“Ok, we can wait, just as long as you don’t change your mind.” Keira laughs and kisses her lips. “I’m not changing my mind. I want to be your wife.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Eighteen cities in thirty days is way more exhausting than it sounds, especially after spending a month in rehearsals for the concert, and having to do several TV commercials and photoshoots for a few different companies, including our own dance apparel line that’s being released next week.

  I wanted to have my wives with me for the full tour, but the website sales have been so overwhelming that they decided to stay home this time. They came for the first concert in Orlando, Florida, and then surprised me by meeting us in Knoxville, Tennessee halfway through the tour, but we didn’t get much time with each other either time because we’ve only been in each city for less than two days. We’re pretty much only in town long enough for the crew to setup the stage, to perform, and then we get back on the road for the next city. We haven’t stayed in any hotels, and have only been sleeping on the tour buses, so I’m getting very anxious to get home to sleep in a real bed with my wives.

  “Hey, you should eat something.” I lift my head off the vanity in the dressing room backstage and Sara comes over with a plate of food, setting it down in front of me. I groan and push it forward, laying my head down again. “Please eat. You haven’t been eating enough this week.”

  “I’m too tired.” Sara grabs my shoulder and pulls me up. “Eat. Then you can go to sleep. You don’t want to be sick when you see your family in a couple days.”

  I groan and pull the plate closer. It’s just a grilled chicken sandwich and some fresh cut fruit, but it looks like a mile-high pile of food that she expects me to eat. I’ve become so physically exhausted that eating has been a strenuous task this week. I love food, and I want to eat, but I just don’t have the energy. I guess this is what burning out feels like.

  “Kayla, eat.”

  I take a bite of cubed melon and slowly chew the soft juicy flesh. My eyes start to close, and Sara nudges my arm, waking me up. I take another bite and start to slump forward, but Sara nudges me again. I groan and take a deep breath, resisting the sudden urge to throw the plate across the room. I just don’t want to be bothered with this right now. I just want to sleep.

  “Stop pushing me.”

  “Stop falling asleep before you eat and I won’t have to push you.” I glare at her, but the concern on her face forces me to pick up my sandwich and take a bite. “When you get home, you need to take a few days off to just rest. No dancing, at all.”

  I nod once and take another bite of my sandwich. It takes a few more nudges from her every few minutes, but I get the full plate down before she allows me to lay my head down again.

  “Hey, baby. You look rough.”

  I lift my head and Symone gently strokes my cheek. She takes my hand and pulls me up, wrapping an arm around my waist to offer me support.

  “I’m going to take her to the bus. The others are almost ready, then we’ll be on the road.”

  Symone guides me through the halls, out of the huge convention center, and across the parking lot to the tour bus. It’s a huge effort to climb the three steps onto the bus. Symone has me sit on a bench style couch along the side of the bus and she starts undressing me out of the costume from the last set we did. She starts to reach for my sports bra to lift it off, but I grab her hands, stopping her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Do you want to sleep in that?”

  I shake my head, which is a bad idea, and my head lulls around on my shoulders. Symone, grabs my head and looks at me concerned.

  “Damn. I never thought I’d see you reach your limit.”

  She lifts my bra off and quickly helps me into a tee shirt and a pair of shorts. Symone pulls me up from the bench and leads me to my bunk bed. She helps me lay down and starts to walk away, but I grab her hand, pulling her back. She smiles and kisses my hand.

  “Let me change.”

  I nod and release her hand. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can’t believe I burned out. I had bigger roles in a few of the dances for the concert than anyone else, so I’ve had to exert a lot more energy than the rest of them. Almost every dance required me to lift a partner at least once, which requires a lot of strength and endurance, especially when it’s not Jade or Jaime, who are the lightest in the squad, aside from myself.

