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“Hey, Josh, how long exactly does a merger with another company usually take?” I ask.
“It depends on a lot of influencing factors. You want to come be my COO, Em?”
“No, I was just curious. But whatever Sam has to tell you, I want to hear it too.”
Josh shakes his head. “You are too damn smart for your own good sometimes. I promise I will tell you whatever you want to know. Are you going to finish your breakfast?”
I nod my head, because, well, bacon. I’m not about to let it go to waste.
“Dean, have breakfast with Emily for me. I won’t be long.” Josh throws the order out as he exits the room.
Dean’s eyebrows go up to his hairline. “Why me?” he asks to the ceiling, before looking directly at me and pointing. “You, do not move a muscle, not even a hair. If I return you with so much as a hair out of place, he’ll know, and I’ll be pig food.”
I don’t know how to take Dean. Is he joking? He looks serious. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always gotten this impression that he didn’t like me very much. I’ve never really even had a one-on-one conversation with him. I guess now’s my chance to find out why he doesn’t like me.
“You don’t like me very much, do you?” I blurt out. Dean looks taken aback by my question; he just stares at me contemplatively.
“Why would you think that? I like you just fine,” he finally answers.
“No, you don’t. Why not?” I can’t help the fact that the people pleaser in me wants to come out and fix his impression of me.
“It’s not that I don’t like you… It’s not you at all. It’s Josh. You didn’t see the mess he was after you left, Emily. For almost two years, I had to pick his drunk ass up off the floor every damn day. He tried just about every drug he could, in order to make not having you more bearable. I’d wake up, night after night, to him screaming out your name in his sleep. So, it’s not that I don’t like you. It’s that I don’t like the power you hold over my brother. You are the only person on earth who has the power to destroy him. I don’t want to see him go down that road of despair ever again.”
I’m speechless. How do I even respond to that? I don’t even notice that I’m crying until Dean hands me a tissue. “For the love of God, don’t tell him I made you cry.”
“I won’t. But just so you know, I didn’t leave him. He told me to leave. He didn’t want me here. It wasn’t exactly a piece of cake for me either.” I get up, suddenly angry that Josh did this to us. Why didn’t he come after me? If he was so broken up over not having me, why didn’t he just come and find me?
I know he had his reasons for keeping me away, but I’m still filled with irrational anger. I’m angry at him. I’m angry at the situation I’ve now put us in. And I’m angry at everyone trying to keep us apart. Are we ever going to get our happily ever after? Because I’m more than ready for it. I want it yesterday.
I storm towards the library. “Wait! Where are you going?” Dean calls out.
“To slap some sense into your idiot brother,” I retort.
“Shit, Emily, wait up. You should just wait for Josh to finish his meeting. Then, I’ll hold him down while you slap that sense into him,” Dean offers.
I’m not deterred by his attempts to stop me. The force I push the library door open with has it slamming against the wall. When I step into the room, Josh and Sam have guns pointed in my direction. I freeze. I swear they think they’re playing an adult-sized game of cops and robbers sometimes.
“Fuck, Emmy,” Josh hisses as he lowers his sidearm. “What’s wrong?” He looks behind me to Dean, who has just caught up with me.
“Ah, I tried to stop her,” Dean says.
Josh pauses in front of me, bringing his palms up to cup my cheeks. I swipe his hands away from my face. He grits his teeth as he puts his arms down. “Em, babe, what’s wrong?”
I look behind him to see Sam scrambling to pack up a heap of papers they have spread out on the desk. I look up to Josh briefly. There’s confusion and hurt in his eyes. But I need to know what it is they’re trying to hide from me.
I walk around Josh and pull the stack of papers out of Sam’s hands. He was too stunned by my actions to put up much of a fight. The moment I drop the papers to the desk and fan them out, I wish they had stopped me. This isn’t something I can ever unsee.
Spread out in front of me is a heap of photos. Photos of girls’ bodies. Photos of me… from when I was with Trent. Photos of my broken and bruised body. “W-w-why do you have these?” I ask directly to Josh. Why would they be looking at these?
I step away from the desk, and Josh’s face falls. “Emmy, it’s not. It’s…” Running his fingers roughly through his hair, he curses. He makes his way towards me, stopping only when he sees me retreat further away from him.
“Emily, this is the work of Detective Jones. He...” Sam’s cut off by Josh.
“Get the fuck out of here. Now! Leave!”
I’ve never heard Josh sound so animalistic. I watch as Sam and Dean both look towards me, unsure whether they should leave me here or not. I nod my head. I’m okay. Josh won’t hurt me. I’m not scared of him… I’m scared for him.
I need to help him. I don’t like seeing him so lost. As soon as Dean shuts the door behind him, I walk over to Josh and pull his hands down from where they are currently pulling at his hair.
