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I breathe a sigh of relief. “Can you do it remotely? I don’t want to leave the door and give her a chance to lock it again.”
He laughs on the other end of the line and I wish I could reach through and punch him square in the fucking face. But I can’t. He’s helping me and honestly, we’d be fucked without him. “You’ve got it. I can’t wait to meet the spitfire, she seems like fun.”
I roll my eyes. “Thanks, Everett.” And then I hang up the phone. I don’t have the temperament for his bullshit right now.
I tug on a pair of sweats and start pacing in front of the door. I won’t have long once the door is unlocked and I’m not going to risk another call to that smug son of a bitch. Like he can throw stones when he’s been obsessed with my baby sister for almost as long as they’ve known one another.
It’s only a few moments before I hear the lock and I quickly reach out and tug the door open and the sight only proves to make me angrier.
Emerson is curled up in a ball beside the bath. Tears stream down her face as she gently rocks herself. Before I’ve even registered my own movements, I’ve bundled her up in my arms and I’m carrying her back to the bed.
She doesn’t fight me immediately. At first she allows herself to melt into my embrace and accept the comfort she needs, but it’s short-lived. The moment I climb up onto the bed, still cradling her against my chest, she’s struggling against me.
“Let. Me. Go,” she growls, her legs kicking out in an attempt to dislodge herself.
“No.” I lock my arms around her. “You’re going to sit your pretty ass in my lap and tell me why the fuck you flipped out like that. I understand you might feel like I’m squashing your independence, but I just want to take care of you. I hated seeing you tired and stressed every morning, seeing you lose weight because you weren’t taking care of yourself. I’m not going to sit by and watch my woman struggle when I have more than enough money to take that burden off her shoulders.”
“I won’t run again, but I need you to let me go.”
I hesitate for a moment, because if there was ever a flight risk, it’s her, but in the end I bend to her will and release her from my grasp and she scurries up to lean against the headboard.
“Why did you run?”
“I’m not one of your whores, Rayne. I can’t be bought. If that’s all you want me for, then we can arrange some kind of payment plan because I’m not—”
“Emerson,” I snap. “You are not a whore. I don’t ever want to hear you say that ever again.”
“Then why do you think you can buy me like one?” Emerson hisses.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Maybe this is how things worked in your past relationships, that you could just buy them, but that’s not going to fly with me. So I think it would be best if I went home.”
“Will you stop fucking trying to leave?” I growl. “There are no past relationships, Emerson. There’s you. And then there’s a long list of women that could barely hold my attention through a quick fuck. You are nothing like them.”
“The fact that you think you can buy me makes me worse.” A rough sob tears from her throat and I reach for her again. I need to feel her in my arms, to reassure myself she’s safe and she’s not going anywhere, but I pull my arm back quickly.
“Emerson, I need you to listen to me and listen real fucking hard,” I say through clenched teeth. I’m barely holding onto my composure. “I will not have you speaking about yourself like that. You. Are. Everything.”
Her eyes widen as I punctuate each word, but she doesn’t move. She stays rooted in place against the headboard. At least she’s stopped trying to get away from me, small wins.
I prowl toward her, crawling up the bed until our faces are only a few inches apart and her ragged breaths whisper across my cheeks. “Are you hearing me, sweet girl?”
“I can’t be bought.” She turns her face away from me.
“I wasn’t trying to buy you, Emerson. I was trying tofreeyou.” I reach out to swipe the tears from her cheeks.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” She tries to pull away, but I don’t let her. If I give her space now, she’s going to run and I can’t risk that. I won’t risk it.
“Too bad, sweet girl, because this is happening. You are mine. There’s no running, there’s no hiding. There’s just you and me.”
She doesn’t know true those words are. She doesn’t realize that from the moment we met her future was decided. But she will. She’ll understand once I show her, once I prove to her I’m in this for more than a quick fuck or two. I just have to show her.
33
Emerson
I’ve never felt so conflicted.
