Hell, she couldn’t let that sway her decision. She wasn’t some kind of ‘lawyer’ prostitute. He’d just have to accept her decision and if he didn’t like it, he could walk.
“Well? What do you say?”
Eager much?
“I’m sorry, Joseph, but I can’t go out with you. I can’t go out with anyone right now. I’m a bit messed up. You heard the story the other day. It’s just not the right time.”
Joseph wilted back into the couch cushions and drank deeply from his wine, disappointment radiating off him in waves.
“I’m really sorry. We can still be friends, if that’s okay.”
“I used to date Chastity,” he blurted it out like she was the priest and her couch was a confessional.
“Oh my God. What?!” That was all she needed. Another tie to Chase, another reason to irritate his family.
“Yeah, we used to date. It didn’t end well. It’s difficult because I still see her a lot, and I’m honestly not a fan of the friend zone.”
Emily finally drank some of the wine and coughed slightly. “How do you still see her?”
Joseph wen the color of bricks. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a frustrating place to be, you know? When you care about someone, you can see a future with them, and they can’t see it with you.”
Emily didn’t let out the low whistle of astonishment which sat behind her two front teeth.
“How did you meet her?”
“Who?” Joseph scratched his lined forehead.
“Chastity. Who else?” This guy was on vibrate. He squirmed around, ready to jump up at a moment’s notice.
“It doesn’t matter. Forget her. She doesn’t matter. That’s all in the past. You don’t have to worry about her getting in the way.”
“God, in the way of what exactly?”
“Well, of us, of course.”
“Joseph, do you hear yourself right now? We met last week. I hardly know you.”
“And that’s exactly why we should get closer. Get to know each other. I sense a special connection, don’t you?”
Emily put the wine glass down on her stained wood coffee table and silenced Joseph’s nattering with a wave. “Joseph, I am not ready for anything. I just told you that.”
“And I made it clear I don’t like the friend zone.”
“Then you’d better leave.” She folded her arms. His mysterious connection with Chastity was enough to put her off. Why was he so sketchy on the details, there?
“Why can’t we just try? I mean, there’s this heat between us. Don’t you feel it?”
“Honestly, I don’t feel anything but confusion and pain these days. You’re a great guy, Joseph, you’re just not the one for me.” There were only so many ways she could let him down. He refused to get the picture.
“I’ll make you feel it.” Joseph whipped his specs off and leaned in, sliding a hand around the back of her neck and bringing his lips in for the kill.
Fuck this.
“Get off me!” Emily shoved him in the chest and he hopped backwards. “In what Universe do you think ‘no’ means ‘yes’?”
“Oh God, I’m such a fool.” Joseph buried his face in his hands, spilling wine onto the white rug she’d bought a few weeks ago as a housewarming gift to herself.
She snatched the glass out of his hand and rammed it down on the coffee table.
“I’m sorry, Joseph, but it is time for you to leave. Now.”
“All right,” he answered, standing and shrugging his shoulders. “I didn’t mean for it to go this way. I wasn’t trying to force you into anything. I really like you, that’s all. But I’ll leave.” He lingered for a moment – hoping she’d relent and ask him to stay? Dream on.
“Thank you. Have a good evening.” She followed him to the door and locked it behind him.
Then she sank to the floor and cried until she had no tears left.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“But if daddy finds out, you’ll get in trouble.” Becci looked from left to right, blonde pigtails bobbing.
“Don’t worry about it, darling. I’ll handle your father. Just be sure not to tell him when you get home, okay?” Emily leaned out of the window and shifted her shades up her nose. She didn’t want any of the teachers at the school recognizing her by some surreal fluke.
She was done hanging around, mooning over Chase and trying to help other people who didn’t want her damn help. Now, she was focused on what she needed: her children.
“Come on kids, quickly now.” She reached back and unlocked the door, and Jared opened it for his sister. She hopped in and he followed after her.
“How are you guys today?”
“Fine,” Jared answered in a typical pre-teen monotone.
“We learned how to draw the kicking ‘k’ today. It was fun. And then, my teacher, Mrs. Ford, she told me that mine were the best in the whole class. It was the best day ever!” Becci rambled on and Emily enjoyed each second of her daughter’s story.
It was as if she’d been in an emotional void without her kids, a drought, and the rains had finally come.
“So what do you guys feel like doing today? How about we go for some ice cream?”
“Yes please,” they answered in unison, as they were wont to do.
She drove them to one of her old haunts which had been around since she was a little girl. Her father had brought her a few times, when her mother was too busy with embroidery or cooking or damn near anything except talking to Emily.
They sat in a booth and giggled together. Emily got chocolate, Jared got rum raisin and Becci insisted on a combination of three flavors: mint, caramel and strawberry.
“I miss you guys. It’s fun to hang out like this.”
“Yeah, pity we’ll never get to hang out anymore,” Jared muttered. He was negative at the best of times, but this was clearly a motivated anecdote.
“Why do you say that?”
“Amanda told us that daddy is going to take out a regaining order,” Becci answered promptly. “It means we won’t be able to see you anymore because you’re not good for us.”
