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I was rattled. I wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything, but I still peered down to check.
The second I did, Drew’s rough hand caught my jaw and he closed his hot mouth over mine, kissing me for a solid two seconds before I heard Emmett jerk forward in his seat and actually growl at Britt.
“Get out. Please.”
She protested with an indignant squeak but apparently obliged because before I knew it, Drew was being ripped away from me laughing.
“Whoa, hey – what’s this?” he feigned shock but gave me a puckish, tongue-out grin as Emmett literally dragged his long body out of the booth. Holy fuck. On his feet, Drew dusted off his front and faked half-convincing fury as he demanded to know what was going on.
But Emmett was no longer looking at him. His hot stare was once again fixed on me, and this time, there was a look of finality to it – like his patience was officially exhausted.
“Meet me outside,” he muttered, collecting my purse off the table. “I’m taking you home.”
17
ALY
It was a tense ride home to say the least.
Funny enough, it was the same car and the same driver who’d taken us home after we “met” at the club, but the air in the backseat was a stark contrast to that night.
Instead of hot and heavy, we were silent and still. I sat on my side and Emmett sat on his, his legs
spread wide, his elbow propped on the window as he stared out at passing cars.
Wringing my hands, I watched him, trying to figure out what I could possibly say to get us talking. There were clearly a million things hanging in the air – long-buried topics of conversation that had finally wrestled their ways back to the forefronts of our minds.
I didn’t know where to start, so eventually, I just blurted something out.
“Bet you didn’t know that he hadn’t visited me yet,” I said, forcing a laugh like it was something funny. But appropriately, my laugh came out bitter.
My heart beat fast when Emmett looked at me, and it hammered even faster when he said nothing.
“Pretty embarrassing to think about,” I whispered, shaking my head at myself. “I didn’t want to make him the enemy because that would mean I’d spent my life trying to please the bad guy,” I murmured. My gaze floated off to stare at nothing as I felt more than a decade’s worth of confession starting to tumble from my lips. “I mean every decision I’ve ever made – chopping my hair, rejecting girly stuff, copying everything you did for as long as I could – it was all in the hopes of winning his approval,” I murmured, forcing a laugh as my tears blurred the red of the traffic lights out the windshield. “And God, I just hate to think it.” A teardrop fell down my cheek as I rolled my eyes at myself. “I hate to think that for the past four years, I’ve busted my ass and dedicated my whole life to saving this company for nothing. Because I’m pretty sure I only did it for a last shot at his approval. Just for the fighting chance that he might finally like me as much as he likes you.”
There.
I said it.
The words were out and now I felt numb. And small. And stupid. They were all the things I was used to feeling around Emmett, because no matter how hard I tried, and how little he did, I was always second best.
I was my father’s only child, but I wasn’t his favorite. Not even close.
My bottom lip wobbled as Emmett finally spoke, his whisper piercing the stillness in the air.
“I was never comfortable with it, Aly. None of us were.”
I closed my eyes. God. So embarrassing.
“We all saw the way he treated you, and trust me, we hated it. Me and Mom especially,” Emmett said. “I hated that he came to my games instead of your plays. I hated the way he just lost interest in a conversation when you started talking. It was so fucked up and awkward. I mean as a kid, I’m pretty sure I thought it was funny. But by the time I was in high school, I remember thinking it was weird that your dad was so obsessed with hearing about my teammates or whoever I was dating or anything going on in my life.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see Emmett looking at me, but I couldn’t look back.
“I knew something was screwed up, Aly. But our dads – they grew up together, and my dad could only see yours through rose-colored glasses. And I was a stupid, lazy kid so I just tried to ignore it. I didn’t bother myself with how you were probably hurting. It was too much trouble for me. The one time I talked to my dad about yours, he got pissed at me for being disrespectful, and I hated when he was mad at me. I didn’t know how to handle it.”
“Because you weren’t used to it. You were his favorite. You were everyone’s favorite. You had no idea what it was like to be born into another person’s shadow,” I said, tears falling into my hands as I dropped my eyes into my lap. “I never had a chance to be someone who mattered. Even in school with my closest friends, I felt like no one liked me for me. People only hung out with me to hear about you – what our vacations were like together, what you were like outside of school. When I went up to adults, they looked tired of me before I even started talking. They were just anticipating me complaining about something you did, some prank you pulled on me, and it annoyed them to have to discipline you. Because everyone loved you most. My dad included.”
I was still staring through a wall of tears when I heard the shift of Emmett moving closer to me. He cupped my face in his hands, his lips close to mine as he whispered I’m sorry on repeat.
