Free Redeeming Kyle: 69 Bottles #3 by Zoey Derrick Page A

“You’re about to start something you can’t finish.”  
    I give him a wicked grin and kiss him again. “There’s always time,” I breathe.

    Our heart to heart seems to have worked earlier. Kyle is far more affectionate toward me but I know that something is still bothering him. But now isn’t exactly the time to discuss it. I have a show to get ready for.  
    “Angel?” Talon calls from the bedroom.  
    “In the bathroom.”  
    “You alright?”  
    “Yeah, just getting ready,” I say as he comes into the bathroom.  
    “Wow, angel, you look amazing.”  
    I’m wearing the top and super wide leg pants that I thought was a skirt that he gave me back in Phoenix. I plan on wearing my replacement Louboutin too. “Thank you,” I say and he kisses my cheek. I have my hair super curly and up in a banana clip. Giving my hair a cascading effect.  
    “I don’t want you performing tonight,” he says straight faced.  
    “What, why wouldn’t I?” He looks pointedly at my stomach.  
    “Oh no, you don’t.”
    “It’s my call, and I say no, not tonight.”  
    “Talon Carver, what the hell are you doing? You can’t do that, unless…” The worst possible thing imaginable runs through my mind and rather than get emotionally upset, I get pissed. “You can’t sing with me, can you? You don’t want me up there on stage because you can’t sing to me?”  
    “Jesus, god no, Addison.”
    “No, seriously, the only thing that would ever stop you from pleasing your fans is if you’re afraid of something happening and I’m not talking about to me. You don’t think you can sing with me because it doesn’t mean the same thing to you anymore…”  
    “God, Addison, stop. If anything, I can’t sing with you because every time I look at you, I love you even more. Every time I see you, I want to cry with tears of happiness because I love you so fucking much.” He paces out into the bedroom. I follow him and find Kyle leaning against the doorjamb to the bedroom.  
    I turn to Kyle. “Did you know about this?”  
    “About what, baby girl?”  
    “That he wasn’t going to let me sing tonight.”  
    “What?” he says, as he stands up straighter, away from the door.  
    “He just told me that he doesn’t want me on stage with him tonight.”  
    “Damn it, Addison, I don’t want you on stage because I don’t want the added stress on you.” That freezes me in my tracks. “You don’t need to be put under that pressure right now. You should be relaxing, should be…”  
    “I won’t sit around and do nothing, Talon,” I say softly. “More questions will be raised if I’m not on that stage. Especially tomorrow night, because we don’t know how many tickets were sold because of our duet.”
    “I know and I don’t want you feeling that pressure.”  
    “You don’t want me feeling it, or you don’t want the added worry about me while I’m up there? I swear to god, Talon, you’re going to make yourself mental if you do this to yourself. We have a long way to go with this pregnancy and it’s barely two days old for all of us,” I tell him.  
    “I just don’t want to…”  
    “Did it occur to you, Talon, that the rough estimate of the date of conception is Albuquerque, the first night I went on stage purposefully, and that I’ve been performing with you every performance since then, already pregnant?”  
    “Albuquerque?” Kyle whispers behind Talon.  
    “About that time, yes, give or take a day or two. So you see, Talon, my being pregnant has nothing to do with my ability to perform. You’re just being selfish and it’s unnecessary.”  
    “Damn it Addison, I don’t know if I can sing either song, looking into your eyes without completely breaking down.”  
    “See that’s different, Talon. God, you should have said that, said something like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this tonight.’ That would have been different, Talon. We could have discussed that.