Chapter 77
Kevin found Tyler standing by the window with her hands on her stomach. He stood in the door for a minute watching her. He could tell she was crying by the hiccup of her shoulders. He went to her and put his arms around her from behind. He felt her tears on his hands as he hugged her close. With his face in her hair, he whispered, "It’s okay, baby."
"I wish I’d never decided to keep this baby," she cried.
"Stop that, Tyler. This baby is a part of you and there’s NOTHING about you that I want to change. I love ALL of you."
"But..."
Kevin turned Tyler to face him and put his finger on her lips. "No buts! AJ was drunk and he didn’t mean it."
"Does everyone think I’m a slut?"
"NO! No one thinks that, baby. Tyler, look at me," said Kevin as he lifted her chin to force her to face him. "You were RAPED. You didn’t choose to be pregnant. I’m worried about you. I thought you were dealing with this whole thing."
"Most of the time, I have it resolved."
"And times like this?"
"It all comes crashing down around me and I feel cheap and easy."
"Baby, you’re anything BUT cheap and easy. You waited for me for eight years. That’s NOT a characteristic of someone who is easy or cheap. God knows, there were times when all you had to do was give the slightest indication that you wanted more and I’d have jumped at the chance."
Tyler smiled through the tears. "Maybe I should have been easy."
Kevin laughed, "I don’t think so. Baby, AJ was drunk and he’s hurting. Tomorrow morning, he won’t remember and when we tell him, he’ll be apologetic."
"But it won’t stop him from doing it again the next time he gets drunk."
"Don’t worry, baby. It WILL NOT happen again."
"I love the way you get so protective of me."
"Every chance I get. Now, you’re tired and you need your rest. Get ready for bed and I’ll give you a back rub."
"Sounds good."
Kevin gave her a kiss and watched her go get ready for bed. While she was changing, he got ready too and lay down on the bed. Tyler emerged from the bathroom with her hair hanging on her shoulders and wearing a short, white satin nightie that had spaghetti straps and came mid-way her thighs. Kevin felt like his heart would explode with the love he felt for her at that moment, not to mention what else he thought would explode.
As Tyler made her way to the bed, she spotted magazines scattered on the floor under the bed. She could see pictures of babies and young children on them and her curiosity was peeked.
Just as Kevin thought she was going to get in bed, Tyler bent down to get
them. "Baby, what are you doing?"
"Checking out your reading material," she answered as she pulled out
the magazines. She went through them all to see that they were parenting
magazines. Smiling, Tyler asked, "When did you switch from ‘Playboy’
to ‘Parents’?"
Kevin blushed at being found out. He reached for Tyler’s hand and pulled her to him. "I thought I’d better start reading to get ready for the baby."
Tyler laughed, "Oh, and exactly what have you been reading about?"
As Tyler settled onto the bed for her backrub from him, Kevin said, "Well, for one thing, I read a really good article that told how to give a pregnant woman a back rub...well, an all-over-rub."
"You already knew how to do that."
"Sort of. I got some pointers I didn’t know about. I also read about what to expect when you go into labor and transitional labor."
"What’s transitional labor?"
"That’s the stage when you’ll become possessed by demons and start screaming to ‘get this damn thing out of me’."
Tyler laughed, "Sounds interesting. Maybe I should read it too. Kevin, what if you’re in the middle of a show?"
"I’m giving them strict instructions that they are to get me off the stage. I’m not letting you go through this alone."
"Kevin, I don’t know what I’d do without you."
"You’ll never have to find out."
The two lay together as Kevin gave her a full body rub. Afterwards, he read a couple articles to her that he had found interesting. Tyler was in her favorite position with Kevin and extremely comfortable. She was between his legs leaning against his chest with his arms around her. As he read, he rubbed her stomach with one hand and Tyler felt extremely at peace. That’s where she fell asleep.
****************
The next morning, the guys were up early to get to the studio to do the video for their latest single, ‘More Than That’. AJ was extremely hung-over but he didn’t miss the fact that Howie was unusually cold to him.
While they were waiting for the others, AJ asked, "B-rok, what’s up with Howie? He wouldn’t speak to me earlier."
Brian shook his head, "He and Kevin are ticked at you after last night’s episode."
Confused, AJ said, "What episode? All I remember is going to the bar."
"When you came back, you hit on Tyler and called her a whore. I thought Kevin was going to kill you."
AJ covered his face with his hands. "OH SHIT! It’s a wonder that Howie and Kevin didn’t both kill me. What about Tyler?"
"She was really upset and I haven’t seen her this morning."
"I didn’t hurt her, did I?"
"Just her feelings. Kevin said something about what you did to her when you were sober. What did he mean?"
"I left bruises on her arm."
"Man, you’re playing with fire, AJ."
Kevin and Tyler come out of their room and Howie came from his about that time. AJ looked at them and felt like crawling back into a bottle.
Tyler spoke to Brian, "Morning, B-rok."
"Hey! Sleep okay?"
"Yeah."
Brian looked at Kevin. "You look better than you have in a couple days."
"I actually slept last night."
AJ said, "Ty, aren’t you going to speak to me?"
Tyler looked at him, "Good morning, Alex."
"Okay...you’re pissed. Look, Brian just told me what I did. Tyler, I’m really sorry. You’re the last person I want to hurt."
"What about Lex? What is ALL this going to do to her?"
"I’ll deal with that later."
"AJ, we ALL understand that you lost your grandmother and you’re hurting but getting trashed like you did last night and the night before is NOT the answer," said Howie.
AJ looked at his friends and began to cry. It had been building for days and it was a relief to finally let it go. Tyler went to him and took him in her arms as he cried. She sat holding him and rubbing his back as the others gathered around them.
When AJ calmed down, he looked at his friends, "Thanks, guys. It feels good to let it go."
"No problem, AJ," they all chorused.
Turning to Tyler, he said, "I owe you a HUGE apology, Tyler. I’ve been a real jerk."
"Jackass would be a better description."
AJ laughed, "Okay, jackass. I never meant to hurt you."
"It’s okay, AJ."
Kevin put his hand on AJ’s shoulder, "Hey, let it go but remember one thing."
AJ leaned back and looked up at Kevin, "What’s that, bro?"
"You ever come on to my wife or touch her like you did last night again and I’ll kill you."
Everyone laughed and AJ asked, "Where exactly did I touch her?"
"You ran your hand up the inside of her thigh," said Kevin.
Tyler went on to explain to AJ what had happened while they waited for Nick. When Nick was ready, the whole group left to get some breakfast and spent the next few days doing the video.
