August 28th 2000.
New York, New York.
My eyes glazed over as I looked out of my bedroom window watching the morning sun shine through my thin curtains. I could hear Jordan pottering around outside; eating breakfast and singing lightly along to the radio. My mind began wandering as I lay in bed, slowly waking up and enjoying a relaxed morning. I miss him. I miss him so much. Marshall and I hadn't seen each other in a week, which in reality wasn't long. But for some reason it felt like a lifetime. We called each other every night before we went to sleep, sometimes talking for a couple hours and sometimes hardly at all due to his busy schedule. I wanted nothing more to cuddle him in my bed and study his body which I loved so much. Every scar. Every freckle. Every curve. I shook my head and got out of bed, trying to erase the thoughts out of my brain. What was I doing thinking about him like that? I need to get a grip. I threw on an over sized grey hoodie and shuffled out into the main living area to be greeted by a smiling Jordan.
"I don't think you've ever been up before me" I croaked in my morning voice whilst I set up a plate with some of the pancakes she'd made.
"I couldn't sleep". She looked absolutely giddy with her wide smile and excited tone.
"What is up with you? You've been weird all week". I stuffed my face with a pancake getting maple syrup all over my face and hands. "Must be Mike. You're all loved up" I spluttered.
"Mhmm".
"TLC will be playing tonight at Madison Square Garden! The show is completely sold-out so unless you have your tickets already, you're fresh out of luck! The trio is set to hit the stage at 8pm so be sure to line up early. You won't want to miss a thing" the radio presenter in the background annoyingly announced.
"Ugh. Turn that shit off" I groaned whilst flicking the radio off at the wall. "I can't believe we missed out on tickets to that show. Jordan?" I asked when she didn't reply.
"Huh? Oh, same I-" she was interrupted my a sharp knock on the door.
"That's weird, did you order something?" I hopped off my seat and walked towards the door. When I peered through the peep hole I saw a delivery guy standing there with a large bouquet of flowers and small red box. "I think Mike got you flowers or something".
Cautiously I opened the door to the smiling man, he looked down at his clipboard. "Package for uh, Cassie Rosario?"
"That's me?"
"Cool, can you sign this for me?" I scribbled down a signature and then he handed me box and the large bouquet full of beautiful pale pink peonies, coincidentally my favorite flower. "Have a good day ma'am".
"Yeah you too" I muttered and then kicked the door shut with my foot.
"Who's it from?" Jordan piped up as I placed the flowers on the counter. I opened up the little box to see it had a note placed in it; 'Have fun tonight -Marshall". Underneath the note were three tickets to the TLC concert tonight. I looked up in shock to Jordan who again was grinning from ear to ear.
"What's going on?" I pulled the tickets out and ran a close eye over them. They were definitely the real deal.
"Marshall bought you tickets for the concert!" she gushed, eager to tell me. "I've had to keep the secret all week. It was so hard to keep when you were complaining about how we couldn't go".
"He got me tickets?" I gasped.
"Yes! He rang me the night before you came home and double-checked with me that you liked TLC and everything".
"Omg! We're going to TLC?" I shrieked realizing what he'd done for us.
"Yes and Amy too! She's on her way over here soon" she did a wee dance in excitement.
"I can't believe this! No wonder you've been acting like a weirdo all week" I giggled as I inhaled the fragrance from the flowers. "I need to call him" I ran out of the kitchen and fell onto my bed staring up at the ceiling waiting for him to pick up.
"Hey baby" he instantly made me blush at the pet name.
"You are so unbelievably sweet" I cooed.
"You got the tickets then?" I could practically see him smiling as he said it.
"Yes. Marshall thank you so much, you've honestly made me so happy right now".
He chuckled "Yeah? Jordan told me you were a massive fan".
"I did not expect this at all! Why did you do it?" I asked curiously.
"I just wanted to do something special for my girl. You know, show you I'm serious about us". He sounded incredibly nervous as he said that. Hearing that made me feel so much better about us, and showed me had had really thought about our previous conversation.
"I wish you were here right now so I could show you just how appreciative I really am".
"Cassie..." he warned.
"What?" I laughed innocently.
"You can't get me started over the phone if you can't actually do anything".
"Okay okay. Well if you were here..." I trailed off.
"Trust me I know" he groaned to which I laughed at his slight annoyance.
"Thank you again. I really can't describe how happy I am".
"Have a good time Cass".
