New Beginnings (20 page)

“I’m still here. Okay, I’ll buzz you up.”

“Thanks.” He hung up the phone and waited for the lobby doors to slide open. He took a deep breath, thinking about the power of a drink to calm his nerves. It hadn’t been the first time he’d thought of indulging over the past twenty-four hours, but he’d remained steadfast in his commitment to remain sober. He couldn’t give in to the temptation, not when he was so close to getting everything he wanted.

He was grateful to step onto the elevator and find it empty. The building was quiet. He’d yet to see another visitor or resident roaming the halls. He stepped off the elevator and knocked on her door. Minutes felt like hours as he waited, knocking repeatedly. He began to wonder if she’d changed her mind when the door finally opened a crack. He set his cowboy boot in the open space, in case she was inclined to close the door in his face.

“Megan, let me in,” he whispered, looking down the hall to see an elderly couple locking their apartment door. They looked in his direction, but he was quick to turn his back, shielding their view of his face.

She hesitated, but the door finally swung open. She stepped back to allow him to enter.

He took in the tidy, nondescript furniture and accessories before turning to face the woman carrying his child. It looked like she had been crying. “Hey, you okay?”

She wrapped her arms around her midsection. “Come in, Trey.” She walked toward the small sofa, gesturing to a nearby armchair. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything?”

He noted her disheveled appearance. Judging by the drawstring sweatpants, stained tank top, and tousled ponytail, she had forgotten their appointment. “No, I’m fine.” He took the seat she offered, sitting on the edge, though he preferred to stand. There was no sense getting comfortable; she could quite possibly throw him out as soon as she heard his proposition.

“How’ve you been feeling?” he asked. His eyes drifted to her flat stomach. She must be three months pregnant by now.
Weren’t women supposed to start showing evidence of their pregnancy by the third month?

“Fine,” she said, picking at a piece of lint on her cotton pants. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m sorry about that. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the studio working on the new album.”

She nodded. “That’s what I figured when you didn’t return my calls.”

He leaned forward, placing his hand on her knee. “Megan, we need to talk about our situation.”

She looked at his hand before looking away. “What about it?”

“Do you want this baby? I mean, are you prepared for the fact that this baby will change your life forever?”

She frowned, looking confused. “What are you suggesting, Trey?”

He withdrew his hand, gripping the armrests of the chair instead. “I have a proposition for you. I’d like you to agree to let me raise this baby.”

“You? Are you serious?”

He tried to calm the tight fist of anxiety coiling in his chest. “I’m very serious. I could help you start a new life wherever you want. I know you want to be an actress, so Los Angeles would seem like a logical move, don’t you think?”

“It sounds like you want to buy this baby, Trey.”

He jumped off the couch. This was not going well. If he wasn’t careful, she would throw him out and go to the press with her claims that he tried to buy her off.

He wandered toward the window and took a deep breath to collect his thoughts before he turned toward her again. “I’m not suggesting that at all. I’ve given this a lot of thought, Megan. I’m ready to be a father, but you and I would never work. Surely you must know that?”

Her face tightened into a scowl and he saw the first sign of hatred in her eyes.

“It’s because of your precious Sierra, isn’t it? If it weren’t for her, you would have been willing to marry me.”

“I told you how I felt about Sierra; nothing’s changed.”

“Does that mean the two of you intend to raise this baby together if I agree to hand it over to you?”

“That would be my hope, though I haven’t talked to Sierra about it yet.”

She stood and walked toward him, glaring. “Too bad that’s not gonna happen, honey.”

He tried to rein in his temper. He needed to remain calm if he had a prayer of making her see things his way. “We could give this baby everything they need. Think about it, Megan. They would have a loving home, access to the finest schools...”

“There is no baby, asshole.”

He took a step back, feeling as though someone had struck him. “What are you talking about? Did you have a miscarriage?”

“That’s what I’d planned to tell you after we were married. The fact is this baby was just a figment of your imagination.”

