Wicked Beat

Chapter 19

Over two weeks later, somewhere between Buffalo and Detroit, Rebekah squirmed onto the dining table to sit next to Trey as they waited for dinner to finish cooking. Both booths were full, so she didn’t have many seating options to choose from. Jace sat next to Brian on one side of the table, and Sed next to Eric on the other. She might have squeezed onto Eric’s lap, but he was trapped against the wall, and Sed took up more than his fair share of the booth with his broad shoulders.

Eric had been pensive since their Austin show. She knew why.

He’d told her about his situation with Jon. She’d advised him to cut all ties with the guy, but Eric was big on second chances and third chances and twenty-seventh chances. So Jon still played the shows, following the tour buses in his Jeep, and Eric tried to avoid him as much as possible. Rebekah patiently waited for Eric to get his head out of his ass, and Sed held his tongue.

“This tour schedule is killing me,” Trey complained, rubbing his face with both hands. “The venues are scattered all over the fucking place.”

“Rescheduling canceled shows is a bitch,” Sed said. “They never align properly. Just be glad we’re putting off the canceled shows in Canada until the spring.”

“My blood’s not hot enough to survive a Canadian winter,” Trey said.

“Your blood’s hot enough to melt the polar ice caps,” Brian teased and gave Trey a playful shove. Trey ricocheted into Rebekah, who burst out laughing.

Rebekah’s laughter died when Brian’s cell phone beeped in his pocket.

“Myrna?” Sed asked. They all knew Brian was waiting to hear the results of her latest pregnancy test. He’d managed to fly in to visit her for one night during her fertile time, and she’d yet to call crying that she’d started her period again.

Brain read the screen and nodded. He looked a bit ill.

“Text message.”

“Well, what did she say?” Eric asked.

A look of confusion spread across Brian’s handsome features.

“Uh? It says the rabbit died. The rabbit died?”

“Did she hit a rabbit with her car or what?” Trey asked around the cherry sucker in his mouth.

Rebekah chuckled. “They used to inject rabbits with women’s urine to determine pregnancy.”

“Ugh,” Trey said, “that’s fucking disgusting. Are you serious?”

Rebekah tousled his hair and nodded. “Completely.”

“So what does it mean when the rabbit dies?” The look of concern on Brian’s face made Rebekah’s heart twang.

“Nothing bad, sweetie. It means she’s pregnant.”

Brian’s jaw dropped. “I’m going to be a daddy?”

Rebekah smiled and nodded. “I’d say that’s what she’s trying to tell you.”

“I’m going to be a daddy!” Brian grabbed the nearest person, who just happened to be Jace, and gave him a bone-crunching hug.

“I’m going to be a daddy,” he told him.

“Congratulations,” Jace gasped.

Sed reached across the table and gathered half the band in a huge hug with Brian in the middle. His large biceps pressed Rebekah’s head firmly against Trey’s shoulder. “That is fucking awesome, dude,” Sed’s deep baritone rumbled through his chest. Rebekah could hear the emotion in his words. She didn’t know Sed could get emotional.

“I’ve got to see Myrna,” Brian said, fighting his way out of the group hug. “I should be there with her.”

“We have a show tomorrow,” Sed reminded him.

“This is more important.”

Brian climbed to his feet. Standing in the aisle, he dialed his wife and fidgeted with a chain hanging from his belt loop as he waited for her to answer. His features softened the second he heard her voice.

“Does this mean…” he said. His bright smile could only mean she’d affirmed their suspicions. “When?” He bit his lip. “July? I can’t wait that long.” He shook his head and chuckled. “God, I want to hold you right now.” He swallowed hard and noticed that the entire band and Rebekah were staring. He pressed on one eyelid with his fingertips, turned on his heel, and disappeared into the back bedroom. As soon as the door closed, Rebekah turned to look at Eric.

He smiled slightly and mouthed, “Are you okay?”

She nodded. Sure, she’d never know the joy of telling the man she loved that he was going to be a father, but she was happy for Brian. She knew how much he wanted a baby.

“This sucks balls,” Trey grumbled. He slid off the table and shut himself in the bathroom.

Rebekah figured Trey would be happier for Brian than anyone.

He was his best friend.

Sed shook his head. “Spoiled brat.”

Rebekah stared at the floor, wondering how this new development was going to affect the band. They wouldn’t break up over something like this, would they? Or tour less? She loved this job.

Without warning, Eric reached out, grabbed Rebekah around the waist, and dragged her across the table. He growled and gobbled against her neck until she was laughing and squealing at the top of her lungs. She kicked her feet, trying to escape his assault, but Eric held tight. On the opposite side of the table, Jace grabbed her ankle to avoid getting kicked in the face. When Eric decided she’d laughed enough, he tucked her head under his chin and held her gently. She wasn’t in the most comfortable position, stretched across the dining table on her side, wedged against Eric’s shoulder as he sat in the booth, but she let him hold her. She knew he needed to provide comfort as much as she needed to receive it. He couldn’t stand it when she was melancholy.

A moment later, the bedroom door opened, and Brian wandered out.

“How’s she doing?” Sed asked.

“She’s fine. Cussed me out when I told her I wanted to cancel tomorrow night’s show to see her.”

“That sounds like her,” Sed said and chuckled. “Is she going to fly in to see you then?”

Brian shook his head. “She said we’ll see each other at Thanksgiving.”

“That’s only two weeks,” Rebekah said, hoping he’d stop looking so fucking miserable. The man was intense in every imaginable way.

He played his guitar intensely. Loved his wife intensely. Experienced emotions intensely. Rebekah bet he was one hell of an intense lover.

She flushed at her thoughts and cuddled closer to Eric, who wasn’t exactly intense, but definitely enthusiastic.

“It’s sure to be the longest two weeks of my life,” Brian murmured. He glanced around. “Where’s Trey?”

“Sulking in the bathroom,” Sed told him. “We have got to find that guy someone to love.”

“He has a different someone to love every night,” Eric said with a chuckle.

“And that’s his problem.”

No, his problem was that he already had someone to love, and that someone didn’t return the sentiment. Rebekah didn’t say it, but she was pretty sure everyone except Brian was thinking it.

Brian sighed. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Hey, Brian,” Rebekah said and eased out of Eric’s embrace to sit up on the table again.

Brian turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised in question.

She smiled brightly and met his intense gaze. “You’re going to be a daddy.”

He beamed, all his troubles flowing away in an instant. “I’m going to be a daddy!” He tossed the bathroom door open. “Hey, Trey! I’m going to be a daddy!”

“Fuck off.”

“That is not the appropriate response.”

Brian yanked Trey into the corridor by one arm and forced him into a headlock. Trey poked Brian in the ribs, hooked his leg around Brian’s ankle, and took him to the floor. Rebekah giggled as they wrestled, not sure why watching them go at it made her hungry for sex. Eventually, they stopped wrestling and lay in a tangled heap on the floor laughing.

“What’s the appropriate response, Trey?” Brain asked.

His head pinned to Brian’s chest, Trey wrapped an arm around Brian’s abdomen and gave him a squeeze. “Congratulations,” Trey said breathlessly. “Daddy.”

Brian placed a hand on Trey’s head and pressed him closer to his chest. “I hope my son’s smart like his mother and not a knucklehead like the two of us.”

Trey squeezed his eyes shut and clung to Brian as if he planned to never let him go.