Chapter Thirty-Three
Emmett
HE TOOK a step back to look up at the mural on the brick wall. A smile spread on his lips, and pride flooded his chest with warmth. He’d done it. He’d finished both murals, and he loved what he’d done. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d thoroughly loved his art. Or enjoyed the process so much.
Granted, he might’ve felt better if he’d had Wilder next to him as he finished it, but he didn’t know where he stood with Wilder or with them. Was there even a them? He hoped so. He really fucking hoped so.
“It’s looking good.”
He turned to smile up at Talon, the man having been his relentless shadow all day.
“Thank you. I hope it’s what Kaz wanted.”
Talon’s bushy brows rose. “He’ll love it. Everyone’s already raving about the one you did inside.”
He felt heat rise in his cheeks, but it wasn’t embarrassment. He looked up at the mural, a smile finding his lips. “I can’t wait to show…”
“Wilder?”
He met Talon’s gaze, glad to find only a soft understanding in his eyes. No judgment. No pity.
He breathed out. “Yeah.”
“Don’t worry,” Talon said, lips pulling into a wry smile. “He’ll be back soon.”
Shouting drew his attention to the front entrance of the gym, where one of the twins was leaning out the door, motioning Talon inside.
“It’s fine. I’ll just clean up,” he said when Talon sighed, looking indecisive.
Talon narrowed his eyes before saying, “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
He nodded and watched as Talon headed inside, then turned to gather his things.
He dropped his paintbrushes into a plastic bag and stacked the paint cans.
He’d foregone spray paint to feel the brush against the brick as he painted, needing it to keep from thinking too much about Wilder and all the anxiety that had set up shop in his body.
His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket to stare at the text from Wilder, unsure what he was supposed to feel about it. I’ll be home soon. His home? Their home?
He needed answers. His heart couldn’t take this whole not-knowing thing. He was in love with Wilder, and he needed to know if there was a chance for them to have a real relationship.
He shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned to head inside. He was ready to go home.
There was that word again.
He stopped, closing his eyes as he let himself take in that word and what it meant to him.
His family was his home. The clubhouse was starting to feel like a home, too.
But the thing that popped into his mind when thinking about home was green-flecked brown eyes, lips pulling into a wry smile, wide shoulders, and big hands.
It was that fierce protectiveness. It was how he made him laugh so easily.
How he made him feel confident with nothing but the truth.
It was the way he looked at him as if he meant something special to him. Wilder felt like home.
He breathed in deeply. As much fear as there was inside him, there was hope, too. Wilder wouldn’t look at him like that if it didn’t mean anything. Wilder had to―
“Emmett,” someone yelled, making him jerk his head up.
He froze, his breath stuttering in his lungs. Fuck. No. Nonono.
He couldn’t move as he watched Heath walk up to him, a smile on his face that he knew all too well was fake.
“Em,” Heath said, reaching for him.
His heart thundered in his chest, and everything inside him was telling him to move, to run, to get the hell away, but his body just wasn’t listening. The hand cupping his cheek made him want to throw up.
“What are you doing here?” he managed to say, his voice barely audible.
Heath shrugged, his smile playful, but Emmett knew what hid behind it.
“It’s been months, Em. Don’t you think it’s time you came home?”
He shook his head.
Heath stepped closer, his voice low as he said, “I know you’ve missed me.”
There was a sultry tone to his voice that only made Emmett shudder in disgust. Why couldn’t he pull away? Why couldn’t he tell this asshole to leave him alone?
“Hey, you headed off?”
Talon’s voice had him taking a step back, Heath’s hand slipping from his face. He should’ve felt relieved, but instead, he felt dirty. He wasn’t sure ten scorching hot showers could erase Heath’s touch.
When he didn’t answer Talon, he walked closer, and from Heath’s pinched look, Talon was giving him a once-over he didn’t appreciate.
“Who’s this?” Talon came to stand by Emmett’s shoulder, and the warmth of his body next to him had him breathing easier.
“My ex.”
Heath’s expression hardened into that mask he knew too well. “Don’t play games―”
“I think it’s time you leave,” Talon interrupted, his tone harsh and his hand on the gun at his hip.
“I see how it is,” Heath said, his jaw clenching. Before walking away, he gave Emmett a look that had him fighting the urge to curl in on himself.
