Free Love's Rhythm by Lexxie Couper Page A

okay.”
    Bullshit you are. Fuck, you’ve got a son. A son you never knew existed.
    Why hadn’t she told him?
    Why hadn’t Lauren told him?
    You still don’t know if Josh is yours. You were hardly home the last few months before you up and left her for good. She may have found someone else. You don’t know—
    But he did. This was Lauren. Infidelity and Lauren didn’t go together.
    And Nick Blackthorne and Dad do?
    “I guess I should have worked it out before,” Jennifer said, the words like smoke tickling at Nick’s fraying nerves. “Josh looks like you. Hell, he even sounds like you, especially when he sings.”
    Nick’s heart smashed harder, trying to splinter his breastbone. “Sings?”
    Jennifer gave him an unreadable look. “I’ve been at Lauren’s house when Josh is playing SingStar with his best friend.”
    A shiver rippled over Nick’s skin, making his hair stand on end. He closed his eyes, trying to picture a fifteen-year-old him. He couldn’t. It was too long ago, a life too far in the past. Hell, at fifteen all he could think about was Lauren Robbins and what colour undies she was wearing. It would take a couple of years before he found out. At fifteen he’d had no clue where he’d be standing at the ripe old age of thirty-six. At fifteen, he’d had no clue he’d be who he was now.
    Who’s that? A rock star? Or a selfish prick?
    “So, Mr. Blackthorne?” Jennifer still studied him with that guarded, ambiguous expression. Like she was half way to thinking he was about to go crazy and climb the nearest clock tower. “Do I take you to your car now? Are you driving back to Sydney? Or are you staying in Murriundah tonight?”
    He blinked, the questions kicking him out of his stupor. “Do you mean am I going to do a runner now I know about my son?” He shook his head, awakening fresh pain in his temple. “No.”
    “But you’re not going around to Lauren’s tonight, are you?”
    That protective edge was back in the vet’s voice—a hard strength he couldn’t miss even in his shell-shocked state. He gave her a small smile. “Something tells me if I said yes right now I’d find myself waking up on your sofa with a headache.”
    “I have the Detomidine ready to go.”
    Struggling to cling on to his sanity, Nick raised an eyebrow. If he focused on something else, something believable, maybe his world could make sense again. And at the moment, whatever the vet beside him was talking about was more real than the notion of him having a son. “Detomidine?”
    She nodded. “Perfect for sedating big dumb animals. Will knock out a horse in a few minutes.”
    He laughed, a short hollow chuckle. “Jesus, remind me never to piss you off.”
    “Don’t hurt my best friend and we’re good.”
    His throat filled with a heavy lump. Hurt Lauren? It seemed he’d hurt her enough to last a lifetime already. Enough for her to not tell him he had a son. Christ, how much did she have to hate him to keep something like that a secret?
    And how much had she hurt him now ? How did he even begin to process what he’d just discovered? Fuck, he felt like he’d been torn apart and—
    “Are you staying at the Cricketer’s Arms?”
    He turned to Jennifer. His head ached. A lot. Christ, it felt like it was about to split open. “Their penthouse room.”
    She laughed, the sound nervous. The top-floor room at Murriundah’s only hotel, two stories off the ground and adjacent to the communal loo, was hardly penthouse status. The Cricketer’s Arms was, however, the only option an out-of-towner had, and that’s what he was now, an out of towner. He’d stopped being a local sixteen and a half years ago.
    “I tell you what,” Jennifer said. “You can crash on my sofa until you figure out what you’re doing next. That way I can keep an eye on your head.”
    “No.”
    She raised her eyebrows at his short answer.
    His stomach lurched. He didn’t need to be near anyone at the moment. He couldn’t. He needed to