Listen To Me: A Rock Star Romance (True North) by Carrie Elliott Page A

life—and my figure. I’d gained almost forty pounds that would likely never come off.
    Adrian would be stuck with an overweight old woman. What if he didn’t even want to be with me anymore and he stuck around because of The Sack? He could have his pick of any woman on the planet. He was Adrian for God sake. The paparazzi were snapping photos of my fat ass left and right and the tabloids were plastering them all over the internet with headlines like: Quadruplets For ADRIAN!
    I prided myself on being tough and well, even bitchy when it was needed. Aggressive. Assertive. I didn’t take shit from anyone. But now, I was huge. I was pregnant . I was freaking the fuck out!
    We’d only been together a couple months when I got pregnant. Okay, not even together , together. We’d grab something to eat sometimes before we had sex, if that counts as a date. Now we were living together and had to be parents together!
    I couldn’t breathe.
    I stood up and pushed the balcony door open. Adrian’s penthouse was beachfront. It was big, but had one bedroom. Where the hell were we going to put a crib?
    Four weeks. We only had four weeks and that was if the baby came on time. It could be sooner. I sure as hell hoped it wouldn’t be later. Some women loved being pregnant. I was sure I’d love the baby, but never wanted one inside me again.
    Adrian was always upbeat and nonchalant about everything. “The baby can sleep with us for a while, babe. She won’t mind and you know I won’t complain about having two chicks in my bed,” he’d said.
    There was positivity and there was being naïve—and there was being a bitch with raging hormones, but I wasn’t sure he was taking this whole baby thing seriously. Like, he knew there was going to be a baby, but I didn’t think he understood the pressure and stress involved in there being a baby that was ours!
    This wasn’t like visiting with Derek’s three nieces. Our baby wouldn’t go home with someone else. Our baby would be with us all the time. We were going to be responsible for feeding it and changing it and making sure it didn’t blow up a school when it became an insane teenager.
    Oh my God, I was freaking out!
    When faced with the double lined result on the pee stick, I told myself right away that I wanted the baby. I was me—overachiever, dedicated, never say die. I could do this. Now, I wasn’t so sure I could do this.
    Four weeks.
    I ran my fingers through my hair and tugged at the ends.
    Oh my God, four weeks.
    I paced the balcony a few times, breathing deeply. In with the good air, out with the bad. Of course I could still do this. People did this every day.
    Oh Jesus, I never wanted to be one of those women who got the call at work to come pick up Little Terror for biting the teacher , or calling off because my kid was puking, or having to leave early to make some dumb little league game.
    I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the glass door. I was going to be one of those women now. Sure, I worked for Adrian, but I could just see myself now, leaving a marketing meeting with a T.V. exec. due to mom duty. I might as well never plan on working again, because I couldn’t do it all. It was exhausting just thinking about it.
    How was I going to face all the happy people at my baby shower tomorrow? I could barely even face Adrian and his never-ending customized baby gifts.
    It was sweet. He was trying so hard, but I knew what a toll it was on his career. A hot musician that young with a baby—there was no way I could expect him to settle down. I couldn’t rely on him to be around as much as I would be.
    This baby would be entirely my responsibility.
     
    ADRIAN
                  I couldn’t wait another four weeks. I wanted my little chicklet now. Kay could say the baby wasn’t a girl all she wanted, but I knew it was.
    I made a checklist and I was just about set. I talked to my financial guy and got the chicklet’s college fund invested so she’d