Jax arches a brow, and Jill joins us, dressed in a female pirate costume. “Bad joke,” Savage says. “I’ll tie Jill up.”
“I might even let you, Savage. If you didn’t act like I was a bitch all the time.” She rotates and starts walking way.
“But you are a bitch!” he calls after her.
Jax and I laugh and fade into the party of at least a hundred kids, handing out prizes, candies, and playing games. I had almost forgotten Brody was coming, until I rounded a corner to seek out more candy for a group of kids and he steps in front of me. “Emma,” he greets.
My heart lurches. “Hi, Brody.” I eye his skeleton costume. “I like it. Does it glow?”
“No. I’m not that exciting.”
I lower my voice conspiratorially. “Neither is your brother who basically wore a suit.”
“I’m sorry.”
I blink. “What?”
“For what I did to you. My brother loves you. I see that when he looks at you.”
My heart swells with his words and this surprising turn of events. “I love him, too.”
“I love him,” he whispers. The whisper gets me.
“I have something special I want to show you and Jax tonight, after the kids leave.” I grab his arm. “Will you stay?”
“I damn sure don’t want to go home.”
“Well, then don’t. Grab some candy and hand it out.”
He gives a short nod and walks into one of the candy rooms. Jax steps to my side. “Everything okay?”
“Yes.” I turn to face him. “I have something for both of you. I asked him to stay until after the kids leave.”
His brow furrows. “Now I’m curious.”
I kiss him. “Well, my very sexy Superman, you’ll know soon enough.” Now, I rotate away from Jax and go in search of kids who need treats. And maybe one of those donuts because God, what have I done?
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Jax
The party is a huge success, and Emma is as charming as ever. The kids love her. The parents love her. Even Jill seems to be coming around. I’d say the same about Brody, but as Emma and I see out the final family, he’s nowhere to be found. “No luck finding Brody?” Emma asks when the doors are sealed.
“No. I’ve looked high and low.”
“It must have been too much for him,” she says, brushing her fingers over my jaw. “Maybe you can show him the new addition I made to the castle.” She laces her fingers with mine. “After I show you.”
“Now, I’m curious again. An addition to the castle?
“Yes,” she says primly. “An addition to the castle. Come with me.”
“Night, you two,” Jill calls out as we walk away.”
“Night,” Emma calls back.
“You two are getting along,” I say, rather shocked at how far we’ve come.
“She loves Halloween. Says it’s her most favorite holiday ever.”
I chuckle at that. “Is it a holiday?”
“Don’t tell Jill otherwise,” she says, leading me to one of the tower stairwells. “She might quit.”
I don’t catch on to where we’re going until she turns us left. That’s when I stop dead. “Emma? Where are we going?”
She steps in front of me. “Yes, we’re going there.” By there, she means the room where Hunter fell to his death. “But,” she adds, “I promise you. It’s for a very special reason.”
“I don’t like that room.”
She softens her voice. “Please?”
I rub a rough hand through my hair and take off the damn glasses, shoving them in my pocket. “Quickly. Then let’s go home and get naked. I’ll feel better after.”
“Every girl wants to get naked with Superman, so you’re on.” She turns and drags me with her.
We enter that damnable room, rain splattering outside that hellish ledge that took Hunter from me and almost took Emma. “Now what?”
She points to a jeweled cross with Hunter’s name on it. Holy hell, every emotion I’ve ever owned punches me in the chest. I close the space between me and it and read: King of the North. You will never be forgotten.
“Fuck,” I whisper, tearing up.
Emma steps between me and it and wraps her arms around me. “I upset you. I’m sorry, I—”
I cup her head. “No. It’s—perfect. I love you, baby.”
“I did it.”
At Brody’s voice, Emma and I turn to find him in the doorway. “You did what?” I ask, a cold sensation sliding down my spine.
