Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“ B ut… Dane said we weren’t going to have sex.”
Eric bit back a smile even as his ego preened.
He was sure Emily had meant for her words to sound accusatory more than disappointed, but she hadn’t quite nailed it.
And he was man enough to admit he liked the thought she was upset they wouldn’t be fucking her tonight.
Truth be told, he was pretty pissed off about the whole situation too.
He and Dane finally had their girl alone and at their mercy, and they were going to waste the opportunity by punishing her.
But it had to be done.
She had to learn, to know that what she’d done was unacceptable.
She had knowingly put herself in a dangerous situation and it could not—would not—happen again.
“Dane was right. There will be no sex tonight. We don’t reward bad behaviour.”
“Arms up,” Dane said, proceeding with Eric’s instructions to undress their woman. Emily folded her arms across her chest instead. So stubborn .
“What bad behaviour?” she demanded, scowling up at him. “I know I screwed up your undercover job but I’ve already apologised for that. Repeatedly. What else can I do?”
“What can you do? You can listen when we tell you this has nothing to do with our job and everything to do with you putting yourself in danger. What you can do is take your punishment like a good girl.”
“Punishment?” Emily visibly swallowed as she wriggled against Dane’s chest, but his brother’s grip was much stronger than her attempt to escape him.
She moistened her lips, the action drawing Eric’s attention, then launched into her defence.
“I know, okay? I shouldn’t have gone out with Matthew.
I saw the red flags and I ignored them, but I honestly didn’t think he would take me to an illegal drag race, or that people would be selling drugs right out in the open.
I mean, who does that, right? But I had my phone, and I was just about to call Teddy to come and pick me up when I saw Dane and I felt—” She dropped her gaze and stared at the floor.
“What did you feel when you saw me, baby?”
Eric slid a knuckle under her chin and lifted her face, but she refused to meet his gaze.
“Look at me, kitten,” he said, keeping his voice soft.
She had to learn to stop hiding from them, and that might be easier if he wasn’t his usual grumpy self.
He hated the silent tears that tracked down her cheeks, how she nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
Leaning down, he kissed away her tears. “Talk to us, Emily,” he said. “What did you feel when you saw Dane?”
She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, as if she was trying to keep her words inside, but one slipped out.
“Safe,” she whispered, finally looking up at him again.
“I felt safe, because I knew if Dane was there, you wouldn’t be far away.
I felt safe knowing both of you were there, knowing you’d take care of me. ”
“Even though we haven’t been around much lately?” Dane pushed. “Even though you thought we’d lost interest in you?”
Her tears fell faster, thicker, and she sniffed loudly. “Yes.”
“Why?” Eric asked. “Why would you trust us after we abandoned you?”
It hurt to say those words. They hadn’t abandoned her, but she hadn’t known that at the time, and what she said next would determine how many lashes of his belt she got, if she got any at all.
They needed to teach her a lesson in safety, something she wouldn’t forget, but at that moment all Eric really wanted to do was pull her into his arms and hold her tight, tell her she was theirs, that they were hers, that this whole thing had just been a colossal fuck up.
But there was another reason to punish her. Another lesson to be taught. One that was long overdue.
“Because you’re cops,” she said quietly, and dropped her gaze again. “I knew you’d do the right thing.”
Eric looked at his brother and thanked God Emily couldn’t see his expression. Dane already hated this undercover gig they’d had thrust upon them, but now he looked like he wanted to burn the world to the ground.
Emily knew they’d do the right thing. Not because she knew them intimately, not because they loved her or—hopefully—because she loved them. No. She knew they would keep her safe because they were cops. Because it was their fucking job, the thing they were paid to do.
Despair gut-punched him so hard he thought he might vomit.
She’d given up on them.
Completely.
Eric shook his head, rejected the idea. No.
Fuck that. Emily wasn’t giving up. They wouldn’t let her, and before he could even think about what he was doing, his hand latched around Emily’s throat and squeezed just enough make sure he had her full attention.
Her eyes grew wide, her pupils dilated, and her plump lips parted on a gasp.
“Did you try contacting us at all in the last two months?” he said. “Even once?”
She tried to shake her head. “No.”
“You saw Kiki every week for one reason or another,” Dane added. “Did you ask her where we’d gone or what we were doing?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You said you didn’t tell Karen what you were up to.”
“We didn’t. But do you really think she wouldn’t have kicked our butts to get you answers if you’d wanted them?
