Beat to Their Heart (11 page)

“What?” feeling subconscious.

“Umm nothing, never seen a chick chug beer before.”

“Oh, well it’s kinda been a long day. So much for a day off, huh.” She half laughed, half cried. It had been a day from hell for her. Milo got hurt at a school she hated, but the only one that had a special education program for him. Milo was brilliant with math, but reading he struggled. Then she had to call Joey for help because her car finally died on her. Doctor Hudson was an ass and Joey about killed him, and now she was stuck in his house because it was what was best for Milo, though she didn’t know about her heart.

“Well, we are going to call it a night. Big day tomorrow. Sky, if you need anything and Joey isn’t here, or he’s busy, we left our numbers on the fridge. Just give us a call and we can help.” She nodded and Joey walked them out. She was shocked by the way they acted toward her. When they first met her, they acted like she was a leper, then they tried to pay her off. Now, they offered her help when she needed it. Damn, for the first time in a long time, she wished she had something stronger than beer.

Slowly eating her sandwich, she had most of it finished before Joey returned.

“How you doing, baby?” He came and wrapped his arms around her. She allowed herself the small comfort he offered, even though she was still mad at him. He kissed the top of her head and for once, she closed her eyes and imagined that things would be okay.

“I feel like crap really, but how else should I be?” She turned and looked at him, really looked at him. He had dark circles under his eyes and he didn’t look like himself.

“You should feel bad, baby. It’s been a crap day. I’m just glad I was here to help you, and that you are staying here.” He moved a piece of hair from her face and placed it behind her ear. “I am so sorry, Sky, more than I can even say. Please forgive me.”

“Joey, it’s not that easy. I can’t forgive and forget like that. But I promise we can try to build the trust we had, and at least be friends. Can that be okay?”

“That’s fine with me, baby. As long as I have you in my life, you and Milo, I will take what you will give me. But I won’t lie and say that I hope it will turn into something more.”

She didn’t have any words to say, because deep down she wanted that too. Finishing the last of her beer, she found a water bottle in the fridge and started drinking that instead. Wanting to relax but not watch TV, she found herself wandering outside to the backyard. The pool area was beautiful and then she spotted the hot tub. God that is what she so needed right now, but getting down into her suit with Joey wouldn’t be smart right now. Instead she found a lawn chair that allowed her to see the ocean. The view was amazing. Sitting down, she relaxed some. To her surprised Joey did the same with a beer in his hand.

“You know, growing up I never thought I would have a place like this. It’s still all new to me, well to all of us. We are adjusting to the change of having money and people following us. Sure we have a few groupies when we played smaller bars, but they were all dives. Nothing like stadiums and such.” She looked at him while he took a drink of his beer. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“You can, doesn’t mean I will answer though.” She smirked.

“Okay, fair enough.” He turned and looked her in the eyes. “Sky, where is Milo’s father?” Wow, she hadn’t expected that.

“Well, let’s see. My ex-husband decided he liked the other sex better than me. Which is okay, that’s fine. You have to understand we slept together maybe five times since we were married. I thought I loved him, but he didn’t love me. I was his excuse to get a promotion. When he found out I was pregnant, he flipped out. Said it couldn’t be his, demanded a DNA test and all that stupid crap. Needless to say, he did get it when Milo was born, but Keith didn’t want anything to do with him. So I made it easy and told him to sign his rights away. The day I got out of the hospital, I found an envelope with the papers I wanted, a check for my troubles, as he called it, and that was it. It’s been me and Milo since.” She didn’t think it was as bad as some, she had heard worse. But that was her story.

“Wow, Sky, I’m sorry. But Milo deserves so much better than a person like that. Sky, just do me a favor.”

“Sure, what’s that?”

“Don’t tell me his last name.” She already knew the answer to her unspoken questions. She knew if she did Joey would go after him.

“Okay, Joey.” And that was it. When the sun finally sank down into the water, she started to get tired. Joey had shown her to a spare room she could sleep in. Leaving the door open so she could hear Milo, she sank into the bed and let sleep take her.

