10. Chapter Ten
10
Evan
It’s been a few days since I shared a heated kiss with Mia, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. She tries telling me that we need to keep our relationship professional, but I can see the way her eyes glaze over when I walk into a room — she wants this just as much as I do.
Finding out that she is in fact Summer, the woman who rocked my world years ago, was a punch in the gut for a few moments. It wasn’t until I got out of my head that I went inside, fully intent on making sure she understood how betrayed I felt, and the sight of the tears rolling down her cheeks nearly sent me to my knees.
In seconds I went from being upset with her to needing to make sure she would be okay.
Now, every time I notice that we are alone I give her my best smile and try to woo her with my charming words – none of which help in my case. She’s determined to make sure we don’t have another moment like we did before, but I’m also determined to show her it could be the best decision of her life.
That’s what brings me to where I am today. I want to do something nice for her, since she’s been stressing over that tabloid reporter approaching her, and I’m nervous to see what she’s going to think.
To get her out of the tour bus, I told her that Carmen needed her to run a few errands in the new city we go into before our concert starts. Carmen has everything under control, but Mia doesn’t need to know that.
I’m getting antsy, pacing back and forth in the living space, when Mia finally struts down the narrow hallway where all the rooms are located. She stumbles as she tries to come to stop in front of me, then frowns.
“Evan, what are you doing?”
I lift the small basket I managed to have Carmen grab me, claiming it was being used for a thank you present for Mia, and give her a big smile. “We’re going out.”
She scrunches her nose. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“There haven't been any other incidents lately, and you deserve a breather.”
Her eyes narrow and she crosses her arms in front of her chest. “This is highly inappropriate.”
“You weren’t saying that while your tongue was down my throat a few days ago,” I counter, arching a brow in challenge.
“You get one hour,” she mumbles before stalking past me.
As far as I’ve been able to see, that Travis guy was all talk because there hasn’t been a single thing to hit the media about the first time I ever met Mia. When I had that flashback, I let Mia convince me that she wasn’t who I thought she was — convinced myself that I had an overactive imagination.
After finding out the truth, I want nothing more than to show Mia that we could be good together. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again, but it seems as though luck is on my side and it can see that I deserve my happy ending as much as my other bandmates do.
This is what I’ve been waiting for — I can feel it.
I thought it was lust with how fast my heart would race when Mia walked into a room or the easy way I would gravitate toward her as she walked me out of a concert, but it’s more than that.
Mia still has a frown on her face when I step off the bus, her phone buzzing incessantly in her pocket, and I nod my head toward the sound. “You going to answer that?”
She snaps her attention to me and shakes her head. “No need. I can call them back later.”
It stops buzzing, only to start up again. “I insist. It seems like it might be important.”
Her hand shakes as she pulls the device from her pocket, and I cock my head to the side as I continue to study her. Something is making her nervous, and I want to find out what it could be.
She takes a deep breath, looking one more time at me, before sliding her finger across the screen.
As soon as the call connects, all I hear is the sound of a child crying uncontrollably and begging for his mother.
Mia’s face immediately transforms from nerves to fear. “Kenzie, what’s going on? Is he okay? Do I need to come back home? Did he break something?”
I can see the tears filling Mia’s eyes as her son continues to cry out for her on the line, and I take long strides over to her side. She tries to step away from me, but I’ve already got my arm placed over her shoulder, and I’m tugging her into my side.
“Calm down, Momma Bear. Take a breath,” a woman says on the line. “Liam ended up falling at the park and hurt his ankle. The doctor checked him out. Everything is okay, but he’s been crying for you since we left.”
“Oh, baby,” Mia chokes out. “Did you ask Aunt Kenzie to take you for ice cream?”
I’m trying not to eavesdrop, but it’s inevitable when I’m standing this close. I glance at the screen, and my heart stalls in my chest.
As I watched Liam on the screen, something nagged at the back of my mind. Those green eyes... they were so familiar. And the way he scrunched his nose when he was upset - I'd seen that expression before in the mirror. I shook off the thought, telling myself I was imagining things.
"Liam, buddy, can you show me where you hurt your ankle?" I asked, surprising myself with how natural it felt to talk to him.
As he pointed to his foot, I noticed he had bright ringlets covering the top of his head. My heart started racing, a wild thought forming that I couldn't quite grasp yet.
That’s not the only thing that has me stiffening against Mia, though. It’s the dip in his chin that matches my own.
It can’t be.
I glance at Mia, who’s not paying a bit of attention to me, and I wonder if this is something she could do. Is it truly possible that Mia would keep the identity of my child from me?
