New Love

Chapter 34: Emily

Lucy was waiting outside the door, wringing her hands. She stopped when I emerged, carefully closing the door behind me. I pulled the cuffs of the sweatshirt I had thrown on over my hands and crossed my arms. I swallowed, waiting for Lucy to speak. Did she suspect what had been going on on the other side of this door? Did she know Jay was in there? 

She finally looked up at me. “Are you alone? I thought I heard you talking to someone.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

“Oh, um…” I caught myself biting my lip, stopped and shook my head. “I’m alone. Must have been the TV.” I was surprised I was able to come up with that. I clenched my fists, gratefully they were hidden because I couldn’t stop them from shaking. 

“Good.” She altered from one foot to the other. It was almost as if she was as nervous about this conversation as I am. She took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Okay, I can do this,.” she muttered to herself. She was pale and shaking. 

“Lucy,” I furrowed my brows, not sure if she was about to punch me or throw up. She cleared her throat and looked up at me again.

“My brother thinks I should apologize to you.” 

I stared at her blankly. I couldn’t have heard her right… I thought she said…

“Your brother?” I heard myself asking.

“Yes, Troy, my brother.” she nodded. I tried to act like this was the first time I was hearing his name, but inside I was jumping for joy. She had called her brother! “He thinks I owe you and Mia an apology for my actions last night.”

“You called your brother for advice?” I had to make sure I was hearing this right.

“Yea. I woke up this morning and I had all these crazy thoughts. I wanted to talk to Jay, but he’s not answering his phone. I called Casey instead and she suggested I call Troy. So I did.” She rambled. She huffed out a breath and picked at her fingernail. “Anyway. What I’m trying to say is that I shouldn’t have called you nasty names and accused you of sleeping with my boyfriend. I’m sorry if I ruined your night.”

“Oh…” I dropped my head, a sudden pain spread across my chest at hearing her call Jay her boyfriend. I felt tears start to build up behind my throat and I tried to swallow around the huge lump in my throat. I had slept with her boyfriend. He was still hiding in my room as we spoke. What kind of monster was I? How had I let this get to this point?

“Okay, well… thanks.” I managed to spit out. I turned to open the door but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I looked back at Lucy. She was wringing her hands again.

“I know you and Jay are close friends so if you hear from him today can you ask him to call me? I need to apologize to him too.”

I nodded and forced a smile.” Sure.” 

“Thank you.” 

I twisted the knob as fast as I could and retreated into my room. 

I had no sooner stepped into the room, then his strong arms were wrapped around me. I could feel his heart pounding as he pulled me closer. I stood as stiff as possible, trying not to let myself respond to him.

“Em,” he pulled back, holding me at arms length. His eyebrows drew together. I shook my head and pushed away from him. 

“Your girlfriend wants you to call her.” I started to walk away, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back. He tilted my chin and gently pressed his lips to mine. 

“She’s not my girlfriend.” He let me step away from him this time. I sighed and sat down on the side of the bed. He sat beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “At least she called Troy.” 

I snorted. “After she blew up your phone.” 

“She wasn’t yelling or making threats.” 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

“Let’s just go back to enjoying being locked in here together.” 

“Maybe you should leave.” I pushed to my feet. I had wanted to spend the day with him, hoping beyond hope that things could work out. But seeing Lucy vulnerable and close to tears, made me feel guilty. 

“No.” He scooted back in my bed and patted the spot beside him. “Come back to bed.”

“Jay,” I rubbed my head trying to push out the conflicting emotions. “I don’t think…”

“Don’t think, Emmy.” he held his hand out to me. “Just come be with me. I’m right where I want to be and with who I wish to be with.” 

I hated that his words made me melt inside. I wasn’t capable of putting any kind of distance between the two of us. No matter how much of a threat I faced. I sighed and took his hand. He smiled and pulled me into the bed. I yelped as I landed on his lap. 

“Shh…” he shushed me as he pressed his lips to mine. I relaxed into him and wrapped my arms around his neck. I let him devour my mouth and lay me down on the bed.