Emma’s heart pounded and her dress felt too tight as she struggled to take a proper breath. This was not how tonight was supposed to go. Not again. But Emma was determined not to let Liz come between them anymore. “Will it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does, Emma. It matters to me that you believe something that’s not true.”
A single tear escaped, sliding down her cheek as she felt everything she wanted slipping away.
Will wiped her tear away, pressing his warm hand to her cheek. “Em,” he whispered. “I don’t think I can handle losing you again.”
“Me either.”
“Then you gotta talk to me if we’re ever gonna have a chance.”
She knew he was right. She needed to just get it all out in the open. She’d given her father the abridged version just this morning. She could do this.
“Fine.” Emma blew out a breath. “I know you were with Liz at Cranston’s birthday party before the formal last year.”
Will looked confused. “What about it? Half the school was there.”
“Well half the school didn’t have sex with Liz in Cranston’s closet.”
Will’s face paled and his blue eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. “Christ, Emma! Is that what you’ve thought this whole time?”
“Yes. And it kills me!”
“Emma, I didn’t hook up with Liz!”
“Don’t, Will! Just please don’t make this worse by lying to me.”
“I’m not lying,” Will bellowed.
“Well someone is, because the photos I saw don’t lie.”
“What photos?”
Now it was Emma’s turn to growl in frustration. “If you weren’t the only person at St. James without Snapchat you wouldn’t be asking me that question. You can’t tell me you haven’t seen them. The Lill-ship was practically trending after Cranston’s party.”
“Em, in English please.”
“I’m saying all the proof you need is on Snapchat.”
Will crossed his arms defiantly. “Fine, show me the pictures and I’ll show you you’re wrong, because nothing has ever happened between me and Liz.”
“Do you even know how Snapchat works?”
“Let me guess, it shows complete BS?”
Emma narrowed her eyes ignoring his social media dig. “The pictures disappear unless you save them and I didn’t care to take screen shots of you and Liz getting it on.”
“So you don’t have any proof?”
“No.”
Will took Emma’s hands, his eyes pleading. “Emma, nothing happened with Liz.”
Those five little words shattered her heart, because as Emma looked into Will’s shining eyes she couldn’t detect a hint of dishonesty. But she knew he was lying. She’d seen the pictures. She tried to say as much but was afraid she’d burst into tears and this wasn’t the place for a scene.
She turned and tried to walk away, but Will caught her. “Emma, please tell me you believe me.”
But she shook her head. “I could have forgiven you. But you can’t even admit what you did. How can you ever ask me to believe anything you say?”
“Because it’s not true! I’ve never slept with Liz.” Lowering his voice, he added. “I’ve never slept with anyone.”
“Will, I saw the pictures!”
“And you believe them over me?”
“They’re photos, Will. What am I supposed to think?”
“Seriously? Have you ever heard of Photoshop, Em? And I don’t know, maybe you could have enough faith in your best friend to come to me about this instead of cutting me out of your life.”
“I tried. I was walking to your locker the next day to confront you and Liz was there with her arm around your waist. And I just knew it was true.”
“So that’s why you left? You stood me up at the formal and moved to Boston because of a few photos that may or may not look like me and Liz Vanderveer getting it on?”
“Don’t joke about this, Will. You have no idea how embarrassed and hurt I was.”
“I’m not joking, Emma. And I think I have a pretty damn good idea how shitty it feels to think someone you love thinks nothing of you.”
Will’s chest was rising and falling rapidly as he paced a tight line in their quiet corner. Finally he stopped and collected himself. Will reached for Emma’s hand, but she pulled away. The hurt expression on his face almost made her reconsider. But her father was wrong—love wasn’t worth it. Not if this is what it felt like when it fell apart.
She withdrew another step. “I can’t do this, Will.”
Will
Will stood watching Emma retreat from their dark corner of the garden in stunned silence. What the hell just happened?
One minute he was swaying on the dance floor with Emma in his arm, every dream he’d ever had about to come true; then . . . He didn’t even know how to explain what had just happened. But one thing he did know was that it started with Liz. And it was about time he ended it.
Will scanned the party until he spotted Liz. It was time to get answers.
38
Emma
Emma found her father on the dance floor with Tara and Colin. She caught his eye and his face turned stony. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now, Dad. I just wanted to let you know I’m going back down to the apartment.”
“Do you want us to come with you, honey?” Tara asked.
“No, stay and enjoy the party. I just want to be alone right now.”
Tara gave her a tight smile and her father nodded, giving Emma a kiss on the cheek. “I’m here if you need me, sweetheart.”
“Thanks, Dad.” And with that, Emma fled from the dance floor.
She was working her way toward the exit when she felt a little hand tugging her back. She turned to see Colin dragging his feet as he clung to her wrist. “Emma wait!”
“Hey, buddy. What’s wrong?”
“Did your I’m sorry plan with Will work?”
