2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Cavalari was waiting, just as he said he would be, when Bronx approached.
He opened up the back door and Bronx hopped up into the vehicle in silence.
Not one word was exchanged between them—until they hit bumper to bumper traffic the closer they got to the hospital.
From what Bronx could see from the back seat, it looked like a possible car accident ahead.
The entire street was closed except for one lane and with all the cars behind them lining up, they couldn’t even turn around to try a different route.
They were stuck . . . in a small space . . . together.
“I swear I could walk faster than this,” Bronx complained.
“Do you see what’s in front of me?” Cavalari yelled over his shoulder at Bronx. “I don’t have super powers to make this vehicle fly and I can’t drive through the other cars, either, so you need to chill the fuck out.”
“Relaxing when I’m with you isn’t an option,” Bronx said.
By the time they finally pulled up in front of the hospital, Bronx was much later than he expected.
Cavalari slid out of the driver’s seat and handed the keys for the Suburban to a security guard from their team to park the metal beast and hurried around the side of the vehicle to shadow Bronx inside the building.
Cavalari and Bronx argued all the way to the elevators and were still snipping at each other when they exited on the floor for Labor and Delivery.
“Please don’t talk to me,” Bronx barked at Cavalari as they rounded the final corner near the waiting room. “When it’s time for me to leave, I’ll wave you down. Until then, stay away from me.”
Cavalari took a position outside the door to the waiting room while Bronx stormed right on past him inside.
Bronx stopped short when he realized he had about a dozen or more sets of eyes belonging to strangers staring at him.
In addition to the guys in his band, there were others waiting for baby news from laboring moms. Dante tipped his chin at him and Bronx walked in his direction.
“Any updates on the baby?” Bronx asked Dante.
“Their surrogate is still in labor,” Dante said.
“So, what are we supposed to do?” Bronx questioned as he fidgeted with nervous energy.
“We think happy thoughts until Dagger comes out with news,” Dante said and then rolled his eyes.
“Any idea when that might be?” Bronx asked and Dante glared at him.
“Why, do you have a hot date or something else more important to do?” Dante asked with sarcasm.
“It’s a legit question,” Bronx defended. “I have no idea how these things work.”
“Babies come when they’re damn good and ready,” Dante argued. “Our job is to wait.”
Ashton walked back into the room then and leaned in between Bronx and Dante. “They have really nice bathrooms,” Ashton said using a soft voice in the bend of Dante’s neck. “We should check them out later.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bronx grumbled almost to himself and Ashton turned his head toward Bronx. A slow, mischievous grin lifted his lips.
“Hey, Bronxy,” Ashton said in a far too cheery tone. “Nice of you to join us. Oh, and we heard all about the colorful conversation you had with Cavalari earlier at your house.”
“Rex ratted me out?” Bronx asked. “That wasn’t necessary of him.”
“Since Ashton brought that up, you should know Dagger isn’t going to continue tolerating the Bickerson routine between you and your guard,” Dante admonished.
“Is Calamari getting his ass reamed too or am I the only bad guy in this shit show that’s in trouble?” Bronx questioned.
“Fizzbo will take care of him,” Dante said.
“Good, I hope he gets fired,” Bronx added.
“Fired? I sincerely doubt that is ever going to happen, Bronx,” Dante corrected.
“Another harsh truth is if you don’t find a way to play nice with Cavalari, you’ll end up locked in a rubber room together with a shrink who will force you to talk about your issues and feelings,” Ashton warned, “and believe me, you do not want that to happen. It was no walk in the park and we came out of that fiery hell emotionally bruised.”
“But it also brought us together,” Dante said and leaned in to nip at Ashton’s ear lobe. The flinch Ashton did told Bronx that Dante’s teeth had hit their intended target.
Bronx’s gaze bounced to Dante for confirmation. “They seriously did that to you?”
“As serious as needing Viagra to get a boner,” Ashton said.
“Point is, you’ve got to find a way to work through this, man,” Dante agreed.
“You’re not the same person since Cavalari joined the team.
Fix the issues between you and find neutral ground together.
