Chapter 38
Drew
R
eed’s eyes light up as if he was a child being given a brand new toy. I instantly feel the bubble Emmett and I were in pop, almost causing me to lose my footing before righting myself using a high-top chair near me. It is hard to fathom how quickly the energy around me changed, going from everything I have ever wanted, to everything I used to think I wanted
Why can’t I catch a fucking break, I think to myself.
“Facing seeing you here, D.” The words sound clouded with alcohol, like this isn’t his first stop of the evening. He has a few of his friends behind him. Two guys and a girl I recognize but couldn’t tell you their names.
Reed pulls me in for a hug as if our past three encounters haven’t unfolded the way they have. Between him showing up unannounced to my house twice, and then the fight we had the last time we saw each other after he forced himself on me, he has to be clinically insane to think we can hug like old friends.
I tense beneath his touch, but I don’t think he notices. Being this close to him, I can see the subtle cuts and bruising on his cheek where Emmett punched him.
“I miss you, D.” There’s a slight slur to the words. His lips find my ear, and he whispers in my ear, “Did you dump that long-haired douchebag?”
I nudge him away, breaking from his hold. “Reed, his name is Emmett, and no. This place is actu—”
“We’re going to go grab a drink.” One of his friends chimes in, obviously not caring that I’m in the middle of a sentence. Reed nods at him, then turns his attention back to me. I’m surprised to see him out this way. He usually sticks to the bars around our hometown.
“Drew, I don’t care what his name is, especially after he interrupted us that night.”
Reed steps closer to me. I’ve been inching away from him, but he is just a foot away from me now. My stomach is in knots, and my chest tightens at the reminder of feeling him on me after he wouldn’t listen to the word “no”. The fact that he sees nothing wrong with how that night went speaks volumes.
As a couple goes to leave, we have to move out of the doorway. I’m forced to step towards him as he backs up against the back of an empty booth just inside the door. He puts his hand on my shoulder and snakes his hand down my arm, trying to grab my hand. I pull away. “I have to go. I’m waiting for someone.”
His jaw locks, and he says through his teeth, grabbing me by the wrist as I go to walk away. “Waiting for someone? I don’t think so.” He closes the space between us, his eyes burning with anger but his mouth now smiling, “Why don’t we get out of here?”
I want to throw up.
“We can pick up where we left off the other day.” His other hand finds my cheek, a gesture that fills me with warmth when Emmett does it, but I freeze under Reed’s touch.
“Reed, no. This… Us,” I step back and use my hands to gesture between us, “this doesn’t work, and whatever it is, it’s over.”
He has the audacity to smirk, as if this who conversation is fun for him.
“No, D. It’s not over. It’s not over until I say. So you can let what’s-his-nuts know that you have other plans tonight.”
Before I can say anything, I feel a familiar presence behind me.
“Excuse me?” I hear from behind me, and it is not said in a polite way. Reed looks over my shoulder and up at the person I now feel is just a few inches behind me.
Emmett.
Reed’s drinks he had before this must have slowed his reaction time, or maybe that is just how fast Emmett moves.
Before Reed can even react, Emmett has him by the collar of his shirt and pushes him up against the booth behind him.
“What did I say about touching her?” Emmett spits. He is fuming, fury radiating off him. “If you ever come near my girlfriend again, you’re dead.”
I look around to see all the eyes in the bar are on us. Eddie is now behind the bar, ready to intervene at any moment, standing next to Luke who must have gotten here in the last few minutes. Reed’s friends have their eyes glued to what’s happening from where they are standing at the bar, but they don’t look like they have any intention of trying to help Reed.
“Get the fuck out of here before I throw you out on your ass myself.”
Reed has the audacity, or maybe the stupidity, to laugh in Emmett’s face. “You don’t get to tell me to leave.” Emmett’s hold on Reed tightens, his knuckles turning white, his other arm ready to swing.
Before Reed can say another word, Emmett brings him closer just to shove him back, Reed’s head hitting the wooden back of the booth behind him, pissing him off.
“Ow! What the hell? Get off me!” Reed tries to push Emmett away, but Emmett doesn’t even flinch.
“This is my bar, asshole.” And that’s when Emmett drops his hold on Reed’s shirt, swinging his other arm around in a fist. A massive, overpowering shock to Reed’s cheek, the sound of the direct fist-to-face contact echoing in the quiet bar. As Reed falls to the ground, I realize that Emmett held back last time in my apartment, almost like last time was a warning. Now, in this moment, there’s no ounce of him that is not emitting intense hatred causing him to release his full strength onto Reed.
Reed is clutching his face, blood seeping out his nose. That’s when Eddie and Luke run over and grabs Emmett, bringing his arms behind his back and taking some steps back. Good thing too, because I’m positive Emmett wasn’t going to stop there.
Reed’s friends rush over and help him up. They don’t have to hold him back because he isn’t that stupid. The four of them stumble out of the place, the murmuring of the audience behind us being the only noise once the door closes behind them.
Emmett pulls out of Eddie’s grip and comes right up to me, wrapping me in his arms, his lips in my hair, whispering, “Are you okay? I swear, he will never come near you again. I’ll make sure of it.”
I breathe him in. “I’m totally fine,” I exhale. “I just wasn’t expecting to see him here.”
“Let’s go.” Emmett wraps his strong arm around my shoulder, protective and possessive, and ushers me out. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” He doesn’t even turn to say it, just says it loud enough for Eddie and Luke to hear. Then, we head back to the parking garage of our complex, getting into his Jeep.
As Emmett drives to the restaurant, I can tell that he still hasn’t come down from the heightened state of anger he was in just a few minutes ago. His hand is in my lap, resting on my thigh, wrapped in both of my hands, but I can see his grip on the steering wheel is enough to snap the steel below the rubber casing.
“Emmett.” His eyes on the road, mine burning into the side of his strained face.
“Emmett,” I say again. “Are you okay?” We approach a red light, and he turns to me. I see his expression soften.
“Why are you asking me that? I should be asking you. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly okay, but I’m worried about you.”
He glances to see the light is still red and then back at me. “Seeing his hands on you makes me want to beat the living shit out of him. The way that his smug face was looking at you, his hand around your wrist.” He shakes his head at the thought. “I was ready to kill him.”
I take one of my hands from my lap and put it to his cheek. I want him to relax, to stop wasting his thoughts on Reed. So I smile and say, “You called me your girlfriend.” And with that, his cheek melts into my hand, one side of his mouth curls upward.
“Yeah,” his eyes burn into mine. “Because that’s exactly what you are.” I see the red light turn to green, but he doesn’t move. The car behind us honks and goes around. I feel him wanting to say more, but he doesn’t, bringing his lips to mine instead, giving me a gentle kiss.
I pull away, my stomach growling and ruining the moment. “So, about dinner?”
He returns his focus to the road, a soft smile on his face, and we drive to the restaurant where we have the most wonderful dinner. We eat and talk and laugh and then drive home with full bellies and full hearts. We make our way up the stairs, my trust issues with the elevator still apparent, pausing at the top of each flight to steal eager kisses and touches.
That night, we spend the night at his place, falling apart together to put ourselves back to just fall apart again.
I wake up the next morning, alone in Emmett’s bed, the smell of waffles ruminating in the air, a kaleidoscope of butterflies in my stomach.
How did I get here? I ask myself, naked in Emmett’s sheets. Ask me where I would be three weeks ago, and this is not what I would’ve told you.