Emily’s heart froze in her chest then turned to molten lava. How fucking dare Amanda discuss this with her children?! As if they didn’t have enough stress already.
“It’s restraining not regaining, Becci.” Jared corrected his sister with a sour grunt.
“Don’t listen to Amanda, you two. She’s not a good source of information. I won’t let that happen and I’m certainly not going to give up fighting for you two.”
Jared perked up a bit at that and took a big bite out of his ice cream. He clutched his head a second later and groaned. “Brain freeze!”
Becci burst out laughing and Emily joined in, but she wasn’t amused. Inside, she seethed with rage at Amanda and Brian. She’d spent too long believing she wasn’t worthy of affection or of having the two people she’d brought into this world.
Losing them was out of the question.
They finished their ice creams and she gave them both a hug. “All right, let me take you guys home.”
“Remember to drop us off around the corner, mom.”
It was the first time Jared had used her ‘title’ and she took a moment to absorb it. “Don’t worry, it’s not my first rodeo.”
The kids were chipper on the drive back to their house. She dropped them around the corner as promised and gave them both a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Remember, you didn’t see me.” Emily winked and drove off, watching them in her rearview mirror until they became specks.
Then she raced around the corner and skidded into a main street. Traffic was lined up around the block, cars honked their horns and people screamed. Emily rapped her knuckles on the steering wheel and twiddled with the dial on the stereo.
Brian Ross was a cancer and it was about time she paid him a personal visit in that office of his. She didn’t have time to waste. She wanted those kids and she’d make it damn clear to him that he had no hope of winning ag
ainst her.
Emily whipped out her phone and sent Joseph a quick text.
Sorry for last night but I stand by what I said. Are you still willing to help me get my kids back?
It was straight forward, but Emily didn’t operate any other way and she didn’t have time for guilt anymore. She had to become the mother and woman who her kids would respect and the courts would believe.
The slow crush of metal inched forward and she took the car out of neutral, edging it forward and giving no quarter to any cars trying to cut the line.
Beep, beep.
A text came through and Emily’s breath caught in her throat.
I’m sorry too. And yes I will help you. In a meeting now, call you about it tomorrow.
Emily’s confidence exploded. He really would back her and she’d reward him with friendship and thanks, as it should be. She was worth it.
Brian Ross, however, was not.
The traffic jam cleared and Emily drove to Brian’s office building and parked. She marched into the elevator, pressed the button for the third floor and waited. Five minutes later she was outside his office door. There were voices inside, but she couldn’t quite make out the words.
That didn’t stop her.
She knocked once and entered.
“Emily, to what do we owe this pleasure?” Brian asked, a fake smile plastered on his narcissistic face. God she despised him.
She glanced to the left and sighed. Chase was there.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Hi,” she said, half-raising her hand to Chase.
He stared her down. “I see it’s your habit to interrupt business meetings without scheduling appointments.”
“I came to see Brian about my children,” she snapped and Chase pushed back in his chair. “Not everything is about you, Newman.”
“That’s a relief,” he hit right back and she ignored him. He’d come to a meeting with Brian regardless of her warnings. He had no respect for her opinions or his own life for that matter.
Emily was tired of trying to protect him.
“I have nothing to discuss with you, Emily.” Brian shook his head and shifted behind the long walnut desk. He had a name plate, a half-empty in tray and a full out tray, as well as a pen holder. Each item was arranged on the desk in Brian’s meticulous style. Brian was a perfectionist at work and at home, but it sure didn’t translate into his personality.
“I disagree.” Emily took one of the free plushy chair and sat down without an invitation.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave, before I call security to remove you.” Brian placed a finger on the intercom button.
“Fine,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air, “go for it Brian. But guess what? I’ll just come to talk to you at your house. One way or another, you will hear what I have to say. So why don’t we get it out of the way now?’
Brian’s nostrils flared but he didn’t press that button. He broke focus and checked on Chase for a moment. It was the sign of weakness she needed: Mr. Ross didn’t like ‘messy’ affairs or loose strings, and Chase’s presence was exactly that.
“Great. I understand your wife has been discussing custody and other issues with my children. I want that to stop immediately. It’s stressing them out and they don’t need it, given that they already have to live with a homicidal maniac such as yourself.”
“Don’t push me, girly.” He warned, raising that finger and waving it under her nose.
“I think there’s an amicable way to resolve this and I want that, rather than a legal fight. Which, I assure you, I will win.” Emily told him with confidence she didn’t have. She had no idea if Joseph was anything other than a strange stalker who’d dated Chase’s sister.
She glanced over at him and he met her gaze, totally blank. There wasn’t emotion in him when it came to her. That wasn’t necessarily true. Maybe there was hate.
“I have nothing amicable to say to you. I have proof of your interference at the house. It’s all caught on camera. You harassing Amanda continuously, attempted breaking and entering. You broke my camera.”
