Loving the Best Man (Friends & Lovers Book 2)

by Jaye Diane

  He looked delicious in a red tank top and black shorts, all of the lean muscles in his arms and shoulders on display. Without thinking, she dropped her bags onto the floor and looped her arms around his neck, pressing her mouth against his.

  A discreet cough in the background made her freeze and she pulled back, seeing Devin and Robyn watching them with wide grins on their faces. Embarrassed but unwilling to show it or admit it, Emerald took her coat off and hung it up.

  “I didn’t know you had company,” She murmured before going over to greet her friends and hugging them both. “Where’s Olivia?”

  “She’s asleep,” Robyn replied. “She just went down after we got here.”

  “Is this some kind of weird double-date?” Emerald joked, stepping out of her boots. She’d already made a wet mark on the pretty white floor.

  “Actually, no,” Devin said, suddenly looking serious. “We need to talk to you.”

  Emerald went on alert, seeing that they all looked extremely somber.

  “What’s going on? Did something happen?” Emerald took Robyn’s hand.

  “That’s what I want to know,” Robyn replied. “Devin came home today and said that someone told him your tires got slashed last week.”

  “Fucking office gossip,” Emerald mumbled. She shook her head and prepared herself for their interrogation.

  “And Linc said that a few days ago someone sprayed graffiti on your door,” Robyn added, her voice getting louder. “What’s going on, Emmy?”

  Seeing how worried they all looked, she made an immediate decision to downplay the whole thing. She didn’t want them to worry even more than they clearly did. Their worrying wouldn’t help anything.

  “It’s not that big of a deal,” Emerald said, walking to Lincoln’s kitchen and reaching for a wine glass. They followed her.

  “I don’t understand you,” Lincoln said, sounding exasperated.

  “It is a big deal.” Robyn shook her head vehemently.

  Emerald poured three glasses of wine -Robyn was nursing- and turned to her friends.

  “I’m not letting this scare me and you guys shouldn’t, either.” She held the wine glasses out to Devin and Lincoln but they both glared at her without taking them. She sat one down and sipped from the other. “I’m used to dealing with losers. This is no different.”

  “Arguing with someone is different than getting your tires slashed, Emerald,” Robyn said heatedly.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Lincoln asked. “We’ve seen each other almost every day since the wedding. You’ve been lying all this time.”

  “I didn’t lie to you,” Emerald said, her heart thumping. “I didn’t think it was worth mentioning. And I still don’t think it’s worth talking about.”

  “You could be in danger,” Devin said, his voice low. It appeared that he was the only one who still was calm.

  “I’m not in danger. Stop overreacting. This is exactly why I didn’t say anything.” Emerald drank down the rest of her wine as if it was water and picked up a second glass.

  “Stop being so stupid!” Robyn put her hands on Emerald’s shoulders and made eye contact.

  “I’m being very cautious.” Emerald made a controlled effort to keep her tone even. “And that’s all I can do. Let’s leave it at that.”

  “You said you’re going to look for an apartment,” Lincoln reminded her.

  “I am,” Emerald said, rolling her eyes. “But give me a break; it’s only been a few days since I said that.”

  She hadn’t looked at any classified ads for apartments. It didn’t make sense to when Christmas was only days away. She’d decided to start after the new year began.

  “You can stay with us.” Devin and Robyn said at the same time.

  “No.” She polished off the second glass of wine and thought about having the other glass. Maybe she’d have it after her shower. “I like having my own place.”

  “It would only be temporary.” Devin crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re worried about you.”

  “Or stay here with Linc.”

  “No.”

  “You’re here all the time, anyway,” Lincoln said, walking over and touching her arm.

  As tempting as the idea of staying with him was, she and Lincoln did not need to live together, even temporarily. It would just confuse things between them even more.