Emma’s face fell. “No. It didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Well you can try again, right? I’ll help you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Colin. But I don’t think it’s going to work.”
“But you like Will. And I know Will really likes you. So why can’t you just both like each other? Then everyone can be happy and we can have the best Christmas ever.”
Colin’s little face looked so hopeful it made Emma’s heart ache. She knelt down to his level. “Sometimes things aren’t that simple, buddy.”
He frowned. “But why not?”
How was she supposed to explain this to a seven-year-old? “Things get harder when you’re older.”
“Maybe that means you have to try harder,” Colin offered.
Emma pulled Colin into her arms. The little boy had no idea how right he was. But no matter how hard Emma tried, it seemed nothing short of a miracle could save the future she’d so desperately wanted with Will.
“Emma, look,” Colin whispered.
She released him from her hug and trained her eyes to where he was pointing. She nearly gasped when she saw Will shouting heatedly at Liz.
“Whoa! Will looks mad.”
Before Emma had time to decide she didn’t want to watch their lovers’ spat, Will had ripped Liz’s phone from her hands and was storming their way, with Liz on his heels. Emma grabbed Colin and pulled him behind a wall of vines to keep Will and Liz from seeing them. But the greenery did nothing to shield Emma from their words.
Will
Will thumbed furiously through Liz’s iPhone for the photos in question. “Where are they Liz?”
“Will, stop it!”
“Not until you tell me the truth. Where are the pictures Emma’s talking about?”
“There aren’t any pictures,” Liz screeched.
“You’re so full of it, Liz. You think I don’t know why you’re lying?”
“I’m not lying.”
“Yes you are! Show me the damn pictures or I’m going to your parents right now and we can have this discussion in front of them.”
“Go ahead. I didn’t keep the photos. You really think I’m that dumb?”
“So they exist?”
“Maybe.”
Will’s temper was nearing its boiling point. If Liz were a guy Will would’ve sucker punched him already. Instead he kept her phone out of reach while scrolling back to last December. And when he got there, his blood ran cold. There they were—shot after shot of Liz and a guy wearing Will’s face in scandalous positions. There were dozens of them.
Will rubbed his face, the impact of what these photos must’ve done to Emma finally hitting him. “Jesus, Liz. This . . . I . . .” he sputtered as he scrolled through the flawlessly edited photos. Even Will himself would’ve been fooled by the level of perfection in Liz’s photos. “How did you do this?”
She shrugged. “I used Snip.”
Will just blinked numbly at her.
“It’s Marcy’s father’s plastic surgery app. It’s amazing, right?”
Will raked a hand over his face as the aftershocks of the incriminating photos rippled through him. “Why would you do this? I mean, what the hell were you thinking, Liz?”
“That we belong together,” Liz replied, slipping her arm through his. “We’re meant to be. Just like Hazel and Thomas.”
Will shook her off, completely repulsed. “Liz, there’s nothing between us and after what you did to Emma, there’s not a chance in hell that I’m even going to be your friend.”
“Will—”
“No, I’m done, Liz. And you better pray that I can fix things with Emma or I swear to God . . .”
“What are you so mad about? All I did was try to save you from yourself? Are you seriously going to throw away our potential for someone like Emma Rhodes? That family has more issues than Vogue. You’re too good for her. You’re a Taylor. You belong with someone like me.”
“Do you hear yourself, Liz? You’re insane. There is no us. And if you screwed up my last chance to fix things with Emma, I’ll never forgive you.”
“Why do you care? She doesn’t even live here anymore.”
“But she could,” Will interjected.
Liz laughed bitterly. “You think she’d move back here for you? Your parents don’t even come home to spend time with you.”
“This isn’t about my parents. This is about me and Emma. And people do crazy things for love all the time.”
“Oh, and what, you love her?”
“Yes! I do. I always have. But you took away any chance I had to find out how she feels about me.”
Liz looked truly astonished. “You’d throw away what we have for a chance?”
“We don’t have anything, Liz! But yes. I’d throw away everything for even just the slightest chance with Emma.”
“But—”
“No, Liz. This is over. Leave Emma alone and don’t speak to me again.” And before he did or said something he couldn’t take back, Will stormed away from Liz Vanderveer, praying he would find Emma in time to beg her to forgive him for being the world’s biggest idiot.
Emma
Emma sat in stunned silence behind the wall of vines, her hands still clutched over Colin’s ears. Her heart was hammering so hard she could barely hear anything over it. But when Colin tugged on her arm it pulled Emma back to reality.
“What?” she asked, staring at Colin’s grinning face.
“I told you he loves you.”
Emma shot to her feet. He had said that, hadn’t he? In the mix of all the other foul and terrible things Liz had admitted, Will had said the only thing that mattered. He loved Emma.
“I have to find him,” she whispered more to herself than Colin, but a moment later, both of them were running back toward the party.
