Chapter 17 – Emmett
Chapter Seventeen
EMMETT
I turn to the side and watch her walk away from me, my body missing the heat from her. My fingers reflexively move, wanting to grab her hand before she rushed out of here.
“You don’t have to bid so much,” Ms. Summer tells me. “We usually just end up giving it to the parents’ top bid.”
I look down at the paper, seeing Lilah’s name and then my name. “No worries.” I turn to her. “Excuse me, I’m going to go and make sure Lilah found Lucy.” I turn to walk out of the classroom, looking to the side and seeing she isn’t walking down the corridor, so it means she went the other way.
Making my way to the end of the hallway, I see it’s darker than the other side and then see a yellow tape up to keep you from going forward. I look to the side, seeing her in the almost darkened hallway with her back against the concrete wall. She has her head back and eyes closed. Walk away , I tell myself, leave her be . But my body and my brain are not on the same page when it comes to her.
My goal was to stay as far away from her as I could. That goal was quickly erased when I saw her standing in the parking lot talking to Ms. Maddie and her husband, Oliver, wearing that fucking red skirt, which looks like it would be easy to slip my hand under. The white shirt molded on her made my dick hard the minute I saw her. Ever since I tasted her, that’s all I want, to taste her more. “Lilah,” I call softly, ducking under the yellow tape, “what are you doing?”
“I needed a minute,” she says, pushing her back off the wall. “I was also giving the two of you some alone time.”
“The two of us?” I stop moving when I’m face-to-face with her. Her scent of lilacs and roses makes me want to close my eyes and devour her.
“You and Ms. Summer.” The second she says the name of Lucy’s teacher, I’m even more confused than her previous statement. My chin goes down as my eyebrows pinch together. “Oh, come on.” She folds her arms under her tits, pushing them even higher up toward me. “She wants to date you.”
“She does not.” I roll my eyes at her.
“Emmett,” she snaps. I want to put my hands on her, but instead, I put them on my own hips to stop myself from touching her, and forgetting about the vow to let her go. “She’s all smiling at you. All the batting of her eyes and tucking her hair behind her ear.”
“Lilah,” I say her name, exasperated, “you are wrong.”
Her hand moves up to push my shoulder. “Oh, please.” The second her hand touches me, it’s like all bets are off. Literally, all bets are off. My hand flies from my hip to the side of her face at the same time my feet close the distance between us, pushing her against the wall. My other hand comes up to place on the concrete wall beside her head.
Her eyes search mine side to side, her breath hitches in her throat. “Emmett.” My name is a whisper on her lips.
“Don’t say my name like that.” Our eyes still connect.
“Like what?” she asks. As my head lands on her forehead, I lean into her.
“Like you want me to lift your skirt and sink my cock into you.” I tilt my head to the side. “Like I want to hear you call my name all the fucking time.” My head tilts to the opposite side. I’m so close to her lips again, my heart speeds up, knowing I’ll have her tongue in my mouth in about two seconds and all will be right with the world. I can feel her breath on my lips, and right before I’m about to be in heaven again, the sound of a child shrieking at the top of their lungs fills the school, and the two of us jump away from each other as if we were caught with our hands in the cookie jar.
“I don’t want to leave!” a little girl yells. “I want Mommy!” Both of us walk to the corner and look around it to see one of the dads picking up his screaming kid from the middle of the floor and kissing her cheek as he talks to her softly. “I want my mommy,” she repeats, and a woman comes out of the classroom toward them. The little girl jumps out of her father’s arms and runs toward her mother.
“We should find Lucy,” Lilah states, ducking under the yellow tape, “before she hears all the screaming and gets scared.”
I follow her down the hallway until we get to her classroom, seeing just a couple of parents straggling around, looking at the different art projects. “Is she in there?” I ask Lilah as her head comes out of the other classroom that is facing Lucy’s.
“No.” She shakes her head, and we look up the hallway, seeing Charlie walking down with his son on his hip and one arm wrapped around Autumn.
“There you guys are,” Charlie says, glancing at me and then looking at Lilah, a smirk filling his face. “Lucy was looking for you guys,” he shares, trying not to smile too big but failing miserably, “and she said she couldn’t find you.”
“Where is she?” I ask as I see Lilah lean forward and tap Billy’s nose with her finger as she gushes at him. Just looking at her do that makes me feel like someone just ripped the rug out from under me, knowing I can never give her what she wants. Lucy is the only child I will have, and even she is one more than I ever thought I would have in this lifetime.
“She’s in that classroom,” Autumn informs me, “with Saige and Wyatt.” She mentions Brock’s daughter, as well as Brady’s son. “The three of them are trying to bid on items that don’t have any bids on them so the kids aren’t sad.”
“Oh my God,” Lilah says, putting her hand to her mouth, “that’s so sweet.” She looks up at me and I stare at her for a whole minute, wanting to take her in my arms, but knowing it’s a bad idea for everyone. “I’m going to go and help them,” she tells us.
“I want in on this,” Autumn declares, about to grab the baby from Charlie, but he turns away from her. “Charlie, can I have my child, please?”
“No.” He kisses Billy’s head, and all Billy can do is try to look at his mother, thinking she’s playing peekaboo with him. “Go away”—she raises her eyebrows at him—“and do good things and then come back to us.”
