“Yeah,” I croaked out and then had to clear my throat. “Those are my parents, but I didn’t invite them here.” In fact, I hadn’t talked to either one of them since my mom called demanding money.
“I’ll let you handle them and tell Pen for you,” Ryder said, looking from the door to me.
Cracking open the door, I took in my parents for a moment. It had only been a little over a year since I last saw them. They looked older and angrier than I’d ever seen them before. I opened the door and asked. “What are you doing here?”
My father’s dark eyes blazed with anger. “We gave you plenty of time to come see us, so we followed you.”
“You followed me? This is a private residence, and you don’t belong here.”
My mom, whose hair used to be pure black, was now salt and pepper, looked down at the sidewalk she stood on. It was my dad who spoke, shocking me. “Listen, punk. We’ll leave once you give us the money.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
pen
Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any worse, I heard Walker shout from outside Lexie and Ryder’s house.
Ryder came outside. His usually happy face was anything but putting me on alert. “Hey, Pen, I think Walker’s parents are here.”
“What?” Cross jumped up from the table and looked at me. “Did you give them any money?”
“No, not a dime,” I said as I rushed into the house.
“You need to leave,” Walker growled as he attempted to keep his parents from coming inside.
“Why? Don’t you want your fancy friends to know you owe us money?” An older man snapped. He was as tall as Walker and just as handsome, except his face was twisted in anger, and that anger was directed straight at his son.
Walker stepped back with his hands deep in his pockets. “Can you please explain to me how I owe you money?”
“We paid for your college. Two and a half years, and you threw it away for what?” His dad shrugged.
I moved in behind Walker, placing my hand on his back. His stiff posture relaxed more and more with each second I touched him. I only wished I could do more for him. Walker never talked about his parents. I think it hurt too much after they dismissed him for choosing to follow his dream.
“Well, I hate to inform you, but we’re no longer with the label and lost a band member recently. I’m without a job, and Pen and me,” Walker motioned for me to step forward from where I stood behind him. “This is my beautiful wife, Pen, we just bought a house, so I’m sorry to inform you, I have no money to give you.”
We hadn’t bought a house. The plan was to put our money into making their next album. That was, until a couple of labels called after hearing Crimson Heat was no longer with Titan Records, wanting to sign them. They were even supportive of our marriage. Now with Greer gone, we had no idea what would happen, but there was no way he was telling them that.
Once we got back from tour and after Cristiano fired me, Walker showed me the songs he’d written while we were apart. They were gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. Two things I knew that would sell. They were going to put Crimson Heat on the map as soon as they decided on the best label for them.
Walker’s mom stepped forward. She was beautiful, which was to be expected since her son was such a knockout. Except now, her face was marred with a deep scowl, matching the expression of her husband. “You’re an ungrateful little shit. Until you pay us back the money we paid for your college, I don’t want to hear from you.”
Someone behind me whispered a loud ‘harsh,’ but I wasn’t sure who it was.
As a unit, they started to turn away until Walker spoke. “Don’t you even want to meet my wife, your daughter-in-law?”
His dad turned and looked at us like he was looking through us, and my heart broke for Walker when he spoke his next words. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. How could I have a daughter-in-law when I don’t have a son?”
Wrapping my sweet husband in a hug, all I wanted was to take away his pain. Walker’s face was blank, but his charcoal eyes held all of his pain. I knew then that his parents had killed any kind of relationship they might have had.
I ran my hand up and down his back as I kept muttering how sorry I was, but I knew my words couldn’t soothe the burn they’d inflicted.
“I don’t know what happened to them,” he murmured robotically, looking at the now-closed door. “It’s like something flipped inside them when I went to college. It was like once I was out of the house, they resented me. If money was a problem, I wish they would have said something. Even now, I don’t know if they want the money because they hate me or if it’s because they need it.” Tipping his head down, all of his anguish was written in the stark features across his face.
Tears welled in my eyes as I looked up at him. “Maybe we should go and do this another day.”
His fists tangled in the t-shirt I had on and pulled me closer as his turbulent eyes scanned my face. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to let them ruin today. You, Stella, and Lexie spent a lot of time working on this, so we’re going to go out there, eat, party, and have fun.”
“I don’t think anyone would fault us for rescheduling it for another day.” Why was it that when you made plans, they always went to shit? It was one thing after another today.
“They wouldn’t, but I might have arranged for us to have a little honeymoon after this. Somewhere it can finally be just the two of us.”
“A honeymoon? I like the sound of that.” Raising up on my tiptoes, I brushed my lips over his and smiled against his mouth. “Where are we going?”
He hummed against my mouth, smiling. “I think I’ll keep it a secret until we leave tonight.”
“Tonight?” I jumped back. “Are you crazy? I have to pack, and to pack, I have to know where I’m going.”
“I might have already packed for you,” he smiled down at me with a wicked grin. “Your bag is in my car.”
“I’m going to trust you to know what I need. It’s not like I plan to be doing much other than you.” Running my hand up his naked torso, I licked my lips as I took my husband in. I wasn’t sure there would ever be a time when I got tired of looking at him or the way his body reacted when I touched him. My hand snaked around his neck to pull him closer to me. Now that I had kicked my heels off, Walker stood several inches over me just the way I liked it. There was something comforting about having a man who was big and strong. “Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to kiss me?”
“I happen to quite like the way you were looking at me,” he smirked. “Do you want me to kiss you with an audience because I will if you want?”
“I don’t care who’s watching.” And I didn’t. I wouldn’t care if he pulled me out on stage and ravaged me at this point. I wasn’t going to hide how I felt from him in public ever again.
Dipping down, Walker swiped his tongue over the seam of my lips and delved in. I opened for him, meeting his tongue with mine. My eyes closed as we connected. After having to hide, there were times like these when all I wanted to do was kiss Walker and never stop. The kiss was over far too quickly for me, especially when I opened my eyes to see Walker smirking down at me. Gone was his earlier pain.