Chapter 13 - Emmett #2
Lilah: it’s alright i guess
Me: That why you come so hard you cry?
“Are you seriously sexting right now?” I jumped, locking my phone on reflex as Colt pulled onto the interstate back to Wild Creek.
I cleared my throat, looking anywhere but him. “No.”
He just shook his head, a disapproving chuckle leaving him. “You’re a terrible liar.” When Delilah didn’t respond right away, I opened our texts again.
Me: That’s what I thought. I’ll be home in two hours and after Beau’s I’m gonna fuck that bratty attitude out of you.
I put my phone away, smiling to myself, and ignored her for the rest of the ride to Wild Creek, even though my phone buzzed on my lap at least ten times.
The glittering lights of Dallas faded in the rearview, and by the time we pulled into Beau and Claire’s driveway, my chest felt heavier than when we’d left.
And when Colt and I walked through the door, everyone was already there.
Delilah was sitting on the couch, her skin carrying the kind of glow that came with at least two orgasms. No matter how bratty she pretended to be, she always ended up doing what I told her.
“So,” Beau started, “what are we gonna do about this?”
“I already said I’d blow their houses up.” She shrugged a shoulder, smirking. “We can just make sure they’re in it.”
“Delilah!” Tess gasped. “They’re Levi’s family.”
Levi scoffed. “I’m not entirely opposed to that solution, actually,” he murmured. My sister just looked at her husband like he’d grown horns.
Colt’s hands landed on his legs with a smack, and he stood. “Well, if y’all are gonna discuss arson and murder in front of me, I’m gonna head out.”
“Oh my God, when are you going to listen to me and get that badge out of your ass?” Weston groaned. “She’s not actually gonna kill them.” He looked at Delilah. “Right?” Delilah just stared at him, blinking. I had to bite back my smile; my girl had always been a little feral.
Weston swallowed. “Right?” he repeated, his voice cracking a little.
“They’re going after my reputation,” she said, voice clipped.
“They’re dragging the ranch and Freedom Reins into this.
And now, because of them, we might not be able to provide the care these veterans deserve after they sacrificed so much.
So yeah, I’m not above making those fuckers pay, and I’d do it with a smile on my face. ”
The conviction in her voice was overwhelming. She wouldn’t actually hurt anyone, but her willingness to go to great lengths to help people—people like me—meant more than it should.
I cleared my throat. “I think it’s all connected. Ethan pulling the funding, the tack room, people checking Delilah’s past.”
“But the cameras didn’t show anyone unusual comin’ onto the property the day the tack room was trashed,” Beau said. “And the cameras weren’t hooked up in the tack room then.”
“What if they have someone working here?” Savannah said, glancing at all of us warily. “I know it’s a long shot—”
“It’s not,” Levi interrupted, his voice grim. “I don’t know that there’s any length they won’t go to at this point.”
“I just don’t understand why,” Tess said, wringing her hands in her lap. “I thought they’d let it go when they lost the lawsuit with Savvy.”
“Bruised ego, sweetheart,” Levi said beside her. “It’s why they ruined the original merger in the first place.”
“Fucking ridiculous,” Claire snapped, arms crossed over her chest. “There has to be something we can do. Something permanent.” Delilah opened her mouth, but Claire stopped her. “That’s not illegal.”
Delilah rolled her eyes and slumped back against the couch, pouting. “You’re all so boring.”
I laughed. Loudly. The room went silent. I froze mid-laugh, realizing what I’d done. Delilah stared at me like a deer in headlights.
I scrambled to come up with something to say.
“Colt and I can keep trailing Ethan.” I scratched the back of my head, my heart in my throat over what I was about to offer.
“And if we’re really serious about doing something, I have a buddy who’s—Colt, cover your innocent ears.
” The goody-two-shoes actually did it. “He’s a hacker. I could reach out to him.”
I hadn’t called Jack Remington since I retired, but I would for this—for Delilah.
I didn’t even know if he was still hacking, but I’d find out.
After all her hard work, she deserved for Freedom Reins to be everything she envisioned.
All the patients deserved this place to be the best it could be, too.
“Aren’t there other people we can talk to about a sponsorship?” Savannah asked. “This all feels a little extreme. Actually, it feels a lot extreme. What if we get caught? What if the Hollises come back harder? Haven’t we all been through enough?”
