Sparrow jumped into the pool and wrapped her arms around his back.
“You okay?” she asked. “You’re so quiet today.”
“Just thinking. Talking to Donny got my mind going about some things.”
He turned around to face her and pulled her close. Her legs still fit around his waist with Journey between them.
“Do I tell you enough how this life with you is the best gift I’ve ever been given?” he asked, reaching out to touch her face.
“Every day.”
Sparrow stretched out on a lounger next to Chloe. Roxie and Leo played in the pool for a while and then went to get a snack at the vending machine. When they came back, Leo got back in the pool and Roxie stayed by Sparrow and Chloe. They were talking in hushed voices and laughing a lot, which made Ian suspect they were discussing sex. Sparrow claimed he thought everything was about sex, though. Not necessarily true …not everything. He’d done a lot of reflecting today without sex being in the forefront of his mind. Granted, keeping passion alive did involve sex too, but … okay, maybe everything did go back to sex. But, really, what was so wrong with that?
Leo did a huge jump in the pool and Ian called out: “Solid 7!” Journey laughed so hard she got the hiccups. “Journey thinks that should’ve been an 8.”
Leo wanted to make her laugh again, so the game began. Ian and Journey were the judges; Ian with a score between one and ten, and Journey with how loud she cackled. She thought Leo was the funniest human she’d ever seen.
They’d met Chloe and Leo once before, but Roxie usually didn’t come around when he was in town. Ian didn’t blame her. He’d want his family all to himself too. Sparrow always spent extra time with Roxie when Leo went back home. She was lost without her boy.
The girls sat up and Roxie jumped off the lounger. He and Leo paused the game to see what was going on.
“I forgot my outfit for tonight!” she yelled. “I’ll run over there now, so I’ll have plenty of time to eat and get ready. Wanna ride with me, Leo, or stay in the pool?”
“Stay in the pool!”
“Of course.” She smiled and blew him a kiss. “I won’t be long!”
She hadn’t been gone five minutes when a redhead walked into the pool area and asked Sparrow if Roxie was still there. She stopped in mid-sentence when she saw Ian and he regretted not going underwater when he saw her come in the gate. She looked like a vulture ready to strike. She stepped closer to the pool and looked down at him.
“Ian Sterling? How did I get so lucky?” She flashed teeth and put a hand on her hip. “Roxie Taylor sure gets around.”
“Not sure what you’re implying. I’m here with my family,” he said.
Leo popped up beside him.
“Hey, Leo, would you please sit with the girls for a minute?” Ian asked.
“And then I can get back in the pool?”
“Of course.”
Leo swam to the ledge and climbed out.
“And you are?” Ian looked at the girl.
“Mirielle Wethers, with Rolling Stone. I’ve been leaving messages for you for weeks. Looks like I just needed to find Roxie to find you.” She smirked and stepped into the shade.
“Ah, Mirielle, you need to stop with the Roxie innuendos. Beckham told me about you and if I’d wished to speak to you, I would’ve called you back. That’s how that works.” He looked over his shoulder to Sparrow. “Hey, baby, could you come here, please?”
Sparrow shifted her long legs off the lounger. He got out of the pool and enjoyed watching her walk toward him.
He looked at Mirielle, who wasn’t bothering to hide her annoyance. “This is my wife, Sparrow. If you say anything about me, it should be that I love my wife. We’re having a little time off before the show tonight, and I’m asking you to leave. Now.”
Her eyes flashed and she stepped closer. “I just want-”
“No.” He handed Journey to Sparrow. “Call Will,” he said under his breath.
Sparrow walked away with the baby and called Will. He’d taken a break right before Mirielle came, but Ian knew he wasn’t far. In moments, Will was walking toward them.
“Quit giving Rolling Stone a bad name—we know you don’t work for them anymore.” Ian turned and said over his shoulder: “This is Will—he’ll make sure you get to your car safely.”
He put a towel around his neck and waited until Mirielle was gone before getting back into the pool.
Roxie pounded on Beckham’s door.
“Hey! Come in!” He was smiling until he got a good look at her face. “What’s going on?”
He took her hand and led her up the steps. She was clutching something in one hand, but held onto him with the other.
“Hey, you’re shaking. What happened?”
“I went to wardrobe just now—I meant to grab my first dress last night, so I could hang out at the hotel as long as possible, and-” She held up her dress.
It looked like a blowtorch had been taken to it. Completely charred. Beckham barely touched it and material crackled to the ground.
“What the hell?” His eyes were huge.
“All of my outfits are like this. Only mine. After the other night, when I stayed with you … my blanket and all my books were cut up into little pieces. I didn’t-”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.
“I didn’t want to bring you into it. I hoped it was just a pointless stunt and nothing serious.” A tear fell down her cheek and she angrily swiped it away.
“Hey, come here.” He hugged her close then pulled back just enough to study her face. “This involves me, whatever happens with you. I care about you and want to make sure you’re always safe. I can’t do that if you keep me in the dark. Don’t shut me out. Okay?”
She nodded.
“What’s going on here?”
“Well, I was mad, but now I’m scared, too. I confronted Brooke and-”
“Wait a minute—Brooke? You think she did this?”
“She’s the only one I’ve had any issues with and she seemed to think it was funny the other day. She said I couldn’t prove that she did it.”
Beckham shook his head. “Brooke? I know she’s not the nicest person, but I’ve never thought she’d do anything this awful. You really think it’s her?”
“I trust everyone but her. As crazy as it sounds, I still think she purposely tripped Sparrow, hoping she’d get that song with Ian. And I don’t know how anyone else would get on the bus.”
“Okay, let me get my phone. I’ll need to talk to Nate and security, and eventually Brooke too.”
Anthony knocked before Beckham had called anyone. Nate stood beside him, mumbling something under his breath.
“You look like the grim reapers, coming to carry us off to our death. I guess you’ve heard about it already?” Beckham asked, stepping aside to let them in.
They stopped short when they saw Roxie.
Nate cleared his throat. “I wanted to wait until after the show but didn’t want you blindsided by any reporters. There’s a pile of reporters out there, ready to pounce on this story.”
“How would the reporters know about any of this?”
Nate and Anthony looked at Beckham like he’d lost it.
“What do you mean? They’re the ones who came out with the story,” Nate said.
“How did they find out about Roxie’s things?”
They looked at Roxie then and back to Beckham. Nate shook his head. “No, I don’t know anything about that…”
“The story just came out about the two of you having a son,” Anthony jumped in.
“What? What are you talking about?” Beckham stuttered.
They all looked at Roxie and she turned completely white. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.