Chapter 37 #2
We lapsed into silence as Emmie led the way through the back door into the parking lot. Thankfully, no press had managed to sneak out here yet.
“We’re taking my car. Can Jake or Perry drive yours home later?” she asked, veering in the other direction of where I parked.
“I’ll text them.”
When we came up to her Bronco a moment later, I refrained from pointing out that she was parked in a handicap spot. In her haste, she must not have even noticed. The idea that she rushed over, not caring she could get in a lot of trouble for being in this spot, made my insides twist.
Letting her do her thing, I stayed back as she swung the bag into the back of her car, using her whole entire body to do so.
“Wow, I feel like a real passenger princess,” I remarked when Emmie opened my door for me. I lifted my body into the seat, side twinging. I had a feeling the pain meds weren’t going to touch the pain anytime soon.
“Let Daddy take care of you.” Emmie said it in such a plain voice, I lost it.
“Fuck, Emmie.” I laughed, causing excruciating pain to radiate through my entire body. When I turned my head to look at her, the most blinding smile graced her face. That alone made the pain worth it.
While I got myself under control, she shut the door and rounded the front, slipping behind the wheel. She had quite the proud look on her face as she pulled out of her parking spot and headed for the gate.
With the game still going, it didn’t take us long to merge with the steady stream of cars and head in the direction of my apartment building. I relaxed as best as I could in her Bronco, my long legs taking up a lot of room. Emmie’s hands gripped the wheel tighter every time I shifted and grunted.
She turned onto my street but slowed almost immediately. Up ahead, paparazzi crowded the sidewalk, spilling around the side of the building. Great.
“We’re going to my place,” Emmie said, continuing right past. “Is Tucker home?”
“He’s at daycare. Perry told me about the one he uses so I thought I’d try it for today's game,” I explained. The poor boy was going to wonder where I was.
“Once I get you settled, I’ll go and pick him up.”
“No it’s okay, I—” I started to say, but she put a hand up.
“Mateo, I really need you to just shut up and let me help you, okay?” She glanced over at me briefly then back to the road. “Can you do that for me?”
I blinked, a little thrown by how serious she sounded. “Yes. I can behave.”
“Good.”
I was starting to wonder if maybe I had a newfound kink of being told what to do. Because Emmie being so assertive had me shifting in my seat.
The sudden ringing of a phone had me glancing down at the console between us. It was Emmie’s phone…with my mom’s name flashing on the screen.
“Shit.” I winced, shifting in the seat to reach for her phone. “It’s my mom.”
“Answer it.”
As soon as I did, I put it on speakerphone and was met with my mom’s frantic voice. “Emmie! Where is Mateo? Are you with him? Is he hurt? Is he at the hospital?”
I quickly cut in before she gave herself a heart attack. “It’s me.”
At the sound of my voice, a long wail sounded through the phone. Instant guilt hit me. Getting hurt didn’t just affect me, it also affected my mom and my family. She was probably going crazy while waiting to hear from me.
“How are you doing, Mateo?” Steven asked. In the background, I could still hear my mom crying. A sound that hit me like a bullet to the chest.
“I’m okay.” My voice came out hoarse. “Just some bruised ribs, but I’ll be fine.”
“Did you hear that, honey? He’s going to be just fine,” Steven soothed my mom.
“Should we book a flight?” I heard my mom say.
“Mom, I’m okay. You don’t need to fly out here. The doctor just told me to take it easy and ice my ribs. I’ll be fine in a few weeks,” I quickly said. The last thing I wanted was to make her fly all the way out here to check on me. I already felt guilty enough making her worry.
“Are you headed home?”
“Emmie’s driving me to her place.”
My mom’s voice came back on the phone. “Emmie, please take care of my baby boy, okay?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Emmie grip the wheel before answering. “I promise not to let him out of my sight.”
“Good, I want hourly updates, you hear me, Mateo Boone? Hourly.” Mom enunciated the word. I winced, not from the pain, but because I knew she meant it. She would call every hour if I didn’t.
“I will, I promise.” Spotting Emmie’s apartment up ahead, I interrupted my mom. “We’re about to pull up to Emmie’s place. I’ll call you once I’m settled, okay?”