  I startle as Symone lowers herself down on top of me on my bunk. She smiles and gently kisses my lips before laying her head on my chest. I wrap my arms around her and close my eyes. Jaime and Symone have been taking turns sleeping with me, because I sleep best when I’m snuggling. I don’t think I’d be getting any sleep at all if I didn’t have one of them to hold. These bunks are not very comfortable, and the movement of the bus when we’re driving is disorienting and makes it hard to stay asleep.

  I shake my head, trying to get away from an annoying patting on my cheek, but it doesn’t stop.

  “Kayla, wake up.” I groan and squirm, trying to hide from the unreasonable annoyance. “Kayla, wake up. We’re in Los Angeles.”

  I slowly open my eyes, and Symone smiles. I close my eyes, but she tugs an eyelid open and pats my cheek again.

  “Let’s get in the house and you can continue to sleep.”

  I squeeze her closer, and try to shake my head free from her hands, but she surprises me and bends down to kiss my lips. She glides her tongue between my lips, just teasing them, and sucks my bottom lip firmly. I inhale deeply and heat fills my core. My eyes snap open and she grins as she pulls away.

  “Are you awake now, sleeping beauty?” I smile and nod once. “How long have I been out?”

  “A little over eighteen hours. You slept the entire drive home. Come on, I think your wives are here.”

  I smile really big and try to sit up with her still on top of me, making her giggle. She gives me a soft kiss on the lips and climbs off of me. I’m a little unsteady on my feet, and have a sudden urgency to pee, so I have to rush to the bathroom, making Symone laugh again. I quickly pee, wash my face, and brush my teeth, in attempt to be somewhat presentable for my wives.

  I come rushing out of the bathroom, and start to head for the door, but Symone grabs my hand, pulling me back.

  “Pack, baby. The bus is leaving us here.”

  I groan and quickly grab my bag and start throwing everything that’s mine inside of it. I rush back and forth between the bathroom, bunk, and “living room” of the tour bus, collecting everything that has somehow become very scattered. I get my suitcase zipped up, and this time, Symone doesn’t stop me as I rush to get off the bus.

  Jaime is already outside, slowly wheeling her suitcase up the driveway of our large rental home. I get in step next to her and she gives me a small sleepy smile.

  “Let me give hugs and kisses to my babies, then I’ll hold you so you can sleep.” Jaime smiles and loops her free arm through mine. “Ok, thank you.”

  My wives are standing in the kitchen, working on laying out a spread of giant cinnamon rolls, breakfast hash, cut fruit, and a huge plate of crispy bacon and sausages. My mouth waters, and my stomach suddenly empties out. They look up and beam with brilliant white smiles, and it makes my heart flutter and my stomach flips in joy. I run the last several feet to get to them and fall into their embrace. I inhale deeply and release a long low moan.

  “I missed all of you so much. Oh, god, you feel and smell so good. Marry me again.” They giggle and kiss me all over my face and neck. “We missed you too, puppy. Sara said you haven’t been eating enough, so you need to fill up and then you can go back to sleep.” I smile and kiss her lips for a moment. “Can I have wife kisses first?”

  Awenasa gently presses her lips to mine, pulling me into a wonderful kiss. One by one, each of them give me kisses that make me feel like I’m floating. I sway from the power of the moment and they have to support me. I slowly open my eyes and smile really big.

  “I love all of you so much.”

  Each of them tell me they love me and give me another soft kiss on the lips. They pull apart and Shannon makes a plate of food for me and Jaime and we sit on a stool on the other side of the counter to eat. I take a sip of my orange juice “cocktail” first and smile as I savor it on my tongue. I haven’t had one of these since I left for the tour.

  “What’s new, babies?”

  Before they can answer, the rest of the squad comes in and they sit down at the counter with us looking exhausted. My girls work on making plates and drinks for all of them and the squad smiles and thanks them. Once each of us has a plate and is eating, my wives group together and stand directly in front of me with beautiful loving smiles.

  “You’re gorgeous, babes.”

  “Thank you. How was the last performance?”

  “Exhausting. The whole tour was sold out, but this crowd was just insane. Giz made us do three encore sets because the crowd was so hype.”