“So you were going to pretend to be pregnant so I’d marry you and then fake a miscarriage?” He took a step toward her, his rage rising like a living, breathing entity that threatened to overtake him.

She stood up to him, refusing to back down in the face of his anger. “It would have worked too if my partner in crime hadn’t been so goddamned inept.”

He clenched his fists. He never had, never would strike a woman, but he wasn’t above taking his anger out on a sheet of drywall. “Who the hell put you up to this, Megan?”

She smiled, looking smug. “Why, the good judge, of course. It seems he did a little research on you and saw a few pictures of us together. He called me the night of your father’s birthday party and we hatched this little plan to keep you and your precious Sierra apart.”

Just when he thought his blood pressure couldn’t get any higher, he felt it skyrocket. His head was spinning and he felt light-headed. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down or risk a medical episode that could land him in the hospital before he had a chance to kill the good judge with his bare hands.

“This happened the night of the party? Are you telling me Luc knew about this?” His friend was a lot of things, but he couldn’t stomach the thought of him being a traitor. They had been through too much together over the years.

“No, Luc didn’t know about it. I called him that night. He mentioned the party and I talked him into taking me.”

He stared at her in disbelief. There was no baby. He had spent every day for the past two months making plans for a baby that didn’t exist. “How could you do this?” He looked at her flat stomach and felt the tears sting his eyes. “I had already fallen in love with that baby.”

For the first time she looked ashamed, remorseful. “I just wanted you to fall in love with me, Trey.”

“If you had any idea what it’s like to lose a child, you wouldn’t even consider putting another person through this. What did I do to make you hate me so much?”

The tears shimmered in her eyes and she reached out to touch his forearm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about the fact that you’d already lost one baby...”

He held up his hand. “Don’t say another word. I don’t ever want to see your face or hear your name again. Is that understood?”

He didn’t wait for her to agree before he stalked past her. He couldn’t waste any more time talking to her. He had a plane to catch and a score to settle.

Trey stepped out of the airport, trying to blend into the crowds of people looking for their rides or attempting to hail a cab. He stepped up to the only black Cadillac limousine waiting at the curb.

A uniformed driver jumped out, rushing around to the passenger’s side of the car. He tipped his hat and opened the rear door. “Good afternoon, sir.”

Trey handed the man his black leather carry-on bag and slid into the backseat. He eyed the mini-bar, selecting a small bottle of water instead of the small bottle of liquor that was beckoning him.

The driver got into the car and looked at him in the rear view mirror. “Mr. Spencer told me your destination when he booked your reservation. Has anything changed, sir?”

“No.”

“Very well, we should arrive at your destination in approximately twenty minutes. Please buzz me if you need anything.” He pressed a button to raise the privacy glass and focused his attention on navigating the airport traffic.

Trey was grateful it was Saturday, which meant the judge would likely be home, instead of at the courthouse. Killing a judge in the middle of a courthouse full of people seemed like a bad idea. He’d had several hours to consider his options and decided that as much as he might like to, killing Sierra’s ex-fiancé was probably not in his best interest. He would take pleasure in making him squirm, but he would let him live. Although if he had been face-to-face with him in that apartment a few hours ago, he may not have been so rational.

He selected his sister’s number on his speed dial and completed the call.

She answered on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up, Trey?”

“I’m gonna be out of town overnight. I just wanted to give you a head’s up.”

She hesitated. “That was sudden. Is there a problem?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He felt the mother of all headaches looming. How could he tell his sister he been conned by a gold-digger who was trying to trick him into marrying her?

“Okay, why am I getting a bad feeling about this? What’s going on? Where the hell are you?”

“I’m in Oklahoma City.”

“What are you doing there? Are you going to see Sierra?”

“I am, but I’m going to see that son of a bitch she was engaged to first.”

“Oh no. I definitely don’t like the sound of this. What the hell happened?”