He moves toward me, and Emma steps aside, the two of us, brother to brother, standing toe-to-toe. “I needed Emma out of here. I almost hurt her. I was afraid I’d hurt her again.”
“You’re telling me that you fucking had her kidnapped?”
“I didn’t want to hurt her.”
I lose my shit. I grab him and walk backward until I’ve shoved him hard against the wall. “She was naked when she woke up.”
“Jax!” Emma screams. “Jax, please. Just let him go. He’s being honest. He set me free. That’s all that matters.”
“Get back, Emma,” I growl when she grabs my arm, my gaze burning into my brother. “The people I hired said her ex was some pedophile, and she’d think it was him. I just—I just didn’t want to hurt her, and I was so angry at her. At that family. Hunter—they took Hunter.”
“Emma didn’t take Hunter.”
“I know. I know, and I almost hurt her.”
“You almost killed her,” I bite back.
Emma is sobbing now, I realize, tugging on my arm. “Please, Jax. Please. Let him go. Let him go.”
“You need to leave, Brody.” I let go of him and back up.
Emma wraps herself around me. “There’s more,” Brody says, and he’s crying again, tears streaming down his face. “Hunter was trying to sell us out to the North’s. He was selling us out.”
“He was being blackmailed,” I say. “He was a victim, not a monster.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is true,” I say.
“Jax, let this go.” Emma pleads. “You two are too hot-headed right now. Do this later.”
Brody walks away, and before I realize his intent, he steps onto the ledge Hunter fell from. “He said that he had no choice, but he could have come to us.”
Emma releases me. “Brody, come down!” she yells. “Please. I’m okay. You were protecting me.”
“She’s right,” I say, because my brother is clearly not okay. “You protected her. Come down.”
“We fought,” Brody says.
“Who?” I ask cautiously.
“Brody, come down,” Emma pleads again, her voice trembling. “Please.”
“Hunter was here praying,” he says, and suddenly, my world is spinning.
“When?” I ask, but I know. I know it was that night.
“Praying when he was the devil, stealing from his family.”
“Oh God,” Emma murmurs.
Ice slides through me. “What did you do?”
“We got into a fist fight,” he says and then he screams at the top of his lungs and grabs his hair. “It was bad. I don’t know how we ended up on the ledge. We just—did.”
I step toward him. “Don’t or I’ll take you with me.”
“Don’t even think about jumping, Brody. It was an accident.”
“Come down, Brody.”
“I can’t live with it, Jax,” Brody says and motions to Emma. “I almost killed her. I’m not okay. I will never be okay. I loved him. I loved him, and it was a fight. It wasn’t supposed to end like that.”
Thunder erupts loud and hard, and Brody moves toward the edge of the wall. That’s it. I launch myself in that direction, but it’s too late. He jumps. He jumps, and it’s like a knife shoves itself into my heart. I fall to my knees and roar at the top of my lungs. The only thing that keeps me sane, in that moment, is Emma’s arms wrapped around me.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Emma
The day of the funeral
is miserably cold and rainy, just like the night Brody left us. I will never forget the moment Brody jumped to his death for the rest of my life. Or the days that followed and how much Jax suffered. All I could do was hold him and be there in any way he needed me. He wanted to be naked, we were naked. He wanted to run, we ran. He wanted to sit in the shower and cry. We sat in the shower and cried. The service is packed and Jax stands in front of the crowd in his black suit, speaking from his heart. Jill sits next to me and grabs my hand, tears streaming down her face, her grief, like Jax’s a complicated thing. They lost Brody but they now know that Brody killed Hunter. I’m not sure it was really an accident, and neither is Jax but I’ll never say that to Jill or anyone else.