Mia and who I’ve learned is Kenzie, go back and forth for a few moments as they talk about what the doctor said. Liam was a trooper, which isn’t a surprise to me after being around his mother long enough, and Kenzie fully plans on taking him for ice cream once they get off the phone.
“Mommy has to get off now, little man,” she says with reluctance. I can tell she wants to stay on the phone, maybe even get on the next flight home, but she’s attached to a contract that keeps her here with me.
Liam whines although he’s much calmer than he was when Mia first answered, and I feel Mia’s shoulders shake against my arm. His big green eyes dart to mine, widening a fraction, and his mouth drops open like you’d see in a cartoon.
“You get better, Liam, okay?” I say into the line, and I don’t miss the way Mia’s body stiffens into mine when I speak to him.
He nods, still not saying anything, then looks over at Mia. “I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you more, baby. Enjoy your ice cream, and I’ll check on you as soon as I can.”
Kenzie waves into the screen, her eyes falling onto mine with a nervous smile, and I give her a quick wave in return before Mia ends the call.
“So, that’s Liam,” I say.
She nods, not looking into my eyes, and I clear my throat. “Is his father around?”
That question gets her attention, and she pushes away from me with a shake of her head. “His father isn’t any of your business.”
“How old is he?” I asked this same question before, but I’m realizing now that she never answered and tried to put the focus back on me.
If I had to guess, he’s about six or seven.
Mia clears her throat. “Weren’t we supposed to be going out?”
“Answer the question, Mia,” I grind out.
A tear falls, sliding slowly down her cheek, and she sighs heavily. “He’s five, about to be six.”
I do the math in my head. We met each other during a nice summer night a couple of months before Raising Havoc, which would put our night together sometime in June. Nine months from June would be March.
It’s the beginning of March now.
“Tell me it’s not true,” I whisper, trying to calm my racing heart.
Mia looks at me, sadness swirling in her eyes, and I know without her answering that my thoughts are right… Liam is our son.
“How could you keep something like this from me?”
She shakes her head. “Evan, you don’t understand.”
I hold a hand up. “Are you serious right now? I thought we were getting somewhere with one another, that there was a level of trust between one another, but I guess I got that all wrong.”
Her shoulders shake with quiet sobs, and she tries to reach out, but I flinch from her touch.
If there was anything I thought about Mia, it wasn’t this. I didn’t think she could be as selfish as keeping my child away from me. She’s been working for me for weeks, had every opportunity to tell the truth, and she chose to hide it.
That’s why she wouldn’t talk about him and dodged my question when it came up the first time. She didn’t want me to know that Liam was mine as well.
“I’m heading back inside,” I mumble before storming back onto the tour bus and heading straight for my room.
Jace is relaxing on the bed now, holding a book in his hands, and he glances at me with a frown. “Woah, what happened with you?”
Is Jace the one I want to talk to about this?
“Uh, do you know where Brent is?”
“Haven’t gone out of the room yet, but I assume he might be taking a tour of the city with Julia.”
It’s what he’s been doing since we started the tour, and I blow out a resigned sigh. “Remember when I said I knew Mia from years ago?”
“Yeah.”
“Then managed to believe I’d gotten it wrong?”
“Mhm.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t get anything wrong.”
“Okay… what does that have to do with the sour mood?”
“I just came across some information that changes everything,” I whisper into the room before lying back on my bed, which feels more like bed springs than a mattress. Instead of worrying about the uncomfortable feeling, I focus on the ceiling above me and wonder what the hell I’m going to do.
Mimicking my thoughts, Jace blows out a rough breath and asks, “What will you do?”
“You aren’t going to ask what it’s about?”
“That’s your business, man,” Jace says. “As long as you know what you’ll do with the information, I’m not going to pry.”
I’m starting to wonder if Jace is taking over my spot in the band as being the more level-headed one. With the way my life keeps taking turns, it’s sure starting to seem that way. In all the years since our fame started, I’ve never gotten an attitude with reporters looking for a story.
I’d politely tell them to leave me alone because I knew it was good for our image, but I wasted no time snapping at Travis when I saw him looking too suggestively at Mia. The idea of him flirting with her when I was standing right there didn’t sit right with me.
The floor creaks under someone’s weight outside the door, and I glance toward it, wondering if it could be Mia coming back inside. I want to get up and make sure she’s okay, but I can’t forget what she’s kept from me.
She’s had years to tell me about Liam… and I’m not sure if this is something we can come back from.