25. Emory
25
EMORY
I sit down on the warm, sun-drenched curb, pulling my knees up against my chest. There’s a slight humid breeze and the sky doesn’t have a cloud in it. It’s hard to believe it’s almost summer already. The last few weeks of spring have flown by. I guess that’s what happens when you start a new relationship. Luke and I have been officially dating for two weeks now. And it’s been…pretty damn perfect.
He has dinner ready when I get home from work—Allie has shown him a few things—and it turns out he can actually cook if he sets his mind to it. Then we watch a movie, sometimes making it to the end without ending up entangled in a naked heap on the floor, but usually not.
He makes me come, loud and hard, and all the while I lose myself in his eyes, just like that night I first really saw them in the library all those years ago. I sleep at his house most nights, but Allie and I still have our girls’ nights. Don’t give up everything again. I have to remind myself. We’re also still keeping things on the down-low for the time being. Other than Allie, no one else knows about us.
Jaxon hasn’t contacted me since his last text weeks ago, but I still have my guard up. I casually asked my dad about him at our last family dinner when Nate stepped away to take a call. Dad said he didn't sign on with Caldwell Security. He had to go back to California to put out some fires at the LA branch. He was vague, but I don’t really care. As long as he’s three thousand miles away, I feel a little bit more at ease. I’m not dumb, though. I know he can orchestrate whatever he has planned from afar, so I’m not letting my guard down just yet.
Gravel crunches under tires, and I look up to see Luke’s truck pull up to the curb where I’m sitting. My car is in the shop for maintenance, so he’s picking me up from work today. He rolls his window down, and I see his dark, messy hair falling into his face. He’s wearing a gray T-shirt, his full sleeves of tattoos on display. I lick my lips.
He looks like a damn snack.
“Hi ma’am,” he says in his best Southern drawl. “Any chance you’ve seen my girlfriend? She’s about five-six, brown hair, real pretty.”
A smile pulls at my lips, and I give him my best damsel-in-distress look. “Oh, I haven’t seen her, sir,” I say innocently. “But maybe you could give me a ride. I’m stranded here.” I bat my eyelashes for good measure.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to leave a nice woman like you stranded. I don’t think my girlfriend will mind. Hop in,” he says with a wink.
I giggle and jump to my feet, swinging open the passenger side door and climbing inside.
“For the record,” I say in my regular voice. “Your girlfriend would mind. You ever give a random girl a ride, and I’ll sic Allie on you.”
“Noted.” He presses on the gas and shifts the wheel with one hand, while he turns up the radio with the other. Mess is Mine by Vance Joy pours out of the speakers.
“I love this song,” I say, turning the volume up even higher.
He smiles. “Yeah. Me too.”
“I have something to ask you,” I say nervously. I only just decided this yesterday, and I’ve been working up the courage to talk to him about it.
“Yes,” he says with certainty.
“What? I haven’t even asked yet. What if I were asking you to get a life-size tattoo of my face on your back?”
“Then I stick with my original answer. Yes,” he deadpans.
“You’re ridiculous,” I laugh. “Just hear me out first. So, my dad hosts a fundraiser at his house at the start of the summer. It’s for blood clot research and awareness. I don’t know if Nate ever mentioned this, but that’s how our mom died. Pulmonary Embolism. It wasn’t caught in time. Anyway, it’s this fancy gala with dinner, champagne, suits, gowns, et cetera. I know it’s not your scene. It’s not mine either, but the cause means a lot to me and?—”
“Yes,” he interrupts me. “As I said earlier…yes.” I breathe a sigh of relief, but I’m not sure that he’s calculated exactly what I’m asking.
“Nate will be there,” I remind him. “My dad too. This would be…going public.”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“We can’t hide forever, Em. And I like that there will be lots of witnesses. It means Nate won’t kill me. Right away…”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. At first, I thought we should tell him in private before the event, but fuck him. He’s the one who’s making us sneak around. We can tell him on our terms.”
“Fuck yes,” Luke yells. “We’ll show him he has no control over who warms his sister’s bed anymore.”
“Okay, let’s not say that. Ever again.”
Luke laughs, but worry etches across his forehead.
“Hey, baby?”
“Yeah?”
“Is that why you didn’t take birth control pills before? Because of the pulmonary embolism thing?”
“Yes,” I answer honestly. “I was on birth control in college for a while, but when I started to learn more about blood clots in my classes, I stopped taking it. Just in case. It can be genetic. Anyway, after college, it didn’t matter because I wasn’t—well, you know…active. How did you know birth control was a risk for blood clots?”
“Bartender, remember?”
“Sounds like a weird topic of conversation for a bar,” I muse.
“You don’t even want to know the things I’ve heard,” he shudders. “But…you started taking them again.”
“Yeah, I know more now. There are other contraceptives that don’t carry the same risk. Mostly implants and IUDs—but there’s a pill that is lower risk. That’s what I started a couple of weeks ago.”
He looks relieved, but it’s short-lived. “Emory, I would never want you to do something for me that you’re uncomfortable with. Or that puts you in any kind of danger. We can use condoms.”
“I know.” And I do. I know Luke is not Jaxon. Jaxon used to piss and moan about condoms after I decided to stop taking the pill. He did it anyway, even though he was the one who pushed me to start taking it in the first place. I guess he wanted a baby like he wanted a hole in the head. Of course, he could have left me high and dry if I got pregnant. He ended up doing that anyway. He didn’t care at that point. Sex with me was no longer about pleasure for him. It was just another way to control me. He liked that I made him wear condoms because it was one more thing he could hold over my head. If I can’t fuck you the way I want, I’ll find someone else.
“Promise me you won’t,” Luke says quietly. “Promise me you won’t do anything that makes you feel bad because you think I want it.”
“I promise,” I say, and I mean it.
He puts his hand on my leg and squeezes, looking over at me for a second before turning his eyes back to the road. We turn into the parking lot of the auto repair shop.
“So when is this shindig?” he asks, reaching over and clicking off my seatbelt.
“Saturday,” I say. “I know it’s not a lot of time, but I can get you a suit if you need one and?—”
“It’s okay, Em. I’ve got it covered.”
“Okay,” I say. “Dinner later?”
“Sounds good. How about my place in an hour? We can have leftovers from last night.”
“Great.” I lean over and kiss him on the cheek, but he turns and holds my jaw, deepening the kiss. His tongue forces its way into my mouth, and a dull throbbing suddenly intensifies between my legs.
He releases my mouth and rests his forehead against mine, his hand still cupping my cheek. “You’re on edge already, aren't you, baby?” he says in a low whisper, taunting me. I nod my head. “Good. Because I’m gonna tease the fuck out of you later.” He moves his head back and drops his hand to my thigh. “You’re gonna beg me so sweetly for it, but I’m not gonna give you what you want. You know why?”
“W-why?”
He moves closer, speaking directly into the shell of my ear. “Because I want you to be so desperate for it that you’re shaking and panting. Fucking aching for my cock.”
“And what if I want it right n-now?” Goosebumps erupt all over my skin as he inches his hand closer between my thighs.
“Too bad. You have to wait. Can you wait for me, Emory?” He flashes a vicious smile, his straight white teeth sparkling. “Wait like a good girl, and I’ll make it up to you later.”
With that, he pulls his hand back and nods toward the car door, signaling for me to get out. I fumble with the handle and almost trip over the edge of the car as I haul myself out.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” I shout before slamming the door, but he just shakes his head and chuckles. He doesn’t back out. He idles there, watching me talk to the mechanic, pay, and get into my car. Then he follows me home.