Dean nodded at me. A break in the conversation and we’d eavesdropped too long. We stepped around the corner to see Xander in his suit and Emery in pink, facing each other, both looking heartbroken.
“Hey, guys,” Dean said slowly. “Everything cool?”
“I need to go home,” Emery said tearfully.
I stepped forward immediately. “I’ll take you.”
I gave Xander and Dean farewell glances and hurried Emery to my car in the parking lot. Once in the passenger seat, she covered her face with both hands and burst into tears.
“Oh, babe.” I wrapped my arms around her as best I could from the driver side. “Is now a bad time to say I knew it all along?”
“What did you know?”
“You and Xander—”
“There is no me and Xander.” She peered at me throughmascara-smudged, tear-streaked eyes. “Please, Harper. Take me home.”
I followed her directions to one of the biggest houses on the Bay I’d ever seen. Twenty of my houses could have fit into hers. In the driveway, I parked and faced Emery.
“Are you going to be okay?”
She shook her headnobut said, “Yes.” She looked at me with a rueful smile. “Isn’t that my way?Yeson the outside,noon the inside.”
“Em, what can I do? Do you want to go somewhere? Talk about it?”
She wiped her face and huffed a breath, looking like someone about to go into battle rather than a girl going home after a dance. “Later. Right now, I just want to get to my room and shut the door on the world for a while, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.” I gave her a hug. “Call me anytime.”
“Okay.” She started to get out then stopped. “Hey, I never asked how your night was.”
It was perfect while you were having your heart broken.
“We’ll talk later, like you said. Get some sleep.”
She smiled gratefully and got out. I watched until she was safe inside her house, though I’m not sure “safe” was the right word with her tyrant father running her and her brother Jack’s lives like a dictator.
Feeling like a selfish asshole, I texted Orion.
Emery’s home safe.
The reply came quick.
You’re a good friend, love.
I didn’t know about that, since I was dying to get back to him.
What now?I texted.
There’s that romance again. I’m at your house.
Why?
We just had our first date. I need to give you a proper kiss goodnight.
My heart did a bunch of little flips, and that foreign feeling of happiness flooded me all over again.
At my house, Orion was leaning against his silver Aston Martin like a model in a magazine ad. Mom’s SUV was parked in the driveway; she and Dash were home from trick-or-treating. I parked behind her and met Orion at his car.
