Risk it All

Hush, hush, don't you dare say a word

Brantley's POV:
"You seen that red and black flannel Bailey threw at my head the other day?" I yelled as I searched the back room of the bus, remembering how cute Bailey had been when she tossed that shirt at my head the night before. I had told her earlier in the day to leave some things on the bus that I would consider, and the damned woman had snuck in an american flag printed button up. I literally looked like someone had stitched the flag to make a shirt. When I had refused to wear it, she had just looked at me sweetly and said that it fit into the color requirements. Which only pissed me off because I knew that she had bought that shirt in here to be a smartass. Like an idiot, I had told her that she looked adorable when she was pissed. I was lying,  but I wouldn't necessarily have used the word adorable. Sexy maybe, hot as hell definitely. Though only recently had she taken to throwing things at me when she didnt like my replies. Luckily it was only a shirt and not one of the heavy biker boots she had in her hands. "Nevermind, I found it!"

     Slipping the shirt over my shoulders, I rolled the sleeves up to my elbows and left it unbuttoned, revealing the black Georgia Bulldogs shirt I had on underneath it. Looking at myself in the mirror and took in my look. With my black hat on backwards, my black jeans with chains and my rings, I had to give the woman credit that she had known what she was doing when she picked it out. I looked damn good! Silently thanking her for the shirt and agreeing that she had been right in picking it. I went to leave the room. Just as I was walking out, I heard Chase give his usual smartass opinion that I had come to expect from him. He was more of a smartass than I was and that was saying something.

"Thinking of adding some color to the wardrobe?" Chase asked, laughing as he leaned forward and slid on his brown leather boots. He had to be on stage in a few minutes.

     I smiled to myself thinking about the surprise that I had in store for him. His wife, his kids, his momma, and one of his brothers were coming in for the show tonight since it was the last one for a few weeks. Brinleigh had asked me to keep it from him because she wanted to surprise him. I had tried to get Chad's schedule cleared so that he could be here as well but things had fallen through at the last minute. Well, not really fallen though, he had a huge audition and couldn't afford to miss it.
     The past month or so had been hard on Chase. The night he left Nashville to start touring with me, his wife Brinleigh had gone into labor, delivering a healthy set of twin boys, Daniel and Brody. More than once over the past few weeks had I caught him beating himself up for not being there for her and them. One night in particular I'd had a talk with him about his drinking and told him that no matter how much he drank, what he wanted wasn't going to be in the bottom if it. God knows, I knew from experience. 

"Can it, motherfucker." I said as I walked out into the living area of the bus, messing with the collar of my shirt. The only time I really wore a collared shirt was to church and that was only because I knew Mama would beat my ass if I showed up in anything but one.

"Bailey was right. I think the red really does make your eyes pop." said Chase jokingly, earning him a glare, the finger, and a growl because of the smirk on his face.

"What-the-fuck-ever, man. I'll be off by the third song anyway." I said as I grabbed my black boots and slid them on. "You ready to get this show started? Cause I'm ready to get it over with and head home. I'm in need of some down time and some of my mama's home cooking."

"Yeah man. I miss Brin and the boys some kind of bad." said Chase. His comment only made the surprise I had in store for him all the better!

"I know." I said. "The sacrifices we make for the ones we love man..."

"Yeah."  said Chase as he stood and placed his black HDEU hat on his head backwards. "Let's go."

     Slapping a hand on his shoulder, the two of us climbed off the bus and began walking towards the back entrance that would carry us to the stage. As we were nearing it, I heard my phone ding. Dragging it from my pocket, I smiled when I read who the text was from.

Brin: We're here :)

Me: How you wanna play this? Wanna surprise him now just before the show or do you want to do it now?

Brin: Now. I can't wait to get my hands on him :)

Me: Haha, well just remember he goes on stage in like 30 minutes. Seth will flip if he is late for showtime. In other words, no hanky panky until after the show :D

"Shit" I muttered, hoping I was convincing and sounded annoyed. I knew that Chase would think I was avoiding Bailey and since he was most likely messaging Brinleigh to tell her he was about to go on stage, he wasn't really paying attention to where he was walking.

     Tugging his arm, I pulled him in the direction of the parking area. Thankfully, he turned to follow my direction. As I scanned the lot, I saw Brinleigh standing in front of Chase's truck. To have just had twins, the woman looked incredible. On more than one occasion I had told Chase how lucky he was to have her in his life. But when I shot her a smile, Brinleigh took off running. Chas emust have heard it because he finally raised his head. I watched as he tried to process what he was seeing in front of him with just a tiny bit of jealousy. I had always thought that I would have what he has one day- a woman that loved me with everything she had and was understanding of my career. I'd thought I'd had that with Amber but it turns out I fucked that one up with my drinking drug use. Jana on the other hand had been after I'd gotten sober. Turns out she just wanted to be tied to me so that she could advance her own music career. Those two women were the reason that I now lived by the "single forever" motto.  
     When Brinleigh jumped into Chase's arms, I felt my jealousy only increase. Not because I wanted her, but because I knew that I wanted to have someone running towards me like that, their eyes filled with love. But it was easier to live by my motto than risk getting hurt again.

"Hey man, this is a family show. Don't be getting x-rated" I said he deepened the kiss that Brinleigh was laying on him. I'm pretty sure I heard a moan slip past his lips before breaking the kiss.

     I watched as his brother Casey joked with him about making out with his wife. I watched as he engulfed his mama in a big hug. But what was the most moving was watching him kneeling down in front of the two carseats that his mom and brother had been carrying. I wasn't a crier but seeing the tears rolling down his face at the sight of his sons, had even my eyes watering. Quickly sliding my shades on to hide my eyes, I stood there taking in the scene in front of me.
     When Chase asked how Brinleigh had managed all of this, she told him that it was all my doing.

"You son of a bitch." he said, smiling at me before walking over and pulling me into a hug, both of us slapping the other on the back. "Thank you."

"Hey man, I wanted to meet these boys myself. I've heard about them enough and seen enough pictures that I felt it was only fair that Uncle B got to meet his boys." I said as I knelt down examining the little boys who were sound asleep.

"Uncle B huh?" I heard Brinleigh say. "Who made that call?"

"Me." I said, standing and smiling.

"I like the sound of that," Chase replied, giving him a smile and silently thanking him again for helping set this up. "Couldn't think of a better guy for the job."