FanGirl Squeal (RockStars of Romance Book 1) (45 page)

Cash jumped to his feet and dusted off his jeans. He wiped
his sweaty palms on his t-shirt and turned the knob.

“Is she sleeping?” Jennifer whispered as she crept into
Victoria’s dimly lit hospital room.

“Who? Vic? Yeah, she’s practically comatose. I slipped a
Tylenol PM into her orange juice because she was getting on my nerves,” Cash
stated seriously without looking up from the chubby cheeked pink bundle in his
arms. Bright blue eyes that matched his stared up at him.

“This little one is wide awake,” he told his mother. “I
think she knows she belongs to me.”

Cash hadn’t taken his eyes off Christina since the moment Dr.
Margolis pulled her out of Victoria and held her up. He watched while the
nurses cleaned her off and weighed her.

Eight pounds, thirteen ounces.

And measured her. Twenty-one and a quarter inches.

He’d cut her umbilical cord and stared in awe when Victoria
held their daughter in her arms for the first time. That was three hours ago.
Victoria had fallen asleep. Her parents had gone to get dinner. Donnie and
Brittany had checked out two hours ago. Only Cash and Jennifer remained.

As quietly as possible, Jennifer slid one of the chairs next
to Cash and sat down. Cash smiled warmly as his daughter closed her eyes when
she felt her grandmother’s finger stroke her soft little cheek.

“She’s so beautiful,” Jennifer whispered.

“I can’t believe I made this,” Cash said, still awestruck.
“Ma, I made a baby.”

“You most certainly did. She looks just like you when you
were a newborn. Everybody who visited thought you were a girl. I had to remove
your diaper just to prove them wrong.”

“Great,” Cash chuckled sarcastically. “Thanks for that
anecdote. I could have gone my entire life without knowing that, Ma.”

“Can I hold my grandchild, Dad?” Jennifer beamed.

“Sure.”

Carefully, like he’d been taught in his parenting classes,
which he didn’t think he’d remembered, Cash handed Christina over to his mother
who immediately started crying. Cash snapped two quick pictures with his phone
so his mother’s ugly crying moment would be immortalized on Brittany and
Savannah’s website since Brittany had already captured his.

“Go in the waiting room,” Jennifer said as she shooed Cash
away. “We got you some food and a little gift for the new dad.”

“Great. I’m starving.”

Cash bent down and lightly kissed his daughter’s forehead.
Her eyes were closed again. Being nestled against Jennifer’s large bosom was
enough to put any infant to sleep.

“I’ll be right back,” Cash said more to his newborn than to
his mother.

He walked down the hall quickly, planning to quickly eat
whatever his mom had brought him and get back to his daughter before Victoria
woke up. He rounded the corner to the waiting room and was physically assaulted
by at least a hundred pink helium filled latex balloons.

“You guys,” he laughed as he pushed his way through the balloons,
“are so lucky that I don’t have that fear of latex balloons like that lady on
Dr. Oz.”

“I’m the only one here,” Savannah’s voice filled the small
room like she was yelling through a bullhorn.

Cash turned quickly and looked over at the sofa, unable to
believe his ears. Savannah was actually sitting there, on the sofa, wearing her
black and white SUPERFAN tank top and holding two balloons of her own.

“Those,” she motioned to the hundred other balloons, “were
your sister’s idea. These are from me.”

She stood up and handed him two balloons, one black, one
green. IT’S BEEN 4 MONTHS was written on them in what he could only assume was
white finger paint.

“What are you doing, Savannah?”

Savannah tilted her head to the side and smiled. “I’ve been
thinking about what you said. And after a rather long diatribe from a sixteen
year old who shall remain anonymous and a lecture from a hairstylist who simply
refuses to mind his own business, I wanted to tell you that I made a mistake. I
was scared. I was so scared that Victoria was going to take you away from that
I felt like I had to let you go first. Everything I said, every reason I gave
for us not working was just a way to cover up what I was truly feeling.”

Savannah uncomfortably fiddled with the strings of the
balloon Cash was holding. She wouldn’t look up at him. She shifted from one
foot to the other. Cash knew she was waiting for him to speak, to say anything.
As much as he just wanted to grab her up and kiss her, he held back. She had to
say it this time. She had to look him in his eyes and tell him that she wanted
him like he done to her.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” she finally asked after
a moment of tense silence.

