Sahara (A Night Fire Novel Book 3) (12 page)

Chapter
Nineteen

I was by the town car when I heard my name being yelled. Evan walking over looking like a grinning zombie. I handed the last of the bags to the fellow who was loading them onto the plane.

“So, how was things last night?”

Last night? Well, I had laid on the bed for hours, unable to wipe the mighty grin from my face. Fraser tended to Sahara's needs while I lazed back and enjoyed doing nothing. With Sahara settled we ate pizza on the bed, completely naked. With full bellies we lazed in the bath tub until we couldn't take it any longer, fornicating in the tub and against the vanity. I smiled and refrained from telling the entire truth.

“Fine. We packed up all of Sahara's stuff, ate pizza and went to bed.”

“Lame.” he groaned. “Ooh, big man's watching. Look at my moon walk.”

Then he started sliding his feet across the ground, I took a careful peek. Yes, Fraser was standing at the door of the plane, watching us. No, he wasn't impressed.

“Eden!” he called out.

Nice work Evan.

“That's great Evan, thanks for that. Maybe it could have waited until we were in the air and not so restricted to a schedule.”

“Bah!” he scoffed.

I smiled at him and turned, seeing that damned camera pointed at me again. Gritting my teeth and forcing a smile I walked to the stairs. Abigail and Frankie were talking about something, I dreaded to think of what crazy scheme they were up to. The last one had worked so well.

“Good morning ladies.”

Sahara was protesting about something, I could hear Fraser trying to figure out what was wrong. He was asking her, that was cute. Somewhere behind me I thought I heard my name but it was a feint sound drowned by a frantic father and an upset baby.

“What's wrong?”

One sniff and I could figure it out.

“For crying out loud Fraser, change her nappy.”

He sat on the seat looking bewildered, as I picked the child up out of the carrier I wondered if he was drunk. I set up the seat beside him, laying everything out and changed her nappy.

“What's going on Fraser?”

“Kevin called.” he said quietly.

My heart went thud and then there was no more as I waited with bated breath.

“She's mine.” he whispered with a soft smile.

And then the heart kicked back into life. I picked Sahara up and put her into his arms, pulling out a bottle to settle her down.

“Congratulations papa. It's been a hellish two weeks hasn't it?”

Fraser nodded as he looked down at Sahara, greedily suckling at the milk.

“I'm sorry I was such a bastard Eden.”

“You were stressed, it's okay.”

“No.” he frowned, shaking his head. “It's not okay. I wanted you and when I got you I was scared of losing you. Treating you like shit just because I thought it was better to push you away than lose you was wrong. It's going to be different, I promise. Starting today, completely new.”

I watched with pure fascination at this man, he pulled the bottle away before Sahara could suck in too much air, he put her up onto his shoulder to burp her but didn't bother with a cloth and when she finally belched up a storm he cooed over her. He told her that she was doing the Newton name proud.

“Who are you and what have you done with Fraser?”

He turned with a smile that I had never seen before, Sahara looked so tiny in his oversized hands.

“The old Fraser's gone baby, this one's here to stay.”

“Mm, interesting.”

Sahara yawned, complaining a little as her father put her back into the carrier.

“I have something for you.”

Fraser rummaged around in the baby bag as Sahara continued to grizzle. She was becoming a pre-bed time crier. Worse than Sahara's cries was the shrieking of Frankie, no doubt Curtis was doing something crazy.

“Okay so don't go freaking out but this was my mom's. I know that she'd love you to pieces and would be really happy that I want to give this to you. She'd probably clip me over the ear for being a dick to you but that's what moms are for, right?”

“Sure.” I said as I smiled.

There wasn't much else I could do, I hadn't lost a parent, let alone two of them. And a brother, he'd lost that freak as well. I looked down to Fraser's palm that was flat out, one gold band sat on it. It had diamonds set into a flattened top, several rows of little chips.

“Not the real thing, okay?”

I nodded as my heart thumped hard and fast, I was unable to speak.

“This is like a promise ring I s'pose.” his voice lowered as he slipped it onto my finger for a perfect fit. “One day when life is not so hectic, we'll do the real thing. Then we'll be a family and you know...” he shrugged. “Have more kids.”

“We are a family already Fraser. Did you not realize that?”

Pained eyes looked up at me, even though the wounds were created so many years ago it was still so very raw.

“Four brothers who adore you and show their affection in their own special and terrible way, mothers, step-mothers, fathers and step-fathers. Managers and wives who are like surrogate parents. You've even got two sisters-in-law now, maybe one day you might have two more. Do you not see the love around you, the family that has always been there for you?”

