Chapter 27 Derrick
DERRICK
After we got back from my birthday, life got busy as we got ready to head to Paris for Thanksgiving, finalize Vanessa’s wedding dress, and for the bachelor and bachelorette parties.
Chance hasn’t tried to contact me again since my birthday, which I am so grateful for.
I have seen him partying it up on the gossip sites with images of him with groupies.
I shake my head because I don’t think the supposed therapy he is going to is working, but that’s his journey and has nothing to do with me anymore.
I’ve been distracting myself with fun times at The Paradise Club.
Micah, the gorgeous man that he is, has turned into a good friend outside of the club, but because of the rules no one can know, so I haven’t told any of the crew.
All they know is I met him on a night out and we are friends.
I like him as a friend, and we do hook up at the club and outside of it, but we both know it’s just sex.
I don’t want to date him and vice versa, but I enjoy his friendship, and he’s introduced me to a whole new group of WeHoes as they call themselves, who all live in WeHo village.
It’s nice having friends to head out to the gay bars with and enjoy things my straight friends are not into.
That community has helped me find my place in my new home, and for the first time in a long time, I feel settled, content, happy, and thriving.
I love Paris. We’ve just finished our spectacular Thanksgiving meal by the delicious Sebastien Sanchez, sexy Spanish chef as a rehearsal for the wedding. Ten out of ten will come again.
Evan clears his throat and taps on his wine glass.
“Last year sort of started what I hope we continue doing for years to come, and that is to stand up and say what each of us is thankful for.” The table claps.
And one by one, each of us stands up and tells the table what we are thankful for. It’s my turn, and I get up.
“I’m thankful for the amazing opportunities that I have been given this year.
The first anniversary of the Wyld Jones Boutique and the continued success of Derrick Jones styling.
As you can see, Axel is looking good tonight, thanks to moi.
” Axel and I had a great day together one-on-one.
It was the first time I think we’ve ever really spent alone together.
He’s a funny bastard. You don’t always see it because he likes to hide behind that mysterious, brooding rock star vibe he has going on, which is hot, but he’s loads of fun.
Maybe you don’t get to see it as much because Christian is such a menace and is so much louder, so he naturally takes the spotlight with his theatrics.
He’s also highly intelligent and business savvy.
He gave me some rock-solid business and branding advice over beers.
“I am also thankful that I look this good at thirty.” Which earns me chuckles from the crowd.
“I’m also thankful for Mr. and Mrs. Taylor for getting busy one night and producing Axel and Christian.
” They both pretend to be shocked, but I see that wink Mr. Taylor sends my way, dirty dog.
“Because your boys gave me the most life-changing gift for my birthday, I’ll never forget it. ” The room bursts out laughing.
“Aw, my boys were raised right. They would have given you something nice for your birthday,” Mama Taylor says innocently, which has the people in the know laughing harder.
“Oh yes, Mama Taylor, they knew exactly what I wanted …” Axel stands and places his hand over my mouth.
“It wasn’t really anything worth mentioning,” Axel says, which has the guys almost rolling around with laughter.
“Thank you, Derrick, for your thanks. I still think I won,” Christian jests.
“Dream on,” Axel bites back.
Christian ignores his twin. “I’m thankful that this beautiful woman beside me decided she wanted to take a chance on love, and I was the one she wanted to experience it with.” Awww. He’s such a romantic. “I’m also thankful that my wife is in good health, and that I get to spend forever with her.”
The two of them look at each other, there’s so much love radiating between them. We are all thankful that Vanessa is in good health, and thanks to her taking such drastic measures, she will always be in good health forever and always.
“I’m also so thankful that she allowed me to knock her up,” Christian says.
Wait, what? Did I hear him right? The entire table is silent as we stare at the two of them, but judging by their faces, it’s true. Holy shit.
“No bloody way,” I scream.
“Yep, Ness and I are having a baby,” Christian says proudly as everyone erupts into excitement.
“Derrick.” Sienna pulls me aside as everyone else heads to the room to watch the Thanksgiving game. “I need to tell you something,” she whispers.
“Yeah, what is it …?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I realize what she is about to say. “No. Don’t tell me …” She nods. “You’re having a baby.” I squeal as quietly as I can because I don’t know who knows this news.
“Yes.” She squeals with excitement. Oh, my, this is amazing. I’m so happy for her. She is the best mum to little Ryder. “Evan’s telling everyone else now.”
“You and Ness are having babies at the same time.”
“Right? We always dreamed of doing that, and now we are.”
“I’m so happy for you, SiSi.” I hug her again.
“Can you believe this is my life, D?”
I nod. “I can. You deserve all the happiness in the world. You were born to be a mum as well as a kickass businesswoman.”
“I never dreamed I could have it all,” she says, getting teary-eyed.
“I did. I always had faith in you. All you needed was a change of scenery to achieve it.”
“Like having Thanksgiving in Paris?” She giggles.
“Exactly.”
“I’m so happy, I could burst.”
“I’m bursting for you.” I wipe away my tears.
“You’re next, babe.”
I shake my head. “I’m taking a break from finding Mr. Right. I’ve decided to work on myself.”
“You’re perfect already.” She smirks.
“True, but perfection can sometimes use a tweak or two.” I smirk. “Look, the whole Chance thing made me realize that I’ve been choosing unavailable men because I’m afraid of truly getting hurt. Because if my own family can turn their backs on me, anyone can.”
“Oh, D,” Sienna says, bursting out crying.
“Hey, no need for tears. This is growth. I’ve realized it.
I’m acknowledging the trauma my parents put me through, and instead of sweeping it under the carpet, I’m dealing with it head-on.
