by Abbi Glines
I heard the sound of small feet hitting the wood floor just before something slammed into my legs with a thud. With a startled squeal, I reached out and caught myself by grabbing the wall. Then I looked down to see the most amazing silver-colored eyes looking up at me. The little boy’s dark hair was long enough to be a girl’s, but there was no mistaking he was a boy. He frowned as his little face studied me.
“Don’t tell me to leave! I came here to talk to you, and you’re going to talk to me, you stupid son of a bitch!” the woman yelled.
The little boy’s frown deepened as he looked back down the hall toward the yelling. Was this Kiro’s son? Did he have a kid?
A small hand wrapped around my calf and held on tightly. I watched as the boy slipped his thumb into his mouth and moved closer to me. He was scared. They were yelling right in front of him.
What kind of parents did that? Rock-star parents, apparently. Suddenly, all my pain and fear subsided as my fury at this kid’s parents grew. He was just a baby. He couldn’t be more than two years old.
I bent down, and the little boy started to move but changed his mind and held his ground. His attempt to be brave was adorable and heartbreaking all at once.
“Hey, I’m Emily. What’s your name?” I asked him, not sure if he was even talking yet.
“Wush,” he whispered.
Rush. Rush Finlay. This was Dean’s son. I had heard about him in the news when he was born. There were pictures of Dean with his infant son all over the Internet. But I hadn’t seen him recently.
So why was Kiro yelling at Rush’s mother?
“It’s nice to meet you, Rush,” I said, just as his mother called Kiro names no little kid should ever hear. Did they even notice that Rush wasn’t in the room anymore?
“Where are you going? Maybe I can come, too,” I suggested. I wasn’t letting this baby out of my sight.
“Daddy home?” It sounded like a question. He was looking for Dean.
“I’m sure he is. We can go find him together,” I said, then held out my arms to see if he was going to trust me enough to hold him.
He came willingly into my arms, and I stood up as he wrapped a small arm around my neck. “Daddy’s woom,” he said, with complete faith that Dean would be in his bedroom. I wasn’t sure where Dean’s bedroom was, nor was I sure that going there unannounced was a good idea.
“Rush! Where did he go? I’m taking him back, you motherfucking bastard, and you can explain to Dean why he won’t get his son this weekend!” the woman screamed.
Rush’s hold on me tightened, and his eyes looked at me pleadingly. “Daddy’s woom,” he repeated.
“Rush!” the woman screeched again, and then Kiro called Rush’s name. I was going to have to take him in there to them, even though I wanted to bundle him up in my arms and run away. These people had no right raising a kid. Not if they were going to act this way around him. He now had me in a death grip, and I wanted more than anything to get him to his daddy. That was obviously who he wanted.
“Rush!” The woman’s voice was getting closer. The heels of her shoes clicked across the floor. She was coming, and there was no way I could save this baby from his momma.
When cold green eyes collided with mine, she froze, and then her lips snarled in disgust. “Put my son down, you slut! The whores who get paraded in and out of this house do not get to touch my son. Ever!” The attractive and obviously pregnant woman started for me, and Rush’s little face looked so sad.
“Daddy’s woom,” he repeated, for her this time.
“I was taking him to Dean. He was out here alone, and he asked for Dean,” I tried to explain.
“The fuck you are,” she hissed at me. “Stupid bitch.”
“Apologize to Emily right fucking now, or you’ll never set foot inside this house again. I don’t give a shit who you are, Georgianna. Dean can come to you to get his kid next time.” Kiro’s voice was cold and deadly.
The woman spun around and glared at Kiro. “I will not apologize to one of the many whores who keep your dick wet.”
Kiro took a step toward her, and the look in his eyes was terrifying. I was scared for her. Surely he wasn’t going to hurt a pregnant woman. Why was she taunting him like this?
“Get. The. Fuck. Out. Now!” he roared.
Rush’s arms tightened around my neck, and he buried his face into my chest. His small body was trembling, and this time, it was me who was angry. Kiro was terrifying him.
