Chapter Seven #2
“He said she’s about six weeks along. She had her eighteenth birthday two months ago. He claims they were together twice—once before her birthday and once after. What are the fucking odds that he’d knock her up when he only fucked her twice?” River asked.
I sighed. “Yeah, that’s sort of tricky. Where does she live?” I pulled out my phone and hit the search engine.
“Brittany lives in Cupertino. Arlo said she’s the younger sister of a friend of his from high school. Sounds like they’re not friends anymore, but Arlo doesn’t talk much about that, so I’m not sure what happened.” River twisted off the cap of his bottle, so I did the same.
I got the distinct impression we weren’t going anywhere like we’d planned, so I took a gulp of beer because I wouldn’t be driving. It was ice cold.
I pecked in some keywords and saw that the age of consent in California was eighteen, and with Arlo being twenty-two, the kid was in a world of fucking hurt if she got pregnant the first time they were together. I took another swig of the beer.
“Fire him.” It was the first thing that popped into my head.
If the kid left the band, then his actions would have no bearing on the group. Arlo would have to figure out his shit, and the other four guys would be unencumbered by his obligations to his baby and baby momma—or the courts.
River turned towards me. “I can’t do that, Kit.
He’s my brother… well, half-brother. Our dad is a fuck-up and goes back and forth about whether Arlo is really his son.
It’s done a fucking number on him, so I can’t blame him completely for this.
The kid has looked for love anywhere he can get it. Hell, I have too.”
Seeing the pain on his face, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close to try to offer some comfort. God, how could people treat their kids like that?
“It’s okay to want to be loved, River. People do shit that we don’t understand all the time, and we get hurt by their actions, which is what this sounds like. I’m sorry you guys are going through this before you’ve really gotten off the ground. What can I do to help you?”
The next thing I knew, I was on my back in the sand with River on top of me, his lips sealed to mine. When his tongue slid over the seam of my mouth, my instinct was to push him off. What the fuck was I doing kissing a guy?
Stopping the kiss and explaining to him that I was straight was what I should have done, but I didn’t. I rolled him over and plundered his mouth. I’d never had a kiss like the one River and I were sharing, and my cock kept telling me not to stop. It wanted more.
I kissed him as I’d kissed women in the past. His body was firm in my hands, and I found I liked the feeling of him beneath me. Never had my heart pounded as it did when my lips met River’s.
When we pulled apart, I stared into his eyes, unable to look away. “You wanna get something to eat?” I noticed the beachfront server approaching from my peripheral vision.
“Nope.” He reached into the bucket for another beer, so I nodded. When the young man stopped and asked if we wanted anything, I said, “Another bucket, please.”
River handed him Marshall’s business card. “Put it on his account.”
The guy nodded, and we both laughed.
Banging on the door to my room woke me, but the bigger problem was the pounding in my head. “Coming!”
I sat up in bed and glanced next to me, seeing River was there, and when I lifted the sheet, I was relieved to find myself still in my boxers. I peeked over at him under the sheet to see him in crimson red briefs. Maybe I was still drunk, but they looked sexy as hell.
I slowly stood from the bed and pulled on my T-shirt from the previous night before stumbling to the door.
The third bucket we’d brought back with us from the beach was on the floor by the door, and it was filled with empty bottles, reminding me of River spilling the icy cold water on both of us. No wonder my fucking head was pounding.
The knock echoed in the room again, making my head want to blow off. “I said I’m fucking coming.”
I opened the door to see a petite woman with a cart. “Do you need housekeeping?”
“Thank you, but… Oh, can you take these? I’m fine.” I handed her the bucket and saw her smile.
“Have a nice day.”
I nodded as I closed the door.
I went to the minibar, grabbing two bottles of water. I wasn’t sure what we’d done the previous night—I didn’t think we had sex. I knew River and I had kissed, and I remembered not hating it, but what the fuck did that mean for me?
Scrambling from the bedroom caught my attention, and when I went to the door, the bed was empty. The sounds coming from the bathroom weren’t pleasant, but they were expected based on the amount of alcohol he’d consumed the night before—he mentioned tequila.
I walked to the door and leaned against the jamb, hoping I didn’t join him on the floor in front of the commode. I gulped down one of the bottles of water in my hand before I walked into the bathroom and touched River’s back.
His head was resting on his forearms as he leaned against the seat, his eyes closed.
“Here. Have some of this, and I’ll get you some painkillers.
” After handing him the water, I stepped out of the bathroom and pulled on some shorts.
I saw the ones I’d worn the previous night on the balcony, along with my T-shirt and River’s shorts.
Why hadn’t I taken him to his penthouse when he’d suggested leaving? God, what had I been thinking?