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He knew? Link collapsed onto the floor. His father knew—everyone knew. Maybe I did too, but I was too afraid to face it.
That was why his papa didn’t adopt Emma? Oh God. She thinks he didn’t want her. She needed to know. He had to get to her. He choked back sobs, wiping a few stray tears that got away. His father not only approved of his relationship with Emma, but he was proud of Link. God, how long had he waited to hear those words?
Link stood on shaky legs, urgency moving his limbs as he grabbed his bag and Emma’s letter before heading out to the car he’d built from the ground up with his dad. The future of Shattered Cove Garage—rebuilt classics and custom work. The same vehicle he’d taken on the trip that changed his life with Emma. I need to get to her.
His phone pinged with a text message from his friend.
Looked like he was going back to where it started: Las Vegas. Only this time, what they had wouldn’t stay there.
36
Emma
Emma wiped the bead of sweat from her head as she entered the penthouse suite. Loud, hypnotic music thrummed through the room as she walked along the hallway, her stomach twisting at the memories of the last time she had been in this very suite here in Las Vegas. Her body was still amped up from the show they’d just played, her heart thudding. She went straight for the bar set up in the corner, pushing past some scantily clad groupies surrounding her bandmates and a few guys.
“You made it!” Callie yelled louder than necessary. She rubbed some of the white powder from her nose and reached for the bottle of vodka from Emma’s hand. “Allow me.” She poured an inch into the glass.
Emma picked it up and downed it in one gulp, relishing the burn. She’d become accustomed to it this month. She grabbed the vodka back from Callie, opting to drink straight from the container this time.
“Yes, girl! That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s celebrate! You guys totally rocked that show.”
Emma squinted as she lowered the bottle to take a breath. They’d done well for being down one man.
Geo wouldn’t talk to her. The prison had turned her away because she wasn’t on his visitors list. Promising backstage passes to the guard had gotten a message through to Geo, but he’d still refused to see her.
Emma closed her eyes at the rising pain. She’d come straight from the prison to the show. Emma wanted to be alone, but the penthouse was filled with people. Emma surveyed the room. Asher’s head tipped back on the couch, his mouth slack as another guy’s head bobbed up and down between his thighs.
Ravi snorted one of the lines of cocaine spread out over the glass table Link had fucked her on.
The pungent smell of weed enveloped her as a man she didn’t know approached her with a wolfish grin. He was attractive—dark hair, green eyes. Not Link.
He offered her a joint. “Hey, beautiful.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but Nicky beat her to it. “Get out of here with that, man. Emma doesn’t do that shit.”
Green eyes winked at her, and he strolled away like he didn’t have a care in the world. Her eyes darted to the drugs on the table. She’d never let something strip her control like that.
“You okay, babe?” Nicky asked.
She nodded, forcing a smile. “Yeah. Of course.” She just needed to capture some of that control for herself. Needed to erase the memories from this room. But it was like finally sleeping with Link had embedded him in every cell of hers. She couldn’t be rid of him no matter how hard she tried. And without him, the grief from her father was suffocating. She was a shell of who she’d been before. Her restraint waned and shattered. The healing cuts on her wrist under the leather bracelet were evidence of that—along with the ones on her thighs from when those hadn’t been enough. Asher never thought to look there.
She walked around in a heavy cloud. The hazy grey was getting dimmer. Cold tendrils of darkness cinched around her ankles, tugging her down. She needed to breathe. To escape. To get ahead of the pain bubbling up, leaking through the cracks like thick oil.
Leo disappeared into one of the rooms with two women. Maybe he had the right idea. Maybe she needed to fuck Link out of her system. It obviously had worked for Link. She turned to Callie, who was chatting with another blonde, running her finger over her arm suggestively.
The phone in her back pocket vibrated. She pulled it out. Link. Again. The pain she kept buried inched towards the surface, making the room spin. Tears burned her eyes. Emotion clawed its way up the back of her throat. Her hand trembled as she squeezed it. She shut the phone off and tucked it into the back of her pants once more.
The music switched to “Dear Agony” by Breaking Benjamin. The heavy drums and guitar made her gasp in a breath. Her hand reached out to Callie’s. Both women turned to look at her.
Emma nodded towards the bedrooms, grasping for escape. There were a million reasons she shouldn’t be doing this, but she pushed them away with a vengeance. She didn’t want to think because thinking led to remembering and remembering led to pain.
Callie’s mouth turned into an all-out grin as she bent and whispered something into the blonde’s ear. Blondie nodded and licked her lips, her eyes raking over Emma. She linked her arm into Emma’s, leading her and the other woman to a vacant bedroom. Emma shut the door. Callie’s mouth peppered kisses up her neck, to her jaw, inching closer to Emma’s lips. She wasted no time tugging off Emma’s black T-shirt. Emma lifted the material from her body, still holding the bottle of vodka. Emma’s stomach pitched. This felt wrong.
She turned her head before Callie’s lips could mold to hers. Emma pushed Callie’s shoulder back and nodded to the other woman in the room. Blondie came forward, pulling Callie into a kiss as they stripped each other’s clothes off, piece by piece. Callie kept turning to check on Emma, as if to make sure she had her attention.
Emma’s stomach twisted as she downed more vodka, until she had no choice but to take a breath. This was going to be a mistake. But she didn’t care. If it saved her from one more moment of this agony, she’d pay the price.
Callie unhooked her bra, running her fingers over her hard, pink nipples. She was beautiful, available, and more importantly, wanted Emma. Too bad Emma only fell for people who couldn’t love her back. What did that say about her?
