Page 90 of Hendrix

It was Hendrix who answered. “All kinds of steak, burgers, brisket. Everything beef.”

My eyes sliced back to meet his, and I noticed how the late morning sun streaming through the windows lightened them to the color of a summer sky.

My stomach dipped nervously.

The mere thought of shopping and lunching with Hendrix made my belly swirl with nerves. We’d never really done anything like that in the past. Apart from the odd weekend away, the majority of our time was usually spent curled up together in one of our apartments or in bed.

I guessed there was a first time for everything, though, and we couldn’t stay in limbo forever. I’d been here for a couple of months, and after a rocky start—when Hendrix had kidnapped me and all that—he’d made a lot of effort to show me how much he was working on himself. It was getting to the point where I felt like a bitch for stringing him along.

It was time to shit or get off the pot, once and for all.

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Three voices, one belonging to Hendrix and the other two belonging to Addison and Gigi, sang along with the words to a Gracie Abram’s song so loudly and enthusiastically that I wondered if they heard us coming from town.

My eyes slid toward Hendrix, who drove with one hand on the steering wheel while his elbow languished on the open window of his truck. He joined in with the ‘oh ooh oohs’ while leaving the verses and the chorus to the two little girls bouncing excitedly on the bench seat next to him.

My smile widened, and I shook my head at the cuteness of it all, taking in how Hendrix nailed those ‘oohs’ like a pro while the girls squealed their joy.

There was nothing sexier than a man who treated kids—especially young girls—like they mattered.

I knew from what my friend Kennedy told me back in Hambleton that he had a special affinity with her daughter Kadence, who was already a gifted little musician. Back when he was VP of the Speed Demons in Wyoming, he used to play guitar with Kady a lot and encourage her to sing to a crowd to try to help her get over her shyness.

A pang of regret hit me.

He would’ve made an awesome father. It was a tragedy that he couldn’t have kids because going by what I was seeing in this truck, he had so much patience and understanding with the children that it was like he was born to be a parent. It also helped that his good looks, tattoos, and musicality made him so cool that they gazed up at him with genuine adoration.

It was adorable, and I couldn’t help wondering how Hendrix would be around my boy.

He was great with small kids, and Fender’s teenage boys loved him too, but I’d never seen him around babies. I wasn’t sure if he’d even know what to do with one. Everybody knew babies were hard work. I’d been around both my sister’s kids when they were newborns, and most of my friends’ broods, too, so I had an idea about what I was doing, but did he?

It suddenly hit me that I needed to start getting baby stuff together. I’d need a bassinet, a crib, a stroller, clothes, diapers, toiletries, bottles?—

My belly tightened into a knot of panic.

Jesus, I was weeks away from giving birth to a whole other human being, and I didn’t have a thing organized. Also, I lived in a hotel with a bunch of bikers and club whores. It was loud all the damned time—even more so at weekends—and things got aggressive to the point where most Friday nights resulted in boxing matches taking place, where the men punched each other half to death to rid themselves of their demons.

They were drunk a lot, horny a lot, and they turned the air blue with obscenities. What if something happened and the baby was sick, and I needed a Public Health Nurse to visit? How the hell was I supposed to welcome them into a place where Iceman and Pyro were partaking in what they jokingly called ‘two’s up’ or where Fletch was cheating on his wife with one of the nastier whores who didn’t care who she got dick from? Or even where six of the men were running a train on Fifi on the pool table?

I felt my face pale.

Shit.

The knot of panic in my stomach began to work its way through my chest and throat until I felt it suffocating me.

What the fuck was I going to do?

I was essentially homeless and jobless, and although I had plenty of money, a baby needed more security than just cash in the bank.

For the first time, I regretted not running away back to Hambleton, though admittedly, my situation there wouldn’t have been much different from what it was here. I’d sold my salon along with my apartment, so I had nowhere to live there, either. How was I supposed to set up a home when I was seven months pregnant and the size of a whale? I couldn’t walk a mile without having to sit down for a few minutes and rest my swollen cankles.

Addie’s hand came out to rest on mine. “You ‘kay?” she asked in her sweet little girl voice.

I let out a strangled noise.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Hendrix’s face snap toward me. “Anna?” he asked, worry lacing his tone.

I tugged the neckline of my tee away from my throat. “God. Is it hot in here?” I asked on a moan.

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