I’ve realized that their extreme religious beliefs have nothing to do with me as a person, even if I am their own flesh and blood.
Even if I were straight, they would have found fault with me anyway, as they are extremely judgmental and truly unhappy people.
That’s not me. So, I am thankful they gave me life because your life would be hella boring if I wasn’t in it,” I tease, poking her.
“It would be. I’m so thankful for you, D. Not sure if I tell you enough but you saved me after Beau left. I wouldn’t have been able to take Ness up on her offer if I didn’t have you by my side. You are my strength.” Now I’m crying again.
“And you are mine.”
“I love you, D.”
“I love you too.” We bawl our eyes out. “You’re stuck with me for life,” I warn her.
“Of course I am, you’re my family, D. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I can’t believe you two hussies are knocked up at the same time,” I say as the boys scream about touchdowns.
“What can I say, Vegas!” Vanessa giggles.
“You guys can have a joint baby shower.” Camryn squeals.
“No, I don’t want to take it away from Ness. This is her first baby, and she should get to enjoy it,” Sienna states.
“What? No, we can definitely have a joint party. It would be silly to have two separate ones when the same people would be going to both,” Ness tells her.
“Yeah, I know, it’s just …”
“Stop it, I don’t mind sharing. It will be heaps of fun.”
“I’m so excited. I don’t get to plan many baby showers. I am planning your baby shower, aren’t I?” Camryn asks.
“Um … hello, of course. Who else would I have plan it?” Ness says.
“Oh my god, imagine if these two beans grow up and marry each other.” I squeal.
Sienna and Vanessa look at each other and laugh.
“That would be so cute,” Charlotte adds.
“Looks like Dirty Texas 2.0 is starting to take shape,” Isla jokes.
“That would be so awesome, the kids following in their daddy’s footsteps,” Stacey suggests.
“No, no, no. I’m surrounded enough by egomaniac rock stars, I don’t need my kids to follow in their footsteps.” Vanessa shudders.
“So, what do you think you’re having?’ I ask, because hello, we need to talk about wardrobes.
“Um … a baby?” Vanessa teases.
I flip her off. “No, do you think you’re having a boy or a girl?”
“As long as it’s healthy, that’s all I want,” she says.
“Could you imagine Evan and Christian with daughters?” Isla asks. “It would be karma for all their womanizing years.”
We all burst out laughing at the thought.
“Imagine the fashion if they are girls. I know Ryder rocks the coolest kids’ clothes ever, but a little girl running around …” I say. It would be Uncle Derrick’s dream.
“You need to open up a Wyld Jones’ children’s boutique,” Charlotte suggests.
Sienna and I look at each. “Why the fuck have we not thought of this?” I say to Sienna.
“Um … because we have been so busy running the boutique and your business, plus possibly trying to expand into the shop next door if we can get it,” Sienna explains.
We’ve been in negotiations with the two-story shop next door to expand things as we are growing so quickly. The upstairs has spaces that would make a perfect studio for my styling business. Sienna wants to use the money Beau gave her to buy it.
“We could move the adult shop into the new building, and upstairs could be the styling side of the business, and next door could be for the children’s boutique.”
Sienna pauses for a moment. “But we don’t know anything about children’s fashion.”
The room erupts into laughter. “Si, the fact that Ryder has his own social media account with over a hundred thousand followers suggests you know about children’s fashion,” Vanessa teases.
“That’s just taking cute photos of my boy, but doing business out of it?” Sienna questions.
“Look at the Kardashians. Once they started popping out children, people wanted to know what they were wearing, just like Ryder, only he’s way cooler,” I tell her.
“You’re spending more money on children’s clothes than you do on your own at the moment.
Think of all the rich mummies wanting to dress their kids in the coolest fashions just like Sienna Wyld. ”
Sienna smiles. “I do go kind of crazy looking for kids’ clothing for him, and now with another on the way …”
“You could call it Wyld, instead of Wyld Jones. That way, it would be different branding to our adult shop,” I suggest.
Sienna pauses. “What, you don’t want your name on it?”
I forgot about the pregnancy hormones. “Oh, no, babe, that’s not at all what I was thinking. I think it should be a separate brand under our Wyld Jones banner. I could concentrate on the styling and adult side, especially now we have men’s fashion, and you could concentrate on the children’s side.”
“There’s a shit ton of money in children’s fashion. The amount of photography work my friends are doing for couture children’s fashion is crazy,” Charlotte explains.
Sienna listens. “But I just found out I’m having another baby, D. How am I going to deal with Ryder, buying real estate, and adding a new business to the mix, plus everything else going on in my life?”
“We hire the best people, and we get good staff around us. We’re already starting to amass an awesome team, and we can hire more people,” I reassure her.
“Don’t forget you have me,” Stacey adds.
Sienna smiles at her.
“Stacey found our staff, she can do it again. Stacey could take over the running of all the other stuff, and you can concentrate on discovering the best brands for the boutique,” I explain to Sienna.
“Plus, don’t forget Ryder’s huge following on social media. They will all want what he has. I bet if you open the children’s boutique to online orders, you’ll have a runaway success because all these mothers will want to dress their children like him,” Vanessa adds.
“Ryder is pretty cute, and he does have awesome style.” Sienna smiles. “You sure we can do this, D? I mean, it’s a lot of work.”
“I think it’s kind of a perfect business idea. We can now dress the whole family,” I say excitedly.
This makes Sienna laugh. “When you put it like that, yeah, I guess it makes perfect sense. Okay, let’s do it. Evan is going to kill me, but, oh well.”
“Just suck his dick, he’ll be fine,” I tell her, which has everyone erupting into laughter.