“Poor you.” Emily sighed and calmed herself. She had to practice patience with this man. “Look, I have a good job at a reputable studio, the most reputable actually, and I can support the children. I have the means and I have the will to care for them. And I have the right too. All I’m asking for is joint custody. That’s my deal. If you say no, I’ll fight tooth and nail for full. And I promise you, Brian, I will win.”
He straightened his forest green tie and smoothed his black jacket. “That’s cute. But you’re not a fit mother. You had an addiction, you were a stripper, you have a healthy disregard for the law as we’ve established. And, oh yes, what was the other thing?” Brian gave a low chuckle. “You’re a murderer.”
Emily looked at Chase again, but this time he stared straight ahead, a patchwork of red creeping up his neck. That had to be anger, but what could she do? She’d wanted to be with him, to live and breathe with him, but he’d rejected her without hearing anything she had to say.
He didn’t care.
So, she wouldn’t either. She deserved better. She deserved love and affection, didn’t she?
Fuck it. Hell yes she did.
“If you want a fight, Brian, you’ll get one.” She stood abruptly and he studied her with a snarl.
She moved from the desk, determined to leave and go home to prepare for that very fight.
But she caught Chase’s expression from the corner of her eye. That caring and need was there, and she flashed back to the night in El Paso, when he’d held her close and told her they belonged together.
When she’d been the one saying no and he’d practically begged for it.
Now, there was an abyss between them, filled with unsaid words and broken emotions. There wasn’t a thing she could do to fill it.
“Chase, my kids will always come first.”
His brow wrinkled and he shrugged at her, moving those muscles beneath his white cotton shirt, open at the neck as he loved to wear it.
“But I still love you.” It wasn’t a plea anymore. She just had to let him know that after the rejection, the pain and everything which had gone down between them, it was there. That candle burned, hoping in the dead of the night when there was no hope.
There wasn’t grace to save her and his arms would never hold her again, but he had to know.
He had to know.
Chase’s expression shuttered again, becoming the blank canvas which he used to restrict her from access to his life.
The message was clear. He didn’t love her back. Or he didn’t want to. Or it didn’t make a difference to him. Man, she needed a fucking drink.
Emily walked to the door, then paused and turned back to Brian this time. “Last chance, Ross. Let’s deal with this amicably. Things will get ugly after this.”
Brian threw back his head and let out a mighty roar of laughter.
“I look forward to it.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Emily stared at the document on the coffee table in her living room and breathed through her nose. Worst had finally come to worst. Brian had thrown down the gauntlet, but it’d come down like the axe of a guillotine instead.
This was the beginning of it all and she didn’t know who to talk to about it.
Joseph was unavailable. He hadn’t called her back as he’d promised and when she’d tried his office number, his secretary had told her that Mr. Cunningham was far too busy in a meeting for personal calls.
Emily stumbled to the kitchen, brought down the half-finished bottle of red wine and went back to the living room. She didn’t bother with a glass, but sat it down in front of her and brought out her cell phone instead.
She stared at its screen, glugged back wine, then dialed the number and lifted the phone to her ear.
It rang.
“Sunny Oaks, whaddaya want?” The receptionist at the old age home answered the phone with her usual aplomb.
“I’d like to speak to Mrs. McDonald, please.”
“It’s dinner. Call back in fifteen.” The woman hung up on her. She actually fucking hung up.
Somebody was about to get an ass whipping.
Emily called back.
“Sunny Oaks, whaddaya want?”
“Hi, me again,” she sang into the phone, “I wonder if you’d do me the extreme honor of putting Mrs. McDonald on the phone, before I call your supervisor directly and get you fired, you stupid fucking cow.”
Miss Gum Chewing Airhead took a second to process.
“They’re at dinner.”
“I don’t care if they’re at tea with the Queen. Put me through to her room. Now.”
The waiting tune sang through the receiver and Emily let out a wry smile and drank more wine, then grimaced at the dryness of it. She squinted at the label, but she couldn’t make out what it said, so she gave it up for a bad job.
“Yes?” Mama answered with her usual aplomb as well.
“Hi mom, it’s Emily,” she said, and sipped some more. “How are you?”
“It doesn’t matter, apparently.” Mama wheezed and spluttered on the other end, and Emily grimaced. She hadn’t been to visit in a while and things sounded worse. That familiar ‘Mama’ brand of guilt assaulted her mind.
“I just received an alarming document from a policeman,” Emily informed her in a professional tone. She wanted to protect herself from her mother’s anger or disdain, but it was probably a bad job too.
“Huh? Get to the point girl, I’ve got a delicious pork chop waiting for me. No, Dorothy, that was sarcasm.” She aimed the last bit at a nurse, no doubt.
“Brian’s taken out a restraining order against me.”
“Oh yes, he mentioned that a few days ago.”
“He called you?!” There were too many people involved in this. It was too complicated. Brian was everywhere, like a cartoon or a horror movie. Wherever she turned, surprise, Brian was there.
Mama had collapsed into a coughing fit, but she emerged with another precious sentiment, “Of course not. Brian never calls, he always visits in person.”
Never Say Never, Part Three (Second Chance Romance, Book 3) Page 5