“Stop it. Both of you. He’s scared, and you both are making it worse. He’s a baby, for crying out loud. Can’t you see this upsets him? Heck, it upsets me, and I don’t even know why you’re yelling at each other. Where is Dean? He wants his dad.”
Kiro jerked his hate-filled eyes from Georgianna, and they softened as soon as they met mine. He slowly took in Rush cuddled against me and let out a sigh. “Fuck,” he muttered, as if what they were doing just dawned on him. “I’ll take you to him. He went to take a shower, and this bi—” He stopped when I shot him a warning glare. He cleared his throat. “They showed up,” he said.
“Do y’all always yell at each other and curse in front of him like this?” I asked, hoping to God they said no.
“I do not need some trashy slut telling me how to raise my kid. You either hand him over right now, or I will take him from you.”
Kiro moved toward her, his rage back.
“Kiro, don’t! Rush.” I reminded him of the boy in my arms.
Kiro stopped and muttered a curse. “Let’s get something very clear, Georgianna. Emily is not a slut or a whore. She’s here because she’s working for us. She’s my . . . friend,” Kiro said, turning his eyes back to me. Nothing in that look said we were friends. It said we had just had our hands all over each other and he wanted to do it again. “And when you are in my house, you will respect her. She’s mine.”
What?
Georgianna sputtered and threw up her hands. “So that’s why you refuse to accept the fact that I’m pregnant with your fucking kid? Because of her?”
My stomach sank, and I stared as the woman kept talking. “This baby is yours, Kiro. We were fucking like rabbits, and you know it. We were so wild for each other you forgot the damn condom one night. I’m pregnant. You need to face it and deal with it. Or do you plan on ignoring this kid like you do your other one?” She turned her angry glare to me. “Be careful. You’ll be next. The man likes to spread his seed around.”
Kiro had a kid? What? Oh, my God. I really didn’t know anything about this man.
“You fuck a different man every night,” he replied, as he continued to glare at her. “That kid ain’t mine. I never would have touched your used-up pussy without protection.”
“Dean had a paternity test done to prove Rush was his. I will gladly let you do the same.”
Kiro slammed his hand against the wall and roared. “Leave my fucking house!”
Rush was trembling in my arms again.
“Kiro, stop it,” I begged him.
“Give me my son!” Georgianna demanded, reaching to take him from me.
“He’s scared, and he wants his daddy. Can’t he just stay to see Dean?” I pleaded. This baby needed someone to fight for him.
“You stupid bi—”
“Back the fuck up now, Georgianna. Don’t you dare take him.” Dean’s voice came from behind me, and I wanted to weep in relief.
“Daddy!” Rush said, his arms loosening their hold on me as he reached them out toward Dean like he was his savior. I was beginning to think he was.
Dean took his son, looking at him like he was the most precious thing in the world. “Hey, buddy. I was wondering when you were gonna get here. I missed you.”
Dean spoke gently, and Rush buried his head in his father’s neck as he now gripped Dean with all the strength he could muster.
“I think it’s time you leave. I ever hear you talk like that around my son again, you won’t see him again,” Dean warned in a low voice as he looked at Georgianna
.
Then he turned and walked away with Rush in his arms.
“You can go now,” Kiro told her, then he made a move toward me.
I, however, wasn’t ready to be near him or speak to him. Not after everything I had just heard and seen. God, how did I not know his world was fucked up? He was a rock star. Of course he had a screwed-up past and present.
I turned and hurried back to the stairs and to the room I had been given. Did I leave, or did I stay and deal with the insane world I had walked into?
Kiro
The bottle of vodka in my hand was almost empty. I stared at the flames in the fireplace as I held the cold glass in my hands. When Georgianna had finally left, I hadn’t been able to face Emily. Not after the way she had looked at me.
She hadn’t known I had a son. One that I never saw. I had tried once, but it was too much trouble. His mother didn’t want him touched by my world. Then Georgianna claiming she was pregnant with my kid. Shit. Motherfucker! I had used a condom every damn time. I know I did. She was lying to me.
