Incendiary (45 page)

Georgie scrunches her nose. “He said I’m not a professional like Rhea, one of the dancers going on tour with the band.”

Meggie shrugs. “The passion you’d exhibit for him would make up for any skills you lack.”

She pastes a smile on her face and waves the comment away. “It’s a losing argument, so I won’t even bother.” She walks back into the frame and returns to her seat near Meggie. “How do you get Outlaw to give you whatever you want?”

“By asking him, although most of the time I don’t have to ask him. He just does it. But I also give him what he wants. Just like with the Kiln situation, something this important should be discussed.”

“And if he says no? Don’t give him sex or something?”

“Georgie, don’t make a habit of withholding lovemaking, especially if you enjoy it. No sex is only used when he makes you angry enough to want to punch him.”

“I guess you think I’m young and silly,” Georgie mumbles.

“I’m three years older than you, so you can feel the same way about me. Kendall did at one time. Her intentions were in the right place, though, so it’s all good between us. I promise I don’t think bad about you. Truthfully, I’m so glad Christopher allowed Cash to bring you here.”

Georgie leans toward Meggie and hugs her. “Do you think we can keep in touch?”

“How else are we going to have our big birthday celebration? Our deep throating competition would be for nothing.”

“It still is,” Georgie complains, which I barely hear because Outlaw and the others are guffawing like maniacs. “It was a draw.”

“The dance off decides it. If I win, we do it on my birthday. If you win, we have the party on your birthday.”

Meggie holds out her hand and Georgie accepts. They shake on it, sealing the deal.

“We need objective judges,” Georgie says.

“That leaves Christopher and Sloane out.”

Georgie glances up. “Can we do it in a little while? I want to check on Bryn.”

Meggie smiles and stands up. “I need to check on CJ and the twins, too.”

As they leave the room, Outlaw switches the camera feed and shows them walking down the hallway from two different angles.

“Prez, even if you gotta kill Sloane, Meggie like his girl, so she’d be pissed as a motherfucker.”

“On second fuckin’ thought, Sloane,” Outlaw says as the girls reach another room and disappear inside. He flips back to the cameras he’d originally been looking at. “They went in my bedroom. Ain’t ever had cameras in there.” After he shares that tidbit, he goes on. “I want fuckin’ payment. I pay for Megan and your girl’s big ass birthday. It’s gonna be here. We gonna have a lotta fuckin’ heat around and we gonna blow a motherfucker away who I think a threat, so keep all dumb motherfuckers the fuck away.”

So far, I haven’t heard what he wants, so I lift a brow.

“Megan likin’ the idea of this party. Just make sure Georgie here and I’ll have everything in fuckin’ place whenever you decide you want me to release your pop’s confession to the media.”

“We’re returning to Denver in two weeks. Release them that day. I want Georgie and Bryn behind the safety of my mansion.”

I hold out my hand and Outlaw accepts. Like our women did a moment ago, we shake on it.

Between the traveling, the pain that sets in where my stitches are in my shoulder and arm, and the fun of being with Meggie, I’m exhausted. According to our judges for the dance contest between Meggie and I, it’s another draw. CJ and Ryan skipped around with us, but whenever Ryan got too close to Meggie or Harley, CJ intercepted. I think out of annoyance, Ryan chose me as the winner. Of course, CJ chose his mom.

We received various reactions from the other women.

Zoann: “Tough fucking luck, girls.”

Kendall: “What can you expect choosing children as judges?”

Bailey: “Why not pick a neutral date, between both your birthdays?”

Meggie and I liked that idea, so we agreed.

Now, we’re following the club officers and their families on the wooded trail that begins on the edges of the club.

CJ bounces behind his father as Sloane talks with Outlaw and the guys. I carry Bryn, Meggie has Rebel and Bunny holds Rule. We’re quite the group, but we quickly disperse as we reach Outlaw and Meggie’s house first, which is where me, Sloane, and Bryn will spend the night. Abby has gone to a nightclub in Portland with friends. She’s utilizing the unexpected visit here. Sloane sent Jason to watch over her.

As Outlaw lets us through the gate, I see Sloane pointing to the security system, not bothered by our luggage or the baby’s diaper bag he’s carrying. They talk amongst themselves but I continue on, too tired to listen to the exchange.

Dogs bark. The closer we get to the house, the louder their barks become. I’m relieved when we reach the back door and trek through the mud room and into the kitchen.

“We have all kinds of food,” Meggie says. “Whatever you’d like to eat or cook, feel free.”

“I’m still full from the pizza and salad we ate at the club.”

Meggie yawns and smiles at her daughter. It’s late and Rebel is wide awake. Rule is sleeping peacefully, until the door opens and CJ yells in glee, running into the house at top speed and barreling into his mother.

“C’mon, buddy,” she says calmly, grabbing his hand. “Time for bed. Do you want to pick out your sister’s nightclothes?”

He nods.

“Be in our bedroom as soon as the kids are down,” Meggie promises, stopping to kiss Outlaw.

“Move, ‘Law. MegAnn
my
mommie.”

Outlaw crouches down, eye level with his son. “Megan
my
wife, boy. She also Ma, Mommie, or Mama, to you. Don’t lemme hear you disrespect
your
Ma and
my
wife ever again. Understand me?”

Although Meggie chastised him earlier, his reaction between then and now is completely different. His father hasn’t even raised his voice, just used a firm tone, and he starts to cry, burying his face against his mother’s thigh.