“God, I hate you Eden.”

I chuckled and wiped the tear from his eye, pulling him in to kiss him.

“I hate you too Fraser.”

“Damn it baby, we lost the bet.”

I pulled away from the kiss to see Curtis standing near the door to the plane, Frankie in his arms.

“What bet?” I asked as I pulled the complaining baby from her carrier.

“We all placed bets to see when you'd be getting your freaky on.”

“And what did you bet?”

“A month from now.” Frankie pouted.

As Curtis set her to her feet, Jerry stuck his head through the door.

“Good morning everyone.” he said so bright and chipper. “Are we ready for a great year?”

“Sure am.” Curtis looked at Frankie, no doubt there was something wicked going on in his mind.

“Great. We're going to do some group shots, so if you boys don't mind stepping outside for a few moments.”

Everyone departed the plane, I took Sahara with me. She had settled more now that she was being held, preferring the warmth of a body and maybe even the beating heart. I was yet to read the baby books, saving them for the boring hours on the road. But considering that we were at week two and all was well, I'd say that we were doing just fine with her.

Jerry directed the band members to what he thought would make great photos for Abbey to take, I stood beside Frankie and watched. Abigail had her moment of self-doubt which I don't know what she wanted me to say to it. For Austin to suggest her it meant that she was good. He wouldn't want to build her up believing that she was some fantastic photographer when she was crap. But the results were amazing and when I took a glance as she flicked through the images, I understood why Austin was so eager to have her on the tour.

“See, point and click.”

Abigail looked at me a little unsure.

“Yeah, sure Eden.”

“I'm teasing.” I laughed.

God, don't tease these people. They don't know how to take it. She stared at me for a few moments and it was like banging my head against a wall. Time to keep this moving otherwise we'd be standing here all morning.

“Did you know they were talking about putting them into a book?”

“No, Austin never mentioned it.”

I smiled at her with one of my patented dark smiles and wandered back into the plane.

When I got back to my seat, I settled Sahara into her carrier. She was now asleep and I wondered how she would go with the takeoff and landing. This was going to be her life for the next year, up and down like a yo-yo in this overpriced tin can.

Fraser was at the cockpit door, talking to the captain. When Austin and Abigail entered the plane the stewardess shut the door and walked into the cockpit which made everyone frown. As Fraser walked back to the seating area I knew this was it. He was finally saying something. Not that it mattered now, it was only Jaxon and Jerry who didn't know.

But the point of it was that he actually had to verbalize it. Everyone was seated except for him and as he stood there looking like he was about to pass out, I smiled just a little and rolled my hand to indicate that he needed to keep going.

“Okay um. I got some stuff to say. Uh, well, Kev called and the test came back. She's mine and I'm going for full custody. And uh, this bet that you've all got going, well you're all wrong. Eden and I have been together for a week now.”

“Yes we know that she's been living at your house.” Jerry said with a lot of confusion.

“Uh, no. She's been living there for two weeks, since the night that Sahara was dumped on my doorstep. For the past week we've been..”

“Oh my god.” Jaxon gasped feigned shock. “You defiled mommy two, you bastard.”

Oh he defiled me alright. The dirty sod.

“I think I need therapy.” he continued. “I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep again. You've made me drink, in fact I think I need one now.”

“Yeah great, you do that.”

Fraser turned and thumped on the cockpit door. The stewardess swanned out of the cockpit and as Fraser returned to his seat beside me, Jaxon leaned forward.

“So does this mean that you're not going to chase after the stewardess anymore?”

Jaxon's eyes turned to the backside that was nearly pointed at him as the woman tended to the needs of the others. Fraser gripped my hand and kissed the back of it with a cheeky grin.

“Nope, no longer interested.”

Chapter
Twenty

First night on the tour and I was officially killing it. Okay so I had helpers but that didn't matter, right? Alright, it mattered. Abbey was always somewhere in the room, madly clicking her camera. She didn't hold discrimination to anyone or anything. If someone pushed a box of gear past her, she took the picture. Jaxon was roaming the dressing room in a pair of tighties, she got a view from the rear. One for the fan girls she had said in her defense. Frankie and I just looked at each other.

Sahara was strapped into the baby carrier, sleeping against my chest with her pink ear muffs. Yes, Fraser had lucked out and got the ones with the skull motif on them. She was rocking it tonight, he'd found a pair of pink baby converse boots for her. They were several sizes too big for her but he didn't care, she had to have them in his opinion. A pair of jeans with a band shirt and she was like a mini rocker. Where he had found a shirt so tiny I don't know but Sahara was the first to wear an official Night Fire baby shirt.