The woman was a vindictive bitch, and I swear to God, I had almost hit her. If it hadn’t been for Emily standing there, watching me like she was looking for any sign to prove I was good, I would have. But I didn’t want to let her down. I had, though. Big-time.
Dean was going to be pissed, too. Rush had heard all that shit, and Dean wasn’t going to like it. I couldn’t blame him. He loved the boy, and although the boy’s momma was a bitch, he was a cute kid. I shouldn’t have let her get to me like that in front of him.
“I think I should leave,” Emily’s gentle voice said. It’s strange how words spoken from such a sweet mouth could twist your insides so damn painfully. My Emily wanted to leave me.
I turned my head to see her standing in the doorway. She was beautiful. Always so beautiful. Her long dark hair framed her face, and the puffiness of her hazel eyes said she’d been crying. Because of me. I hated myself. I was a fuck-up.
“Don’t leave me,” I said, standing up and fighting the sway my body wanted to take as the room moved. I’d had too much to drink. Too damn much.
“I can’t stay here. I don’t agree with the way you live. I may sound prudish or judgmental, but this isn’t a world I can live in.”
The obvious pain in her voice wasn’t lost on me. She didn’t want to leave me. She was just too scared to stay. She’d found out too much about me. Too damn fast.
“I’m a fuck-up, Emily. I’ve always been a fuck-up. My parents didn’t want me. They fucking hated me. Came home one day from school, and my mother had packed my shit and left it on the front porch. I was thirteen. Said she was tired of being my momma. Said the bitch who gave me life ran off on my daddy when I was a baby, and I was just like her. Found out that day that my dad didn’t want me, either. I had no one. Dean’s momma took me in. Let me sleep in their living room. They eventually got custody of me. Killed me when she died of breast cancer. Only person to ever want to help me.” I was drunk, and I was saying shit I never said. I needed to stop, but Emily was leaving me, and I couldn’t. I needed her to stay. I couldn’t lose her, too.
“Everyone leaves me. I’m no good. I’m not worth it.” I threw the bottle into the fireplace. “Because I’m fucking worthless.” I turned back to her.
Tears had filled her eyes and were now running down her face. I was making my angel cry. I destroyed things. I couldn’t let myself destroy her. She meant too much. She was special.
“I wasn’t meant for an angel. I never should have tried to get close to one. You were always too good for me. I just wanted to be near you. To see your smile. It made everything inside of me feel whole again. The nasty and tainted shit in my life was better when you were around. You have this light, Emily. It’s so fucking bright. It warms everything around you. It warmed me. I was always so empty and cold before you.”
She moved then. I thought she had heard enough and was leaving. I didn’t know if I would survive this time. Losing her was going to break me for good. Only so many times a guy could recover.
I sank to my knees and dropped my head into my hands. I had ruined it all.
“Kiro.” Emily’s voice was beside me, and her arms wrapped around me. “You aren’t worthless. You’re special, too.” Her words shattered what was left of my heart.
“Don’t say shit like that and then leave me.” My voice was raw. I had exposed everything to her. My weakness, my fears, my pain. I’d never shown anyone all of that. Ever.
“I’m not leaving you. I won’t leave you until you send me away. I don’t want to leave you. You make me happy. You make me feel things that scare me but excite me. I don’t want to go.”
The vodka was fucking with my head. “You want to leave. Go, Emily. Run from me, baby. I’m not worth shit.”
A soft sob close to my ear sent a bolt of awareness through my body. “Look at me,” Emily begged.
I lifted my head and saw my beautiful angel on her knees, with red eyes and tears soaking her face. She was holding on to my arm tightly, as if she refused to let go.
“I’m not leaving you. Ever. The only way to get rid of me is to throw me out and swear you never want to see me again. You, Kiro Manning, are worth it. You’re worth so much.”
I opened my arms, and she let out a loud sob as she threw herself into them and clung to me. I wrapped her up tightly and buried my head in her neck and inhaled. She smelled like honey. So fucking sweet.
