CHAPTER TWO
Trevor
“DAAADDY!” I winced as Bella held up her arms. She was almost four and had enough bubblegum in her hair to make it look blue instead of blonde. I bit back a curse and held her close in an attempt not to get it caught in my longer hair or, God forbid, an eyelash. “I need you, where you go?”
I was about to answer when Eric laughed. “Gum makes your hair fall out!”
“Daddy!” Bella’s eyes filled with unshed tears.
Damnit!
“Eric.” I gritted my teeth. “You know that’s not true, apologize to your little sister.”
He gave her a sloppy grin. “Sorry your hair’s going to fall out.”
Son of a bitch.
“Eric!” Still holding Bella, I stood, almost knocking over the hot chocolate I’d brought them and the babysitter, who seemed to be more interested in her phone than anything going on in our lavish beach house. “If you can’t be nice, I’m going to ground you.”
He made a face. “Mom never grounded me.”
He was six and a pain in my ass.
“Eric…” I prayed for patience. Hell, I hadn’t had patience since my ex-wife decided to run away with a Brazilian boy band member meant for stardom.
It had been a year. A year of absolute hell, and now I was one month away from gaining full custody of three kids who looked at me like I was eighty years old and needed help with downloading apps on my cell phone.
How had it come to this?
I winced. I really shouldn’t dwell on the how.
She was a beautiful supermodel who wanted “the life.”
I gave it to her.
We had kids.
She got bored.
End of story.
Bitch.
I rubbed my chest with my hand. Bella grabbed my fingertips and brought them to her cheek. “You have big hands.”
I let out a rough exhale. “Because I’m meant to carry you… all of you, that’s what family does.”
Eric snorted just as his twin brother made his way down the stairs complaining about his iPad breaking… again.
“Malcom, I’ll get to it in a few, all right? I need to talk to your nanny first.”
“We don’t need a nanny,” Malcom said in an authoritative voice.
“Why don’t you guys go pick out a movie while we talk?”
Eric grumbled something about being too old for hot chocolate even though he took it and started chugging as he walked up the stairs and Bella followed with her bouncy now short and gum inflicted blonde hair and chipper demeanor.
Which left me.
And Adriana.
“So…” I sat down across from her, folding my hands in front of me, feeling completely out of my element. I was a fucking music producer. I had gold records lining the walls of my house—LA house to be exact, but still. And I’d successfully sold out the last reunion tour with my guys.
And yet there I was.
Stuck.
In Seaside.
Staring at a babysitter who was more interested in her Instagram than letting me know if my kids finished their chores.
“How did they do today?” I leaned back in my chair, going for the casual.
She started typing on her phone like her fingers were on fire.
Mine went off.
I looked down.
Adriana: Good! They played at the park, we made cookies, Eric has an attitude problem, and Malcom asked where babies come from, but Bella colored with me while he pouted. Such cool dudes. Well done old man well done.
I blinked then blinked again. “Did you just… text me your answer?”
Her fingers moved again.
Adriana: Yeaaahhhh?
Me: Speak. With. Your. Voice.
She looked up. “Um, it was a good day. Can I get paid now?”
I rubbed my hands down my face. “Adriana, I pay you to help them, not to just watch them. I want you to engage them, to teach them things. Malcom and Eric start school in a few weeks, Bella’s headed off to pre-school.
” Just the idea of them being away from me for more than a few hours had me feeling panic.
“I just, I don’t want them to get made fun of for not knowing what a circle is, and I’m trying the best I can but—”
“Are you gonna cry?” She narrowed her eyes. “Because I don’t think that’s in my job description. And if you want me to teach them like a teacher then you should pay me like a teacher.” Her smile was back. God save me from seventeen-year-old girls. “Like with benefits and stuff.”
“You know what?” I dug into my back pocket and gave her a crisp hundred dollar bill. “Never mind.”
She took the cash. “Oh! I almost forgot, a few friends and I are headed to a music festival tomorrow so I need the week off.”
I stared at her, slack-jawed. “Adriana, we’ve been over this.
I’m in the studio all week. I hired you to watch them so I could get this album done.
” She didn’t need to know that I hadn’t been able to take the press in Malibu, that going to the grocery store had made all three kids cry when some dick reporter asked if Bella was sad her mommy was gone.
It had been a nightmare.
And then my bandmate and lead singer Will told me that the easiest place to escape was Oregon.
And after visiting last year, I realized he’d had a solid point. Not only did Seaside have three films and a reality show hit based on the town, but some of my closest friends had beach houses there.
Including boy band AD2, the guys said they wanted to raise their kids away from the crazy, which made sense.
It still felt like we’d run away in the middle of the night, leaving a life behind that I didn’t even recognize anymore.
“Um.” Adrianna waved in front of my face. “You have a stroke or something?”
I made a face. “Seriously? How old do you think I am?”
She gave me a wide-eyed look. “Is this the part where I tell the dad that he’s still got it?” She licked her lips and bit down on the bottom one. “Is that why you’ve been so weird since you hired me? You have a crush on me?”
I refrained from groaning into my hands, barely. “That would be a hard no. I’m an adult, and I’m pretty sure if I asked you to dial 911 you’d send a text instead.”
“Hey! Well, you’re just some washed-up—”
“I’m going to stop you right there before all of my platinum records fall off the wall and chase you down the street. You’re fired.”
“What? Because I wouldn’t suck your—”
“Wow!” I was seconds away from calling in one of the security guards I’d hired for the kids when I was away during the day. The last thing I needed was a kidnapping. “You can show yourself out.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You couldn’t handle me anyway.”
That would be because I knew how to handle women, and she was nothing but a girl with an iPhone X and way too much time on her hands.
The door slammed behind her.
And just like that, the crying started.
“Daddy!” Bella wailed. “Eric put more gum in my hair!”
“It’s gonna fall out! It’s gonna make you bald!” Eric shouted.
“Is it normal for gum to be that sticky?” Malcom asked in a confused voice.
“I don’t think that’s gum.” More from Eric.
“DAD!” Malcom shrieked. “I think it’s Gorilla Glue!”
“Son of a bitch!” I roared.
The crying intensified.
Of course I just had to fire the nanny. Fantastic. The album deadline was rearing its ugly head, I had absolutely no help, and my kids were understandably upset that their mom was a selfish bitch.
“Just give me a minute to think,” I called up, not that it helped. The crying intensified, something was pushed over, a crash sounded louder, another shriek. A curse word.
“Malcom Jonathan WOOD!” I roared.
“It was Eric!”
“Shit!” Eric repeated over and over again.
My eye twitched as I looked at the fridge and saw the beer waiting inside. Once they were in school it would get better. They’d make friends and—
“Daaaaddy!” Bella ran down the stairs and jumped into my arms. “Eric said it’s never going to grow back!”
“Everyone downstairs!” I yelled. “Now!” I kissed Bella on the cheek. “Sweetheart, we’ll figure it out. There has to be something at the store we can get that will take it out, all right, maybe we’ll try the peanut butter this time?”
“Mom would know,” came Malcom’s solemn voice as he jumped down the bottom stair. “She always knew what to do when—”
“Yeah well, Mom’s not here!” Eric shoved him. “So just drop it.”
The pain was evident in Eric’s face, in Malcom’s voice, hell, in the size of Bella’s tears.
I was failing them.
I loved them more than anything in the world.
And I was failing them when they needed me the most.
I let out a helpless sigh. “Coats and shoes, we’re going to the store.”