One day when she was married. She didn’t say when we were married. Fuck that. She wasn’t marrying anyone but me. Ever. She was mine.

I pushed her down on the sofa and began stripping off her clothes. I had to remind her who she belonged to. Whose heart she’d taken over and just how much I couldn’t live without her. This shit about marrying one day was fucked up. She was marrying one day, and it would fucking be me. My babies in her stomach. Mine. All mine.

“Kiro?” she asked nervously, as I made quick work of stripping down.

“Open for me,” I replied. The panic in my voice was obvious.

She opened her legs, and I was inside her immediately. “Fuck, yes,” I groaned, as she squeezed my cock like a glove. “Mine, Emily. This is mine. No one else’s. Always just mine.” I chanted like a madman while I began moving in and out of her.

“Yes, Kiro, I’m yours,” she reassured me.

When she wrapped a leg around my waist and locked down, that meant she was almost there. Sliding in and out of her wet heat made everything in the world OK. She fixed whatever was wrong.

“My angel,” I said again, as her body started to shake and the orgasm had her pussy locking down on my cock, sending me off with her. “I fucking love you!” I yelled, as I shot my release into her.

When I came down from my high, I scooped her into my arms and held her. I stayed inside her. I liked being connected to her like this. It eased all my fears.

Emily

Mase came to stay the weekend with us twice that summer. It was hard on Mary Ann to be away from him too long, but she was determined to allow Mase and Kiro to bond. It also gave her time to herself. She was even dating someone now.

By the end of the summer, Georgianna had given birth to a baby girl. She said she’d had a paternity test done and that Nannette wasn’t Kiro’s child. However, something inside me told me she was lying. But Kiro refused to insist on seeing the results of the test. He said the kid belonged to Georgianna’s ex-fiancé. I was going to have her show us the results of the test when Kiro would listen to me. But right now I was letting her adjust to life with her new baby and Rush.

It was a battle I gave up.

Over the next six months, Mase became a part of our lives. We went to the zoo and took him to a Lakers game. We spent afternoons on the beach when it was warm enough. Every time I watched Mase smile up at his dad, my heart squeezed. I loved seeing them together.

Georgianna never came back around. Dean would have to travel to get Rush from her. She had a baby now and refused to bring Rush to Dean. He didn’t seem to mind, and Kiro preferred it. He still hated Georgianna.

When the guys had to work on a new song or go to record the new album while Rush and Mase were visiting, I took care of them. Both boys had stolen a piece of my heart.

May 1993

Emily

Slacker Demon’s summer tour was starting. Their newest album had gone platinum once again, and I was prepared to travel with Kiro. He refused to have it any other way. Dean had convinced Trac, Brit, and Dash that without me, Kiro would be a mess. That they all needed me there in order to make it through the tour.

We had spent the weekend with Mase, and I was going to miss him over the next four months. Kiro seemed a little sad to see him go, too. He had bonded with his son the past year, and I was so thankful for it.

Mase was talking a lot now, too, and it was adorable. He was calling me “Emmy” just like Rush did. Kiro had picked up on it and he called me Emmy more often now than he did Emily. Mary Ann was in a serious relationship, but Kiro didn’t seem to care about that. He let me have my friendship with Mary Ann, but he rarely spoke to her.

I slipped out of bed before the sun came up. My eyes had snapped open, and the waves of nausea roiling through my stomach were back from yesterday. I made it to the toilet just in time. Luckily, Kiro had slept through this yesterday. I had thought it was something I’d eaten, but now it was back, after I’d felt fine all day yesterday after being sick. I couldn’t be coming down with a stomach bug now. Not when we were due to leave for tour this afternoon.

I would have to stay behind. Kiro would be so upset. In all honesty, so would I. I missed him whenever he was away, if only for a couple of hours to practice. We were rarely apart, and the idea of being separated hurt. I didn’t like it any more than he did. But as I grabbed the porcelain seat, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fly today. I needed to see a doctor instead.

I felt his presence before he said anything. Reaching up, I flushed the toilet and grabbed a cloth to wipe my face. Then I turned to face him. He was watching me with worry and fear on his beautiful face. The last time I got sick, I’d had strep throat. One would have thought I was on my deathbed the way he hovered over me. He never left my side and held my hand even while he slept.

“I think I should go see a doctor and catch up with y’all later this week,” I said, trying to sound brave. If he thought for a minute that I was upset, he’d stay behind with me. They had sold out every show, starting tomorrow night in Boston. He had to go.

“I won’t leave without you,” he said matter-of-factly, then started wetting a cloth with cool water before bending down beside me and cleaning my face with it. “I can’t leave you if you’re sick. You know that. They know that.”

“Boston,” I said weakly, wanting to crawl back into bed and lie down. I was tired today.

“Fuck Boston. I’m not leaving you.”

He had to leave me. So I had to get better. “I’m sorry. I’ll be fine. Let me rest, and by this afternoon, I’ll be ready to go.”