You’re not required to be BFFs but for fuck’s sake, you have to at least get along well enough to tolerate being in the same fucking room together and you’re not even close to achieving that. ”
“It’s difficult to imagine you two fighting,” Bronx said. “All you seem to do now is fuck in bathrooms.” Bronx made his last comment a little too loud for the room and several people turned to look at them. “Shit, I need to watch my sound level.”
“We were stuck in that facility for several days—in the same room—24/7,” Dante explained. “Dagger wouldn’t sign off on our discharge until the doctor said we were no longer at each other’s throats.”
“The therapy obviously worked,” Bronx scoffed.
“We realized we preferred fucking rather than fighting,” Ashton whispered.
“That’s never going to happen with me and Calamari,” Bronx replied.
“Are you ever going to explain to us what the beef is between you?” Dante asked.
“Did one of you put the other’s teddy bear in the freezer or something?” Ashton asked.
“Let’s just say, Tony Cavalari is the reason I got sober and we’ll leave it at that,” Bronx said. He even used the man’s correct name for the first time—out loud with witnesses—but then made a sour face because the name tasted foreign and slightly bitter on his tongue.
A moment later, Dagger’s big frame filled the doorway of the waiting room. He was still wearing the sterile gown and hat from being in the delivery room and looked like a doctor who’d just performed a quadruple bypass surgery on someone’s heart. His smile was big enough to light the damn room.
“You can call me DADDY!” Dagger announced loudly to the occupants in the room and everyone began to clap and cheer.
“Boy or girl?” Dante questioned as we moved closer to the proud new father.
“He is a big, strapping boy with lots of dark hair on his head,” Dagger gushed.
“We’re thinking future NFL player or maybe a lumberjack.
Ryan’s still in there taking photos of the nurses cleaning him up but I wanted to come out and let you know our baby has arrived and he is healthy as hell—all eight pounds of him! ”
“Holy shit—that’s a huge baby,” Ashton cheered.
“Yeah, he’s a bruiser but Momma did fine and I’m not ashamed to admit that both his daddies cried, so it’s all good,” Dagger said.
“Any names picked out yet?” Bronx asked.
“We have one we’re considering but we’re going to hold off announcing it for now,” Dagger said and his eyes began to mist. Dante was the first to offer Dagger a hug and then the rest of them followed.
Ashton was finishing with his hug when Aaron helped Lincoln into the room.
Lincoln was using a cane now because of the multiple sclerosis.
He needed the extra stability to walk but at least he was upright and mobile.
There was something to be said for Lincoln’s drive to stay active and independent.
“Hey, Linc!” Dagger said with his arms already opening up to embrace his long-time friend. “Guess who’s a daddy?”
Dagger wrapped Lincoln up in his arms and damn near knocked him off balance. Aaron was quick to step in to steady his husband and allowed the two men to have a moment before he gave Dagger a congratulatory slap on the back.
“I’ve got cigars for everyone but I need to go back in there and check on the other daddy,” Dagger said to us. He hurried to the door to the waiting room and gave us a wave before slipping back into the hallway to find Ryan.
“Jesus, Dagger is a father ,” Lincoln sighed with a big dopey grin on his face. “Never thought I’d see the day that man would be tamed and domesticated.”
“Yeah, it’s quite a concept,” Dante said and chuckled, “and soon he’ll be changing shitty diapers.”
“Gross, but true,” Ashton chimed in.
“Lots of changes in the works for all of you,” Lincoln said. “You’ve got the Vegas residency starting soon, too, right?”
“We’ll be in LA for a while yet before we head to Vegas,” Dante answered. “Plus we have a short road trip to do some promo and a couple of shows in New Orleans that will kick things off before we roll into Vegas.”
“Are you excited about this new venture?” Lincoln asked.
“Fuck yeah,” Ashton said. “Much less travel and we can live in comp suites at the MGM. What’s not to love about that?”
“It’s a sweet deal,” Lincoln agreed. “I might fly down to do a special appearance with you guys at some point. Dagger’s been asking me to do that, so I might give it a try and see how tired I get from doing a show.”
“We’d love for you to join us,” Dante said and squeezed Lincoln’s shoulder, “and if there’s anything we can do to make the trip easier or less taxing on you, just let us know.”
“Dagger mentioned you and I could either double up on bass or I’ll play rhythm guitar with Dante while you play bass,” Bronx said. “It would be really cool to share a stage with you, man, if you’re up to it.”