Healed (14 page)

That night, after my mom and her mom had gone home, I walked into the bedroom where Emily was getting ready for the party.

“Are you sure you want to go? I mean, I don’t mind if you’d rather stay home.” It seemed low, but I was going to do everything I could to keep her from listening to the shit they would dish out—even if I had to go by myself and make excuses for her. I just had a feeling that whatever stupid pranks my frat brothers would pull would send her into a tizzy. They wouldn’t bother me in the least—I’d seen most of them at this point—but little things like that just set Emily off sometimes.

“Yes, I’m sure. It can’t be that bad.”

“Oh yes it can. I’ve told you some of the stories and trust me when I tell you, I wasn’t keeping anything from you.”

“Yeah, it sounds more like you’d rather not spend the night with me there.” The rigid stiffness of her spine was all I needed to see. She was getting pissed and upset at the same time.

Walking over to where she was standing in front of the mirror, I touched her shoulders, turning her around to face me. The cleavage peeking out of her blue top was enough to send any man to his knees. I knew I didn’t have to worry about anything happening to Emily. She could most definitely take care of herself. It seemed to be only with me that she was willing to show the sensitive side of her personality, the side she hid from the rest of the world. But it wasn’t just her I was worried about—I didn’t necessarily want my frat brothers to become acquainted with her temper.

“Em, you know that’s not true. I’m just afraid their bullshit antics are going to get you all riled up. They do this stuff for fun—not because they actually mean it.”

“I know, but I want to go.”

My eyebrows lifted to my forehead and waited. I knew her better than that.

“Fine.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to mine. “I promise I will be on my best behavior. Now can we get ready and get out of here?”

With a sigh, I turned and went back out to the living room to wait. When she said “we” needed to get ready, what she really meant was “me.” The slight quivering of my stomach didn’t put me at ease either. No matter what she promised, her temper had a mind of its own. The only thing I was counting on was the fact that Caleb and Angie would be there as well. At least that way, if Emily really lost her shit, Angie would be on hand to help talk her down from the ledge. As much as I loved Emily, her temper could definitely be a problem, although, I had to admit that over the last year of us being together, it was taking her a lot longer to freak-out. But when she did, it wasn’t pretty.

Pacing wasn’t going to help so I sat down on the couch, resting my head on the back. I closed my eyes and tried to hope for the best. Nick came out of his room a few minutes later.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” The couch next to me sunk with his weight.

“Em still thinks it’s a good idea to go tonight.”

“What is she,
crazy
? She does know about all of the bullshit they are going to try and pull tonight, right?” Opening one eye, I looked over at him to see his eyes practically bulging out of his head. Everyone—and I
mean
everyone—knew how Emily could get, and even with that knowledge I had a feeling my frat brothers were still going to screw around. In their minds they were messing with me, not her.

“Yeah, I told her. She seems to think it won’t make her mad.”

“Umm, she gets pissed at less here.” He reached over and clasped my shoulder. “I’m picking Morgan up in a few minutes. Good luck, dude. I think you’re going to need it.”

“Probably. Thanks, man. Have fun tonight.” Groaning, I sat up and watched him walk out the door.

“Yeah, you too.”

“Almost ready,” Emily called down the hall.

Rubbing my hands over my face, I let the sense of dread wash over me for a minute, before plastering a smile on my face. It was what it was. Hopefully their shit wouldn’t get too outrageous.

When Emily came down the hall a few minutes later, I was tempted to suggest that we didn’t go to the party at all, and spend the night all tangled in the sheets together instead, but it wasn’t worth pissing her off again by saying it. The blue strapless top that matched her eyes almost perfectly, combined with the sleek stretch of the mini skirt, showing off the longest, sexiest legs in history, caused desire to rip through my veins, and all I wanted was to tear her out of the clothes.

Taking a step toward her, the smell of her perfume made my head spin. I knew I was never going to tire of the way she looked or smelled—even when we’d been married fifty years. I had to get control of myself.

“Ready?” she asked, a huge smile on her face. Her excitement had been building over the last few weeks, seemingly increased by the wedding planning earlier.

“Yep, let’s go.”

The party was in full swing when we got there. When I pulled up I saw Caleb’s car already parked in front of the house. Surprising really, since Angie was never ready on time. Getting out of the car, I immediately took Emily’s hand in mine, and walked up to the door. The minute it swung open I knew we might be in trouble.

Hanging right on the top of the banister was a banner. A guy in handcuffs was pictured with a ball and chain strapped to his leg. The guy’s face was covered with a picture of mine, while across the ball was written “Emily.”

Slowly, I peeked out of the corner of my eye to see how she reacted. This wasn’t even as bad as it might get. Actually, it was only the beginning. The sight of her eyes rolling heavenward, and the little perk up at the corner of her lips, made me relax a little bit, probably for the first time since I’d gotten up that morning.

“Really? That’s the best they can come up with? If you ask me, it’s pretty lame.”

I spun her to face me, drawing her into my body with one swift tug. Leaning down, I placed a sweet kiss on her lips. “You’re right, it is pretty lame.”

“You’re driving tonight?” she asked.

“For you, anything.” I mocked bowed. “Besides, I have some more work to do tomorrow.”

“I know, we won’t stay long. I just think you need to put in an appearance, especially considering we skipped every party after Lauren got hurt at the end of last year. And they did ask us to come tonight.”

I did need to show up tonight, but I wasn’t going to stay long. Getting drunk at the frat house wasn’t that interesting anymore. Although the rest of the brothers would end up absolutely wasted by the end of the night, many of them were also on the football team. In season, the team almost always stayed sober on the night before a game. We were the school’s favorite designated drivers.

