Kiro
Why couldn’t it have been my motherfucking heart? Why did it have to be my baby girl’s? I had been asking this question since the day they told Emmy and me there was an issue with Harlow’s heart. I would have moved heaven and earth to take that from her. But just like I couldn’t save my Emmy, I couldn’t save our daughter.
She was stubborn, and she was so fucking brave. That damn hard head of hers had been something I admired. Until she decided she was gonna have a baby. I knew she’d never abort it. Wasn’t in her nature. She had been trying to save the world since she was three years old. She always put others before herself. She preferred the people she loved over her own wants and needs.
It was one of the things that made her so damn beautiful. Just like my Emmy. And she was all I had of my Emmy. The light in Emmy’s eyes had been gone for so long. Every day I visited her, I hoped to see her eyes light up with understanding and that she would come back to me, but that never happened. Not once.
The only way I could see that light was to look at our Harlow. Our little miracle. And now she was lying back there on some goddamn hospital bed with tubes in her, barely hanging on to life.
All I could think about on the flight to Rosemary Beach was how I was going to wrap my hands around Grant Carter’s neck for doing this to her. He hadn’t thought about her safety; he had thought with his fucking dick. And my sweet Harlow loved the man. She wanted his kid. And he let her go through with it.
Now I was in the waiting room with everyone else. Rush tried to talk to me and calm me down. He didn’t want me agitated when Grant came back from seeing the baby that might have just killed my baby. He said Grant was a wreck. That he had been standing there like a man possessed, watching the door for a sign of Harlow. For any word.
He was scared. Good. Motherfucking good! He should be. Maybe death was too good for him. A life like mine was hell on earth. That was what he deserved. Death would be too easy for him.
I glanced back at Dean, who was sitting with Blaire, then saw that the rest of the band had found places to sit. When I’d gotten the call, they had all shown up at the airport with me. They loved my girl, too. She was their family. There was a good chance they’d kill Grant.
“Kiro,” Grant said, and I jerked my head back around to see the man responsible for this. He was wearing a pair of blue scrubs, and there were dark circles under his eyes. The pale color of his face didn’t make me feel any better.
“You killed my baby,” I snarled, unable not to take out my pain on someone.
Grant tensed, and Rush was there between us immediately. He looked fierce and ready to take me on.
“She’s alive. She’s fighting, because that’s what she does. I don’t give a damn who you are, I will have your ass removed from this hospital if you can’t keep it together. I’m sorry you’re hurting. I know you’ve got to be scared as shit. But so is he,” Rush said, pointing at Grant. “He’s fucking terrified. Losing her would destroy him. He’s already breaking apart. So don’t come in here throwing shit around and accusing him of anything. He stood by the woman he loves when she was determined to have this baby. He couldn’t force her to do something she’d never get over.”
Dean came up beside his son and put a hand on Rush’s shoulder as if to make sure I knew I wasn’t going to be able to attack Rush, either. “The boy looks like he’s been through hell. Harlow wouldn’t want this. She would want you to be here for each other. You know that, Kiro,” Dean said in a stern tone.
They were all on the boy’s side. He could have stopped this. My baby had wanted to give him a baby. She loved that baby because it was his. So hell, yes, I blamed him.
“He didn’t protect her. He could have saved us all this with something as simple as a damn condom.”
Grant closed his eyes, and I saw him tremble. Apparently, he knew that, too. He was taking the blame. Good. He needed to know that if we lost her, he was the one who killed her. Him.
“He didn’t know about her heart until the day she left him. She was pregnant before she left. She just didn’t know it,” Rush explained.
I already knew that. I didn’t care. He still should have used a condom. Respect a girl like Harlow, and protect her from your dick. It’s fucking courtesy.
“Where the fuck is Mase? His ass should be here,” I said, angry that the brother she adored wasn’t here, waiting.
“I’m right here, asshole.”
Mase
“You did not just call him an asshole,” Major whispered beside me.
“Watch your mouth,” my mother scolded. Although she knew he was an asshole.
“He is an asshole,” I replied as I glared at the man who had a part in bringing me into this world. I wouldn’t consider him a father. He was Harlow’s father, not mine. And definitely not Nan’s. He hadn’t even claimed her until she was an adult, and only after Blaire’s father shared that info with the world.
“He’s Kiro. You can’t call him an asshole,” Major said.
Major hadn’t grown up around that part of my life. His father was my stepdad’s brother. I was kept away from Kiro’s life as much as possible. Major had traveled the world as an army brat and only knew of Kiro Manning the rock god. He didn’t know what a sucky excuse for a father he was.
