Hell Bent (Rock Bottom #1) (16 page)

I smile, hugging her close and spin us around so I can see Izzy. “Good, because I don’t think she’s going anywhere. At least I hope not.”

“Kristy!” My mother pushes away from me and throws her hands into the air. “Come dance with Momma so Bennett can woo that pretty girl.”

Kristy jumps up, stumbles, and takes my place, allowing me to make my way back over to Izzy. I take my spot between her knees and brace my hands against her hips.

“Feeling better?”

“I like your family,” she admits.

“They like you too.”

The corner of her mouth twitches. “Your mother wants you to woo me.”

“Well then.” Stepping back, I bow down a bit and hold my hand out. I look like an idiot, but as long as it keeps the smile on her face, I don’t care. “Dance with me, and let the wooing begin.”

“Isabelle Irons,” I answer without glancing at the screen to see who it is. Pulling into the parking lot, I pick a spot close to the door of the OBGYN and shift into park.

“Have I ever told you how sexy you are when in business mode?”

“I’m sorry, who is this?”

I can’t stop the smile that splits my face over the opportunity to fuck with Bennett. It’s the first time in the weeks since he headed back out on tour that I’ve been able to joke with him. I hadn’t realized how attached I had become to him until he wasn’t there anymore. I know the only reason is because it’s getting closer to him being home again. Next week can’t get here soon enough.

“Oh, you’re funny today.”

“I’m fucking hilarious every day,” I correct him. Staring in silence at the steering wheel, I listen to the sound of him breathing on the other end of the line. It’s comforting and calms my jittery nerves. “I wish you were here,” I finally break down and tell him, trying to cover the break in my voice. We hadn’t actually talked about him coming to any of the doctor’s appointments, but everything in me wants him here. He
belongs
here.

“You want me there?” he seems surprised.

“More than anything. But I guess I’ll have to settle for seeing you in a wee—” my words are cut short when someone pulls open my door. 

A scream gets stuck in my throat but quickly turns to a sob when Bennett steps up next to me.
Fucking hormones.
Forgetting that I’m strapped in, I scramble to get to him, getting caught and making him laugh. Reaching across me, he releases the seat belt and tugs me closer to him, crushing his lips to mine.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask when he finally lets go.

“I missed you and didn’t want to miss your appointment. Which is something we’re both going to do if you don’t get out of the truck.”

I’m full of so many questions, and I can’t take my eyes off of him as he helps me down. “How long are you home for?”

Holding the office door open, Bennett lets me pass and check in before answering me. “I’m on the red-eye back to Seattle.”

The excitement I was feeling knowing he was home tapers off when I find out he’s only here for a few hours. I force myself to focus on the fact that he flew all the way back for an appointment that he didn’t
have
to be here for and that gives me the opportunity to show him what I’ve been working on.

After they call me back, I settle on the exam bed and Bennett drops down beside me. Letting his eyes run across my body, he leans down and kisses my stomach, resting his hand against that spot when he sits back up. 

What the hell have I ever done in my life to deserve this man?

“A boy,” I whisper, running my fingers along the edges of the ultrasound photo. I haven’t been able to put it down since the doctor handed it to me. I have others, but knowing that the baby inside of me is a boy and I can start planning makes it more realistic. I’m tucked into Bennett’s side as he drives toward IronSound so I can stare in awe at the photo of my baby.

“We’re having a boy,” I whisper, not realizing what I’m saying until it’s too late. I freeze, unable to breathe while I wait to see how he reacts to what I said. I expect him to freak out, pull over, and start walking to get away from me. As usual, he surprises me. Not saying a word, he tightens his grip and kisses the top of my head, lingering there. 

I take his silent answer and run with it. There is no need for him to tell me with words what he can express better with his actions.

“Are you gonna tell me why we’re headed to the damn office on the only day I have with you for another week?”

Pressing my face against his chest, I smile. “As much as I would love to just have you take me home until you have to go to the airport, I have a surprise for you.”

Pulling into my designated spot in the parking lot, Bennett shuts the truck down and turns toward me. Grabbing my wrist, he pulls it to his lips before running his fingers over the photo the same way I did.

“Telling me that
we’re
going to have a son is more than anything I could ever ask for.”

I will not cry...
 These fucking hormones are going to kill me before everything is said and done.

When I finally get ahold of myself, I push him out the door with a smile. “I don’t know. I think you’ll like this too. I mean, you were pretty insistent that something like this should happen.”