It took until Emmie pulled into her parking spot for my mom to finally hang up. I stared at the phone, hoping my mom didn’t book a flight and come. She meant well, but I couldn’t handle being hurt, Emmie, and my mom all at the same time.
Handing Em her phone, I unbuckled my seatbelt and slid out of the car. I kept my mouth shut as she grabbed my duffle bag. Every part of me wanted to help her carry it, but she told me to shut up and let her help.
I was only at her apartment a handful of times.
Mostly to pick her up for a date or to drop her off.
I only stayed the night once. Part of me wondered if it was because she always had one foot in this relationship and the other out.
Her apartment building was on the newer side and definitely one of the nicer buildings in the city, even if she didn’t have a doorman.
Thankfully, they had an elevator where the parking lot doors were so we didn’t have to go traipsing through the lobby. I wasn’t really in the mood to be stared at, especially having no shirt on with this giant pack of ice strapped to me.
The ride in the elevator was tense, the air thick with unsaid words. The part of me that joked at awkward things begged to be set free, but I practiced self-control. The pain did a pretty decent job at keeping me distracted until the doors slid open, spilling us onto Emmie’s floor.
Just a week ago, I was standing in front of her door, waiting impatiently for her to get home from her competition. I was concerned that she hadn’t answered any of my texts and just wanted her to be okay.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I followed her through the door into her apartment. My duffle bag hit the floor with a thud. I didn’t miss the way Emmie rolled her shoulder after.
I glanced around at Emmie and Erin’s apartment. Everything was mismatched, like two styles thrown together. It surprisingly worked. Their place was warm and loved. It was clearly lived in, where mine wasn’t. I hadn’t noticed just how drab my apartment was until Emmie wasn’t in it.
“Do you want to sit on the couch or the bed?” she asked.
“Couch.”
Treating me like a newborn deer, Emmie put a hand on my lower back and guided me toward their worn gray couch.
“Where’s—” I went to ask where Erin was, only for her to step out of her bedroom and pause at the threshold at the sight of us. I watched her rake her eyes up and down my bare chest. She let out some sort of hum, along with a nod. “Yeah, your abs are just as amazing as I thought they’d be.”
Thrown by her words, I stood there. “Uh, thanks?”
“No, thank you. I’ve always wondered what you’d look like shirtless in person.”
I turned to Emmie with wide eyes. The fuck? I mouthed to her.
“Erin has always had a bit of an obsession with you and your family,” Emmie explained. “She’s the one who told me who you were the first time we ran into each other.”
“I don’t have an obsession, per say. I just knew about his family.” Erin pushed her glasses up her nose with a shrug.
“All this time I’ve been around you and now you bring up that you secretly stalk my family?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Pretty impressed I’ve kept my cool around you this whole time.” Erin said it like this was just an everyday conversation. Emmie wasn’t even phased.
Unsure of how to proceed, I slowly sank down onto their couch. At my wince, Emmie stepped closer.
“Is there anything I can get you? More pain meds? More ice?”
“I’m okay for now. Thank you, though.”
“Let me get you some water at least.” Emmie turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen. I watched Erin follow her. What came next were hushed whispers. Exhausted from everything today, I didn’t even try to eavesdrop. Instead, I looked at the TV, which was already playing the game on silent.
While Emmie and Erin talked behind my back, I got as comfortable as I could on the couch, silently cursing at the Titans being down ten points with only twelve minutes left in the game.
“Well,” Erin suddenly spoke loudly, “I’m going to leave you two to it. I’ll be at Jake’s if you need anything.” She came into view, a bag thrown over her shoulder. “Glad to see you’re okay, Mateo.”
“Thanks, Erin.”
She gave me another appreciative look, muttered something under her breath, and turned for the door. It shut behind her with a click, and I stared after her.
“That was the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had with her,” I said. “And we had some weird ones during regionals.”
“That’s Erin for you. Her mind goes a million miles a second, and sometimes, it just slips out.” Emmie handed me a bottle of water. “Here, you must be thirsty.”
Our fingers brushed as I took it. I let mine linger for a second before I pulled away.
She stood there, hovering for a moment before she exhaled, slow and shaky. “Mateo…”
I instantly knew where this was going. The words unspoken between us were finally breaking the surface. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to hear them yet. For her to say that things were truly over between us.
