Listen To Me: A Rock Star Romance (True North)

LISTEN TO ME

Carrie Elliott

Copyright © 2014 Carrie Elliot

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Disclaimer:
 The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains graphic content. It is intended only for those aged 18 and older.

To my newsletter subscribers. Thank you for supporting Cover Me. I hope you love Adrian and Karen’s story.

ONE

One year after Cover Me…

KAREN

My eyes almost popped out of my head. “No. Way,” I said, balling up the teeny, tiny pink onesie that said: PRODUCT OF AN UNHOLY UNION on
the front and tossing it at Adrian. He’d made a habit of custom designing baby clothes over the past few months through an online store. “How do you know it’s a girl anyway?”

Adrian shot me his shit-eating grin and shook out the onesie. “You doubt my infinite wisdom when it comes to females of the
tween and under variety? I’m their king.”

“
You
were
their king before you went solo and I didn’t realize your influence went as far as in-utero. What if it’s a boy?”

“It’s not a boy.” He shoved the onesie back into my hands and rubbed my giant tummy. “Four more weeks and we’ll see who’s right.”

He kissed me and it still felt new. In my past relationships—if you could call them that—the newness wore off faster than the new car smell in the sensible Lexus SUV Adrian bought me when we found out I was pregnant thirty-six weeks ago. 

Yes, it was an accident.

The baby, not the SUV.

It still tingled—his kiss, not the SUV—and made me want more than just a kiss. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones and when I pushed this giant sack of potatoes out and all the baby hormones were gone…what if I didn’t feel it anymore. What if…no tingle.

“Be back by five,” Adrian said, grabbing his new headphones and striding toward the door. “What time are we leaving tomorrow?”

My baby shower. It would take us five hours to get to Santa Cruz from L.A. “Around eight in the morning.”

He groaned. Neither of us were morning people. We planned on hiring a nurse for the baby’s first few months, or until he/she slept through the night. When it came to getting my beauty sleep, I didn’t mind taking advantage of Adrian’s wealth.

“Why couldn’t Bess have the shower here?” he asked.

It was times like these when I had to twist my fingers together to make sure I didn’t haul off and smack him. “Please tell me you’re joking,” I said.

He gave me a blank look that melted me.
Those blue eyes would be the death of me someday. “Pricilla’s birthday party!? Ring a bell?”

“Oh. Right. Shit.” He dropped his chin and rubbed a hand over his blond hair that had been styled with the boy band floppy bangs when we met. He’d chopped it since then into an adult cut and almost looked like he was old enough to have a kid of his own.

He was. I guess. Twenty-two was still really young in my book. Hell, I was twenty-six and didn’t think I was old enough to be anybody’s mom, but here we were.

“Problem?” I asked.

“No.” He looked up at me like he was in agony. “You know I hate reliving the boy band days, Kay.”

“Even for Cilla?”
Adrian’s producer, Derek Bast, had a niece turning fourteen. She was as ferocious as she was precious and had Adrian wrapped around her finger. In a time of weakness, he promised her a reunion with his old boy band,
Wrong Direction
, for her birthday party.

He couldn’t suppress his smile and sighed. “Only for Cilla.”

“You did call the other guys, right?” I asked. “You can’t be a boy band on your own.”

“I called them. The only one who wasn’t sure he could show was Trent.”

Trent Daniels,  Adrian’s brother who couldn’t commit to show up for a beer, let alone anything else.

“You know,” I said, “if we have a girl you’re screwed, right?” I pointed to my protruding belly. “If someone else’s kid can get you to give in so easy, you might as well just hand over the keys to the kingdom when she pops out.”

“I plan to.”
He winked and rushed out the door.

The day progressed as usual with the baby kicking the crap out of me. Whenever Adrian wasn’t around I became a punching bag. It was as if his voice lulled the little potato sack. I tried to eat healthy, but the cravings for Big Mac’s and banana splits were taking over my life—and my figure. I’d gained almost forty pounds that would likely never come off.

Adrian would be stuck with an overweight old woman. What if he didn’t even want to be with me anymore and he stuck around because of The Sack? He could have his pick of any woman on the planet. He was
Adrian
for God sake. The paparazzi were snapping photos of my fat ass left and right and the tabloids were plastering them all over the internet with headlines like: Quadruplets For ADRIAN!

I prided myself on being tough and well, even bitchy when it was needed. Aggressive. Assertive. I didn’t take shit from anyone. But now, I was huge. I was
pregnant
. I was freaking the fuck out!

We’d only been together a couple months when I got pregnant. Okay, not even
together
, together. We’d grab something to eat sometimes before we had sex, if that counts as a date. Now we were living together and had to be parents together!

I couldn’t breathe.

I stood up and pushed the balcony door open. Adrian’s penthouse was beachfront. It was big, but had one bedroom. Where the hell were we going to put a crib?

Four weeks. We only had four weeks and that was if the baby came on time. It could be sooner. I sure as hell hoped it wouldn’t be later. Some women loved being pregnant. I was sure I’d love the baby, but never wanted one inside me again.

