Page 55 of Sebastian's Baby

“If you’re asking whether or not I’m nervous about rocking up to the house of people I’ve never met and saying, ‘I’m the groupie that’s pregnant with your bello’s baby!’, then yes, yes I am.”

I can’t help but laugh because it does sound bad when she puts it that way. I’ve slept with a lot of women who could have been so much worse for me to get pregnant than Lita. To be honest, my parents should be grateful.

“You’ll be fine, Lita. They’ll probably love you. An Italian princess for their baby boy, with a good, Italian name. How do you think I feel about meeting your family next weekend?”

I hadn’t actually thought about it until this second. Immediately, I can see how it will play out, and I’m dreading it.

“Hi, I’m Sebastian Fox. I knocked up your bella. Oh, yes, Iama rock star. You’ve heard of me? All good things, I’m sure. No, they’re not all good? Oh. I’ll see myself out now.” I groan. “It’s going to be great.”

I’ve been aware for a long time that I have a reputation that precedes me. I’ve never really given a damn about it, but suddenly I can see a downside to this. They’re going to hate me.

“How can two thirty-year-old adults be so scared of their parents?” Lita laughs.

“Hey, I’m only twenty-nine!”

“You’ll be thirty by the time the baby is born,” she points out.

I hadn’t thought about that, and Lita should be there with me to celebrate, so I ask her, “Oh, do you want to come to my party?”

“Um, I guess? Is it going to be huge?”

I’ve booked out Six Flags and invited pretty much the entire world’s celebrities, a lot of whom have already said they’ll come.

I grin into the darkness as I joke, “Yeah, probably bigger than Harrison’s and Gabriel’s because I’m better than them, you know.”

“How come Hayden didn’t have a big party?” Lita asks.

Sometimes I forget that Lita is a fan of the band. When we’re together, she doesn’t treat me like a rock star. She has the same physical reaction to me as other women, but she doesn’t get that doe-eyed, star-struck look that a lot of women do.

I can’t resist teasing her, “Concerned your favorite band member didn’t have a good time on his big day?”

“Very funny,” she says in a sarcastic voice.

“We were out at Galena recordingGames We Play.”

“I was just curious. That’s what we thought, but everyone wondered.”

I find myself wanting to give her more information, the kind of inside info that only people in our inner circle ever get.

“We all got really drunk and played poker,” I say, then laugh as I remember that night. “Harrison paid me ten thousand dollars to go fuck Heather.”

“What?” Lita bursts into laughter then rolls over to face me. I can just make out her face in the darkness as she says, “You need to explain that.”

“Well, we made a rule that the first person to leave the poker game had to pay a fine unless they were knocked out legitimately”—I grin as I remember annoying Gabriel with this new rule—“Heather arrived late, sat on his lap, and worked him into a sweat. Eventually, he gave in and paid the fine so they could leave.” I laugh again, remembering Harrison’s obvious discomfort and Heather’s blatant arousal before he gave in and agreed to pay so they could leave.

“You guys are insane,” Lita says, sounding amused. Then, she says in a strange voice. “You also haveso muchmoney.”

She makes it sound as though it’s bad that I have money, so I point out, “Most people see that as a good thing for their baby’s father, princess.”

She doesn’t say anything immediately, but I watch what I can see of her face in the darkness as she looks down at my chest instead of in my eyes.

“When I first found out I was pregnant, Becky told me if I had the baby, I wouldn’t have to worry about money.”

My body stiffens, and I feel sick at the thought of getting the kind of woman pregnant whowoulduse me for my money.

“I told her that was disgusting, and I wouldn’t hold you to ransom. She did say she didn’t mean I should do that, just that you'd have an obligation to provide for the baby, and I said I’d never heard of a better case for ending the pregnancy. I really don’t want your money, Seb.”

She says it so earnestly, as though she thinks I might not believe her, and I remember my response to her when she first told me she was pregnant.

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