“You made a mistake,” he replied coolly. “We both made
mistakes. You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”

Savannah took a step back and frowned. “You’re not going to
make this easy on me, are you?”

Cash’s signature half-smirk/half-smile graced his face. “Not
on your life.”

“Fine,” Savannah huffed. “In keeping with our tradition of
pouring our hearts out in public places…I love you, Cash. And I don’t even know
if love is a strong enough word to describe how I feel about you. I knew that I
loved you in New York. It was confirmed in Boston, and written in stone the
moment I watched you walk away from me in Nordstrom’s and I wanted to fall into
a hole and die.”

Savannah stepped closer to him. She reached up and stroked
his stubble from not shaving in two days. “I live for the touch of your hand,
the sound of your laugh, and that damn smile. When you called me tonight, all I
could think was that I should be there with him. I wished I was here. I can’t
be without you. If it means paparazzi following me everywhere I go and people
writing crazy stuff about me online, I don’t care. If it means that one day,
I’ll have to share baby mama status with Victoria, so be it. Because I can’t be
without you, Cash. I don’t want to.”

Cash tugged at Savannah’s shirt and pulled her into his
arms. “Is that all you have to say?” he teased.

“No, there’s more.”

Savannah stood on her tiptoes and stared intently into
Cash’s eyes. She licked her lips and pulled him down so she could reach his
ear.

“You’re such an asshole,” she whispered.

Cash burst out laughing. “Tell me something’ I don’t know.”
He pulled her close to him. “I love you.”

He pressed his lips against hers, easing into the kiss like
it was his first time feeling her lips. He closed his eyes and could have sworn
he heard fireworks as their mouths danced together with mutual love and an
abundance of joy.

When they broke apart, Savannah gazed up at him with tears
sparkling in her eyes. Cash wiped them away with his thumb.

“Come one, Weepy. Don’t you want to meet my daughter?”

With one arm around her waist, Cash led Savannah down the
hall. He closed his eyes briefly and crossed himself with his other hand.
Earlier, Savannah had said that Christina was the luckiest kid in the world,
but Cash disagreed. He and Christina were the luckiest people in the world
because they got to have Savannah in their lives for good. He had to thank God
for answering his prayers.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Cash said before opening the
door to the hospital room.

“Ask away.”

“Remember when we met at the JukeBox? Did you spend that $20
on my first CD like I told you to?”

Cash laughed and kissed the top of Savannah’s head. The
stunned expression on her face was priceless.

“
And if you never stop when you wave goodbye, you just
might find if you give it time, you will wave hello again
,” Cash sang. “
You
will wave hello again
.”

“Insert *fangirl squeal*,” Savannah muttered as she followed
Cash into the room to meet his daughter.

“A True Friend Accepts Who You Are,
But Also Helps You Become Who You Should Be”

Jackie and Madison both reside in Atlanta, GA; one’s a
native and the other is a “damn Yankee. They share a passion for music, beer,
and incessant reading. Both name Jackie Collins as their favorite author, yet
these two women met by chance and have become good friends.

Jackie is a bestselling author with classic titles,
A Hustler’s Promise
and
UNTITLED
, under her belt. She is the
owner and primary editor for Pink Neon Publishing. In her free time, she’s
reading romance novels, watching Supernatural, or gossiping with whoever will
listen. Mainly, Madison.

Madison is a self-proclaimed bad girl pretending to be good.
She started writing erotic short stories as a hobby. She never dreamed of
publishing them and JC is still trying to talk her into it. FanGirl Squeal is
her first published novel. She is a registered nurse and dreams of one day
becoming one of Beyonce’s backup dancers.

From Madison:

First, I’d like to thank the Lord above for giving, not only
the desire to write great books, but the talent to do so. Thank you for being
my guiding light and always listening when I call.

I’d like to give some love to all my family and friends.
You’re the ones who told me I can do this and continue to support me every inch
of the way.

Thank you to every reader who picked up this book and made
it all the way to this page. I know most of you came here because Jackie sent
you and I hope I’ve stolen, I mean, won you over! You are awesome! Smooches!

Lastly, thank you to the incredible ladies of Pink Neon
Publishing.  Like me, all of you were “born fabulous” and I’m so extremely
honored and grateful to be part of such a magnificent team. We are the tried
and true ROCKSTARS.

From Jackie:

What she
said! ^^^^

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Chanel    authorjackiechanel