After the main service, Savage offers us a ride to the cemetery, but Jax refuses, opting for his own BMW. He seems to need to feel in control, behind the wheel. The rain thankfully stops by the time we park but the cold is as brutal, my black tights and boots are all that keep my legs from freezing. Jax, on the other hand, wears nothing but his suit jacket, but he holds onto me the entire service. After it’s over, we stay long after everyone else leaves. Jax’s head is bowed over the casket when an awareness comes over me. My gaze lifts and scans, then shoots over my shoulder behind me. That’s where I find a woman in red standing by our car. Only she’s not alone. Echo stands next to her. “Jax,” I whisper. “Jax.”
He looks up, his eyes bloodshot and tormented. “What, baby?”
I pull him around to face the other direction. “What the hell?” he hisses. “This can’t be fucking happening.”
“Is that—”
“Yes. That’s my bitch of a mother.” His voice is ice. He takes my hand which turns out to be a decisive action. “We’re leaving. Ignore her.”
He starts walking and I quickly keep pace. I want to scream at his mother for even putting him through this. I want to punch Echo for his role in making it happen. Jax stops in front of them because they’re in front of the passenger door. “Move.”
“Her father threatened me,” his mother says, casting me in a quelling look. “He was obsessed,” she adds. “I had to leave. He would have taken Hunter just to spite me.”
“I told her to leave,” Echo interjects. “That Knight asshole was going to ruin your father. He deserved better.”
His mother quickly says, “I disappeared to protect you all.”
A disgusted sound slides from Jax’s lips. “You weren’t even at Hunter’s funeral.”
“His father,” she eyes me, “her father, was still alive. I couldn’t risk coming.”
“I went and got her,” Echo says. “I told her he was dead and that there were complications. I knew Hunter was being blackmailed. I wanted her to convince him to get help.”
“She didn’t even know him,” I snap before I can stop myself. “She couldn’t convince him to do anything.”
“They’re both dead because of you,” Jax says, his voice wound tight, his temper about to snap. I don’t know how it hasn’t already. “Had my father known the truth he would have protected them,” he continues. “I never, and I mean never, want to see you or you Echo, ever again. I’ll buy the house from you, Echo. You are not welcome to return.”
“Please move,” I say. “If you have any love for Jax, this is not the right time for this.”
Jax pulls his keys from his pocket. “Never is the right time.”
“Let him be,” Echo says. “You need to let him be.”
She sobs and buries her face in her hands. Jax looks skyward and then back down at her. “They’re dead. Your tears are too late.”
Echo pulls her out of the reach of the door and Jax opens it, helping me inside. He joins me and turns on the engine. In that moment, the rain begins to crash down on the window, washing away leaves from a tree above, but it can’t wash away his pain.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Jax
It’s a good two weeks after the funeral when I finally claw my way out of hell. Because of Emma. Because every second of every day she’s been by my side, clawing out of that hell with me. Jill steps up as well, taking over Brody’s business while Emma takes over Jill’s duties until we can find a real replacement. It’s all a haze of gut-wrenching memories. I can’t stop reliving my decision to shove him against the wall. Maybe it pushed him over the edge quite literally. Guilt consumes me.
Savage steps in and handles Echo and my mother, making sure they exited our lives permanently. Turns out my mother took a new name and a new life, living with some billionaire overseas, where I hope she returns and stays. Savage also delivers news that York’s business is being forced into bankruptcy. I don’t ask details. He’s done. He’s gone and I’m going to make sure Emma has a million happy memories to drown out every moment she ever spent with that monster.
I don’t know the moment it happens, the moment I can see more than my brother jumping off of that ledge, but I wake up and something inside me has shifted. I sneak out of bed, make coffee and wake Emma up to a steaming hot cup.
She blinks awake and sits up, her brown hair a mussy sexy mess that only makes her more adorable. “This is wonderful.” She sips and then touches my cheek. “How are you?”
I cover her hand on the mug and tilt it to my mouth, sipping before I say, “Better today. I’m sure I’ll have bad moments and days, but I’m ready to fight my way out of this. Let’s plan our Thanksgiving feast. The staff needs it and so do we.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive and invite Chance. We need family right now. And to pick a Christmas tree for the castle and one for the house.”