Adrian was always upbeat and nonchalant about everything. “The baby can sleep with us for a while, babe. She won’t mind and you know I won’t complain about having two chicks in my bed,” he’d said.

There was positivity and there was being naïve—and there was being a bitch with raging hormones, but I wasn’t sure he was taking this whole baby thing seriously. Like, he knew there was going to be a baby, but I didn’t think he understood the pressure and stress involved in there
being a baby
that was ours!

This
wasn’t like visiting with Derek’s three nieces. Our baby wouldn’t go home with someone else. Our baby would be with us all the time. We were going to be responsible for feeding it and changing it and making sure it didn’t blow up a school when it became an insane teenager.

Oh my God, I was freaking out!

When faced with the double lined result on the pee stick, I told myself right away that I wanted the baby. I was me—overachiever, dedicated, never say die. I could do this. Now, I wasn’t so sure I could do this.

Four weeks.

I ran my fingers through my hair and tugged at the ends.

Oh my God, four weeks.

I paced the balcony a few times, breathing deeply. In with the good air, out with the bad. Of course I could still do this. People did this every day.

Oh Jesus, I never wanted to be one of those women who got the call at work to come pick up Little Terror for biting the teacher
, or calling off because my kid was puking, or having to leave early to make some dumb little league game.

I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the glass door. I was going to be one of those women now.
Sure, I worked for Adrian, but I could just see myself now, leaving a marketing meeting with a T.V. exec. due to mom duty. I might as well never plan on working again, because I couldn’t do it all. It was exhausting just thinking about it.

How was I going to face all the happy people at my baby shower tomorrow? I could barely even face Adrian and his never-ending customized baby gifts.

It was sweet. He was trying so hard, but I knew what a toll it was on his career. A hot musician that young with a baby—there was no way I could expect him to settle down. I couldn’t rely on him to be around as much as I would be.

This baby would be entirely my responsibility.

ADRIAN

             
I couldn’t wait another four weeks. I wanted my little chicklet now. Kay could say the baby wasn’t a girl all she wanted, but I knew it was.

I
made a checklist and I was just about set. I talked to my financial guy and got the chicklet’s college fund invested so she’d have more than enough for tuition, room and board, books, clothes and partying. I got my realtor looking for a new place that was big enough for the chicklet’s room and all her toys, plus a backyard for a swing set and trampoline. I got about a half-dozen baby nurses lined up to talk to me and Kay before we left the hospital when the chicklet arrived so we could pick one to hire for home. And most important, I booked a private, chartered yacht for our first family vacation through the Mediterranean. Kay was a bit insecure about the baby weight, so I figured a private yacht where she could relax and not worry about bathing suit issues would be a good time for her.

Now all we needed was a baby.

“You’re freaking giddy,” Derek said, elbowing me in the ribs. We were in the L.A. studio laying the tracks for my next album.

“
Yeah, man, you should try this dad thing. It’s an adrenaline rush like I’ve never known.” Even up on stage in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans my blood didn’t pump this fast.

Derek shook his head, laughing. “
Call Bess and I traditionalists, but we want to get down the aisle first. Nothing rattles you, does it?”

“No. I don’t rattle. Check this out.” I pushed a few buttons on the sound board, loading up a song I’d been working on for the past few weeks. When it started, the melodic notes of a piano faded into a violin duet, then m
e singing. A couple verses in, Derek’s mouth hung open in shock.

“You wrote a lullaby,” he said. “Is that you on piano and violin?”

“I’m multi-talented,” I said. “Didn’t you watch
X Marks The Star
the season my band won?”

“Never watched an episode of that show,” he said. “You played on there?”

“A couple times, but instruments have less tween girl appeal than choreographed dance moves.”

“I can see that,” he said. “You breaking out the moves on Sunday?”

“I’m too old for those moves.”

He leaned back in his chair and howled with laughter. “You’re a baby!”

“I’m
having
a baby. I’m not a baby, myself. There’s a difference. I’m practically retired.”

“Retired. Right.”

“For serious,” I said, leaning back in my chair and propping my foot up on my knee. “Kay loves to work. I figure I might as well be the stay-at-home dad and let her do her thing. I can do bottles and diapers and hang out on the beach under an umbrella digging in the sand all day.”

“What does Karen think of that plan?” he asked, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine with it. It’s not like we have to decide everything today.”

“No, not at all. I’m sure—if Karen is anything like Bess, which she is—she’s trying to turn her whole world around to accommodate this baby before it gets here.”

“Kay knows I’ve got this.” If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that Kay knew I was on board, fully invested, prepared, ready to go and make this happen. I wasn’t that guy who knocked a girl up and walked away like it was her problem and not mine.

My chicklet wasn’t a problem anyway. She was already my proudest achievement and I hadn’t even seen her little face yet.

Yeah, I had this. Kay was lucky she got knocked up by me and I was lucky she was having my baby.

Four more weeks and life would be perfect with my two best girls.