Kind of like tearing a bandage off a wound, he had to do it quickly and get it over with. Except this time, the only wound was to his pride and that would take a lot longer to heal.  “Would you believe he hatched a plan with Megan to try and trap me into marrying her? She was never pregnant, Marisa.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, it came as a shock to say the least. Anyway, I’m going to deal with him, and then I’m going to see Sierra. I need to fill her in; hopefully this will change things.”

“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid when you see Eric. The last thing you need is negative publicity right now.”

“I’ve had a chance to calm down. I’ve got it under control now.”

“Do you want me to tell the folks about this?”

He sighed. How were their parents going to react to the news that their chance of being grandparents had been snatched away yet again? “Yeah, go ahead and tell them.”

“You know they want grandchildren, but not like this. They’ll be fine with it as long as you are.”

“To be honest, I don’t think I’ve had time to process it yet.” He thought about his plans for that baby and the second chance he had begun to think he deserved. “It’s weird. I know she was never pregnant, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have chosen her as the mother of my child, but that baby was real to me, you know? I was already starting to think about baby names and...” He paused.

There was no sense torturing himself with something that was never going to happen.

“I know how hard this must be for you, Trey. But listen, you could still get your chance to be a father. Maybe now that Megan’s no longer a factor, Sierra will give you another chance and you two can have that family you’ve always wanted.”

That was what he wanted more than anything, but his conscience questioned whether he really deserved a second chance with her after the way he’d let her down during their marriage.

“Does Luc know you’ve left town?”

“Yeah, I called him when I was on my way home to pack a bag. He’s pissed at me for not taking Josh with me, but he understood that I needed to do this alone.”

“Were you mobbed at the airport?”

“No, I signed a few autographs, but I was basically able to keep a low profile.”

“Good. I still can’t believe that bitch lied to you about being pregnant. I’m tempted to pay her a visit myself.”

Trey grinned. “Easy, slugger. She’s not worth the effort. I’m just glad to be rid of her so I can move on with my life.”

“That’s what you need to focus on right now, getting on with your life. I know you’re gonna be a great dad someday, when the time’s right.”

He ran his fingertip over one of the small liquor bottles in front of him. “Thanks. Hell, maybe it was for the best. I’m still wrestling my demons, ya know?”

“You haven’t had a setback because of this, have you?”

He couldn’t afford to have a setback. If he had a prayer of convincing Sierra he was a changed man, he had to be able to assure her of his sobriety. “No, not that I wasn’t tempted.”

“I’m proud of you for staying strong. Okay, well, good luck with Sierra. Let me know what happens, okay?”

“Will do. Talk to you later, sis.” He disconnected the call and selected Luc’s number. His friend was not going to be happy about his decision, but he didn’t care.

“Hey, you in Oklahoma, man?” Luc asked.

“Yeah, the driver’s taking me to Eric’s house now. Thanks for taking care of the arrangements.”

“No problem. What are friends for? I just wish you would’ve let me come with you. I’d like to take a shot at that old bastard myself. What they did to you was crazy, man. If I didn’t say so before, I’m sorry.”

Trey smiled. His best friend had his faults, but he was nothing if not loyal. “Thanks, buddy. Listen, I need you to do me a favor. Get Sumners off the golf course and tell him I need to talk to him, pronto.”

Luc groaned. “Why do you need to talk to your lawyer?”

“I hope to be getting married again soon and after the shit you two pulled last time, I don’t want to hear anyone mention the words prenuptial agreement to Sierra ever again. Is that understood?”

“Are you serious? Man, you’re actually considering marrying that girl again? What is it they say about an insane person repeating the same behaviour and expecting a different result?”

Trey laughed. “I’d agree with you, but it’s gonna be different this time, Luc. I’m not going to let anything interfere with my marriage, not even my career. I know what’s important now.”

“Trey, you’re at the top of your game, getting ready to release another album and start a new world tour. You have to be focused on your career right now.”