Jacob kept looking toward the street, as if expecting a SWAT team to burst onto the scene and arrest him for arming the bomb that had blown up Sole Regret. Lindsey would like to confront him about why he was being so goddamned selfish, but she needed to get him to give her a DNA sample for the paternity test first.
Jacob clapped Gabe on the shoulder and then stood. He started walking away before Lindsey managed to reach him. She started after him as fast she could go, which honestly was still pretty slow.
“Shade! Wait! I need your DNA!” Lindsey cringed. Had she really just bellowed that out in the middle of the party?
Jacob didn’t acknowledge her, only walked faster. She pressed a hand against her belly and started jogging. Just before he stepped into the street, Adam rushed out in front of him, and Jacob drew to an abrupt halt.
Yes, this was perfect! She could get them to swab their cheeks at the same time.
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here!” Adam shouted at Jacob.
“I’ve got nerve?” Jacob shouted back. “You’re the fucking asshole who took off minutes before a set and didn’t tell anyone where you were going.”
“You know that was an emergency.”
“Your entire life is an emergency, Adam. Half train wreck, half bomb-shelled aftermath.”
Lindsey stopped several feet away, waiting for an opening so she could request cheek samples.
“You’re so arrogant, you think the entire world revolves around you and your wishes. News flash, Jacob, you’re not God’s gift to humanity.”
Gabe had risen from his relaxing spot on the side lawn. “Can we not do this today?” he asked. “I’m supposed to be celebrating, and so is Adam.”
“I was celebrating just fine until he showed up.” Adam jabbed an accusatory finger in Jacob’s direction.
“Um, excuse me,” Lindsey said. “I was wondering if I could—” She was cut off by the hard glares of three pissed-off rock stars. “Maybe later.” She retreated several feet, and the men turned their glares on each other.
“I’ve had more than enough of this bullshit,” Kellen said as he approached. “Why don’t you all apologize to each other and we can put this shit behind us?”
“If anyone needs to apologize, it’s you!” Owen bellowed at Kellen.
“I already apologized,” Kellen said. “I’ve apologized a thousand times.”
“But never for the right thing!”
“I don’t know what the right thing is, Owen! You won’t fucking talk to me.”
“You know what you did!”
Lindsey wasn’t sure who threw the first punch, but without warning she was watching a full-out brawl. She was so stunned, she didn’t react at first, but someone shoved Jacob so hard that he stumbled into her and she fell backward on the lawn, landing on her ass with a hard thud. Several people rushed to her, making sure she was okay before helping her to her feet. The five members of Sole Regret were going at each other like mad men. Chad barked orders for them to cease the insanity—completely ignored—while girlfriends, parents, and roadies tried to break them apart, only to get caught in the crossfire.
Within ten minutes, the cops were there. Two patrol cars at first, and then another couple a few minutes later. A concerned neighbor—likely Mrs. Worth, who was watching the scene from behind her picket fence next door—had called them, and by the time they managed to subdue everyone and put each of them handcuffed, bruised, and bleeding into the back of several squad cars, everyone was pissed off and taking sides. The police made the mistake of putting Adam and Jacob into the back of the same car and had to break up a kicking fight between them before finally driving off.
The remaining partygoers stared after the cop cars in stunned silence.
After a long moment, Joan asked, “What just happened?” She rubbed both temples with her fingertips. “Can someone explain this to me? I honestly don’t get why they’re fighting.”
Joan wasn’t the only one confused by Sole Regret’s rapid deterioration. Everyone started talking at once to try to make sense of what had become of the once close-knit group. Lindsey just wanted to curl into a ball and cry.
Chad wheeled up beside Lindsey and said, “Great fucking party.”
“What the hell got into them?” Lindsey said, not able to fully comprehend what had just happened.
A few officers had stayed behind to question everyone, but each witness had a different story.
“Was anyone there when it started?” a cop called out.
