Page 87 of Bonding the Band

“I tried that before! She took it away, saying there were too many processed fats in it!” I growled.

Clover put down the shirt she was folding to look at me incredulously through the screen. “And your guyslether do that?”

“They were at sound check and press interviews, just like they are today.” I sighed, rolling onto my side in an attempt to get comfortable. The nugget didn’t make that very easy. “I hate this! It feels like my body isn’t my own. Nothing fits me anymore, and I have doula Barbie on my bus, making me eat like a rabbit.” Tears welled in my eyes, and I quickly wiped them away.

“Do you want me to fly out?”

“You’ve got tons to do for school. I know you’ve got papers due soon, and I don’t want to be a distraction.”

“You’re never a distraction!” she insisted loudly. “Did you hear back from the school about taking a hiatus?”

“I only emailed them last night.”

“They could’ve been extra fast. Either way, they’resuperaccommodating to omegas starting families, so I can’t imagine there’ll be an issue.”

As if on cue, a reply email came through. I read it to Clover. I was struggling to keep up with my workload on the road, and they’d given me an immediate one-year hiatus, no questions asked, with the option to extend until the baby was a year old, if I felt I needed more time.

“See!” Clover laughed. “You’re golden.”

“Seems that way,” I agreed.

“I can’t wait for a break, too. I want to come see you more than anything.”

“At least we’ll see each other over your Thanksgiving break. That’s nottoofar away. Give it a few weeks, at least until there’s a small gap in classes. I’ll put up with Ellie. Maybe I’ll sneak out and get some fries.”

“Fries are delicious. Do you remember that place we found our first night out freshman year? I’m so sad they closed down!”

I groaned. “My mouth just filled with saliva at the memory of that place. Maybe we need to open a French fry shop?”

“That sounds glorious. We’ll abandon ship on our degrees and become French fry magnates! Though we would probably eat all the stock and go belly-up within a month.”

“Drat.” I sighed. “Another amazing plan foiled.”

“That’s a bummer.”

Clover laughed, folding a pair of jeans as I heard the door of the tour bus opening.

“I think my guys are back!” I said, sitting up. “They’re early.”

“That’s awesome! Go spend time with your hunky rock star boys. Just make sure to remind them that if they have any rich, good-looking friends to slide me their numbers. I could do with some good sex and a vacation.”

I snorted. “Just make sure you use birth control, or you’ll end up the size of a house with stretch marks in places you didn’t know stretch marks could go! Byyye!”

“Later, Meads!”

“Princess! Are you up there?” came Arlo’s voice.

“Yep,” I called back, preparing to crawl out of the nest. My body felt heavy with exhaustion, and movement was slow at the best of times. It didn’t help that I was constantly adding to the nest, so the moment I lay down, I sank so deeply into the multiple layers of squishy glory that it nearly swallowed me whole.

The nest jostled as Arlo launched himself into the space next to me, rolling until he was on his side, beaming at me. He had a brown paper bag in his hand. “I got you a present!” he declared, his voice laced with excitement as he held out the bag to me.

“What is it?” I asked, sitting up—which took considerable effort.

With Arlo, a present had the potential to be anything from a sex toy to something cute and adorable; it was hard to tell with him. “Well, open it and see!”

In the brown bag was a small, crochet…

“Is this a bell pepper?” I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion, despite the smile on my face.

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