  “They were probably there for all you just as much as they were there for her. Your group has become very popular.”

  “Yeah, at each concert, the crowd went just as wild for us when we took the stage as they did for her. Giz loved it. She wants to add more dates in October. It wouldn’t be a full month again though – probably two weeks.”

  “October is supposed to be your big month to relax – for all of you.”

  “We haven’t agreed to anything yet. I told Jerry we need a week to think about it.” My girls look at Sara with a little relief on their faces. She smiles at them and takes a drink of juice. “So, what have all of you been up to?”

  “We’ve been really busy with the websites and dance channel. Kayla recorded a few dance videos before she left so we could edit and upload one per week. Kayla’s website has been getting hit hard with traffic and sales, so we’re constantly filling orders. After you rest, we need to show you the website for the squad. It’s just about ready to launch. We have some sample product designs to show you as well.”

  The squad perks up with big smiles asking to see the products. Madison leaves and come back with a bookbag. She pulls out a poster tube first and everyone sits forward in excitement.

  Our graphics designer is also a very good photographer, so we flew her out here to L.A. in May to do a photoshoot so we’d have plenty of pictures to do posters and build the website with.

  There’s three posters and they look awesome. Each one has our squad’s name, Fierce, with a group shot taking up the majority of the poster, with a row of individual shots below, with our names. Sara’s picture is in the center with “Squad Leader and Manager” under her picture and name. One poster is us just standing together, dressed in black and camo pants or capris, and sports bras or halter tops on a couple of them, with white and black paint streaks on our cheekbones. We look pretty badass in that one. The other two are action shots of us dancing, so some of us are in the air, in breakdance positions, or standing in a dance poses with each other.

  “Wow, these look amazing. What else did you order?”

  Madison smiles and carefully rolls the posters and stashes them back in their tube. The next item she pulls out is a pair of black knee length sweatpants and the squad goes nuts. At the top of the left thigh, it has Fierce in white ink in a cool font, then under our squad name, going down the length of the thigh, is a white graphic of each one of us in a different dance position with our first name in small print under each image. They’re really awesome and the squad loves them.

  Madison also shows us a tank top, water bottle, and a cinch style gym bag. The squad absolutely loves everything they came up with and my girls are just glowing with pride and happiness.

  “When we launch the website, and we have an event, we want to add an option at the checkout to buy the merchandise in advance. So, when they show up and present their tickets, they’ll receive the bundle they picked online right at the door. We’ll still have merchandise tables at the event and will include a few items at the event that we didn’t have available online. So, even if someone bought a bundle online, they may still be enticed to buy more at the event.”

  “That’s pretty smart. Ok, I’m going to crash now. Babe, you ready?” Keira lifts her head off her upturned hand and nods. “Yeah. Sorry I couldn’t eat everything. It was delicious.” Shannon and Awenasa grab their plates with a smile. “It’s ok.”

  One by one, the rest of the squad, except Jaime, gets up and cleans their plates off before heading to their rooms to sleep. Jaime is leaning on her upturned hand, staring at her plate, picking at the rest of her breakfast hash. Madison runs her fingers through Jaime’s hair, lifting her head with a smile.

  “Go to bed. We’ll clean up and join you in a little bit.” Jaime gives her a loving smile and slowly stands up. “Thank you for cooking for us.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I take Jaime’s hand and lead her back to my bedroom. We kick off our shoes and Jaime slips out of her jeans, and unhooks and pulls her bra off from under her tee shirt. I climb in the bed and she crawls under the covers with me, releasing a low sigh as she lays her head on my chest and drapes a leg over mine. I wrap my arms around her and she places a hand on one side of my neck, and gently kisses the side she’s laying on.

  My eyes start to become heavy again, but I fight falling asleep till my wives are quietly and climbing into the bed on the other side of me. Awenasa kisses my lips, kisses Jaime’s cheek, and then lays on my chest. Sam carefully climbs over us, adjusting Jaime’s leg, so she can lay on my stomach, and Madison and Shannon snuggle in close to Awenasa. Jaime lifts her head and looks at all of them and smiles. She lays her hand over Awenasa’s that’s on the center of my chest and lays back down with a cute content sigh.