"I'll call you when it's over to tell you about it. Bye Marshall".
"See ya".
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Em's POV
Impatiently I waited in the car for the Cassie to come out of the concert, which had just finished. She had no idea that I was here in New York. I'd told Jordan to make up some excuse of why she and Amy had to go back into the venue so that Cassie would come out to the car alone. She already knew I'd sent a private car to take them to and from the concert, but didn't know I would be in it.
"Here she is now" my security guard Nick informed me, nodding towards Cassie who began entering the car.
"Nick the girls are-Marshall?" she gawked.
"Surprise" I coyly greeted.
"What in the fuck are you doing here?" she jumped on me and squeezed the shit out of me.
"I wanted to see you" I laughed and reciprocated the hug.
"You sneaky fucker!" she kissed me lovingly on the lips and then pulled away from me absolutely beaming. I gave Nick the signal to start driving "Wait, what about Jordan and Amy?" I looked at her with an amused expression "Oh, Jordan didn't lose her purse inside did she?"
"Nah" I couldn't help but to smile again at how excited she was right now.
"I can't believe you're here. And you pulled this off all by yourself?" She hung onto my arm.
"Jordan helped with somethings, but it was all my idea" she reached up and kissed me again. "So how was the concert?" We settled in nicely to the seats, her arm around my arm and my hand on her thigh, as we drove somewhere she wasn't expecting.
"It was amazing! They did all my favorite songs and we had so much fun singing and dancing. Left-eye totally killed it and I swear at one point she looked right at me! Also our seats were perfect, dead center and not too far away or too close" she animatedly told me.
"I'm glad you had fun baby".
"It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to". She continued to tell me about the concert, it was so cute how excited she was and how she rambled about it. I loved how she spoke with every part of her body; waving her hands all over and bouncing around.
The car pulled to a halt "We're here Em". Nick exited the car and opened the door for Cassie who gave me a quizzical look, I followed closely behind. We'd arrived at Rao's restaurant, Cassie's favorite place to eat according to Jordan.
"Rao's?" she turned to me with wide eyes.
"Let's go in before we get spotted" she nodded and raced to the doors. The place was empty, as I'd requested and we were politely directed to our table by an unfazed waitress. She must've been warned not to cause a fuss. She placed the menus on the table and left us to ourselves.
"How did you get us in? I've only been here a handful of times with Lil' Kim. Even she had to book months ahead" she enthused as she took in the unoccupied restaurant.
"I managed to pull a few strings" I shrugged as if it were easy. In reality, it was fucking hard to get this place, and I had to pay the owner a shit ton of money. Not that she needed to know that.
"And you booked the whole place out?" she was in awe. Just like I wanted. "This whole day had been incredible Marshall. This is the nicest thing someone has ever done for me" she clasped my hand under the table. Another thing I loved about her, she respected that I couldn't affectionate in public like a regular couple was able to.
I squeezed her hand back, not quite sure what to say in reply. I knew she was beyond appreciative but I didn't want to blow my own horn too much. "So what should I get then?" My eyes skimmed down the list.
"I always get the penne, it's delicious".
"I think I'll get the spaghetti. What do you want to drink?"
"Whatever your having". I ordered our food and made sure to get the nicest red wine for us to drink. Cassie took a large gulp of the wine and smacked her lips in delight, she was loving every moment of this. She was eating this all up.
"You look different tonight" I pointed out.
She smoothed over her hair "I straightened my hair and put on a little makeup".
Even in her plain white singlet top and black jeans she could out do anyone that walked into the room right now. "Well you look, knock-out".
She scrunched up her face in annoyance "So you think I look better now than when I'm natural? Do you not think I look good usually?"
"What? No I was meaning-".
"Relax, I'm just messing with you" she laughed.
"Jesus" I sighed and laughed along with her. She definitely knew how to keep me on my toes. The waitress came over and placed our food on the table before leaving straight away, that came fucking quick. She took a mouthful of the food and her eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head. How did she make everything she did look so damn sexy?
"What are you staring at? Do I have something on my face?" Shit, I didn't know I was staring. I probably like a creep gawking at her. I haven't even touched my damn food yet.
"Nah, you just look sexy" she blushed and looked down tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear. Ask her. It's the perfect time, she's in the palm of your hand. Ask goddammit.
"This is our first proper date" she pointed out, bringing me out of my thoughts.The moments gone now you fucking moron.
"I guess it is" I admitted.