“Mommie’s going to tell you a story,” she says softly, adjusting Rebel in one arm, so she can take CJ’s hand in hers. “Tell Daddy goodnight.”

He sniffles. “Night, ‘Law.”

Outlaw lifts him into his arms. “How ‘bout me and you show Georgie and Sloane to their room?”

Instead of answering, CJ lays his head on his father’s shoulder. Meggie beams at Outlaw and he winks at her. We all leave the kitchen at the same time, following our host and his son down the second floor hallway, while Meggie and Bunny continue to the third level with the twins.

After Outlaw shows us to a guestroom with a green and brown color scheme, I sink to the bed. Bryn gurgles and I kiss her cheek.

“Take a shower, Georgie.” Sloane takes the baby into his arms. “My daughter and I will hang out.”

I flop back and close my eyes. “I’m almost too tired.”

“Mortician will let me borrow his Harley if you’d like me to take you for a spin,” he says casually.

My eyes pop open. I hear Sloane’s desire to ride and I don’t want to dampen that. “I’d love to go.”

“Are you sure, sweetheart?”

“I am, but do you think I should? I mean, suppose something happens to both of us. Who’ll take care of Bryn?”

Retrieving the diaper bag, he sets it on the bed, before dropping down and laying the baby in the middle. She makes a face. I swear it’s a smile, but Sloane always insists she’s too young. Whatever it is, I smile back at her. Sloane searches through her bag, pulling out a diaper, baby wipes, and a sleep romper.

“We’ll be fine,” he promises, undressing her.

“I want to be a good mom.”

He wipes Bryn off carefully, talking to her as he goes along. She’s enraptured by him and stares, patiently allowing her daddy to clean her up and dress her for bed.

“You’re a wonderful mother,” he tells me, pulling her pacifier from the side pocket of the bag. He places it in her mouth, then picks her up and starts to rock her. “Going for a ride won’t make that any less so.”

“Won’t it be selfish with the danger?”

“It wouldn’t be selfish,” he swears. “It would be you enjoying yourself. Having a little fun is healthy.”

My conversation with Meggie runs through my head. We talked about everything and she was open and honest with me, offering me advice and the same friendship she gave to the other women. I’m sure she gets on the back of Outlaw’s bike sometimes. I could always ask her before I make my decision, although I already anticipate she’d encourage me to go.

Just as she’s telling me to open up to Sloane about Kiln. I just don’t know how to fix my mouth to begin to talk about that.

Sloane has fallen silent, stretching out next to me, and singing to Bryn who’s just about asleep. His searching gaze is on me, as if he’s waiting for me to talk. Guilt eats at me, though I know he just wants an answer.

“I’ll go.”

He smiles in satisfaction, then returns to staring at me.

“Is something wrong?”

One last, searching look before he nods. “Outlaw has offered to release my father’s confession. I intend to let him do it when we return to Denver.”

After discussing the coming chaos when the recording is released, Sloane and I talk almost all night about his family and mine. Having an ending in sight is both relieving to him and distressing, so his nostalgia is understandable. A lot of what he tells me about his childhood is good. Most, he shared with me when we were in Denver last year. Listening to him, I hear the love he’s had for music his entire life. That observation leads to stories about his life on the road. At one time, the band traveled almost three hundred days a year. I already knew he obliged any woman who wanted in his bed, though I don’t like hearing about it.

As his story about angry sex with Steffie’s BFF ends, I watch Bryn as she sleeps, not commenting. She’s between us. Sloane lifts up on an elbow and fingers my hair.

“I love you,” he stresses.

“Why did you tell me about your groupies?”

“It’s hard talking about my band without telling you about the groupies, Georgie. As for Brenda, she was a dynamic in my life because of Stefanie. Talking about them reminded me of her. I ran into her a few weeks ago,” he says casually.

Jealousy hits me hard and I stiffen. “Did you sleep with her?”

“No,” he snaps, and tells me she was preparing to stir up trouble by claiming Sloane fathered her son.

“You didn’t, right?” I ask in a small voice.

He caresses my cheek. “No, sweetheart. If I had, she would’ve been after me to acknowledge him years ago. She’s fucking manipulative and an attention whore.”

“Maybe, you should do a DNA test,” I say. “Your reasons for claiming the little boy isn’t yours aren’t valid. Motherhood might’ve changed her and she didn’t want to subject her son to the media.”

“The last time I fucked her was prior to my sister’s death. I saw her a few months later and she wasn’t pregnant.”

I frown at the idea of anyone else having Sloane’s baby. “You’re so fucking lucky your dick hasn’t fallen off,” I say sullenly.

He scowls. “I get regular STD checks, Georgiana, and come up clean every time.”

“Not for your lack of trying to change the fucking results, Sloane.”

My response startles him, but he laughs.

“I wouldn’t have risked you with unprotected sex if I carried a disease.”

“I was stupid. So enamored of you I didn’t think to ask. I wouldn’t have gotten pregnant if I’d insisted on condoms all the time.”

“Do you regret having her?” he asks, laying against the pillow and stroking my hair.

“No.”

“We bought condoms and ran out. As the older one, I should’ve taken better care.” Sadness enters his eyes, “I’m sorry. You’ll never know how much I regret leaving you pregnant and alone. But we’re together now. When you’re pregnant the next time, I’ll be there with you.”

“A week after my birthday, you’re leaving for six months.” That’ll be a hard test because I know what happens on the road. I saw it firsthand. “I wish I could come with you.”