  “I’m not discussing this anymore,” Emerald said, out of patience and growing upset. She didn’t know why she suddenly wanted to cry but she really did. Maybe because it would be so nice to lean on someone, especially Lincoln. It would be so easy to let him protect her. But that’s not who she was.

  “I’m going to take a shower. It’s been a long day.” She hurried to the bathroom, expecting them all to protest. At the very least, she thought Robyn would try to stop her. But they stood quietly behind her, not saying a thing.

  She closed the bathroom door and turned the lock, not wanting to face anyone again until she’d calmed down. She turned on the spray of the shower and adjusted the enormous showerhead before she began to undress. The tears were already dripping down her cheeks before she’d even stepped under the water.

  “I’m going to hire a private investigator,” Linc said. They were sitting in the living room and Robyn was wringing her hands.

  Devin nodded. “That’s a good idea. If she won’t get the police involved, this is the next best thing. Get some evidence of who it is right away.”

  “I think she might need a security guard too,” Linc said, surprised that he’d said it out loud.

  “She’ll never go for that,” Robyn told him.

  “She doesn’t have to know.”

  Robyn was shaking her head. “It’s a bad idea. If she finds out, she’ll be pissed…”

  “But what if someone is after her? And she lives in that damn building that doesn’t even have a simple lock on the front door.” Linc didn’t bother to hide his frustration.

  “So far they haven’t tried to hurt her. It seems they just wanted to scare her for some reason.” Robyn sighed.

  “But you don’t know that.”

  “You don’t either,” Robyn said, frowning at him. “She’s my best friend. I know what’s best for her.”

  In all the years Linc had known Robyn, he’d never wanted to curse her out until that very second.

  “Fuck!” He muttered.

  “She’s right,” Devin said, slapping Linc on his back. “We can explain away a private investigator trying to find out who slashed her tires. But to have someone shadowing her without her knowledge...that’s going to do more harm than good.”

  “You two are certifiable.” Linc barked.

  “In case you can’t tell,” Robyn said sarcastically, “Emmy is very independent. If you’re set on hiring a body guard, you’d better tell her. Because if you do it behind her back and she finds out about it, she’s going to be very mad. And the girl can hold a grudge. So think before you do something you’ll regret.”

  Linc leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes, feeling helpless. He wanted to punch something. Or someone.

  “Damn,” Devin said, actually laughing. Linc opened his eyes, glowering. “I never thought I’d see the day when you’d care this much about a woman.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” Linc stood up. “This isn’t funny.”

  Robyn looked back and forth between them. Devin kept laughing.

  “I’m going to my office to make some calls,” Linc said, ignoring him. “The pizza should be here soon. It’s already been paid for. William will call when the delivery guy is here.”

  As he walked down the hall to his office, Devin continued to laugh. Linc went into his office and slammed the door shut.

  A couple of days later, Emerald woke up alone in her own bed, relieved to get a chance to sleep in but feeling lonely. It was Christmas but there was no sign of Christmas in her little studio apartment. She’d taken gifts to Robyn and Olivia the day before when she’d gotten off work and received
a lovely cashmere sweater from Robyn and Devin. The only presents she still had were for her father and SM3, and they weren’t even wrapped. She’d dropped them into gift bags.

  She imagined Lincoln waking up with his family and having Christmas breakfast. She and her father had never had a Christmas tradition. They’d always gotten up at whatever time, assuming he was off from whatever job he had, and eaten anything for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

  Once in a while he’d buy a turkey and she’d bake it but there had been times that they’d had sandwiches or pizza for dinner. Sometimes there was a stepmother or girlfriend to share the meal with them and other times they’d eat alone or not at all.

  Shawn didn’t have many family members. The few that Emerald knew about lived in the south. She’d never known her mother’s family. Her father had once explained that once her mother died, they’d cut all ties with him and hadn’t cared about baby Emerald.

  The previous Christmas had been their first with Samantha. Emerald had cooked a turkey and made a couple of things to go with it. They’d eaten ice cream for dessert. Emerald expected a much bigger affair this year, since some of her father’s in-laws were going to be there.

