Eleven

Sky

You're mine. And I'm yours. Until our end.

"At least, it's not drugs," Marley groused beside me while we watched the band perform. Well, to be honest, I only watched Jerrin. The rest of the group could have been naked and painted green, and I wouldn't have noticed.

"No, not drugs," I confirmed.

Though they said love was a drug, didn't they? And wow, Jerrin had just made a huge scene. That wasn't the action of a man who'd been playing a game with me. And he said…

He said he loved me.

He loved me?

I stared at him while he sang my song, never taking his eyes from me, as if he were serenading me. Once, I'd been obsessed with it. I'd always felt as if it were mine, and now, the feeling had returned.

"I guess if you had to pick one of them, you picked a good one," Marley said when the next song started, and Jerrin had to move to the far side of the stage to play the crowd over there. "Sometimes, I think he's the best one of the lot."

"Sometimes? Wait, Marley?" Glancing over, I caught the expression on her face before she shuttered it away. "You like one of them, don't you?"

"No."

"Yes, you do. It's not Stone. Pretty sure of that. And you're not into girls. It must be Kyson? You have a thing for Kyson, don't you?"

She jabbed me with her elbow. "Shut up!"

"You do!" I crowed.

"Jerrin's not the only one I'm going to kill if you don't shut up!" she threatened.

"Before this week, I didn't know you were so bloodthirsty." My gaze tracked my man while he jogged to the other side of the stage to rev up the that portion of the audience. Pride welled in my chest while I watched him work. Charisma oozed from him. How had I ever taken him for anything less than a super star?

"This job will do it to you." She jerked her chin toward Jerrin. "So he better not hurt you."

"I think he plans to marry me." I bit my lip, unable to hold back my grin when he caught my eye again. Yeah, it was fast, but like him, I didn't see any other outcome, either. Once we got past this problem, anyway. When I envisioned my future, I saw him right there, too.

"Good." She gave me a small smile, not threatening Jerrin's wellbeing again while we enjoyed the rest of the concert. Loving Jerrin hadn't magically changed my taste in music, but I kind of enjoyed Waterstone's performance, too. That had everything to do with Jerrin, though, and his eyes on me, probably more often than they should have been.

After the concert, Marley led me over to security, who in turn, took us backstage. We'd barely taken more than a dozen steps through the doors when Jerrin caught me in his arms. His hand brushed along my cheek, and he softly pressed his lips to mine, the kiss too quick and light for my tastes.

"Thank you for staying," he said.

Marley shoved his shoulder, reminding us she was there.

"This is my only warning," she growled.

"Yeah, you'll kill me," he finished. "I know. You don't have to worry. I'm not going to hurt her. I promise."

"You already did," my sister argued.

"Marley," I said gently while I extricated myself from Jerrin's admittedly sweaty embrace. I pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you," I said into her ear. "I love you."

She sighed. "I love you, too. Are you staying with him?"

I glanced over at Jerrin, and he nodded.

"Yeah. I'm staying. We're going someplace, so we can talk."

She pursed her lips and looked around. "Alright, I guess I need to make sure all my people are doing their jobs, anyway. Call me if you need me, okay? I'll come right away."

"I'll be fine." I didn't point out that I'd driven here, and I could make my own escape if I needed to. When she was in big sister mode, details like that didn't matter.

After another quick hug, she walked away with the promise of seeing me the next day.

Jerrin took my hand and led me in the other direction.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked as he wove through the throngs of people backstage. He kept me close to his side while we zigzagged toward the exit—at least, I thought that's where we were headed.

"To my place, like I said. We can talk in private there. Stone agreed to stay on the other bus tonight. They have an extra berth."

We stepped outside, and I was relieved when the sound level dropped. We were still on the festival grounds, so it wasn't quiet by any stretch, but we were much farther from the crowds.

Keeping my hand in his, Jerrin headed down a wide path lined on either side by the artists' buses. Halfway down the makeshift road, he nodded toward a dark blue and silver rig with huge dark-tinted windows.

"This one's mine," he said, nodding toward it.

"Fancy."

He shrugged. "It's home for long stretches."

Minutes later, we were inside, and he led me to a surprisingly spacious lounge outfitted in tan-leather. To one side were overstuffed chairs and to the other, a couch. He pulled me to sit on the couch then knelt in front of me, wiggling in so my legs were forced to part for him while he held my hands between us.

"Sky, I'm sorry—"

I pressed my fingers over his lips, while I shook my head. "I get it. I don't agree with what you did, but I get it. Don't lie to me like that again."

"I won't. I hated it. Once I started, I couldn't see my way out of the lie. And I really did like that you saw only me and not the fame. No one outside the band has viewed me as only Jerrin in over ten years."

I nodded and angled closer. "You said something else, too."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm sorry. I—"

Cupping my hand behind his neck, I pulled him closer and pressed my lips to his. "I love you, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," I assured him.

"Fuck, Sky…"

"Soon," I laughed, though having sex wasn't what he'd meant. "You mentioned marriage sometime in the future, but what do you see for us now? It all seems too good to be true. I don't know if I can go on the road with you. You're touring—"

"No, that's the beauty of this timing. This was our last performance of the tour. Which means I'm free for a while. For as long as I want, actually. Everyone's ready for a break. And Spring Harbor seems like a really great place for me to recoup and write some music." He shrugged. "To maybe even build a house with a studio in it. We'll have to think about the last one, I guess. But I'm staying here, whether you forgive me tonight or not. If you don't, fair warning, I plan to fight to prove myself to you."

Pushing him backward to rest on his heels, I climbed down to kneel over him, straddling his legs. My arms wrapped around his neck. "I forgive you. I was going to make you work harder for it, but after what you did back at the concert…"

"I couldn't let you go."

"I'm staying. I want to work this out. Now, kiss me before I change my mind."

"I can do better." His hand cupped behind my head, and he brought my mouth to his while his other arm curled around my waist. Showing the strength I'd often observed, he stood, never breaking our kiss, then carried me through the bus to his room in the very back.

He kicked the door shut then climbed onto the surprisingly soft bed, me under him and him wedging his hips between my thighs.

He raised an eyebrow, smiling down at me while I ran my hands over his chest. "Shall we make the bus rock, my sweet girl?"

"I hope it's sturdier than that."

"I'm willing test it. You?"

"Any day. I love you, Jerrin. You . My road crew guy."

He groaned at my teasing. "I love you, my rock shop rock star."

I pulled his mouth back down to mine. "How about you forget about that, and I'll never call you road crew again?"

"Deal."

And then he kissed me, and I forgot anything but what he did to me. And what he did… That deserved a song of its own. Only for us.