Talon stepped in front of Emmett, waiting for Heath to get in his car and drive away before he turned to face Emmett.
“You okay? Need me to call someone?”
He wasn’t sure if Talon meant calling a friend or for someone to hurt Heath. Either way, he shook his head.
“I’m fine.” He wasn’t. Not in the least. He just wanted to go home. “I was leaving anyway.”
“You sure?” Talon asked, and when Emmett nodded, he added, “Want me to go with you?”
“No, it’s fine. I’m going straight to the clubhouse.”
Talon didn’t look convinced, his brows drawing together for a second before he sighed and motioned for Emmett to walk ahead of him.
Talon walked him to his car, giving him a concerned look before hanging back to watch as Emmett got in the driver’s seat.
The second the door closed, he squeezed his eyes shut, cursing loudly at himself.
Why couldn’t he just have told Heath to fuck off?
Why did he have such a hard time standing up for himself?
Breathing in deeply, he got the car started and drove out of the parking lot, turning the car toward the clubhouse.
He tried to forget about Heath, letting his mind drift, and it took him straight to green-flecked eyes and wavy brown hair.
It took him to that look Wilder gave him right before his lips split into a smile that took his breath away.
It took him to places it had no right to go. To a future he wanted desperately but feared he’d never have. To a life with Wilder at his side. To the home they could build together.
He turned down the driveway with shaky hands, his pulse racing until he pulled up in front of the clubhouse and put the car in park.
He stepped out and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the clubhouse in front of him.
He felt safe here. This was more home than whatever Heath and he once had.
It was certainly more home than Travis’s spare bedroom.
He liked it here. A part of him wanted to stay.
He wasn’t sure if it was just the part that was in love with Wilder, or if it was more than that.
A scratchy sound had him looking toward the driveway, and his heart stopped. He’d know that silver car anywhere. He’d actually followed him? What the fuck?
He knew Heath was delusional, but holy hell.
The second Heath was out of the car, Emmett yelled, “You really don’t know how to take no for an answer, do you?”
Where that bravado came from, he didn’t know, but he tried like crazy to hold on to it as Heath walked closer. It lasted for all of two seconds before he was backing away and folding in on himself.
“You really think you’re something, don’t you?” Heath hissed, spit flying everywhere. “Are you fucking that guy? You’re fucking everyone here, aren’t you? Just a used-up fucking hole.”
Emmett’s heart was in his throat, sweat making his palms and back clammy. There was a fury in Heath unlike anything he’d seen before. He’d been condescending and mean, yes, but right now? He wasn’t sure what Heath might do.
Heath was close enough to touch now, and as he reached for Emmett, he froze again, hating himself more for it.
His heart was beating frantically, his limbs heavy, and his mind sluggish.
It was as if everything shut down. No matter how much he told his feet to move, his mouth to fight back, there was no response. No reaction.
His attention snapped onto something behind Heath, a blur of motion. Heath was on the ground before Emmett could take a breath, Heath’s arm wrenched behind his back, a knee pressing his face into the gravel.
He couldn’t hear what Wilder was saying, the noises overwhelming, but he could see his mouth move, Heath’s fury nothing on Wilder’s, and yet, he felt not a single shred of fear toward Wilder.
He heard the crunch of Heath’s wrist, his cry high-pitched and frankly pitiful. Wilder reached for the gun at his hip and pulled it, pressing the nuzzle against the top of Heath’s head, and Emmett felt… nothing. Numb. He was so fucking numb.
“You ever come near Emmett again, you’re a dead man,” Wilder said, the growl in his voice as much a warning as his words.
Emmett watched Heath scramble to his feet and run to his car, his hand cradled against his chest. He took off, gravel spraying as he jerked his car around. He watched until it disappeared down the driveway, an oddly empty feeling settling inside him.
It wasn’t until Wilder stepped in front of him that he realized he was speaking to him. He sucked in a breath, sounds and smells coming back into focus. He snapped his gaze onto Wilder, those green-flecked eyes filled with worry.
Wilder spoke, even signed as he did, and he didn’t care.
He stepped right into Wilder’s chest, arms wrapping around the man to pull himself as tightly against him as possible.
Wilder tensed for a second, and then he held Emmett, his body folding over him protectively.
He buried his face in Wilder’s chest and breathed him in.
