Alcohol You Later (68)

“I’ll make you mad,” he warns, quirking a brow.

I shrug. “You’ve done so for years.”

He laughs. “I swear to you,” he says, pushing the hair back from my shoulders, “that I’ll never hurt you on purpose. I’ll never cheat, and I’ll never lie.”

“And I promise that you can trust me with your hearts…yours and theirs.”

“We’ll keep them safe,” he says, tipping my nose with his. “Together.”

I smile into his lips, whispering between kisses, “Yes…we…will.”





News of our trip to the hospital with Ava hit the tabloids before six in the morning, and Anika’s already here, knocking on our bus before seven.

“Good morning,” I say as she breezes past me into the living room, her ridiculous heels clacking on the laminate wood flooring. It’s the ass crack of dawn, on a travel day, and the girl is already fully dressed in a tailored pantsuit with a full face of makeup.

“How is she this morning?” I nearly go into shock when she asks about my little girl before tearing into me. I’m not the only one the twins have managed to wrap around their little fingers. The entire band and crew are enamored with them. But winning this woman over is without a doubt their hardest won battle.

“She and Raven are napping. Was a long night.” I grip the back of my neck, working out the tension.

“So I heard.” My snooty friend glares at me out of the corner of her eye. I can always count on Anika to give it to me straight. She’s like the mother I never had…only my age. It’s a weird dynamic but one that works for us. “I take it you’ve gotten your shit together?”

“Yeah.” I scrub a hand over my chest. “We’re good.”

Her head shakes. “I swear, Nicholas, sometimes I think you need a goddamned handler.”

“Isn’t that your job?” I ask as she perches on the edge of the couch.

“Cute.” She pulls out her iPad. “You’re real cute this morning, Potter.”

I plop down beside her shooting her a wink. “How bad?” I clench my teeth, straining my neck. “Do I even want to know?”

“Well, I got a frantic call from the grandparents to wake me up this morning.”

Shit. I should have realized that even though Ellie’s gone, they still have another side of the family and had the courtesy to contact them. “Sorry. I didn’t even think…”

“That’s the problem with you. You don’t think.” She huffs out a long disapproving breath.

“Well, you could have called them.”

That shuts her up for half a minute.

“I was a little busier than you,” I add, warming to this topic.

“Look,” she says, rubbing her temples. “We were all a little out of sorts yesterday. The important thing is that going forward we have a protocol in place should anything like that ever happen again.”

“Agreed…so what’s the protocol?”

“I’ll handle it, of course.”

I chuckle. “Of course.”

“Now,” she says, scrolling through an album of saved photos. “There are dozens of these photographs of you, Raven, and Ava everywhere…most speculating that she belongs to the two of you.”

I nod. It’s the most logical explanation. We were at the hospital together, and Raven is the only woman I’ve been seen with more than once.

“Ava’s rumored to have everything from a broken arm to a tumor.”

“Ruthless…not even a kid is off limits to those leeches.”

“Sadly, no. You know as well as I that lies sell papers.” She smooths a hand over her pant leg, crossing her ankles. “Better to make something up and be first than to wait for the real story and miss the chance to shock and awe. We should probably type up a statement giving them the truth, sooner rather than later.”

“Actually,” I say, just as my little girl comes blazing down the hall, “hold that thought.”

“Walk!” I shout at Ava. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

Per usual, little miss sassafras pays me no mind at all.

She’s certainly feeling better this morning.

“I have a better idea,” I say, jumping back into my conversation with Anika. “I’ll call you in a few hours to discuss.”

“But…” she starts, stopping dry when Ava launches herself into her arms.

“A’mornin, Annie.”

“Good morning, baby girl.” She doesn’t even flinch anymore when they touch her. It’s a miracle.

“Is that a—a tear?” I drop my jaw in mock horror when my manager envelops my little girl in her arms, rocking side to side with emotion shimmering in her eyes.

“I had an eyelash.” She shoots me with a chilling glare, just daring me to challenge her.

“I have owie my head,” Ava announces, always eager to steal the show.

“I know.” Anika smooths a hand over the back of her noggin. “You need to be more careful, okay?”

“Kay,” Ava agrees, scrambling across the couch to my lap. “A’mornin, Dada.”

“Mornin’, drama queen.”