Page 75
“Ouch.”
He sits on the edge of the couch, then stands right back up and moves around the coffee table. I don’t even know if he realizes he’s doing it.
“My brothers picked on me for years for having a…a thing for you. I can only imagine what they’d be saying right now. Actually, you know whose fault this is?”
I don’t even try to respond, just lean my arm against the arch of the doorway and watch him. Something settles inside me with the broken silence. Even if he’s going to tear me apart.
“This is Jesse’s fault for encouraging me to make poor life choices. And also, Warren’s fault. And Eleanor’s, too, because I told her to blink twice if I should stay home today, and she walked away! No blinks. And now look!” He wipes his face, then waves his wet hands at me. “Now I’m an absolute mess. I did the walk of shame with pink frosting dick and…and…” He crumbles. Just crumbles to the floor. Turns to dead weight and goes down. Emery flops out, sucking in shallow breaths.
“Can I come over there, baby?”
“No,” he huffs.
I wait ten seconds before asking, “Can I come over there now?”
My hands are tingling with the need to touch him. To pull him to my chest and apologize for every stupid fucking thing I’ve ever done in my life. I can’t do that, though, so I tuck them safely in my pockets, balled into fists.
He sniffles from the floor before muttering, “Bring the pizza.”
When I make it back to him, pizza in hand, he’s sitting up with his knees tucked up in his hoodie. I forgo the couch for the floor but use the velvet cushion to press my back against. I slide one of the plates closer to Emery, and he waits until my hand is back on my side before grabbing the plate and sliding it over by his toes. He grabs a slice, and I watch him nibble on the edge, eyes downcast.
Here we go.
“I have three separate contracts I signed. Three separate locations, all the same company that subcontracted me to lead their crew. It’s good money and will help me get more equipment and be able to afford to pay more people here to work for me. More people, bigger jobs. I want to have a base for my business that’s not my garage and shed and a storage unit one day. I stopped making a lot of forward progress when Penny was born.”
He glances up at me, and I swallow, rubbing the side of the plate on my lap.
“I’ll be gone for four months. It sounds…daunting, to be away that long. I’m not thrilled with the idea of leaving Penny.” Or you. “But I plan on making the five-hour drive home on the weekends if I can, or Sabrina said she would meet me halfway to see Pen.”
He rocks slowly and takes a bite of the pizza before setting it down on the plate. “When were you going to tell me?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly, despite the fact that it makes me feel and look like a fucking asshole. “I wanted to talk on Monday when I finalized everything and figured out getting Warren’s place finished up, but you didn’t want to talk. Then you didn’t show up for days and…”
“Yeah. Got it.” He picks the pizza back up and shoves another bite in his mouth.
The silence is back.
Him not looking at me is back.
I take a bite of my own food, barely tasting it.
“I’m happy for you, Dillon,” he finally says softly, no hint of sarcasm or hostility in his tone. My chest warms at his words even though my stomach is still tied up in knots.
“Thanks, baby B.” We eat quietly until I can’t stomach anymore and set the half-eaten slice back on the plate.
“Well, it was fun. Eighteen-year-old Emery would be thrilled to know that I got railed by you after all. Lots of times.”
“Emery…”
“Blowjobs, too.”
“Emery, I—”
“And that thing you do with your tongue when you’re openin—”
“Emerson, I’m not done with you.”
His mouth snaps shut, then he laughs. “Okay, well, I mean, we have a couple more days. I guess we could…”