Tess nodded enthusiastically, her brows knitted together with worry. “I agree.”
“Why don’t we try to find a new sponsor, and in the meantime, Emmett can call his friend just to be safe,” Claire suggested. My stomach dropped at the thought. What kind of asshole did that make me to call someone up for a favor after not speaking to them for years? A pretty fucking huge one.
“A bunch of smaller sponsors are just as good as one big one,” Weston added.
“Exactly,” Claire said with a curt nod.
“So it’s settled then. Look for new sponsors, keep tabs on Ethan, and Emmett’s gonna call his friend,” Beau recapped.
“Yep,” I confirmed, my voice tight. This was why I tended to keep my mouth shut at gatherings like these. I usually ended up agreeing to do something I didn’t want to.
Once the plan was set, and I got some information from Levi about Sterling and Preston to give to Jack, we all went our separate ways.
I stared at Jack’s name on my phone until the screen went dark. My stomach turned. I hadn’t spoken to him since I left the military, and the last thing I wanted was to crawl back asking for favors. Especially favors that weren’t exactly legal.
But for Delilah—for Freedom Reins—I’d eat that shame. If Sterling and Preston thought they could torch everything she’d built, they were about to find out differently.
I pressed call, praying he’d pick up and not hang up the second he heard my voice.
“Remington.” His voice came out clipped and low, and I was instantly ripped back into the past. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. The words were stuck behind my shame. “Hello?”
“Rem,” I rasped, bracing against the porch railing. “It’s Hayes. Emmett.”
“So you aren’t dead.” I winced. “Thought you might’ve gone off the grid.”
I peered over the ranch blanketed in shadows. “Kind of. I know I should’ve stayed in touch…”
“No shit.”
Footsteps crept up the porch stairs, and when Delilah came around the corner, I held a finger up.
Her sultry expression shifted, concern taking its place.
I gave her my back. I couldn’t take her watching me during this.
“You know how it is,” I said, fighting through the crushing feeling in my chest. “I just…I couldn’t…
I wasn’t right after everything with Danny. ”
Arms wrapped around my waist from behind. My eyes squeezed shut. My throat burned, raw like a ball of blades was lodged inside.
“And you think I was?” Jack snapped. The hurt in his voice punched the air clean out of me. “You dropped off the face of the earth, Emmett. Fuckin’ disappeared when I needed you the most.” My knees weakened, and if it weren't for Delilah holding me, I’d be in a heap on the ground.
“I know,” I choked out, voice breaking. I gripped Delilah’s arm.
“I know I fucked everything up. Danny’s dead because of me.
You and I haven’t talked because of me. You don’t need to remind me how big a dick I am.
I’ve thought about it every damn day.” Delilah’s hand ran back and forth over my chest, a steady, soothing rhythm that calmed some of the chaos inside me.
“First off, Danny didn’t die because of you, and we both know he’d beat the hell out of you if he heard that bullshit. I’m half-tempted to myself.”
“You could try,” I said with a tearful laugh.
“And second, I get why you haven’t stayed in touch,” he continued, his voice a little gruffer. “Talking to you’s like pouring salt in the wound.”
“So kind of you.” But I knew exactly what he meant by it. The way I missed Danny was god-fucking-awful. Like a hole in my chest that’d never close. And talking to Jack made that hole go from cavernous to too goddamn big.
“That’s me, a fuckin’ ray of sunshine. Now I know you didn’t call to gossip, so what’s up?”
“I need a favor.” I then gave him the short version of what had happened and asked him to look into Sterling and Preston.
“Jesus Christ. These dudes sound fuckin’ crazy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “They are. So can you look into them? I can pay—”
“I’m not taking your money, you dumbass. But yeah, I’ll look into them.” A huge sigh of relief left me. “You want a full sweep?”
“If that’s not too much trouble.” He’d get access to everything. Bank records, communications, the works.
“Nah. Gimme a week and I’ll call you back. Sound good?”
“Perfect. I owe you one, Rem.”
“Just don’t let this be the last time I hear from you, and we’ll be good.”
“It won’t be,” I promised. And when we hung up, Delilah slid around to my front, her arms still around me.
“You okay? That sounded intense at first.”
I rested my head on top of hers, my eyes drifting shut with her in my arms. “Yeah. Everything is fine.”
I’d make sure of it.