“A tree the size of a house?” she jokes.
“Bigger,” I promise.
***
Thanksgiving
The first tree Emma and I ever picked out together is the centerpiece of a room filled with tables where family and friends enjoy a feast. It’s decorated with unique ornaments, each different because Emma asked everyone who works for our operation to pick one to represent them as part of our family. My father would approve.
I sit at the head of the largest of the round tables, with Emma and Chance by my sides. Jill is present as well as many of our long-term employees. The only one who isn’t here is Emma’s mother, who had a commitment. Her mother is too much like my own.
Christmas music plays in the background. The layout of food is magnificent. The smiles and laughter filling the room from a good fifty guests at various tables surrounding us, good for my soul.
“The tree is really the size of a house,” Emma teases next to me.
“You picked it.”
“We picked it,” she says, lowering her voice. “How are you?”
I cover her hand in mine and bringing it to my mouth, kissing her knuckles. “Remarkably well. Thanks to you.”
She smiles and kisses my hand. “It’s almost time for the chocolate cake. You know how you love chocolate cake.”
“I love you.”
“And I love you.”
I knew before this moment that I was going to ask Emma to marry me, but for some reason, this is the one where I become impatient to make her my fiancée. This is the one where I know it needs to be sooner than later.
We end the evening by decorating our own tree in the beach house, and drinking Irish coffee while talking. I could get lost in nothing but talking to Emma for hours on end, and so I do. We fall asleep by the fireplace and I carry her to bed where I hold her close, and vow once again, to never let her go.
***
The next morning, I invite Emma’s brother to meet me for coffee before he leaves for the airport. This pleases Emma which is a bonus but not my purpose. I choose a little local joint next to a jewelry store that I know will create a special ring for Emma. Chance and I sit and talk about the merger that is all but done at this point and when we finish off our coffees, I say, “Can I have your sister’s hand in marriage?”
He blanches and then says, “Hell yes, man. Is that why we’re by the jewelry store
? Let’s go. I want to make sure you pick something good enough for her.”
It’s a surreal brotherly moment.
It hurts.
And yet, somehow, it heals.
***
Christmas Eve
Emma has fretted about the perfect gifts for everyone for weeks, and with the Knight-Bennett merger done and over with, she’s embraced Jill’s job to the point that she just might not let it go. She even designed custom time pieces for Eric and Grayson to thank them for all their time. Inside the cards read: May the love of your life always find her way to you, the way you helped Jax find his way to me.
By evening, presents overflow under the castle tree and Emma and I settle in for a romantic Christmas Eve meal I had the chef prepare. “This is a surprise,” she says, as we sit down for a candlelight meal that includes Maine’s staple of lobster, as well as her favorite mac and cheese. “A new tradition?”
“This would be an excellent new tradition.”
We drink wine and talk, laughing as we always do together. When our bellies are full, we move to the living room to settle in front of the fireplace. “Can I give you your gift now?” she asks excitedly.
“No yet,” I say and nerves assail me which is crazy. This is Emma. I walk to the tree and reach under the decorative cover beneath it to remove the ring I’ve hidden there. I stand up with it behind my back. “Me first.”
She smiles this bright sunshine smile, perched on the edge of a chair. “Why do you seem nervous? You know I’ll love anything you get me. Honestly you’ve given me such a gift just being here, Jax. I love this place and you and—”
I go down on a knee in front of her. “Emma.”
“You’re very serious right now. You’re making me nervous.”
I stroke a dark silky strand of hair from her face. “No, baby. Nothing is wrong. In fact, something is very right.”
“Oh. Good.”
“Yes. It is. We are. And I am a better man because of you.” I bring the velvet case in between us. “Marry me, Emma, and make this year end with me smiling, baby. With us together forever.”
“One chapter ends. A whole new book begins. Yes, I’ll marry you. You’re my best friend. How could I not marry you?”
Two Together Page 20