“Jaxon, put some clothes on please.”

He grinned at me and said nothing, ignoring Curtis who was complaining about seeing too much and was now blinded. Sounds of complaints filled the air as Jaxon pulled on a pair of tight black jeans, the women on the lounge near him were now unhappy at losing their free view.

“Eden Hurley?” A deep voice called out from the door.

“Yep.”

The stage manager looked at me and then the sleeping baby, saying nothing as he walked over.

“Five minutes.”

His eyes glazed around the room, there were three women in this room that should be here, the rest were not.

“The leeches are distracting them.”

“Backstage isn't my department sweetheart, you need to find Cal Fredrick and tell him to deal with them. Five minutes.”

He turned around and walked out, I scowled at the back of the man and then huffed.

“Right ladies, looks like we're dealing with this ourselves. Abbey I want you to search out this Cal Fredrick and tell him that you've got some evictions that need to happen right now.”

“On it.”

As she bustled out of the room I turned to Frankie.

“You deal with the easy ones, get them moving and make sure they're ready to go. I'll deal with Jaxon and Evan.”

She jutted her head at Curtis who knew he had to get going anyway. Sobriety meant that he was on the ball with his life. Fraser lived his life being ready, the only thing that slowed him down these days was Sahara. Austin was a little slower at moving around but it didn't really matter. All he had to do was get dressed and walk out the door.

No, the battle was the two that were sitting in a sea of glittering and barely-there clothes on the over inflated chests and faces that had far too much make-up on. I watched Evan and Jaxon, picking Evan first.

“Okay, time to get up.”

I tossed his shirt at him and earned a scowl from the woman on his lap, mostly because the shirt had landed on her face.

“Get off him, he has a job to do.”

“Eden.”

Abigail had done a brilliant job, finding this Cal Fredrick in record time.

“Cal, these ladies need to be escorted to wherever it was that they came from. If they have tickets send them back to the stadium, if they don't then kick them out.”

“Yes ma'am.”

They all huffed and followed him out of the room, Evan was off the lounge and getting ready in an instant. Distractions gone and he was good to go. Jaxon was engrossed in his phone now.

“Come on Jaxon, get up or I will take that thing off you.”

“No mommy two, I need my phone.”

I took the opportunity of him being distracted in his phone to remove the bottle of vodka from between his legs, tipping it down the nearby sink.

“Why did you take my bottle?”

“You are about to go on stage, preferably not drunk.” I looked at the empty bottle. “How can you even drink this stuff straight?”

Jaxon shrugged and got up from the lounge, finishing his dressing. I sighed and tossed the empty bottle into the bin. As the five of them walked out of the room I wondered if it would be difficult to do an intervention on the road. I'd have to organize his family to fly out to wherever we were, Evan's as well. They both needed drying out. I turned on my tablet and added it to my to do list, everything that I had to talk to Jerry about.

I followed them through the maze that was the backstage area of the stadium. Last night at the promotional kick off gig I learned not to trust them to find their own way. The biggest distraction was the female kind. Even right now they were distracting, Curtis was searching for a belly on Frankie while kissing her. Austin was talking to Abbey as she took a few photos, stopping to enjoy the affection he would give her. Even Fraser was distracted, kissing Sahara on her chubby cheek.

The crowd roared with delight, Evan and Jaxon were the first to walk onto the stage. It was loud enough to wake Sahara even though she had the ear muffs on. Austin and Abbey walked out onto the stage, Abbey staying in the shadows to take photos. The crowd got louder as he walked out, Curtis soon after.

“You'd better get out there papa bear. Have a good one.”

Fraser grinned at me and as his hands found my hips he kissed me hard. A promise for later summed up in one gesture. He pulled away leaving me bereft of his touch and desperate for more.

“Oh I've seen that look before.” Frankie hummed with delight. “Somebody's in love.”

Surely it wasn't possible, not after only knowing him for a few weeks. I looked at Frankie, she was the epitome of falling in love way too fast. She'd only been around for a few days more than I had been but already she was married and pregnant and yes, she loved Curtis. Maybe it was possible.

I smiled at Frankie and returned to the quiet green room. Well less noisy that is. The crowd and the band were trying to outdo each other. Sahara settled into her stroller well, continuing to sleep now that the sounds were muffled. Opening the email program I quickly flicked through the non-essential items and found the one that I was looking for.

