Page 10 of Cougar

“No rush,” Miles says, once again pulling me back to the present. “I’m not going anywhere. In the meantime, if you need anything, just let me know.”

“Thank you, Miles.”

He shakes hands with my father, then heads over to speak to Jay.

My chest tightens. “I need some air.” Standing from the sofa, I kick off my heels and head out the back door, making my way down to the beach.

Emerson

I stare out at the endless sky as my toes sink into the sand. I’ve lost count of the number of sunsets Marcus and I watched from this exact spot. The same spot where he asked me to marry him.

We were sitting side by side on the edge of the shore. Just as the sun touched the ocean in the distance, Marcus turned to me, brushed the hair away from my face, and said, “Let’s get married.”

“Married?” I asked, amused. “We’ve only known each other a week.” I rolled my eyes and turned back to watch the sunset.

Marcus cupped my cheek and turned my face to his. “I know it sounds crazy, but I knew I wanted to marry you before our plane even landed at LAX. Every good decision I’ve ever made has been from trusting my gut and following my heart.”

“But there’s still so much we don’t know about each other.”

“I know enough.”

“Oh really?” I challenged.

“Your name is Emerson Renee Mackenzie. You were born and raised in Heritage Bay, Florida, to Dr. Max and Ella Mackenzie. You have two brothers, Max and Liam. You’re the middle child. Max is the oldest by four years, and Liam is the youngest by twelve years. You recently graduated with honors from Heritage Bay Academy and will be attending UCLA in the fall. You’re beautiful, but I find that you’re even more beautiful when you first wake up in the morning. You’re smart and a bit of a smartass, which is a turn-on. You’re feisty, which I find sexy. You’re stubborn, and from what you’ve told me about your parents, you get it from your mother. You frown when you sleep but you don’t snore. You always smell good. And if I’m being honest, you have an amazing rack.”

He dropped his gaze to my chest and laughed when I playfully backhanded him in the arm. I giggled when he caught my hand and brought it to his lips. “I know your friends hurt you, and trust isn’t something you’re willing to give so easily, but I’m in love with you, Emerson Renee Mackenzie, and I promise you that I will never hurt you or give you a reason not to trust me. I promise to love you for eternity.”

I wish I could say Marcus made good on his promise, but unfortunately, becoming a famous rock star and living in a fishbowl meant some things were out of his control. When Marcus and I met on the plane that day, Royal Mayhem was on the rise to stardom. They had a decent-sized fan base, which was rapidly growing by the day.

At the time, Marcus wasn’t easily recognized in public, so it wasn’t a big deal to the world when we flew to Vegas and eloped. I’d never felt so scared, reckless, and excited all at once in my life.

It wasn’t long after we were married, maybe a year, before Royal Mayhem skyrocketed to fame and they were back on the road as the headliners of their own tour. Marcus’s face was splashed all over the tabloids with photos of him with other women, followed by stories of heavy drug use, which I knew to be false. Tommy and Chaz smoked an occasional joint, Drew preferred alcohol, and Marcus had a beer every once in a while, but none of them were heavy drug users. Marcus’s biological parents were drug addicts, which was how he ended up in the system. He chose not to fall down the same rabbit hole, so music became his drug of choice.

Being married to a rock star, you need to have a thick skin. Being a teenager with trust issues and married to a man I was still getting to know was hard work. I knew the stories of him with other women were bullshit, but it didn’t stop me from feeling insecure or jealous and acting so irrationally that it nearly tore us apart. But eventually I learned to push my insecurities aside, because at the end of the day, I trusted my husband.

A familiar skunk-like smell permeates the air, prompting me to turn my head to the side. I spot Alex and Evangeline sitting in the sand, both still in their funeral clothes, backs against a large rock.

Evangeline Skye is Jayla’s childhood best friend and Alex’s girlfriend. She’s also the daughter of Chandler Skye, Marcus’s business partner and CFO of King Records. The two met a couple of years ago while Alex was visiting Marcus and me for the first time.

“What’s wrong?” Marcus asked as he walked into our home office.

“You have a son,” I whispered.

Marcus huffed out a laugh. “Last I checked, I have a daughter,” he joked.

But I didn’t laugh.

His smile fell and his body stilled. “Emerson?”

Tears filled my eyes as I held up the letter from the attorney.

Marcus rounded the desk, took the letter from my hand, and tossed it to the side. Then he pulled me to my feet and cupped my face. “Emerson.” He smiled as he wiped the tears from under my eyes with his thumbs. “There’s always going to be some deranged female out there claiming I’m her baby daddy. We’ve been laughing about this for years. Why are you suddenly so upset?”

“Because it came from an attorney.”

He rolled his eyes. “So?”

“To our home.”

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