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“I wish you were older, Em. We could go in and check this out,” Greg said teasingly. “Can you get her in with your name?”
Emma smiled. “Greg, make up your mind. You want me to be a little girl or an adult? You can’t have both! I’m nineteen, in college and living away from home.”
I laughed. “I’m not that well known yet. You should go inside and have a beer. We can pick you up later,” I offered.
Emma glanced at me quickly. I knew that I could probably get her into the club, but I was already in hot water and didn’t need anything else connected to my name.
“Not tonight. Let’s keep walking around.”
Greg shrugged, and I felt disappointment surge through my body. Emma turned away, and he followed her down the street as she mentioned a place that had great ice cream. We went to get dessert and sat outside as the city moved around us. Greg watched and acknowledged that he understood why Emma wanted to be here. There was a lot of life in Nashville and he smiled lovingly at her.
“It’s great here. I love the college and I want to show it to you. Maybe you could stay through Monday and go to lunch with me?” Emma asked.
Greg seemed to consider the question. “Yeah, that sounds great. I could meet your friends… feel like I know a bit more about your life.”
I took a long drink of tea at that and swallowed slowly.
“That sounds great,” Emma replied.
Greg asked some questions and I explained that I practiced more along with working out regularly with the guys. She had a separate room, and we weren’t together down on the field too much, so we didn’t end up seeing a lot of one another since she moved out.
He asked if Emma was seeing anybody and she quickly told no, she said she was too busy with school and work and hanging out with new friends. She wasn’t looking for that yet and Greg told her that she should just stay single.
I watched the exchange, realizing that Greg was overprotective of Emma. He took it too far, and I wondered how she even had a boyfriend at all in the past. He was holding her back, and he probably didn’t even realize it. It was hard to see, knowing what a vibrant woman she was now.
Emma seemed deflated as she left and offered to drop us off before she headed home for the night. The game was tomorrow night, and we’d all be going, and Emma offered to pick Greg up with Bella and arrive a bit early. We were both working but she could sit down with Greg since it was a special occasion and I got great seats for friends and family. He’d have fun even sitting alone with the treatment that he’d be getting.
Greg hugged her goodbye and she drove away. I wanted to ask her to stay here tonight. She wasn’t living with Bella, not really. Emma was sleeping on a couch there and moving back in here, but it felt like that was a lifetime away.
“Are you okay? You seem a little tense tonight,” Greg said as I unlocked my door and walked inside, feeling the pressure of hiding something so big from him. “Are you seeing someone, Jackson?”
“Nothing serious,” I replied as I walked to the kitchen for a beer. “I guess I’m just nervous about the game tomorrow,” I handed him a beer and sat down on the couch. “Don’t you think that you’re a little hard on Emma sometimes?”
“She’s only nineteen,” Greg said.
“She’s growing up. She’s at university now, she’s got a job, she’s living away from home. She’s going to go on to do great things,” I said.
“I’m always going to watch over her. She’s my little sister.” His eyes were dark, and I longed to tell him what was going on. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt her.”
“She’s growing up now. Let her live her life,” I suggested gently as he reached for the beer that I’d brought him.
“I just don’t want to see her get mixed up with the wrong guy. I know what we’re capable of,” Greg said. “I’d want to kill anyone who did anything wrong to her.”
I knew that he’d kill me if he ever caught us together.
He slept in Emma’s former room that night after we’d caught up, planning to go to the game the following day.
I got up before him the next morning, jogging to work all the emotions out of my system as I tried to focus on the game. I was going to play more for an injured player this week and I needed to be ready for that. I needed to prove myself, especially now.
When I arrived home, Greg was drinking coffee and talking on his phone. I could tell that it was Emma on the other end as I grabbed a water from my fridge, downing it before I selected another one. I had ended up running another ten miles today, and I needed to replenish what I’d sweated out. I listened as they made plans to pick him up about half an hour before the game.