“You’re right, it’s good we came. Now let’s go dance,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the living room where a space had been cleared for a makeshift dance floor. Angie and Caleb were already in the middle of it.

Emily gave Angie a quick wave before heading into the kitchen to get God only knows what to drink, and I was sure she would soon return with a drink for Angie too. When the song ended, Caleb and Angie made their way over to where I was standing, waiting for Emily to come back. It wasn’t long before warm, tiny hands slipped around my waist, a shot glass in each hand.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Angie said, a tinge of laughter in her voice. Emily didn’t even offer Caleb a drink since she knew that he wouldn’t want one. Each of them threw back the shot like a pro. If they were starting out with shots, it wasn’t a good sign. Emily was a very happy drunk. It was just sometimes that happiness meant she spent the night sleeping on the bathroom floor.

Watching Emily as the liquor slid down her throat had me so turned on I couldn’t think straight, although, I doubted it was watching her do the shot—I’d been hard since I saw her walk out of the bedroom. How was I going to make it through the long night ahead of me?

“Nice,” Emily said as they finished the shot and clinked glasses. “Let’s go have another.”

Angie agreed and took Emily’s hand as she led her back into the kitchen

“Hey, man, how’s it going?” Caleb asked, watching the girls walk away. “We’re pretty screwed if they’re starting with shots already, aren’t we?”

“Yep. Me more so than you. The brothers have special plans for tonight.”

“Yeah, I figured when I saw the banner at the top of the staircase.”

This time it was me who rolled my eyes. “That was pretty stupid, but I’m waiting for it to get worse.”

“Worse?”

“Yep, worse.”

“Em will freak.”

“I know. I tried to tell her, but she didn’t listen, so I’m not going to worry about it until something actually happens.” I ran my hand through my hair. “How’s the internship been so far?”

“Great. I like the firm. Not sure if I’d want to stay there after graduation, but I’m learning a ton. What about you?”

“It’s awesome. I hope they want to hire me at the end. I actually have a project due on Monday.”

A few minutes later, Emily and Angie emerged from the kitchen, smiles on their faces, their hands empty. At least they weren’t still drinking. Emily grabbed my hand on the way past, never stopping to tell me where she was taking me. “I wanna dance,” she said. We ended up in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by a bunch of my sweaty frat brothers and, in some cases, their girlfriends too.

There were a few more moments where music filled the air, before the song changed and
Porn Star Dancing
by My Darkest Days came on. Emily turned and ground her ass into my already stiff cock. That didn’t stop me from moving with her. She was sexy as hell and any chance to run my hands all over her, I was going to take.

We continued to move to the music, when all of the noise surrounding us suddenly stopped. Emily was so into the music she didn’t notice . . . at least until she turned around so we could dance face to face.

Emily’s body stiffened in front of me.

“What the fuck?”

Emily

THAT COULDN’T BE WHAT
I was seeing. Maybe it was the couple of shots playing with my head, though, with the way people were staring I seriously doubted it. Heat rushed through my body, causing the blood to pound in my ears. Andrew had warned me about the brothers’ antics, but
this
was nowhere near what he described. He was watching me, eyebrows drawn together in confusion . . . at least until her hand slid across his shoulder blades. Then Andrew spun around, finally noticing the half-naked stripper dancing behind him.

Then there were the brothers, standing around, laughing their asses off at Andrew’s face. If I hadn’t been ready to murder someone, I probably would have found it hilarious too. His eyes were so wide they looked like they could fall out of his head at any moment.

“Uh . . . uh,” he sputtered.

My head snapped in his direction. “Uh . . . uh? That’s all you have to say about the fucking stripper trying to use you as a pole in front of your fiancée?”

The laughter in the room grew, but only from the brothers. My temper was well known on campus and the smart ones started to back away real quick. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angie’s eyes as wide as Andrew’s, Caleb behind her, wincing like he wanted to run as far away from all of this as possible.

The stripper wasn’t even fazed—down to only her underwear at that point. When she stepped up to Andrew and started to practically dance on him, I completely fucking lost it.

“If you lay one goddamn body part on him, you’ll need a new boob job by the time I’m done with you.”

Her eyes went wide as she took a quick step backward.

“Now grab your fucking clothes and get out of my sight,” I yelled, pointing at her shit, scattered all over the floor.

She picked up her stuff. “I need my money,” she squeaked.

I launched myself in her direction but two strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back. One of the brothers, who’d been watching the whole thing with a big ass smile on his face, grabbed the stripper’s arm and yanked her out of the room, and my reach, while I continued to struggle against the person holding me back.

“Em, stop struggling,” Andrew whispered in my ear and pulled me tighter against his chest.

“You better get your fucking hands off of me right now, Andrew Bentley!”

“No.”

“You can’t hold me all night and if you don’t let me go, I’m going to kick your ass
before
I get to your frat brothers.”

“Em, I’m not letting you go to kick anyone’s ass. Caleb!”

The more I struggled, the tighter his hold became. The room was all but empty as Caleb walked up to us, Angie right by his side.

“You’re going to take Em from me and take her ass back to my apartment while I go deal with my
brothers
.”

“Oh hell no! I’m not going anywhere.”

“Andrew, do you think that’s a good idea?” Caleb asked, looking between the two of us.

“Yes.” Caleb didn’t move, still staring at us. “Caleb,” Andrew said with more force.

“Okay, okay. I still think this is a bad idea.”

He had no idea how bad of an idea it was. As soon as I got to the apartment, I was getting my car and I was out of there. How could he do nothing until after the fact? He had plenty of time to put a stop to the bullshit. Instead he stood there stuttering.