39
Will
Will was frantically searching the rooftop for Emma without any luck. He spotted her father and Tara on the dance floor but she was nowhere in sight. He knew she’d probably left. He’d seen the hurt in her eyes when she’d pulled away from him. She was probably in her apartment packing while he wasted time searching the stupid party.
Cursing himself, Will made for the exit only to run smack into Colin. “Hey, Colin. Have you seen your sister?”
“I’m right here.”
Will turned at the sound of Emma’s voice, relief flooding him to see her again. He rushed toward her, already pleading his case for forgiveness, but all he got out was her name before Emma’s lips crashed into his.
Will was so surprised by the kiss that he stumbled back a step before regaining his balance. His eyes were blown wide as he stared into Emma’s. “Em . . .” Will didn’t know what to say. He wanted to apologize for everything, but Emma’s kiss left him speechless.
“I know,” she whispered. “I know what Liz did.”
“You do?”
“I heard everything.”
Relief flooded through Will in a wave that nearly floored him.
“Oh thank God. Can you ever forgive me, Em?”
She nodded. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
Will pulled Emma into his arms, crushing her against him like he might fall apart other wise. He never wanted to let her go. He wanted to keep her this close for the rest of his life and the fear of not getting to do that was strangling him. “I’m in love with you,” he whispered.
Emma pulled back just enough to look at him. “I love you, too,” she said breathlessly.
Will felt the world still, and in that moment there wasn’t another soul on that roof top as he slowly brought his lips to Emma’s. They met with a brush of heat that felt like fireworks branding his skin. Will slid his hands up Emma’s back, wrapping one firmly in her silken hair as he kissed her the way he’d always meant to. Like breathing. Like flying. Like everything good in the world.
Emma
It happened quickly, and Emma didn’t fight it as her heart let go of all the love she’d been holding back. She curled into the warmth of Will’s embrace as the sudden realization washed over her with certainty. She was in love with Will Taylor. Always had been. Always would be.
It had taken them sixteen years of friendship, plus one broken year apart, but they’d found their way back to each other—to where they were meant to be. And as Will kissed her under the starlight winter sky, she knew she was never going to let him go.
When their public display of affection started to draw attention, Will wisely drew Emma away from center of the party to a secluded corner where they could sit and talk.
“Em?” he asked, hesitance in his eyes. “Tell me this is real.”
She glowed as she answered. “It’s real.”
Will took her hands in his. “I never stopped missing you. Not for a second.”
“Me too. I was just so afraid of getting my heart broken again,” she admitted.
“God, I’m so sorry. I feel like such an idiot. I had no idea, Emma. If I had—”
“You couldn’t have,” she interrupted. “I always knew Liz was evil, but she’s clearly insane.”
Will groaned, “I still can’t quite believe it. I wanted to kill her when I saw the photos.”
Emma grinned. “I’ve gotta say, it sorta turns me on when you get all white knight like that.”
“Oh yeah?” Will asked, the mischievous twinkle returning to his blue eyes.
Emma smirked at him. “Yeah.”
Will pulled her into his lap and dipped her into a deep, lingering kiss that left her breathless. When he pulled her back up he ran a finger down her cheek and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. “All joking aside, I don’t ever want to let a misunderstanding like that come between us again.”
“Me either,” Emma murmured.
Will exhaled and buried his face into Emma’s neck. “God, Em. When I think I might have lost you forever because of some stupid app . . .” He looked up at her suddenly. “
I think it’s time I get on social media.”
Emma laughed. “We don’t need social media. We just need to stop being too scared to admit how we feel to each other.”
“I think we’re off to a pretty good start,” he said nuzzling her neck in a way that made her feel faint. “I love you, Emma Rhodes.”
She grinned. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing you say that.”
“You better not. I’m gonna be saying it for a really long time.”
“How long?” she teased.
“I was sorta thinking the rest of my life.”
Emma’s heart did a series of backflips that left her shaking.
“Is that okay with you?” Will asked, noting her slight tremor.
“Very okay,” she said leaning in to kiss him again.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that,” he teased, breaking from her lips. “Although . . .”
“Although what?”
“It’s just funny. This wasn’t at all how I envisioned our first kiss.”
“How did you picture it?” Emma asked.
“I was sure it would be under the mistletoe,” he said nodding to boughs that hung over the dance floor.
“Well in the spirit of making dreams come true, I’m willing to have a first kiss do over with you, Will Taylor.”
Will
Will twirled Emma onto the dance floor. Her laughter filled his heart near bursting. The band struck up ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ and Will pulled Emma into his arms. They swayed back and forth under the strands of white lights and stars. Closer and closer they crept to the center of the dance floor, where the mistletoe danced above them suspended on strands of white lights, as if they were hung from the stars.
When they were perfectly centered below the mistletoe, Will took Emma in his arms, pulling her near. He traced his hand down the smooth curve of her face, stopping when he reached her pale pink lips.
The Boyfriend Series Box Set (Books 1-6): YA Contemporary Romance Novels Page 78
