Chapter 24 Tanner
TANNER
I’ve been looking for Emily for a while now, and I’m starting to get a little impatient. The lodge is sprawling, so there are so many places she could be, but I still feel like I’m going around in a circle.
“Oh hey, Tanner,” she says, sauntering toward me with that fake sweetness that I’ve come to hate. I turn and spot Chloe, leaning against the wall near the reception desk, her arms crossed and that damn smirk playing on her lips.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Yeah, I’m looking for Emily. Have you seen her?”
Chloe’s smile widens. “Funny you ask,” she says, tilting her head like she’s pretending to think about it. “I did see her. She was with Jace and the big guy, what’s his name?”
“Axel?” I prompt.
“Mm-hmm,” Chloe hums, clearly enjoying this way too much. “They were heading toward one of those storage closets on the fourth floor.” She leans in a little, lowering her voice like she’s letting me in on some big secret. “Thing is, I never saw them come back out.”
I narrow my eyes, trying not to let her words get to me, but it’s hard not to bite. “What are you saying?”
She shrugs, all innocent, but the glint in her eyes tells me exactly what she’s implying. “I don’t know, Tanner. Just seems like they’ve been in there a while…together. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
I grit my teeth, trying to keep my cool. Chloe’s just trying to rile me up, I know that. She loves drama, at least that’s what I got from Emily.
I clench my fists at my sides, trying to keep my cool. There’s no way. There’s no way Axel and Jace would break the pact we made. We all agreed—Emily’s got to make the choice, and until then, we stay the hell away.
But Chloe’s words are needling their way into my brain
“Sounds suspicious, doesn’t it?” Chloe continues, her voice light but her eyes gleaming. “Three people in a closet for that long…I’d say something’s definitely up.”
“You sure about that?” I ask.
“Yep, definitely didn’t see them leave. They can’t be having a conversation in there.” She laughs at her own joke.
Without thinking twice, I head straight for the elevator, my heart pounding harder with every step. I can’t believe I’m even entertaining this thought, but I need to know. I need to see for myself.
The elevator doors open with a soft ding, and I step onto the fourth floor, my pulse hammering in my ears. The storage closet is at the end of the hallway.
My hand hesitates on the door handle for just a second before I grab it. It doesn’t open at first, but I push against it as I yank on the handle, and with a groan, it falls open.
I blink as I step inside.
Axel is leaning against the wall, shirt slightly undone, his breathing heavy. Jace is standing close to Emily, his hand still on her waist, her shirt slightly askew, and the look on both of their faces says everything I need to know.
“What the hell is going on here?” My voice is louder than I intended, but I can’t stop it.
The three of them freeze, and Emily’s eyes go wide as she sees me standing there, shock written all over her face.
“Tanner—” she starts, but I cut her off, the betrayal hitting me hard.
“Seriously?” I step fully into the closet, glaring at Axel and Jace. “You’re fucking her?”
“Tanner!” Emily replies indignantly but I’m too pissed to notice.
“We had an agreement. We agreed to let her choose. And now I find you two in here with her?”
Axel steps forward, his jaw clenched. “It’s not what it looks like.”
I let out a bitter laugh, shaking my head. “Oh, really? ‘Cause it sure as hell looks like you two were getting pretty damn cozy with Emily.”
Jace shoots Axel a look before stepping in. “Tanner, calm down. We didn’t plan this.”
I glare at him, my fists clenched at my sides. “Then what the hell happened? You just accidentally started fooling around with her in a closet? So your words mean nothing now?”
Emily starts to shake her head. “Wait…what pact? What are you talking about?”
Shit.
She steps closer, adjusting her shirt. “You guys made a pact about me? You were discussing me behind my back?”
“It’s not like that,” Axel says.
“Then what is it?”
Jace lets out a heavy sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Isn’t it obvious what we want, Emily? We were just trying to simplify things between the four of us.”
Her eyes flash, and she crosses her arms tightly over her chest. “Obvious? What’s obvious is that you all apparently think I’m some sort of prize to be won. That I’m just sitting here waiting for one of you to make a move.”
