My voice was growing hoarse, but I wouldn’t stop singing. It was the only thing I had to call out to Robert with. I was pressing my hands into the glass. Drawing my strength from the beauty I knew Chicago had to offer in the hopes that the city would spit Robert back out for me to have.

And the moment the door opened behind me, I stopped singing.

I whipped around, my eyes filled with tears, and watched as the three other security men walked back into the room. Their eyes locked onto me as they filed in and my heart sank to my toes. Where was Robert? Why were they alone? Why wasn’t he with them?

“Why did you stop?”

His voice hit my ears as he walked through the door, and there wasn’t a drop of blood in sight.

“It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard, and you stopped. Why?” he asked.

I took off running as fast as my legs would carry me. I launched myself at him, wrapping my body around his. He held me closely, his face buried into my hair as I sobbed into the crook of his neck.

“I’m here,” Robert said. “Everything is fine.”

I breathed in his scent and took in the strength of his muscles underneath my fingertips. I felt him walking us out of the living room and into my bedroom. I kissed his neck, peppering him with my lips as he closed the door behind us.

Then he sat us on the edge of the bed and tilted my gaze up to his.

“I don’t care what we have to do,” I said. “Whatever it takes, I’ll do it.”

“Slow down, songbird. Take a deep breath.”

“No. No more breaths. No more slow moments. Robert, I thought-”

My lip began to tremble and he ran his thumb across it to try and calm it.

“Gather your thoughts,” he said.

“I thought you weren’t coming back, and I started thinking about the last question you asked me. About where home was for me. And I said North Carolina, but that’s not really true. Home isn’t a… a-a-a place, or a structure, or even a person.”

My eyes met his as his hands slid along my thighs.

“Then what is it?” Robert asked.

“It’s a feeling. A feeling that brings comfort and… and peace. For me, that’s safety. When I feel safe, I feel like I’m at home. And I feel safe when I’m with you. But I didn’t realize any of that until I thought you were gone. Gone and… and not coming back.”

I closed my eyes and a tear escaped down my cheek.

“I don’t care what we have to do in order to take care of this child. If you want to be in this child’s life, then I’ll move closer to you. If I can’t sing and by a mother, then I’ll give up my music career. My life has changed so much over these last couple of months, and there are so many things I see so differently now.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

His words stopped me in my tracks.

“I changed the trajectory of your life that night. I unknowingly dragged you into a world someone like you should’ve never seen. Should’ve never been a part of.”

“Please don’t apologize,” I said breathlessly. “Please. Please don’t.”

“You were hurt because of me.”

“No. I was hurt because of him. Because that’s what revenge does to someone. It eats them alive. It devours the rational part of them and it makes them unrecognizable to even the basest of humanity.”

“Your life changed because of me and my selfish actions.”

“It did,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean the trajectory I’m on now is bad.”

His eyes connected with mine and a smile crossed my face. I rose my hand up to cup his cheek and I felt his face falling into mine. Our lips connected and he pulled me into him. Into his chiseled muscles and his calming heat and the safety his arms provided me. I melted into him as he fell back onto my bed, my legs straddling his hips.

Our noses nuzzled together as his hands ran up my back.

“Are we safe?” I asked.

“You’ll always be safe with me,” Robert said.

“But I mean, are we safe?”

My eyes fluttered open and I found his beautiful stormy eyes staring back at me.

“Now, and forever,” he said.

I kissed him again and took in the way his hands massaged me. The way his cock grow against me. The way he caved to me just as I caved to him every single time he touched me.

I shivered as his fingertips danced underneath my shirt.

“We’ll need to get to know one another more as the months go on,” I said.

“I plan on taking my time getting to know you,” Robert said.

“It’ll take time,” I said breathlessly.

“And I’m going to enjoy every second of it.”

His fingers unhooked my bra in one fluid motion, causing my forehead to fall into his.

“We have… a lot of learning to do,” I said.

“So I guess we better get started.”

His body slowly rolled me over before he stood to his feet. I leaned my body up and pulled my shirt over my head, allowing my bra to fall to the floor. My breasts were starting to grow and swell. My nipples were puckered to painful peaks as I unbuttoned Robert’s pants. I slid them down his legs, watching as his cock pulsed against his boxers.

Then I slid those down his legs, too. Releasing his cock as my hands wrapped around to his ass.

I pulled his cock to my lips and sucked him down. A surprised groan fell from his lips as his hand cupped my cheek. He tilted my gaze up to his so he could watch me. So he could see my lips swelling with effort.

“My songbird,” he said as he stroked my cheek. “Open wide.”

He pressed all the way to the back of my throat and I gagged. My hands dug into his chiseled ass while his hand twisted up into my hair. I breathed through my nose as tears sprang to my eyes, and his strong hands were there to catch my tears.

Then I hollowed out my cheeks and watched his head fall back.

I could taste his precum as it leaked from his cock. I moaned around him as his hand guided my movements. My hands gripped him tightly, pulling him back into me as a chuckle fell from his lips.

“So greedy for me,” he said. “I’ve got just the thing for that.”

He pulled my lips away with a pop before laying me down onto the bed. He ripped my panties off my body, discarding the tattered remains on the floor. He grabbed my ankles and threw them over his shoulders, then slicked his cock with the juices pouring from my pussy.

Inch by inch, he slid in. Filling me to the brim as my body shook.

He folded me in half and pinned my hands above my head. Our lips collided as his hips snapped against mine. His dick pulsed against my walls as my arousal dripped down the crack of my ass. Coating his balls and splashing against my skin as he snapped his body against mine.

I curled my fingers into his hands, his throat swallowing my moans. My pussy was fluttering and my toes were curling and my legs were beginning to grow taut. His hips began to stutter as his lips fell away from mine, his face falling into the crook of my neck.

“I’m cumming. I’m cumming. Robert. Shit. I love you. I love you. I love-”

My body arched into him as my pussy exploded. Fluids drenched his cock and balls as my body quaked against his muscles. He sank into me one last time, allowing my pussy to pull him in as it milked him for all the cum he had to give. I felt his cock give way, quaking with every thread it pumped into my body.

I was covered by him, filled by him, and enjoyed by him.

This was what home felt like.

This was what I had been searching for.

My eyes fell open and my legs slid from Robert’s shoulders. He picked me up and moved me up the bed, then settled next to me. Our intermingled juices were flowing from between my legs as I curled into him, and I felt something warm against my stomach.

I looked down and saw Robert’s hand splayed along my abdomen.

“I love you too,” Robert said.

Tears rushed to my eyes as he encompassed my lips in a kiss.

“I love you both.”