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“Because I would never do anything to hurt you, Emmett!” I cry earnestly. “You have to know that! I love you! I never even got to tell you about him trying to get me to fool around with him because Vivian was here! I didn’t even have a chance to explain.”
“You swear it was faked?” he asks. “Nothing happened?”
“I kicked him in the balls to get him off of me,” I explain. “I didn’t even want to be around him in the first place. I only ever wanted to be with you…but every time Vivian tried to come between us, he was always there waiting. I should have known he was up to something, that he was no good!”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He melts in exasperation, collapsing into the chair in the corner of his room, sliding his hands across his face and through his hair.
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you.” I shake my head, tears in my eyes. “To see that photo and think it was real. I don’t know what I would have done if it had been a picture of you and Vivian.”
“You would have broken everything in your room.” He smirks in embarrassment, gesturing around to the lingering assortment of cracked and broken objects littering his floor. “I was so upset I wouldn’t even let the housekeepers in to clean this mess up.”
I start to argue with him, but then I realize he’s probably right. I didn’t used to think I had a temper, but lately I seem to be proving myself wrong on that one.
“I guess love makes everyone a little crazy,” I suggest, running my palm across the back of my neck.
He steps towards me with an intense look in his eyes, whipping my body over to his. “You definitely drive me crazy, Ophelia,” he coos in his deep, sexy voice.
My heart lights up at his sound and the feeling of being in his arms again. It’s a wave of relief when his lips lower to mine, kissing me soft and slow before quickly picking up into a needy pace, the way all of our kisses are. Desperate and insatiable. This is all I have been wanting the past couple of days, and everything I thought I would never have again. I’d convinced myself it was over, but my heart refused to let go. And now that we are together again, I know why. I know why I can never seem to get away from Emmett. This is meant to be, and that is the intense pull we feel towards each other.
“I think we’re soulmates, Emmett,” I suggest softly. “Do you believe in that sort of thing?”
“I never thought about it before,” he replies honestly. “But…I think you’re right. I don’t feel whole unless I’m with you.”
The intense need scares me, but I know there’s no use fighting it. It’s never worked before. It seems as though no matter what we do, we’re going to end up like this. Back in each other’s arms, as we should be.
“Something weird happened today,” I tell him finally. “The fire alarm went off at school. It ended up being some kind of prank, but I could have sworn I saw Bernadette walking away from the crowd.”
“What?” he exclaim
s. “Are you sure?”
“No, I’m not sure…” I hesitate. “But it definitely did look like her. And just like that she was gone! I tried to catch up to her…but nothing.”
His face wrinkles in confusion as he stares off.
“It’s not your fault,” Emmett continues. “I know what kind of guy Malcolm is. I should have realized it was all a set-up. That’s why we’re not friends anymore. He’s a terrible person.” I see acceptance washing over him. One side was telling him not to buy into that photo the whole time, just as one side kept telling me not to worry about Vivian, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go of his insecurities.
“We used to be best friends, but he was sick. A sociopath,” he continues. “Even when I was forced into going along with the Elites, I couldn’t get over how fucked up and sadistic Malcolm was. He reminded me too much of my father.
“That’s funny.” I wrinkle my nose as I remember the first night I met with Malcolm. “He said the same thing about you.”
“What are you talking about?” he asks.
“When I first met Malcolm,” I go on. “It was right before you, Trey, and Vincent kidnapped me. I met with him and his dad, and on the way, he told me how you two used to be friends, but that you turned into a horrible person when you started hanging out with the Elites.”
“What meeting with Malcolm and his dad?” Emmett’s eyes dart back and forth cluelessly.
“My father sent them. They were the ones who told me who he was and what went down with him in Jameson,” I explain. “They told me all about his gambling debts and how he embezzled money from Jameson Automobiles to pay them. How he got stripped of all his shares and cast out of town. They wanted me to help them collect evidence against you and the rest of the Elites, to prove their software company was being used in the sex trafficking rings, but that they were completely innocent and had nothing to do with it.”
He shoots up in alarm. “When did this happen?”
“I told you…right before I came home and found you and the twins in my room,” I stammer, not understanding why he seems so worried.
“How could you not tell me that!” he snaps.
“I didn’t think it was important!”
“Ophelia, the Hendersons aren’t innocent,” Emmett states coldly. “The entire sex trafficking thing was their idea! Malcolm himself tailored the software to run it!”