  She turned over, wishing that she’d accepted Marjorie Phillips’ invitation to Christmas dinner. Every Christmas Eve, various members of the Phillips family and Jamison family gathered at the Phillips home. It was a long running tradition that Emerald had been invited to since childhood.

  There had been a couple of times that she’d stopped by on Christmas evening but she rarely joined them. Whenever she was done with her father, she’d go back home.

  It was nearly eleven and she got out of the bed, stunned that she’d slept that long. She made herself a quick bagel and ate it before taking a shower. She lingered in the shower, knowing that the day would be anything but relaxing. Just thinking about SM3 cooking Christmas dinner was enough to make her uneasy.

  Her phone rang as she began to dress. She adjusted her bra and picked the phone up. It was a text message from Robyn, wishing her a Merry Christmas. She smiled and hit a fast reply then went back to dressing. Although she knew it was freezing cold outside, she put sheer stockings on and dressed in a long-sleeved cream colored scalloped lace dress. It came down to her knees and she put her feet into a pair of her highest heels. She knew that she shouldn’t bother getting dressed up but dressing nicely made her feel good and she needed a pick-me-up.

  She stood at her mirror, undecided over what to do with her hair. She finally did several twists, pulling them all into a ponytail. She decided against makeup, settling on simple clear gloss for her lips. She put all of the food that Samantha had requested into a bag and also packed herself a bag of snacks.

  She put her coat on and grabbed her purse. She felt a little foolish dressed as she was in the arctic-like temperature. Her car took a long time to warm up and her teeth were chattering by the time it did. She blasted the heat and began driving to her father’s house.

  The streets were very empty and she made it to the house in about fifteen minutes. Parking was a whole other matter. After driving around several times, she was forced to double-park the car. She’d take SM3 the bag of food she’d asked for and then go back to looking for a spot.

  She could hear the laughter and yelling before she even knocked on the door. A man she didn’t recognize opened the door. He was thin and at least a foot taller than her with creamy brown skin and dark brown eyes.

  “Hey,” He said, stepping back so that she could enter. “You must be Shawn’s daughter.”

  “Emerald,” She said, sticking out her hand for him to shake. He surprised her by kissing the back of her hand instead. Shivering from the cold she gave him a quick smile before turning to everyone. There were about a dozen people and the only one she knew was her father.

  He jumped up from his spot on the end of the couch and gave her a hug.

  “Hi, baby,” He said as they hugged. “Take your coat off; let me introduce you around.”

  “I’m Deon,” the man who’d let her in said, standing very close to them. “I’m Samantha’s nephew.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Emerald said politely. “Where is Samantha? I need to give her this stuff. I couldn’t find a parking spot, Daddy. I have to go back out and try again.”

  “I’ll take it to her.” Shawn took the bag. “She’s in the kitchen with her mother.”

  Emerald became aware that everyone was looking at them and some of the conversations had stopped. She was used to being stared at. As a reasonably good looking woman, it had happened often. What she didn’t like were the frowns that a couple of the women gave her.

  She waved and told her father, “I’ll be back soon. I can’t leave my car double-parked.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Deon said, already reaching for a coat.

  “You don’t have to,” Emerald began to say although her father was grinning as if he liked the idea.

  “Damn, D,” A male voice teased. “Don’t hurt yourself now.”

  Deon sneered at someone behind her and put his coat on.

  “Be back.” Emerald walked out of the door with Deon behind her. They quietly got into her jeep and she shivered in her coat as she turned the key in the ignition.

  “Shawn has been telling us a lot about you,” Deon said conversationally.

  “Oh, really?” She feigned interest in what her father had said about her. The truth was, she didn’t care what her father had said about her or what anyone thought about her.

  “He said you work for 50G, the gaming company.”

  “Yeah, I do.” She turned the corner.