Chapter Thirteen

The first day of staying at Joey’s had been weird to say the least. Milo didn’t feel much like moving around his room. Joey did what he said and had a TV installed so Milo could watch movies when he didn’t feel like getting up and down. She remembered waking up in a panic because she had forgotten where she was and then rushed to find Joey sitting on the bed with Milo playing with Legos and building a spaceship. Well Milo’s looked like a spaceship, Joey, well he did more of a tower, but said it would still fly. But what was cute was the fact he had PJ pants on and a t-shirt. Milo was all excited they got to stay at his house for a while. The doorbell rang and Joey had to leave to answer, and she sat down and talked to him to make sure he was okay with staying at Joey’s house.

“Yeah, Mommy. Joey is the coolest. And this bed is bigger than mine, and I have Transformer sheets. How cool is that.” He went on and on about the different things boys talked about. A knock at the door startled her. Hunter stood by the door with a small tray of food.

“Hey, Milo. I’m Hunter, one of your mommy’s friends. I’m also in the band with Joey. I heard you like blueberry muffins, so I thought I would bring you one.” Hunter walked into the room with the food. He had also brought up a juice box to go with it.

“Thank you, Mr. Hunter.” Hunter smiled and sat down on the end of the bed.

“I heard you got a really cool cast. You know I had one growing up, but it was my arm. You know what’s cool about them?”

“I don’t know,” he replied.

“You can write on them or put stickers on them.”

“Really?”

“Yup, and I happen to have some right here.” Hunter reached into his back pocket and pulled out several different types of stickers. It seemed this was going to be a long conversation. She excused herself and headed downstairs. She wanted to talk to Joey, because she felt dirty and didn’t have any clean clothes. She slept in her t-shirt and bra, but removed her pants. However, she was still in the same thing. She found Joey and Mickey sitting at the small breakfast bar eating.

“Hey, sunshine. See, I told you I would bring food this morning.” Mickey smiled at her. Joey however, walked over to her handing her a cup of coffee and a bag. Looking down at him she raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t have anything to wear right? Well until we get your things later this afternoon. I’m sure you want something to clean to put on. Milo already had some clean clothes in the dresser.” He did a sly smile and she was afraid to look in the bag. Thanking him, she took the coffee. With one quick drink she started coughing.

“What in Hades name is this?” It tasted like tar.

“Oh sorry, I’m not very useful with coffeemakers. So I might have put too much in it.”

“A little, I think you can pave the road with it. Can I make a new pot?”

“Oh God please,” Mickey responded before Joey could respond. Laughing, she went over to the coffeemaker and turned it off, rinsing out the pot, and pulling the coffee filter out. Throwing away the filter she washed that as well and started a new pot, well she did it making sure Joey paid attention. She laughed when he realized he hadn’t throw away the old filter, but just added more on top until it got filled and then he started over again. The man was useless with coffee, but she would train him soon enough.

Once at least one cup was done, she made herself a cup, drank it down, and smiled at them as she went to shower and change. She asked Joey to check on Milo and see that he ate and took his medication if he was hurting. He smiled and kissed her on the head again before she hurried off.

Once in the shower she found there were spare soaps and shampoos. Rushing like she normally did, she washed and dried within ten minutes. Looking into the bag she about dropped it. The man had bought her new panties, which were thongs. Something she had never worn, and a matching lace bra. Grimacing, she put them both on only because her clothes were nasty. Looking in the mirror she was shocked at how she looked. The bra cupped her breasts perfectly, holding them in place, yet looking sexy as well. The thong wasn’t too uncomfortable, and fit her well. Pulling out the sundress that was there, she slipped it on. The material was cotton and hung on her like it was made for her body. It accentuated her breasts and the curves of her waist, without making her look chunky. Taking a deep breath she headed out of the spare room, well after she made the bed.

Rounding the corner she heard Milo laughing at something. Looking in she saw Mickey, Joey, and Hunter drawing on Milo’s cast. Milo looked up and smiled brightly at her.

“Mommy, you look pretty.” She smiled at her son, but started to blush as all three men looked up. All eyes were focused on her, and she suddenly felt self-conscious. Smoothing down the dress, Joey came over to her with a wicked grin on his face.