Confusion fills his eyes but he doesn’t resist when I pull him along behind me. As nervous as I am about showing him what I’ve been up to, I’m more excited than anything. I don’t need him to be, but I
want
him to be a part of this project. I
want
him to be proud of me.

Somehow we manage to make it all the way to my office without anyone screaming my name and asking questions about my doctor’s appointment. It’s not that I don’t want to tell people, but having this one tiny secret between Bennett and myself is nice for now.

“So,” Bennett drags out as he comes up behind me. Wrapping his arms around my stomach, he breathes in the scent of my hair.

“So… you were right. Abby was right. Everyone was right,” I mutter. The snort he uses in an attempt to stop his laughter is met with a slap to his arm. “Shut up, dick, this is hard for me.”

“Well, I’ve got about seven hours before I have to leave to catch my flight. I can wait, but who knows how long before someone realizes you’re here and comes barging in with something to add to your to-do list.”

Groaning, I realize exactly how right he is and the fact that he pretty much told me the same thing I told him the night at the Opry doesn’t slip past me. My list of stuff to do is always growing, and it seems like I’ll never see the end of it. Granted, I have tossed a ton of it off to other people since the accident and Abby’s demands, so it isn’t
as
long
.

“I need a vacation.”
One that doesn’t require a hospital trip or a doctor’s order.

Dropping down on the corner-edge of my desk, Bennett pulls me between his legs. His fingers roam across my stomach softly. “How about when I get back next week we take one? Just you and me. No cell phones, no deadlines, no drama. I don’t care if it’s a day, a week, or the whole month that I’m home. Let’s just go.”

As usual, without even actually trying, he makes me feel better. With one simple thought, he took all the stress that was starting to weigh me down by simply thinking about everything I had to do, and tossed it out the window. The thought alone of leaving it all behind me for a few days lifts the weight on my shoulders. If only it could lift the weight pulling on my spine for a few as well…

“I’m gonna take that sexy little smile you’re tryin’ to hide as a yes.” Without waiting for me to answer him, he continues. “Now, what did you bring me here for?”

As soon as I remind her that we came here for a reason, her smile falls and her body language turns nervous. Stepping out of my grip, I let her go, afraid that if I try to ask her what she’s looking for, she’ll stop completely.

With shaking hands, Izzy grabs her laptop and a pair of earbuds before dropping down on the couch. For a minute, I don’t know if she’s going to invite me to join her, but as soon as she opens the computer and takes a deep breath, she crooks her finger at me. I sit as close to her as I can, and when she pushes one side of the earbuds into my ear and the other into hers before resting her head against my shoulder, I begin to wonder if what I do is worth it. The money and the music are fucking awesome no doubt, but this? Sitting here with the girl of my dreams and a baby on the way? It’s normal, which is something I never wanted before Izzy.

Double-clicking on a track, Izzy closes her eyes as the music plays. It takes me a minute to figure out what is streaming, but as soon as I do, I can’t do anything but focus on what she is showing me. All the fighting the night she walked in on me with her father’s music led us here. Each track title in the list of what she has playing coincides with a page from that book, but they’re all sung by her.

“You guys were right,” she finally whispers when we’ve sat and listened through roughly half the songs.

“Right about what, exactly?” I question when I find my voice. 

“That these songs deserve to be heard. It took me finding out I was pregnant to realize it and then it took actually meeting Cara to figure out what some of them meant, but I get it now. I
feel
it now. The pain my dad felt, the pain he kept hidden from me, I understand it. The lie he made everyone live with my entire life was to benefit me, not him, because you know what?”

“What, baby?” Reaching over, I brush her hair from her face, drying a stray tear with my thumb at the same time.

“As much as I miss my Dad—as much as I love him—I’d take losing him a hundred times over feeling what I felt when I found out why she left me. I’d take it because he didn’t willingly choose to leave, she did, and that hurts so much more.”

“I know.” I clear my throat because my own feelings are beginning to strangle me, making it hard to breathe. I hate telling her those words because I hate hearing them, but they are the truth. Knowing your parent willingly walked away and wanted nothing to do with you is a debilitating kind of hurt. 

“It’s not fair.” Her words are so soft that I barely catch them, but they’re there.

Determined to pull her back from the depressing road her mind is no doubt taking her down, I ask, “So, what are you going to do about it?”