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“You should have brought her with you,” Maddox tells Emerson. “You know she misses me.”
“Nope.” Emerson pops thepin her reply. “None of you are allowed to hook up with my best friend. She’s mine. Get your own.”
“Come on, Em,” Legend goads her. “We’re family. Families share,” he says, humor lacing his tone.
“Not happening,” Emerson fires back.
“Well, can we at least get a damn hug? This is the first time I’ve gotten to see you since you’ve been home on spring break.” Lachlan stands and saunters over to her, wrapping her in a hug.
“I know. Monroe and I went to Gatlinburg with a few friends from school for a couple of days before we came home.”
“Stop hogging her.” Maddox pulls Emerson from Lachlan before she’s then passed to Legend, and then there’s me.
I’m not a complete asshole. At least I try not to be where she’s concerned. Just asshole enough to keep my distance. Not greeting her like the others would be noticeable, so I stand and hold my arms open.
“Hey, Rome,” she whispers.
Is it just me or is there something different in her eyes when she looks at me? She steps into my embrace and wraps her arms around my waist. I release her quickly and take my seat by the fire, just like the others. The only difference is that I didn’t want to let her go.
Fuck, she feels good in my arms.
“How’s school?” I need to ask the question to remind myself that she’s too damn young for me.
She smiles. “Good. I’m almost through the first year of my major.”
“Surgical Tech, right?” I already know because I pay attention to her, even when I want everyone to think that I don’t.
“Yeah, I wish I would have decided that my first year.”
“You have plenty of time to join the workforce of society,” Forrest tells her. “Just enjoy college life.”
“Maybe don’t enjoy it too much,” Maddox adds, making her laugh.
“I already have one overprotective big brother,” she reminds him.
Maddox shrugs. “You have five, Em. This isn’t recent news.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I was here and that I’m going to bed.”
“You sure you don’t want to stay and join us?” Forrest offers.
“Nah, I’m going to read for a little while before bed. Night.” She bends down and kisses Forrest on the cheek.
“Night, Em,” he says as she retreats into the house.
“Have you heard from your parents?” Legend asks Forrest.
“Nah, not since the day Emerson turned eighteen, and I moved her out. She doesn’t reach out to them either.”
We’re all quiet as we let that sink in. Out of the five of us, Forrest had it the worst. His parents were never really parents to either him or Emerson.
Maddox starts talking about scouting for a new location, and we get lost in shop talk. We’ve grown so much, and the current building we’re in needs a lot of work. We’re tossing around the idea of renovations or a new facility altogether. It’s a big step, but one we all agree we need to take. We just have to decide in what direction we want to go. We could rent the building or sell it and use that money to put toward the new one.
“I say we go new,” Legend speaks up.
“Yeah, the sale or rent will help with the new place,” I agree.
“Vote?” Forrest asks. “Raise of hands for a new location.” All five of us raise our hands. “Well, there we have it. Let’s start looking for a new building or land. Do we all agree that we want to stay in Ashby?”