“You’re lucky that you have my child, Charlie Barnes,” she hisses, “and I love you, or I would seriously not come back.”
Charlie watches her walk away from him, then looks at me, then his son. “Your mom is full of it; she loves me big.”
“You know love and hate is the same emotion, right?” I ask and watch Lilah and Autumn until they walk into a classroom and I can’t see them anymore.
“Is it?” He looks at me. “Interesting you say that, because your attitude always says you hate Lilah.”
“No.” I shake my head, not admitting I walked right into that. “I don’t hate her. She just gets on my last damn nerve. It’s different.”
“Is it?” Charlie fucks with me and looks down at Billy. “Your uncle Emmett likes a girl.”
“Don’t say that shit too loud,” I snap. “She already thought I was trying to hook up with Lucy’s teacher.”
Charlie gasps. “Oh my God, did you?” He shakes his head. “I know you do stupid things lots of times, but banging your kid’s teacher would be the ultimate stupidest thing you could do.”
“I have not banged her,” I hiss with my teeth clenched, looking around to make sure no one can hear him. The last thing I need is gossip going around. “Nor do I want to bang her.”
“Because you want to bang Lilah,” Charlie immediately counters.
“Don’t you have to go and fuck off?” I ask Charlie, who snickers.
I see Lucy walking out of the classroom with Saige beside her, the two of them laughing and giggling, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen her act like a kid. The first time she isn’t scared she said something she shouldn’t or that she was walking around with the biggest problem on her shoulders.
For the first time ever, she looks like a carefree kid, and it keeps me rooted to my spot. “She’s laughing,” I whisper, and Charlie slaps my shoulder.
“Isn’t that the best thing you’ve ever heard?”
“One of them, yes,” I tell him, nodding my head. He looks over at me, probably wanting to know what else could be better than that.
I stand beside him as I watch, mesmerized as my daughter and Saige walk into the room Autumn and Lilah are in. “How much do you want to bet those two are going to make sure to outdo the other two?” He shakes his head and walks their way. I follow him until I’m at the doorway, looking inside. Autumn and Lilah are walking from desk to desk with Lucy and Saige on their heels, and just as they leave one desk, the other two outbid them.
“How much do you think tonight is going to cost me?” Charlie asks, and I look over at him.
“I think you’ll survive.” I smirk and laugh, making the four pairs of eyes look over at me. “You guys about finished?”
“Yeah,” Lucy confirms, walking to me. “Can we get some donuts?”
“Oh, yeah,” Saige says. “Everleigh said she was going to put two aside for me.” She grabs Lucy’s hands. “Let’s go and see what flavor they are.”
“Okay,” Lucy agrees and is being pulled outside by Saige as if they’ve been friends since they were born.
“I’m so happy,” Lilah says from beside me, watching where the two girls just left. I look at her and see her wiping tears from the corner of her eye. “She was laughing and all of that.”
“Yeah,” I say, and the need to wrap my arm around her shoulders is there with such a force, I can’t stop it when it happens. “Crazy, right?”
“Today is all full of crazy things,” Charlie observes, not missing out that my arm is around Lilah. “It’s almost like it’s a full moon.”
“Stranger things have happened,” Autumn adds from beside Charlie, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Now, I think you owe me dinner.”
“Anything you want, baby.” He bends down to kiss her lips. I glance at Lilah, who shares a look with me, and I see her cheeks go pink. I’m wondering if she thinks about the kiss we had not too long ago and the almost kiss that happened tonight.
“How do we pay for all of the things?” I ask Autumn, motioning with my head.
“Lilah paid the teacher two hundred dollars already,” Autumn says, and I gasp. “So let’s go.” She grabs Charlie’s hand, pulling him out of the school.
“You did that?” I ask.
“I came prepared to spend two hundred dollars on Lucy’s project, but then you went all ‘let’s bid five hundred dollars,’” Lilah states, glaring at me, and fuck, if she isn’t beautiful and cute all rolled up in one. She takes a step forward. “Now I’m going to go see if they have either donuts or funnel cakes.”
“I never had a parent come to anything I did when I was a kid in school,” I say and see her face gets soft. “Never had a parent care if I was doing good in school or not.” She steps up to me, putting her hand on my chest, and I let her. “Never had anything good in my life, Lilah,” I share with her, giving her a piece of myself I didn’t think I would give anyone. “So I’m going to do what I need to do for her to see I care.”
She moves her hand from my chest to my cheek. “She’s really lucky to have you,” she says, and I look into her eyes. “You’re a great dad.”
“No, I’m not,” I say. “I don’t think I’ll ever be a great dad”—I shrug—“but I’m going to try my fucking best.”
“That right there is one of the reasons you’re a great dad,” she declares and her hand falls. “You care.” She gives me a soft smile. “And that is going to mean the world to her when she looks back and thinks about this moment.” She takes a deep inhale. “Behind that gruff exterior is one of the best men I’ve ever met in my life.” She gets up on her tippy-toes and kisses my cheek. It’s the sweetest kiss I’ve ever gotten in my whole life. Then she turns and walks away, leaving me yearning for everything I thought I would never want.