. Francie wouldn’t lie to me, but she could have mistaken what was said.
My phone alarm goes off, and I turn to look at the test.
I take a second to center myself, then I raise the stick.
Well, damn, things are definitely not going the way I thought they would.
NINE
NIALL
I try calling Blossom for about the fiftieth time since last night, but it goes straight to voicemail.
I growl as I stride across the hotel lobby, ignoring a few of the fans that are hanging out there. I usually stop and talk to them, but the frustration of the last twelve hours is starting to get to me.
Our bus is waiting for me. I can see the brothers are already there, so I’m sure I will get shit for that.
We don’t have another concert for two whole weeks. The plan is to spend it in the French countryside just relaxing. All the wives are here for it, and I regret not talking Blossom into coming over. She said she had two weddings she was dealing with and couldn’t come.
I step onto the bus, and I feel as if the air has shifted to something very dangerous. I look at the women at the back of the bus. If their eyes were lasers, I am pretty sure I would be dead.
What the actual fuck?
I look at the brothers. All of them look pissed off with me too.
“What?”
“You didn’t have the nerve to tell us about Brigette?” Knox asks.
I frown. “What?”
Knox holds up his phone, which shows an old pic of the two of us. I had a very brief affair with the model. She talked of putting me on a diet, and I ran far, far away from her.