Lindsey raised her hand hesitantly. She’d been front and center when the brawl began, yet she wasn’t sure how it had escalated so quickly. She told the cop what little she remembered.
“It sounds like they’re all at fault,” the officer said.
Lindsey didn’t want any of them to get into trouble. “They’ve been having some issues,” she said vaguely. “But not one of them would hurt anyone on purpose.”
“I was at that Silverton character’s house just a couple of weeks ago,” a different officer said. “Breaking up a fight between a pair of sisters.”
The officer taking Lindsey’s statement sighed. “Violence is not the answer, people.”
“Depends how pissed you are,” Chad said under his breath.
“Let’s go bail our idiot men out of jail,” Caitlyn said.
“I say let the fools rot in there for a while,” Dawn said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Maybe they’ll be able to talk this out now that they’ve gotten the anger out of their systems,” Madison said, standing sideways to keep her cast out of the way.
Lindsey sincerely doubted that a single one of them had worked out his anger. She knew, as a longtime fan of the band, that Shade and Adam had always been at odds. She was surprised that Owen and Kellen weren’t getting along, and poor Gabe always seemed to get caught in the middle of the chaos.
“Do you still want DNA samples from those immature asses?” Chad asked her, a smirk twisting his gorgeous mouth.
A new bruise blossomed on his left cheek.
“Did you get hit?” she asked, fingers moving to rest just beneath the mark.
“A couple of times,” he said. “Nothing major. Did you?”
“I got knocked down, but I wasn’t hurt. Plenty of cushioning back there.”
“Very nice cushioning,” he said, his gaze traveling down her body before returning to her face. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m sure.”
“You didn’t answer my first question.”
What had he asked? She’d lost her train of thought when he looked at her like he needed a special treatment. Oh yes, her samples. Did she want to know if Jacob or Adam was her baby’s father even when they were acting like a pair of infants themselves?
“Yeah. I guess if they’re locked up in jail, they won’t be able to get away from my swabs.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Should we take Owen’s Jeep?” Lindsey asked. Her heap had arrived from Oklahoma a couple of days ago, but it was in the shop since a few parts—and many of the belongings she’d had stashed in the back seat—had gone missing between there and Austin. The rear passenger side window needed to be replaced as well. More expenses on her I Owe Owen list.
“He won’t mind.”
“I don’t know where the jail is,” she said.
“I think I remember the way.”
“Is that because you’ve been there before?”
“I had a few buddies back in high school who insisted life wasn’t worth living if you didn’t spend a few nights in jail.”
“And you agreed with that?” she asked, starting toward the house to collect her purse and Owen’s keys. Several cars had already pulled out. She wasn’t sure how many of them were going to the same place she planned to go. Maybe all of them.
“If you’re asking if I served time, the answer is no. I was too afraid of my mom to get into much trouble. If you’re asking if I egged them on, y
es. A little.”
“Instigator.”
“Not all of us can be angels,” he said.
She knew he wasn’t talking about her. She was far from angelic. She’d eagerly participated in an orgy on a tour bus, gotten herself knocked up, and was now on her way to the jail to collect DNA samples from potential fathers. No one with that rap sheet could ever be called an angel.
By the time she and Chad arrived at the county jail in downtown Austin, bail had already been set by the magistrate and the guys had been put in holding until the paperwork could be filed, court dates set, and fees paid. When Lindsey explained to the officer in charge why she wanted to speak to Adam and Jacob—Adam who was already being bailed out by Madison, and Jacob who’d been left to rot—the guy blinked at her in disbelief and shook his head.
“As if these guys don’t have enough problems to sort through,” he muttered under his breath. But he pulled Adam aside before he could escape.
Lindsey couldn’t look Adam in the eye. She never could. He had always been over the top intense, and the only band member who might be on par with him intimidation-wise was Jacob. But she’d worry about him in a minute.
“I . . . uh, sorry to bother you, A-Adam um, Mr. Taylor, but I still haven’t figured out who the father of my baby is, and you haven’t taken the paternity test yet.”