He smelled like the lake. Pure serenity.
“He’s never touching you again. I promise,” Wilder said, his voice soft but stern.
Emmett nodded, eyes squeezed closed.
He wanted to stay like that forever, Wilder’s big arms wrapped securely around him, but he wasn’t surprised to hear gravel crunching under heavy boots.
Wilder tensed for a moment, head moving slightly, and then he pressed a kiss to the top of Emmett’s head before turning them toward the approaching bikers.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Miles asked, wide-eyed as he reached for Emmett. “We heard a car.”
“Heath happened,” he mumbled, the flash of surprise in Miles’s eyes quickly turning to anger.
“That piece of shit,” Miles hissed.
“You want him dead; he’s dead,” Kaz said, his voice even, though fury raged in his gray eyes.
“No. It’s alright.”
“It’s not,” Miles said.
“Want me to bankrupt him?”
He jumped, head snapping toward the voice. Ezra stood in the door to the garage, his brow raised and his expression much too serious for Emmett’s liking.
He shook his head, gaze turning to Wilder. “I think Wilder got the point across.”
It hadn’t escalated to violence before. Mostly because Emma had such tight control of herself.
There was no doubt in his mind that she’d wanted to stab Heath in the face each time they’d squared off with each other.
Each time Heath had shown up to claim that he was taking him home.
Travis had tried to tell Heath off, but he’d always blatantly ignored Travis, never bothering to learn any ASL.
The differences between Heath and Wilder were huge. Wilder had realized his ignorance almost immediately and decided to rectify it. Heath had never liked the silence, had never cared to learn how to speak Emmett’s first language, whereas Wilder had brought him into his own silence.
He didn’t know exactly where they stood, but he wasn’t afraid of that anymore.
He wasn’t afraid that he wanted more than Wilder because even if he did, he knew he’d take whatever Wilder was willing to give him.
Even if it was only friendship. Everything was better with Wilder in his life. Everything.
He looked up at Wilder, unsurprised to find the man watching him already, something vulnerable flashing through his eyes before he cleared his throat.
“Would you mind giving us a moment?” Wilder asked the others.
Ezra disappeared back into the garage without a word, the door closing almost silently behind him.
Kaz motioned for the few other bikers to head inside while Miles remained rooted to the ground, staring at Emmett as if he needed to make sure he was alright.
He gave Miles a nod, but he didn’t move until Kaz grabbed him by the arm and gently tugged him toward the front door.
Emmett waited until they were alone before turning to face Wilder. Before he could thank Wilder for what he’d done, Wilder reached for him, fingers brushing tufts of hair away from Emmett’s forehead.
“I’m sorry I left. There were… some things I needed to understand,” Wilder said.
“And?”
Wilder’s lips pulled up at one corner, his touch soft as his fingertips brushed down Emmett’s jawline.
“I’ve been scared.”
When Wilder didn’t elaborate, his gaze locked on the fingers he was trailing down Emmett’s neck, Emmett cleared his throat and asked, “Of what?”
Wilder’s eyes rose to meet his gaze.
“Giving myself fully to someone. I’ve always been terrified of that, and this whole situation with Solo and Jane hasn’t made it any easier, but there is never going to be anyone I trust with my heart the way I trust you.”
“Wilder…”
His eyes fell closed as Wilder’s forehead touched his, fingers trailing down his jawline in a soft caress.
“I’m giving it to you,” Wilder whispered, making Emmett’s breath catch.
Wilder stepped back, a determined look on his face, though there was a quick flash of fear in his eyes. He pointed to himself, then closed his hands into fists and crossed them over his chest, and then he pointed at Emmett, mouthing the words as he signed.
“I love you.”
Breathing became harder, his heartbeat accelerating. He felt the first tear roll down his cheek, the second caught by Wilder’s thumb.
“I think I’ve been in love with you since the first time you danced with me,” he said in a near-whisper, his throat tight with all the emotions clogging it.
Relief flashed through Wilder’s eyes. “We’re doing this?”
Emmett nodded.
“We’re doing this.”
“Good.” Wilder pressed a soft kiss to his lips, pulling back just enough to whisper, “I love you.”
His chest felt lighter than ever, the joy in his heart making him laugh even as more tears rolled down his cheeks. “I love you, too.”