“Emmie—”
“No,” she cut in, her voice soft but firm. She shook her head, eyes dropping to her hands. “Let me say this. Please.” The plea in her tone made me stop.
She swallowed, hands clenched. “I’ve been…in my head. A lot. Since,” she let out a breath that almost turned into a laugh, “I screwed everything up.”
I sat up. “You didn’t—”
“I did.” Her eyes snapped up to mine, not angry, just certain. “I said things I didn’t mean because I was scared, and I didn’t know how to say that without sounding…weak, I guess.”
I didn’t say anything as I tried to figure out where this was going. I braced myself for her saying we weren’t worth it. That I wasn’t worth it.
“You didn’t deserve that. Any of that. And you’re not…” She paused, sucking in a shaky breath. “You’re not a mistake, Mateo. You never were. Not to me. Not for a second.”
Her green eyes pooled with tears. The tightness in my chest had nothing to do with the bruised ribs.
“Then why say it?”
“I didn’t want you to see what a failure I was. And I didn’t want to see the disappointment in your eyes when you realized I wasn’t good enough for you. Because in what world does a guy like you pick a girl like me?”
She started pacing in front of me, palms pressed to her eyes.
“I was afraid of losing you…and somehow, I did that anyway.”
“Em…” My throat clogged. She continued to be unaware that I spoke.
“You came into my life like this giant ball of energy and flipped everything upside down.” Her voice raised a little.
“I thought I knew what I wanted, but there you were. This amazing guy who cares for his family, who donates money to animal shelters without a second thought, who makes me feel like I matter more than anything else in the world.”
She threw her hands up like all those things were horrible before she whirled around to face me, stabbing an accusing finger in my direction.
“You weren’t supposed to crawl your way into my heart and take it for yourself!
” Her voice cracked, tears falling down her cheeks.
“I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you!
Yet, I did! And every second away from you feels like there’s this gaping hole in my heart.
Just the thought of not being with you makes me physically ill. ”
She…loves me? Did I hear her right?
“My life was fine until you came waltzing in with your charm, good looks, and selfless personality.”
I barely heard a word she said, a roaring in my ears overriding everything. She loved me? That was all I could focus on. Any pain was secondary to the pounding in my chest.
I pushed off the couch and stepped closer to her. She was oblivious, her head was tilted up to the ceiling, mouth still going. I needed her to shut up. Just for a moment so I could have her repeat what she just said.
Closing the distance in two strides, I reached for her, my hands coming up to cup her face. I brought her attention back to me. Her words were cut off in a soft gasp as I kissed her.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful. It was everything I’d been holding back—frustration, relief, fear. It all crashed into her at once. For a second, she went still, like her brain hadn’t caught up. Then she kissed me back.
Her lips pressed to mine, and for the first time in days, everything felt right.
I pulled back, my forehead resting on hers, hands cradling her face.
“Say it again.” It came out as a plea. “Say you love me.”
Emmie pulled back just enough to meet my eyes. “I love you, Mateo Boone.”
A shudder went through me. Words I hadn’t expected her to say, but now that she had, it was like they cracked something open inside of me I couldn’t ignore anymore.
“I love you, too, Emmie James. I’ve loved you from the moment you refused to tell me your name.”
She let out a watery laugh. “I had to make you work for it. Turns out you’re annoyingly persistent.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly, brushing my thumb along her cheek. “And I’m not stopping anytime soon.”
“Even when I push you away?”
“Even then. I understand the pressure you feel to do well, I feel the same pressure on my shoulders every single day, but I’m not going anywhere, Emmie.”
Her fingers curled against my chest. “You promise?”
“I promise. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Good, I’ve grown quite fond of you.”
I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, sobering. “Please, don’t push me away when things get hard. Next time, just talk to me, okay?”
“I promise I will. I don’t ever want to go through that again.” Her voice was soft as she moved a hand up to cup my cheek. I leaned into it, closing my eyes for a moment. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
I tugged her against my chest, burying my head into her shoulder. While there were still a few things we needed to fix and talk about, none of that mattered currently. The most important thing was that she was in my arms and that she loved me and I loved her.
I held her against me and didn’t let go.