Joey couldn’t keep his eyes off Sky. He had called into a store to have something for Sky to wear. Mickey just had to pick it up for him. But he would have to send a personal note of thanks for the outfit. Plus he knew what they had sent to go underneath before he handed it to her. Her sweet blush told him she wasn’t used to compliments. Well that would change.

“Wow, Sky, you look great,” Mickey said grinning.

“Totally hot, babe.” Hunter winked at her playfully.

He, however, would smack the shit out of his friends later. Face to face with her, he took her face between his hands.

“Breathtaking.” He lowered his lips to hers very gently, he wanted to deepen it, but he heard Milo’s childish giggle.

“Joey kissed my mommy,” and then started playing with a toy. He could tell it didn’t bother him, and Sky looked concerned.

“Baby, he’s not mad. If he was, he would have yelled at me. But you do look amazing.” Sky smiled sweetly at him.

“Thank you, and thank you for the clothes. You have to let me pay you back.”

“Baby, don’t. I have more money than I know what to do with. Shockingly, when Booker isn’t high, he is great with stocks and crap. So we did well a long time ago when we all first got paid. I have no one to spend it on, so let me spoil you and Milo some.” He did a pouty face, making her laugh.

“Okay, fine. Did Milo take anything?”

“Yeah, I asked if he was hurting and he said he was. I had him eat at least half the muffin and drink all the juice before I gave him the pill. He should be starting to get tired soon.” He turned and saw that Mickey and Hunter were cleaning up the toys, while setting up a movie for him. Mickey pulled the curtain closed, and Hunter pulled the covers up closer to him, while handing him a walkie-talkie.

“What’s that?” Sky asked, pointing to the toy in Milo’s hand.

“Oh, we thought that Milo might need us for something, so we got walkie-talkies for him. We each have one. Yours is in the kitchen. That way he doesn’t need to try to yell, or get out of bed unless one of us helps him.” He smiled, and saw Sky’s mouth drop open.

“I, wow. I never thought about that.”

“That’s what I’m here for, babe.” He kissed her head again, leading her out the room. He knew the guys were following as well.

“Don’t worry, Sky, we got him.” He knew she needed to run to the apartment and the store. He didn’t miss the small grocery list she started to make. Once down in the kitchen he handed her his credit card.

“What’s this?”

“My card, you’re authorized to use it.”

“Joey, I can buy food.”

“Umm, baby, look at your list again. The guys added more things to it, and so did I. You saw the fridge. If you want to wait until I’m done with work I can go with you.” He really needed to get some practice going as they went into the studio to actually start laying down tracks to the new album.

“You shopping, now that’s a sight.” She looked at the list and her eyes went wild. “Holy cow, Joey, this is a lot of food. I guess it’s a good thing all of you eat a lot.” She laughed, but in the end she took the card and grumbled about taking his car instead of a cab. He needed to look at getting her something to drive, but he would wait until he got her settled in the house first.

Once Sky left, he and the guys went into his music room. Mickey had some great ideas, but when they asked him what he thought about a slower song, for once he spoke up. They each took apart the words, and in the end, he had written most of it.

“Damn, man, this is amazing. How did you come up with it?”

“Skylar. She inspires me to be better.” He laughed.

“I see that. She’s actually pretty cool, dude. I’m sorry I was a dick about her before. I thought she would take you for a ride, and then with a kid. But Milo, man, that kid's a trip. Smart as hell. I honestly couldn’t tell he is autistic. We need to look at getting him into a better school though,” Hunter said with Mickey agreeing.

“Thanks.” Once that song was outlined, they worked on two more before calling it quits with Milo asking if someone could help him. Joey said he would be right up. Racing up the stairs, he found Milo looking sad.

“Hey, buddy what’s wrong?”

“I have to go potty, but can’t walk. Can you get mommy?”

“Mommy’s not here, little man. But I can take you in and set you down and when you’re done I can help you back into bed okay?” Milo looked at him and then agreed. Once Milo was done, Joey made sure he was tucked in.

“Do you want anything? A drink, a snack. Mommy went to the store to get stuff for dinner.” Joey had started to realize he had said just mommy, and not your mommy.