Chapter Forty-Three Josh
I’m not giving up. Not yet.
The next day, I gather the guys and drive us all to Emma’s parents’ house, my grip on the steering wheel tight and determined. All the things that I could possibly say run around in my mind on a loop, priming me for the confrontation that’s about to happen.
Talking to her family won’t be easy, but Emma isn’t picking up her phone when we call or text. This is the only way that we’ll be able to reach her, and I don’t want her to think for a second that we’re not concerned about her.
“They’re not going to let us see her,” Ryan says from the passenger’s seat.
I glance over at him, noticing a haze in his eyes. He looks like he’s already halfway given up. “We might get lucky. We can’t just not try.”
“Yeah, we can’t pass up the chance to see her,” Max speaks up from the backseat.
Ryan quietly shakes his head, his shoulders weighed down and heavy.
I pull into Emma’s parents’ neighborhood, passing by familiar houses before pulling into the driveway where I used to park my bike after school. I shut off my car before throwing open my door. “Let’s go.”
Max hops out immediately, while Ryan pauses for a moment before slowly hauling himself out.
We don’t even make it to the porch before the front door flies open, and Andrew and Ethan step out with warning glares on their faces.
“Of fucking course,” Ryan mutters under his breath behind me as we slow down to a stop at the bottom of the porch stairs.
“You might as well turn around and get back in your car,” Ethan tells us as he crosses his arms over his chest, squaring his shoulders like he’s a human blockade.
It’s three against two, but I’d rather us not fight or argue.
Wistful thinking.
“We just want to check on Emma,” I reply as I give them a pleading look. I’ll resort to begging if I have to because I need to see her. I couldn’t sleep for more than an hour last night because I kept tossing and turning, my mind constantly racing.
“She’s fine. Now, leave,” Andrew demands as he takes a step forward, his fingers curling into fists. An obvious threat.
I’ve seen him knock out someone before with one punch when we were in our late teens and rowdy. He’s not all bark and no bite. He will bite.
“This isn’t fair, and you know it. She’s carrying our child. She’s with us,” Max argues as he steps up next to me.
“Not any longer. She’s with her family,” Andrew states in a firm voice. “We won’t break her heart. We won’t put her wellbeing in jeopardy. Did you really think the four of you could be a happy, healthy family? An actual relationship?”
“It was doomed from the start,” Ethan adds, his words coming out cold and harsh. “You’ll just hurt her if you keep this circus act up.”
“Circus act?” Ryan bites out, his shoulder bumping against mine as he steps forward.
I grab his arm to keep him from storming up the stairs toward Andrew and Ethan. Maybe I should worry more about him starting a fight than the brothers. “Stop it, Ryan. You’ll just make things worse.”
Ryan scoffs and jerks his arm away from me. “How can things possibly get worse? We can’t even see her!”
“I don’t want to find out,” I hiss at him through gritted teeth, needing him to be on his best behavior if at all possible.
“Is she okay? I want an answer longer than a sentence,” Max questions the brothers.
Andrew narrows his eyes, frustration written all across his face. “She’s doing better than she was yesterday. She needs rest.”
“She can rest with us,” Ryan replies, his words coming out with a punch. “You know, if she didn’t want us to be part of her life or the baby’s life, she would’ve made that clear. She wouldn’t have told us that she wants to be with us and raise the baby together.”
“She wasn’t thinking straight. Probably too exhausted to do so,” Ethan says snidely.
They’re not being fair. They’re being bitter, pulling us further away from the chance of settling things. They want us to give up. To admit that we’re guilty of what they’re accusing us of.
“Can we please just come in and talk to her? You can be in the room if you want,” I reply.
Andrew’s eyes flicker over to Ethan, who tightens his jaw and subtly shakes his head. Andrew turns back to us, his expression turning stony. “No. You should go. All of you.”
“Stubborn sons of bitches,” Ryan grumbles under his breath, making Andrew and Ethan visibly bristle in anger.