  “That must be cool.”

  “I’m not a designer or anything important like that,” Emerald said, frowning at a car that was just pulling into a space. She’d just missed it.

  “So what do you do there?”

  “Receptionist.”

  “I work at Kent & Sayers,” He said as if she’d asked.

  “The publishing company?” She inquired, not because she cared but because she felt it would be rude not to.

  “Yeah,” He replied eagerly.

  She didn’t say anything else. They drove in silence for about a minute and she shook her head, driving further and further away as she looked for a parking spot.

  “I can drop you off,” She offered after she’d gone around a couple of times.

  “Nah, it’s okay.”

  She could already tell that Deon was interested in her. Unfortunately for him, she had zero interest in him. When she wasn’t interested in someone, she usually didn’t hesitate to let them down, sometimes gently but sometimes harshly.

  It was different with Deon. They’d just met and he was a part of Shawn’s extended family, although he might not be for very long. Still, she didn’t want to cause conflict so she’d try to find a way to be nice to Deon when it was time to let him down. Maybe she’d have to tell him point blank about Lincoln, not that she intended to go into any details.

  Just thinking about Lincoln was enough to cause flutters in her stomach. They hadn’t seen each other since very early Christmas Eve morning, when he’d dropped her off at her apartment. She hoped she’d get to see him that night. She didn’t know what time he’d be done with his family. They hadn’t really discussed it.

  She’d wanted to bring it up but after she pushed so hard for her independence and for distance, she hadn’t wanted to give Lincoln the wrong idea. Asking or insinuating that she wanted him to leave his family for her on Christmas would be a huge deal.

  She was so caught up in her thoughts of Lincoln that she almost missed a parking spot. Deon pointed it out to her and she hurriedly backed her Jeep in. She turned off the car and got out then grabbed the other bags out of the back seat.

  “Need some help?” Deon asked, coming around the car to where she was.

  “No, thanks,” Emerald answered, a phony smile on her face. “They’re light.”

  The parking spot was two blocks from her
father’s house and she hurriedly began walking, her legs already stinging from the cold air.

  “Is it always this hard to get parking around here?” Deon asked.

  “No, usually just on holidays.” She answered him without looking at him, trying to convey her disinterest without words. If she was lucky, he’d get the hint before it could become awkward.

  “I have my own house,” He said, as if that was supposed to impress her. “It has a garage.”

  “Hmm.” She did her best to hide her annoyance.

  They were quiet for the rest of the walk to the house and she was so glad to enter the warm house. She forced herself not to let her teeth chatter and hung up her coat.

  “Got a spot?” Shawn asked.

  “Yeah, finally,” Emerald answered. “A couple blocks away.”

  “Don’t you look beautiful,” Shawn said, approaching her and handing her a cup of coffee.

  “Thanks, Dad,” Emerald answered and sipped the coffee gratefully. It was light and sweet, with a ton of cream and sugar. Even the simplest details about her eluded Shawn so she hadn’t expected him to remember that she liked black coffee.

  “Yeah, Shawn,” Deon chimed in smoothly, “You didn’t tell us that Emerald was so beautiful.”

  Someone snickered.

  “Thank you, Deon.” She said before her father led her around the living room to introduce her to Samantha’s family.

  Samantha’s sister and brother-in-law were there, along with their adult three kids. Latrice and Tiffany were the two women who had given Emerald dirty looks earlier. Deon was their brother. The other people were a couple of Samantha’s cousins with their significant others. After greeting everyone, Emerald went with her father to the small kitchen to be introduced to Samantha’s mother.

  Her name was Jean Webb and she was very friendly. Emerald liked her right away and decided to stay in the kitchen. She put her purse and bags, including the gifts, under the sink. Although her father was in the living room he was occupied playing host to everyone and she didn’t want him to have to watch her things. She didn’t know that anyone was a thief but she was always cautious with her belongings.