I'd introduced myself as the band's assistant rather than Fraser's love interest. I'd asked if she was interested in meeting up with Fraser when we went through Utah. And I'd mentioned that he needed his family even if it did bring up a lot of painful memories. Fraser was about to go into therapy, he needed support everywhere he could find it. I took a deep breath and prayed that this would be positive as I opened the email from Mirabelle.

Eden,

Your email surprised me at first but I suppose I should have thought that there would be a time when his world would collapse around him.

I often think of Fraser and wonder how he is doing. Not what I see in the magazines or on the internet but how he is coping underneath the false bravado that he puts on. It pains me to think that he is suffering, a pain I understand unfortunately. I am only ever a phone call away yet I do not hear from him. But contacting loved ones is a two way street and I am guilty of neglect as well.

You said that he was going into therapy and I am happy to hear this. This kind of pain will never go away but learning to cope will be what helps him in his future. I have often thought of contacting a professional but the stigma attached to it is sometimes hard to deal with. But if my brave Fraser can do it while in the public eye, then surely his dear old aunt Mira can too.

I would love to see Fraser and the boys again and of course, you too. Someone who cares for such trifle family matters is surely worthy of a moment in time, maybe even a lifetime? I wonder if you are the lass that was at the awards ceremony with the boys? Something inside tells me that it is true, I did notice my Fraser's attention was rather... shall we say, preoccupied?

Forgive my delay in writing to you, after much thought and of course, perusing the itinerary for the band I contemplated my next step. Please do not think that it was out of hesitation, I wanted to source some viable options for moving forward with Fraser. I know that there was the option to see everyone before the tour started but I could not begin to think of returning to that house.

I must confess Eden, I have been a little naughty in delaying this email. When I perused the itinerary I contemplated taking leave and having a holiday. I was hoping to incorporate seeing Fraser and touring through the many wondrous sites in Los Angeles.

I will see you soon.

Mirabelle.

“Oh crap.” I gasped.

Like I was stuck in some horror movie, my phone rang and scared the life out of me. It was an unknown number and I warily answered it.

“Hello?”

“Eden Hurley?”

“Yeah.”

“Front gate security, we've got a Mirabelle Barlow asking for you. Her identification checks out and we've checked her over for any weapons, do you want me to send her in?”

“Of course, have someone escort her to the green room please.”

“Yes ma'am.”

I ended the call and flopped back onto the lounge with a groan. What kind of a nightmare had I unleashed?

Five minutes later a security guard was standing at the door, a middle aged woman behind him.

“Eden Hurley?”

I stood from the seat, nodding as my hands wiped over my skirt. The man nodded and walked away, leaving me with a pretty woman that looked like the one from the video. She had the same whiskey colored eyes as Fraser and the same brown hair. Her hair was pulled into a loose plait, draping over one shoulder.

With a warm smile I closed the gap between us and held out my hand, the woman engulfed me in a hug.

“Oh I knew it was you! My Fraser has great taste in women.”

Yep, the ol' cheeks were red, blushing hard. I could hear Sahara waking, the soft yawn and kicking off her blanket. Mirabelle pulled away from me and looked to the stroller with curiosity.

“Is this little darling yours?”

“Not exactly.” I said as I shut the door.

I walked over to the stroller and picked her up, removing the ear muffs. It was quieter with the door shut, not the kind of quiet that she was used to but it was sufficient. Mirabelle's face turned to happiness as I put Sahara into her arms.

“Oh she is beautiful, which one of the boys does she belong to?”

“Fraser.” I said softly. “Her name is Sahara Florence.”

Tears filled her eyes as she looked up at me, the realization of how much her nephew needed her had just sunk in.

Time passed quickly as we sat and talked, Mirabelle cuddled Sahara and regaled me with all of the crazy things that Fraser did when he was a kid. We were laughing and talking so much that I didn't realize that not only had several hours pass but the music had stopped as well. The door swung open, Jaxon was the first through. Shock hit him for a few seconds but then the old Jaxon was back with a mighty grin.

“Aunt Mirri! Did you come to party with us?”

“Oh darling Jaxon, you couldn't keep up with me even if you tried.”

Behind him was Fraser, shocked when he saw his aunt sitting on the lounge beside me, his daughter in her arms.

“Okay Jaxon.” I stood to my feet. “I think you and I need to discuss your alcoholism.”

I dragged him out of the room, pulling the door shut. Fraser stopped me with an appreciative smile.

“Thanks Eden.”

“Anytime. I do it out of love Fraser.”

“I know, I love you too.”