  I’m still very physically exhausted and want to sleep, but I’m having a really hard time staying asleep. I slept for eighteen hours straight, so my mind is very awake. It’s after midnight, so I really need to try to sleep so I’m on the same sleep schedule as my girls when we wake up, but my mind is excited to be able to focus on life again – instead of just the tour.

  We’ve been so busy with the tour that I haven’t been able to talk to people much. I need to catch up with everyone, but I really can’t wait to talk to Talia tomorrow to see how her internship with Bio-Net is going. I was so proud of her when she won the science fair in May. There were similar fairs throughout the country, so six students total were granted a paid internship. Talia was the only sophomore that won – the rest were juniors and seniors. She’s been staying in a college dorm in Seattle, where the company is located. The last time I talked to her, just before we left for the tour, she was loving it.

  Awenasa shifts slightly on my chest, nuzzling into my neck. She releases an adorable sound of contentment and her lips gently nip the side of my neck before she settles down again. I smile and kiss the top of her head. She sighs and buries her face deeper against my chest, gently kissing the healed stab wound on my chest through my tee shirt.

  I wonder how Tommy is doing. The tribal council held a public forum to allow the people to express their feelings about the attack and what they wanted to see happen. Then there was a hearing to hand out his punishment. He received six months of home arrest with a mandate to go to anger management and a full year of community service after he’s released from home arrest. The community service could be anything the tribe needs him for. The council will keep a close eye on him, and if he doesn’t fulfil the requirements of the judgment, he’ll go to prison for three to five years.

  The Native American tribes all over the nation put out statements of support for our tribe and how we handled the situation. Several non-native groups threw their support behind us as well. It was very moving watching the debate about how we hand down punishment in America and how often we end up destroying a good person and their families by not considering the individual before we pass judgement. All of our supporters argued that the current prison systems often create worse criminals instead of causing reform in a person, which is what we really need.

  I fall in and out of sleep for hours, but when the sun breaks through the curtains, I’m the first one awake again. I don’t remember moving in my sleep, but I’m lying on my side with Jaime in my arms, with her ass in my groin and her back firmly pressed against my chest. Awenasa is pressed tightly against my back with her arm wrapped around both of us, and Sam is curled up in front of Jaime, with Jaime’s arm around her.

  Sam starts to stir, and slowly shifts onto her back and stretches out, arching her back, and releases an adorable sighing moan as she stretches. Jaime wakes up and I feel Awenasa lift her head as well. Sam sits up and looks over at us with a cute grin.

  “Morning, babies.”

  “Morning, baby.”

  She scoots back against the headboard, leaning on her side to look at all of us. She smiles at Jaime and reaches down to brush some hair off of her face.

  “How’d you sleep? You don’t look as exhausted.”

  “Really good. I feel like that’s the first night in a month that I actually fully slept. Sleeping on the tour bus is not easy.”

  “What was it like living on a tour bus for a month?”

  Jaime shifts, so I loosen my arms around her, and she sits up, pulling her tee shirt down to cover her panties. I stretch and all of us join them sitting up against the headboard.

  “The first couple weeks weren’t too bad. The excitement of being on tour outweighed the cramped living space, lack of privacy, and lack of sleep and good food. It was fun in the beginning. By the end of the second week, we started to become zombies and didn’t talk much. We just tried to sleep every minute we could, but it was never really restful sleep.”

  “When do you want to go back home? Are you just going to stay here till the show starts or go home for a few weeks?” Jaime smiles and laughs a little. “Kayla turned me into a traveling gypsy. I don’t feel like I have a place that’s home anymore. We’re never in one place long enough anymore.” I frown and take her hand. “Even a gypsy should have someplace that feels like home. Where do you like to be the best?” She smiles and leans into me, resting her head on my shoulder. “Right here with all of you.”