Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Callie

24 Hours Later

This is it, I think to myself. I wish Sasha could have come with me, but her husband had an important meeting, plus she has a family now, and another child. So, I brought Jaynie with me—I knew she'd enjoy a Black Diamond concert, especially one held in Beau's honour. I didn't tell her I'm beyond furious that Eddie hasn't bothered to call me and tell me about it, nor that he's using my son to benefit himself. Instead, I muster a smile when Jaynie shrieks at the sight of Beau's picture on the big screen.

"He would have loved this, Callie. I'm so glad you asked me to come."

"I'm glad you came with me," I say, giving her hand a quick squeeze.

My attention is snagged by the crowd moving aside, and that's when I see Marcus walking in my direction. I can't help but laugh quietly to myself; he still makes me think of Men in Black , dressed head to toe in an expensive black suit and his dark shades.

"Ladies, please come with me," he says, but I shake my head.

I'm not ready to confront Eddie, especially not with Jaynie around. I didn't really think through how I'd get him alone.

"Does he know I'm here?" I ask quietly.

"No, Sasha called Mickki, and he swore me to secrecy. He'll only know you're here, when and if you want him to. They didn't want him to ruin the night for you."

"Thank you, it means a lot."

He doesn't say anything else, and I finally agree to go with him. He nods and leads us to a roped-off section, which I find odd. I've seen nothing like this before at a concert, but then again, this isn't just any concert, it's Black Diamond's final concert. And it dawns on me that this is a big deal.

When the guys walk out on stage, I hold my breath. The sight of him makes my palms sweat and the hard thumping of my heart physically hurts. I'm quickly reminded of how much I still love him, and even the anger melts away... that is, until I remember why I'm here.

"You know he is doing this for you, right?" Jaynie says, as if she can read my mind.

"What do you mean?" I say, playing dumb.

"Don't act stupid, Callie, you're far from it. I know you get the notifications on your phone. Eddie loves you, and Beau deserves to be known by the entire world—he would love this."

The arsehole didn't even invite me tonight, and that tells me he doesn't care. I wonder if he even knew tonight's concert was in Beau's honour, considering he's always been oblivious to anything going on around him unless it somehow directly involves him. I stew in my churning thoughts and emotions while Jaynie sings song after song as loudly as she can.

After two encores, Mickki tries to quieten down the crowd. "Alright, alright, if everyone shuts up, we may do one more song," Mickki says, and the crowd falls silent, hoping to hear them one last time. Just when I think he's about to say something else, Eddie walks towards him and takes the microphone.

"Thank you all for coming, we appreciate the support from all our fans over the years. I want to give a special mention to Beau," he says. "I didn't get to know Beau very well before he passed away, but he was truly an extraordinary kid who loved his mum so much. She's here tonight. Callie, where are you?" Jaynie jumps up and down, squealing and pointing to me, so there is no point trying to hide now. "Yo, Marcus, bring her up to the stage."

I shake my head. "Nope, no way," I tell Marcus as he walks my way.

"No point fighting it," he says. "He'll just come to you."

He's right, so I grit my teeth and follow him up to the stage, my heart beating through my chest. Once I'm on the stage, Eddie walks over to me, and my emotions are all over the place. Though I want to cry and scream—and sucker punch him in his junk—I just stand there and stare at him. Everything just melts away.

"Callie, from the first day you walked into my life, it changed. At first, I was far from happy about the situation, but over time, you grew on me, and not having you in my life hasn't been easy. I miss you, and I miss your no-bullshit attitude. I thought if I let you go, and we were meant to be, you'd find your way back to me. But a wise kid made me realise life is too short to wait," he says, the sweat visibly running down his face. He shakily gets down on one knee and his hands are trembling.

What the hell is he doing? He can't propose, not when there's so much I still need to say and so much he doesn't know.

"Callie, I know this is crazy," he says, and the crowd cheers him on, "but I don't want to waste any more time. I love you and can't imagine my future without you in it. Will you marry me?"

"I... I'm pregnant," I finally spit out, and I watch for his reaction.

He kneels there, speechless for a second, and then he literally passes out. Shit, I knew this was too much for him to handle—it's too much for me to handle. Initially, I was booked in for a termination; I couldn't bring another child into this world when I'd done such a bad job at being a mother the first time around. Honestly, I can barely keep my shit together, and Eddie is just as unstable. At first, I didn't want my sister to know, or even Eddie, but when I watched Beau's video, he made me think maybe I should consider it some more. Then Eddie catches me off-guard, and I just blurt it out in front of thousands of people. There's no way to take it back, and him passing out is just the icing on the cake. We're as screwed up as I thought.