My chest tightens, and I realize just how badly I’ve screwed up. “Emily, it’s not like that—”
“Oh, really?” she cuts me off, her voice shaking with anger. “Because that’s exactly what it sounds like. You all got together, made some kind of deal, and decided that I’m just supposed to choose one of you? Like I’m an item on a damn menu?”
Axel steps in, his voice steady but cautious. “Emily, that’s not what we meant. We just…we didn’t want to complicate things for you.”
“Complicate things for me?” She scoffs, taking a step back, her gaze bouncing between the three of us. “You think I’m not already confused? You think this makes things easier? God, you guys didn’t even talk to me about any of this. You just assumed—”
“We didn’t assume anything,” Jace interrupts, his tone defensive. “We were trying to give you space to figure things out. We didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Well, congratulations!” Emily snaps, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You’ve done a great job of that.”
Tanner, why couldn’t you keep your big mouth shut? I think to myself, but the words are already tumbling out. “We just thought—”
“No,” Emily says, cutting me off again. “That’s the problem. You thought. You all thought, and not once did any of you ask me what I wanted. You didn’t think that maybe this is already complicated enough for me without you guys making deals behind my back.”
I can feel the weight of my mistake crashing down around me, the guilt twisting in my gut. “Emily, I—”
“I’m not some prize to be won!” she snaps, her voice trembling. “I’m a person, and this…this whole pact thing? It makes me feel like none of you actually see me as an actual person.”
Jace opens his mouth to respond, but Emily holds up a hand, silencing him. “No. I’ve had enough. You think you were protecting me, giving me space to choose, but you were just treating me like something to fight over.”
“I’m sorry but with Whit and the proposal…I guess it threw things off axis for us,” I say.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask Whit to propose. I didn’t even know he was going to do that.”
“So…are you thinking about it?” Axel asks, his voice careful.
Emily crosses her arms, her jaw tight. “I’m not sure. It’s complicated. But you crossed a line here, Tanner.”
I shake my head. “Fuck, I can’t handle it. I care too much. I think I love—”
Before I can finish, however, the sound of heels clicking against the floor echoes down the hall, and then Chloe strides into the scene, her eyes locked on us like a shark smelling blood in the water.
“What’s going on here?” Chloe asks, her voice all sweet and syrupy, but from the look on her face I can tell she’s really enjoying this.
Emily’s expression darkens immediately. She shoots a glare at Chloe, clearly pissed off at her arrival. Without another word, Emily steps out of the closet, brushing past Chloe like she doesn’t even exist.
Chloe’s eyes flick to Emily, then back to us, a smirk playing at the corners of her lips. She steps in closer to Jace, blocking his path as he tries to follow Emily out. “Where are you going, Jace?” she purrs, sidling up to him like a cat.
I watch Jace’s jaw tighten, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “Not now, Chloe,” he says, his voice low, but I can tell he’s trying to keep his cool.
Chloe, though, is relentless. She pouts, leaning in closer to him. “Oh, come on, Jace. I’m just curious. Everyone’s whispering about what’s going on between you guys and Emily. I figured I’d get the story straight from the source.”
“There’s nothing going on here,” Emily finally says, her fingers crossed.
Chloe gives her a once-over. “Doesn’t look like nothing.”
I see a flash of something disappear into her pocket, something that looks like a phone. But I’m distracted when Emily, after one last look, turns on her heel and walks away.
“Let her go,” she says sweetly, though her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “It’s not like you’ll get anywhere with her now, anyway.”
I can see the muscles in Jace’s jaw clench as he glances down at Chloe’s hand on him. His whole posture screams that he’s seconds away from snapping, and I can’t blame him.
“Why waste your time chasing after her when you’ve got other options right here?”
“He told you to move,” Axel says. He can be pretty intimidating when he wants to be.
“Fine,” Chloe says.
“I was just trying to help. But good luck dealing with her,” she says, her eyes flicking to Emily’s retreating figure.
With one last infuriating smirk, Chloe saunters off down the hallway.
Jace exhales sharply, running a hand through his hair. “This is a mess.”
“No kidding,” Axel mutters, glancing down the hall where Emily disappeared.
“We’ve got to fix this,” I finally say, my voice low. “Because if we don’t, we’re going to lose her.”
And none of us can afford that. I know I certainly can’t. Because I’ve fallen in love with her.