“Let’s just go. This is only making things worse,” Max mutters as he leans closer to me, his jaw twitching in frustration.
Part of me wants to say screw it and barge into the house, but that’ll be a guaranteed ass beating that I’d rather avoid. Max is right. This is a bust.
We failed.
“If she asks, please at least tell her that we came by to check on her. She doesn’t need to doubt for a second that we care about her,” I tell the brothers before turning and motioning for Max and Ryan to follow me back to the car.
Leaving without even seeing her feels like giving up, but temporarily retreating is better than blowing up the bridge between us and her completely. Maybe we’ll have to play the long game.
Or maybe her brothers will never back down and force us apart.
“That was bullshit,” Ryan bites out once we pile into the car.
I let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, well, we knew this wasn’t going to be easy.”
Max runs his hand over his face. “Honestly, this is even worse than I imagined it being. I thought we would at least get to be with her while her brothers lost their minds. It almost feels like they’re keeping her hostage!”
“Yet, we are the bad guys,” Ryan speaks up from the backseat as I drive down the road away from Emma’s childhood home. “We haven’t heard a peep from her since the hospital. Not even a text. You think she would at least do that.”
“Unless she’s too tired. She’s still recovering,” I remind him as I repeatedly thump my thumb against my steering wheel, unease crawling up my spine.
“Or maybe her brothers have gotten into her head and convinced her that we’re no good for her,” Ryan mutters bitterly.
“She already knew that they wouldn’t approve. I doubt they got in her head,” Max replies as he stares out of the side window.
“So, she can’t even manage a text to let us know that she’s okay?” Ryan asks, his words coming out sharper.
“Ryan, don’t,” I grit out.
“What? You can’t tell me that neither of you are thinking about it too,” Ryan says. “We should’ve heard from her by now. If she even wants to talk to us anymore.”
“We don’t know what’s going on inside of that house. We shouldn’t jump to any crazy conclusions,” Max replies as he pitches Ryan a quick look of warning over his shoulder.
“Maybe Andrew and Ethan are right,” Ryan mutters under his breath.
My grip tightens on the steering wheel as my jaw clenches. “What did you say?”
Ryan’s eyes flash up to the rearview mirror at the same time as mine. “They think this whole relationship is foolish and doomed to fail. What if they’re right? What if our little fantasy is only meant to be that? A fantasy.”
“Don’t say that,” I warn him. “Don’t let them get in your head too.”
Ryan scoffs and crosses his arms as he leans back against the seat. “We’re idiots. Did we really think we could have everything we wanted? A beautiful woman to call ours. A baby to raise as our own. A family.
“Things were going fine,” Max says. His voice isn’t as firm as before, though. He glances over at me for a moment, concern etched into his facial features.
“Until they weren’t,” Ryan replies. “We knew that we would run into a wall eventually. Do either of you see a way around it or over it? Because I don’t. Not with her brothers in the way.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I tell him through gritted teeth, but my mind comes up empty for a plan of action. It does worry me that Emma hasn’t reached out in some way yet, but I don’t know the full situation.
That’s what really kills me. I don’t know anything.
I don’t know how she’s truly doing. I don’t know how she’s feeling. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.
“Sure, we will,” Ryan huffs, his words full of disbelief and bitterness.
I look over at Max, who stares at the dash with a troubled expression on his face. “We’ll think of something. We have to.”
Max swallows hard. “Unless the best thing to do is to leave her alone.”
“Leave her alone? What are you talking about?”
Max sighs and shakes his head. “Maybe we aren’t hearing from her for a reason. Maybe she’s rethinking things. Rethinking us.”
I open my mouth to argue, but not a single sound comes out. I close my mouth and stare ahead at the road, tension forming between my temples as I try to picture the path ahead. Our options are disappearing more as the time passes.
Eventually, we’ll be left with two: give up or try again.
I won’t give up on us today, but what about the next day or the next week? How long is this going to go on before I can accept the possible hard truth?
We were doomed from the start.