“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.