Page 156 of Pretty Obsessed

I will always come to you."

His hands shook as they clung to mine. "You're serious."

I grabbed him, dragging him to me so I could kiss him. "Of course I am. I didn't think you wanted to be with someone who was gone as often as I was."

"That was never it, River. Never. I'd wait for an eternity to get our times together. Even if it's the tiniest amount. I didn't want to prevent you from getting your needs met. I didn't want you to end up desperate and cheating."

"I could never betray you like that. You're too important to me to ever hurt. If I need something, you’re it, not some poor replacement." I cupped his face and kissed him. Slowly and thoroughly, taking my time to express everything I said without words again and again.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen," he said when we broke apart, lips swollen.

"I'm sorry I didn't express myself better," I whispered into his lips. "You're mine.” I looked right into his eyes as I said it. "We are going to make it work with each other.”

“I guess I need to let my editor know we’ll be working over the internet.”

“Can you do that?” I asked.

“I don’t see why not. People use web cams for meetings all the time. Why can’t I?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Emory asked.

“For figuring this out with me.”

Epilogue

River Wade

"You're kidding?" Emory said as he got out of the car, getting his first look at Allaire Studios and the property it sat on in New York.

The studio sat two hours north of New York City, and forests stretched for hundreds of miles and miles around it, with views of the Ashokan Reservoir and the surrounding Catskill Mountains. It felt like we'd been transported to a different world.

"Hard to believe we landed in the city this morning, isn't it?” I did a slow spin, inhaling the cool clean air, pine hitting my senses hard.

"We are really going to be here for weeks?"

"Yes, maybe longer. It depends. We may finish someplace else, too. But at least for a little while, we’re here."

"This is…" He turned towards me.

"Perfect. And you can go into the city when you need to. Stay at the place I have there if you need some time away from all of this." I took a step closer to him.

"It's twenty acres, I can escape here if I need some quiet." The light in his eyes gave me life.

"I know. And there are plenty of spaces to work in the studio and the area. It's one of the reasons I pushed to start here."

His smile grew. "This was your doing?"

I nodded, smoothing a hand down Emory’s shirt. "I thought it would be good for Iris, too. Slower. He agreed and started therapy so we have that setup."

I'd done as much as I could, and I was working with my own therapist on letting it go so I stopped seeing myself as responsible for everything that happened with him and the band. I was a friend, not his parent.

I had to let some things go and have a semblance of my own life. Or try to.

"When do the other guys get in?" Emory linked his arm through mine, leading me away from the car.

I'd insisted on a month off after the tour before I even thought about a new album. The other guys, feeling pretty burned out with one another, agreed. Emory had suggested we go on vacation, but after talking it out, we were both so burnt out on travel we decided to spend the month at his place in Chicago, seeing what life not on the move was like with each other.

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