"I know this might not be the right time, but I have somethings I need to say. We can talk about it later though if you want?"
I knew this was coming eventually, she had warned me on the phone that she wanted to hash some issues out with me. "Let's get it out of the way now yeah?"
"Okay". She placed down her fork and looked me directly in the eyes, this must be serious. "I don't want you to chase around Kim anymore. She is your children's mother, not a cheating girlfriend. Her business is hers and yours is yours".
"So you don't want me to talk to her anymore?"
"Of course I want you two to talk, in fact I think you guys should get to a place where you can be friends. I just want to feel like I'm the only one you have feelings for... I don't want to come second to her" she said glumly, with a sad smile.
" I never meant to do that Cass, it's just hard sometimes to remember I can't do that shit anymore. We were together a long time and I can't help but to let the old feelings of anger I used to have get in the way. You get me?"
"I do".
"But I hear you, you're the only person I have eyes for". How did she make me sound corny? I didn't even care, I wanted her to know how I felt. I was so comfortable around her I felt like I could say anything and she wouldn't judge me. Unlike when I was with Kim, she was always suspicious. Thought that I was acting nice because I had something to hide.
"And one more thing...I can't be with you if you have a gun".
"Huh?" Now that ticked me off, I needed to have a gun to protect myself at all times. She couldn't just say shit like that.
"I'm dead serious Marshall" she hesitated and then continued. "All my life I've been surrounded by guns. I've witnessed them do too much harm to ever feel like someone needs to carry one. Countless kids at my high school were shot in gang fights or drive-bys" her voice cracked and her hands shook a little. "In addition to that, my aunt was killed by an angry ex-boyfriend right in front of my whole family" tears threatened to spill out of her eyes but she quickly blinked them away. "It was the worst experience of my life. I think about her all the time and how unfair it was. You can't keep the gun". Even though she tried to stop it from happening, a small tear rolled down her cheek but she quickly wiped it away. It dawned on me that I'd never seen her cry before.
I sighed and ran my hands through my hair "Okay, no more gun". As much as I didn't want to get rid of it I knew how important this was to her, and seeing the hurt in her eyes wasn't worth it. I wanted her to feel safe around me at all times, not like she needed to be on edge. "I'm sorry about your Aunt baby".
"Thank you". She sighed in relief and did a tiny happy nod to herself as she continued digging into her pasta.
"So we're all good then?" I cautiously asked, expecting her to lay out another request on the table.
"We're perfect".
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Dinner was great, we must of stayed at the restaurant for an extra two hours after we finished eating, just talking and catching up. I made sure to generously tip the staff seeing as we stayed until midnight and they didn't cause any problems which I really appreciated. No autographs or photo, aside from when Cassie asked the waitress to take a photo of us 'to remember today'. Nick escorted Cassie and I into my hotel suite, I'd splashed out a bit and got us an expensive suite. "Holy shit. This place is fucking massive" Cassie exclaimed. I silently chuckled and watched on as she made her way around the room, dragging her hand along the lavish furniture. "I bet the shower here is amazing" she said with a wink as she disappeared into the bathroom. Maybe a bit too eagerly I followed her into the bathroom and came in just as she turned on the shower, the hot steam filling the room. "You joining?" she asked as she began to take off her clothes, shoes first.
"Only to save water" I followed suit and tore off my clothes.
"Who knew you were so environmentally friendly?" she chuckled as she took off the remainder of her clothes leaving her completely naked. Fuck I had missed her insane body. Watching her bronzed body from behind when she slipped into the shower, leaving the door open for me, got me hard as a rock. She stood under the water with her eyes closed facing me and pushed her hair out of her face. My hand was grabbed at, pulling me completely under the water with her. With the complimentary hotel body wash she squeezed a sizeable amount into her hands, lathering it up nicely. I let the water pour down on me waiting for her to do to me what she wanted. She softly bit her lip and trailed her hands down the front of my shoulders and over my chest. Soap suds ran down my body and she gently rubbed them in, almost giving me a mini massage. Her hands moved behind me and scratched my back lightly as she continued to wash me.
I grew impatient wanting to get my own hands on her. "Your turn" I spoke lowly. It was much easier for me to wash her with my height advantage. I turned her so her back faced my front and ran my hands up her sides, lightly tickling as I went. My hands roamed her stomach and edged there way up till they were right below her breasts. I heard her sharply intake her breath and I smugly smiled to myself loving that I was the one making her feel this way. She let a quiet whimper when my fingers grazed her nipples and she pushed her chest into my awaiting hands.