“Your sister is in there dying, and the brother she fucking worships can’t find it in his cowboy schedule to get his sorry ass over here fast enough. So who’s the asshole?” Kiro spat back at me.
My mother tensed beside me and started off after him, but I grabbed her arm. She and Kiro didn’t get along. He had been a very bad mistake during a rebellious time in her life. I still can’t figure out how she had gone that far off the deep end. But whenever I asked her about it, she would tell me it was Kiro Manning, and she had been a young girl. It was as simple as that. Then she’d remind me that she had me, which made it all worth it.
“I don’t own my own fucking jet. I had to fly commercial. I got here as fast as I could. Look at me. I’m covered in dirt, sweat, and cow shit. I didn’t even stop in the house to change. I ran for the motherfucking airport.”
My mother didn’t even try to correct my language this time.
Kiro looked somewhat appeased. He swung his gaze to Major and frowned. “Who the fuck is he?” he asked. He still hadn’t acknowledged my mother. Asshole.
“Major Colt. My cousin. Major, this is Kiro Manning.” I didn’t add that he was my father. Major knew it, and I didn’t like to remind myself or claim him as such. I put up with him because of Harlow. She was the only Manning I cared to have anything to do with. She was my little sister, and if Grant Carter didn’t look completely fucked up right now, I’d beat the shit out of him. I needed to hit someone, and he was the only one I could think of to blame.
“You don’t have any cousins. Your last name isn’t Colt,” Kiro said in that haughty tone of his that I hated. The rock star didn’t affect me. That persona got to most people. But not his offspring. We knew better.
“Should have been,” my mother snapped, and Kiro shifted his angry glare to her. I wouldn’t let him speak down to her. I’d knock his old ass out if I had to.
“My last name is Colt-Manning. The man who raised me is a Colt,” I informed him. Kiro knew good and well that I was more a Colt than a Manning. A father was the man who was there for you, not the man who donated his sperm for the cause.
Kiro rolled his eyes and then stretched his neck by moving it from side to side. He was scared, and he was being a jerk in order not to beat the shit out of Grant. I could read him well enough to know why he was showing his worst side.
“I’m going to have a seat,” my mother said, wanting to put distance between herself and Kiro.
I nodded and watched her walk over, take a seat, and pull out her phone to call home.
“It’s a family gathering, I see,” a female voice said, one I had hoped I’d never have to hear again.
I turned toward Nan. Why was she even here? She didn’t care about Harlow. If she wasn’t a damn female, I’d punch her to get some release—and pay her back for all the hurt she’d caused Harlow.
“Didn’t expect you to be here,” I said, not even trying to hide the distaste in my tone.
She shrugged and flipped her long red hair back over her shoulder. “We all share the same daddy,” she said in a saccharine-sweet voice.
“Didn’t fucking mean anything to you before. If you’re here to move in on Grant, you can hang that idea up. In case you haven’t noticed, he’s falling apart. You’re not even on his radar.”
Nan flinched but only barely. I would have missed it had I not been watching her.
“Ease off,” Rush warned. “She stepped in and volunteered to give blood when Harlow needed a transfusion. She doesn’t deserve this from you.”
Nan had given Harlow blood? For fucking real?
“What? Are you shitting me?” I asked, looking from Rush to Kiro, who looked equally shocked.
“Don’t,” Nan told Rush. “I didn’t do it for his acceptance,” she said, then spun around and stalked off.
Rush watched the sister we shared walk off with concern on his face. He had grown up with Nan. They’d been raised by the same selfish, shitty mom. Rush was the only person who loved Nan, and I respected that, but he overlooked a lot from her.
“Since she was ten years old, I haven’t seen her do anything for anyone but herself. I haven’t seen her show compassion or concern for anyone. I haven’t seen her attempt to show others that she has a heart under all that bitterness. Until today. She didn’t even hesitate. The doctor said they needed Harlow’s blood type, and it would be best coming from a family member. Nan stood up and offered without a second thought.”
That didn’t make sense. That wasn’t Nan. She didn’t give without trying to manipulate something or someone. But right now, I didn’t care. She had helped Harlow when she needed it most. I could forgive a lot for that.
Rush turned and walked over to Blaire, and Kiro went to lean against the nearest wall. I turned to look for Grant and found him standing with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the two double doors the doctor had gone through as if he was waiting for him to return.
“OK, the redhead is your sister, too? Damn, she’s hot. How many hot sisters do you have, and how the hell didn’t I know about that one?”
I ignored Major. He didn’t know Nan. He had no idea what she was like. If he was smart, he never would. He’d go back to Texas and forget about my other sister. I had.