“I won’t ever ask you to leave. I need you,” I said against her neck.
“Good. Because I need you, too.”
I tightened my hold on her and fell back against the sofa, cradling her in my arms. She wasn’t leaving me. She wanted to stay. She wanted me. How did I manage to get an angel to stay with me? I’d done nothing right in this world. I’d fucked up more lives than I could count.
“You did the right thing today. Pushing me away,” I told her, as I ran my hands over her hair, letting the silky strands slide through my fingers. I had left her room knowing I had no right to touch her like I had. She was too good for me.
“Did I?” she replied.
“Yeah, you did. I don’t deserve you.”
She tilted her head back and stared up at me. The tears had stopped, but her face was still damp. I hated knowing she had cried for me. I never wanted her to cry. “I was afraid I’d lose you if we did anything,” she whispered.
Lose me? She thought she’d lose me? God, did she still not get it? I was done. She was it. Even if this was all she gave me, the rest of my fucking life, I would be happy. I had her. “I would have become more insane about you than I already am, but losing me? Fuck, Emily, nothing you could do would make me not want you.”
She bit her bottom lip and frowned. I watched her think that through. When her bottom lip was finally freed from her teeth, I wanted to lick it, but I wasn’t sure I was allowed. “It would make things awkward between us. How could we be friends then?”
“By awkward, do you mean I wouldn’t be able to let you out of bed or shower by yourself?”
She chuckled and shook her head no.
“Then explain that, angel, because I’m confused as fuck.”
“I mean . . . if we slept together, then what would happen when you had other girls here . . . and I had to see it? You would feel awkward, I think, and I might not be able to handle it.”
Holy fuck.
I grabbed her hips and pulled her over me so that she was facing me. Her legs were straddling my lap, and if she sank down, my dick would be snuggled up tight against her pussy. Shoving that thought aside, I cupped her face. I needed her to understand me and fucking believe me.
“Emily, if I were to fuck you, then that would be it for me. No one else. A man can’t go to heaven with an angel and be satisfied with anything else again. I’d need your pussy and your pussy only. If you’d let me in, then yeah, it would have been awkward, because you would have become mine. Completely. That might have been awkward for you.”
He
r eyes were wide as she listened to me.
I wasn’t holding back with her anymore. I was done with that shit. She needed to know it all. I had let her in, and I wasn’t keeping her out anymore. Not about anything.
“You don’t just want to sleep with me one time, then?” she asked, as her small tongue came out and wet her lips.
I rested my forehead on hers. “In this lifetime, I will never get enough of you.”
“Will you still feel that way in the morning when you’re sober?” she asked.
I smiled and pulled her back to my chest. She was right. I was drunk, but that had nothing to do with this. “Why don’t you stay right here in my arms tonight, and when we wake up in the morning, you can ask me that again,” I replied.
She glanced at the floor underneath us and then back at me. “You want to sleep on the floor?”
I lifted her and set her on the sofa behind me. “No, I want to sleep on the sofa,” I said, as I crawled up onto the soft leather and pulled her down to curl up against my side. She reached up and took the white fur blanket that was thrown over the back and covered us both with it.
“Good night, Kiro.”
“Best fucking night of my life, angel,” I assured her. Because it was.
Emily
He was awake. I sensed it without opening my eyes. The warm, hard body that held me tightly hadn’t run away this morning. Part of me had expected him to. All the things he had said last night were hard to accept, but I wanted to believe him.
“I’m here. Open your eyes, and stop thinking about everything.”
Kiro’s voice made me shiver. The warmth from his breath was on my neck, and all those parts of me that he seemed to awaken were very excited.
I peeked at him, and he chuckled. Then he pressed a kiss to my nose. “Fucking adorable,” he whispered.
I wasn’t sure I liked being adorable. That didn’t sound like someone who could keep Kiro Manning’s interest. He liked sexy. I had seen him in action, and I knew what he was attracted to. I was not it.
“No frowning. Stop thinking. Talk to me,” Kiro said, his voice now concerned.