"I missed you" she breathily admitted as she rested against my body. Now or never. Carefully I turned her and backed her against the wall. Her eyes remained closed but she instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck, mine settling on her waist. I leisurely kissed along her collar bone and she tilted her head back against the wall allowing me full access.
"Come to Detroit with me". Fuck, that was hard to say than I thought it would be. Knowing Cassie she would probably freak out and come up with any excuse not to come, but I was prepared for that. I needed to ask her right now before I chickened out, and I knew that I wanted this.
"What do you mean?" she was lost in the moment as she reviled in my soft kisses now on her neck.
"I mean, move to Detroit and stay with me" I nearly stuttered on the last word. Get it together Marshall. I stopped kissing her and looked in her eyes trying to get some sort of hint on what she was thinking.
"You want me to move into your house?" she furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side.
"That's what I said isn't it?"
"Marshall I-"
"You don't need to answer now" I stopped her before she could shut me down". It's what, nearly the start of September? And we're going to go on tour for the Marshall Mathers LP about halfway through October-"
"You are?"
"I haven't told you yet cause nothing is decided. I might be joining with some other acts to form a sort of 'Rock-Rap tour', and obviously you'd be managing it" I explained.
Her eyebrows raised in surprise "You want me to manage it?"
"Of course, I can't exactly hire someone else when your my girlfriend can I?" I joked pulling a face at her.
"Shut up" she laughed at me and her own stupidity.
"As I was saying, about the tour. It will all be based in Detroit so we need you there to help plan it I can't be flying to New York or nothing. And I'm not gonna have you staying in some hotel. I want you to move in".
"I'll think about it" she nodded and tightened her grip around my neck.
"Good. Now where were we?"
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I was being shaken and moved around incessantly by a gentle pair of hands. "Marshall" someone quietly mumbled to me. I groaned and pulled the voice towards my body, keeping my eyes firmly shut. "Wake up" she pestered, whispering in my ear. I hushed Cassie and placed a hand over her mouth to silence her. She pulled my hand away from her mouth and used a finger to open one of my eyes much to my annoyance. "I'll do it".
"Do what?" I blinked open my eyes and grabbed both her hands hugging them to my chest to stop her from bothering me.
I couldn't see her face in because of my blurry eyes and the darkness of the room. "Move to Detroit" she clarified for me in my tired state.
That woke me up quickly. "Forreal?" I hyped. I could see her curls bouncing as she nodded her head. I placed a chaste kiss on her lips catching her by surprise making her smile against my lips.
"Obviously I'll need to check with Jordan first that she can find a new roommate or apartment. And I'll need to check that it's okay with my office that-" I quietened her by placing another kiss to her lips, this time with tongue to really stop her from talking. She faintly moaned and crawled on top of me, straddling me with a leg on either side of my torso. She pulled away and sat up straight, placing her hands onto my chest. My own falling to her hips. "Are we crazy or downright stupid doing this?"
"Maybe a little bit of both" I snickered. "I asked the girls if they would be okay with it".
"What did they say?" She gnawed at her lip, a habit she had when she was nervous.
"They told me they can't wait". I thought that would be the case, the girls absolutely loved Cassie. Even though they'd only met her twice; the initial meeting and then once when we had a concert in Detroit. They never stopped asking about her or when they could see her next.
"That's so cute" she rolled off me and nuzzled into the crook of my neck. "When should I come out?" she murmured against my neck, raising goosebumps.
"I don't mind, whenever you can. I won't be able to help you much, I'm really booked up now until the tour. But I'll get someone to help you pack and transport your stuff to Detroit".
"I'm a bit scared" she admitted.
"Why?"
"What if the media picks up on us? Or even worse, what if the girls realize they don't want me live with you?"
"You don't need to be scared. The girls basically idolize you and I know for a fact they wouldn't say that. And if we do get picked up by the media, we'll deal with it then. Everything will be fine, trust me" I reassured kissing her head.
"I do".
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Author's note: Oooooh! Probably my most romantic chapter yet, with Marshall's gift(s) and proposition. I would probably died if I got to go to a TLC concert tbh. What do you guys think about Cassie's decision to move? Good or stupid? Is she finally beginning to let her walls down or will she back out? Tell me what you think :) Hope you enjoy, be sure to comment and vote! Thanks guys x