” Eric felt her hammering pulse against his fingers, saw the myriad of emotions dancing in her pretty eyes.
Saw the storm she didn’t know how to navigate.
But that’s why she had them. They would be her compass, her anchor, her safe harbour.
They would take care of her. But first they had to tear down the walls she was constantly rebuilding against them. “Why did you give up on us so easily?”
“Easy?” Her lip curled and then the storm exploded. “You think losing you was easy?”
“You didn’t lose us, baby,” Dane said, tightening his grip as she struggled to free herself from his arms.
“How was I supposed to know that? You were there one minute and gone the next!”
“Why didn’t you reach out to us, Emily? Not one call. Not one text. By your own admission, you didn’t even ask our sister about us. Why?”
“Because you abandoned me,” she yelled, stamping her foot against the carpet and narrowly missing Dane’s foot.
“You ghosted me. And I learned a long time ago not to bother chasing after men who obviously had no interest in being with me. Why wouldn’t I think you were done with me?
I’m short, overweight, and boring. Not to mention?—”
“Not to mention what?” Eric said, his fingers flexing around her throat in warning.
A warning she ignored completely as she continued disparaging herself.
She scoffed. “Well, I’m not exactly winning any beauty contests over here, am I?
” Angry tears fell thick and fast as she glared at him.
“I always knew my time with you two would end, I knew I was nothing more than a temporary distraction….” She cast her gaze to the side, away from him again. “Or worse.”
“What could possibly be worse than you thinking we don’t want you?” Dane growled, tightening his grip again as Emily tried to shove away from him.
“Using me.”
Dane stared at the back of Emily’s head, confusion writ across his face. “For what?”
“As a way of getting back at my brother for dating your sister. I hear how you speak to him, the disdain you have for him.”
Eric’s head lolled back until he was staring at the ceiling, then he let loose a long sigh. This fucking undercover bullshit was ruining their lives. And the urge to hold Emily tight suddenly overwhelmed every other sense he had, but he had to wait. Just a little longer.
Straightening up, he dropped his hand from her throat. “Let her go.”
Dane’s gaze snapped to his, and panic sat heavy in his voice. “Eric, what are you doing?”
“Getting a few things straight,” he said, and folded his arms over his chest. “First, we have nothing but respect for your brother. What Teddy did all those years ago, what he sacrificed to keep you and your family safe, that took guts. And do you really think we would let him anywhere near our sister if he hadn’t already proven himself to be a good man? ”
“He takes care of her,” Dane added, mirroring Eric’s stance. “He makes her happy, and if you think he doesn’t give as good as he gets when we tease him, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
Eric moved closer until the toes of his boots bumped into the tips of Emily’s sneakers.
It forced her to look up at him and stumble slightly, but he caught her upper arms and held her steady.
She gasped at his touch, at his nearness, and he welcomed the sweet sound.
Couldn’t wait to make her gasp for other, more pleasurable reasons.
“Second, you were never temporary, kitten.” He brushed her hair away from her face. “And you certainly weren’t some kind of payback against your brother.”
“Yeah, right.”
“It’s true, baby. We’ve wanted you from the moment we saw you.”
“We’re not conventional men, Emily. We don’t love the way regular people do.
And we know from past experience that it takes a certain type of woman to appreciate that about us.
That’s why we took our time getting to know you, why we didn’t rush.
We wanted— want —something real with you.
But maybe we took too long. Maybe we should have told you months ago how we feel about you.
Maybe it is our fault that you gave up on us.
But maybe—just maybe—if I tell you now how head over heels in love with you we are, maybe you'll forgive us.”
“What did you say?” Her confusion was adorable.
Eric smiled and stroked his knuckles along her jaw and over her cheek, revelled in the warmth and softness of her skin. “I said I love you, kitten.”
Dane rested his hands on her shoulders, let her know he had her back, always, then kissed the side of her neck. “And I love you too, baby.”
She started to shake her head, rejecting what they were saying to her, so Eric caught her chin in his hand and held her firm. “You don’t have to say it back if you’re not ready. We realise it’s a lot, that we’re a lot. Just tell us you believe us. Say you’ll be ours. That you belong to us.”
“Both of us.”
“Because we are yours, Emily. If you still want us.”
Emily sniffed and wiped her cheeks dry then stared blankly, as if they had just said the most ludicrous thing imaginable. “You… love me?”