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I grin, settling back as Penny stands and moves over to us on the couch. She covers her eyes and yells, “boo” again, this time at Emery. Then she goes and runs—well, more like waddles—to the corner next to the cat tower that’s for not his cat, and begins blabbering nonsense in her way of counting.
“What is she…”
I look around, then grab the soft white blanket from the back of the couch and fan it out before covering us both in it, head to knees.
“What are you doing, Dillon?”
“Shhhh. You’ll give away our hiding spot.”
He looks down at my knees, barely covered, and snorts. Emery curls his legs up on the cushions and looks away from me entirely.
Penny is still babbling.
The blanket has trapped all our bullshit in with us, and it’s immediately obvious. Emery can feel it, too, with the way his body looks rigid. He holds his chin high, but his fingers fidget in his lap.
I want to grab one of his hands and pull it to my lips to calm the nervous movements.
I can’t.
He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. First my mouth, and then he makes eye contact for barely a second before he looks away again.
“Stop staring at me.”
“I want you to come over tonight.”
He huffs, shaking his head vigorously. “Absolutely not. We made rules, Dillon. You shouldn’t even be here right now. I know we didn’t exactly say ‘no daytime’ out loud, but I figured it was an unspoken agreement. We have to keep…to keep this contained. And I don’t want… We can’t have this…”
He doesn’t even pretend to resist when I use my fingers on his chin to pull his face to me. Wide brown eyes are begging me. Begging me for something, and I just need him to tell me what it is.
His breath pants warm and fast against my mouth, and I don’t try to resist the moment. I give him the kiss he should have gotten before climbing out my bedroom window this morning.
His soft skin clings to mine as I gently pull away, and Emery keeps his eyes closed for longer than necessary.
“Come over tonight, Em.”
Penny rips off the blanket, and I yell, “Boo!” as soon as it disappears. She laughs, running away, and I get up to chase her like she expects.
Emery doesn’t look me in the eye again.
He also doesn’t show up.
Emerson
“Ifilled the open spot on your books from that cancellation with a last-minute call-in, Emery. I hope that's cool, but I had no one else,” Sasha, my boss, stops by my chair to say.
I've been scrolling on my phone for the last twenty minutes since my last client left. I had every intention of getting up to clean my station and getting the hell out of here early, but I guess the greasy cheeseburger that's been calling my name can wait. Just one more client.
“Yeah, Sash, that's cool.” I smile at her in the mirror, and she goes to walk away but stops. She curls her hands around the back of my chair, tilting her head.
“You okay, Emery? You've been awfully quiet today.” Her laugh is light, less amused and more curious sounding. “Well, you've been quiet a lot lately.”
Inwardly, I cringe at how easily she's clocked me; outwardly, I smile and wave away the concern.
“Nothing a greasy cheeseburger and a glass of wine can't fix.”
She waggles her perfectly arched brows. “Have a glass for me.” She pats her rounded, pregnant belly before she gives my shoulder a squeeze over my chair, then breezes away, leaving me to stare at my reflection in the mirror.
I half expect the guy looking back at me to look different. For there to be some physical change to match how royally fucked I feel inside. It would only be fitting for the outside to bear some of the last few weeks.
