Picking up the Pieces (12 page)

CHAPTER 22

Around noon, I decided I didn’t need a plan, because there was no way Luke was going to come after me. I was just being ridiculous; this wasn’t some movie where I banged a smokin’ hot mafia dude who’d “claimed” me. This was real life, and real men didn’t act that way. I actually managed to convince myself that if I did run into Luke, he would act like nothing happened and we’d go back to the easy frien
dship we’d already established.

I’m a fucking idiot.

At a quarter after twelve, Luke came barging into the diner, determination written all over his face. “We need to talk.
Now
.” He didn’t even slow down as he pushed past me and headed in the direction of the office.

Savannah, Stacia, and Lizzy were sitting at a table off in the corner, and when I turned to look at them, they all had startled expressions on their faces. Savannah had already spilled the beans about mine and Luke’s little bedroom adventures. I turned and started towards the office like a dead man walking. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, my friends jumped up and followed after me.

I tried to close the door before they reached it, but the three of them pushed their way into the office behind me. Lizzy shut the door, and they stared between me and Luke.

“Can we not do this here?” I asked.

He took a step toward me. I would have backed up if it wasn’t for my soon-to-be-ex friends standing behind me. “If you didn’t want to do this here, then you shouldn’t have snuck out of my bed in the middle of the fuckin’ night.” He never raised his voice, but each word that came out of his mouth was scary.

“I told you it was late and I needed to go home,” I whispered.

“And I specifically remember making it clear that wasn’t gonna happen.”

“Oh shit,” Savannah whispered from behind me. She knew his misogynistic attitude would set me off… and she was right.

“And I clearly remember saying you can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do. I didn’t want to stay the night in your sorry-ass excuse for a bachelor pad, so I didn’t. Do
not
mistake one night of good sex for something else, Lucas.”

He got in my face as he hissed his next words. “It was one night of fuckin’ amazing sex… that will be happening again. Trust that. You wanna try and hold on to the anger from the past to keep me at a distance, you go right ahead. But I’ve already set my mind on making things right, and once I set my mind on something, there’s no changing it. You’re mine, Em. You became mine when you gave yourself to me eight years ago, and you’ve been mine every day since. I will
not
lose you again. I’m going to get you to forgive me and
I will
earn your trust back. No matter how long it takes.”

He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me to him. There was nothing soft about the kiss. It felt like he was claiming me right there in front of my friends. When he finally pulled back, I was out of breath and unsteady on my feet. By the time I was able to open my eyes, he’d already walked out the door.

“That was so hot!” Lizzy exclaimed. “You’re so right, Van. I totally just came.”

I hated my friends.

“You’re all banned… for a week!”

“What?!”

“Oh, come on!”

“Noooooo.”

All three of them started whining and complaining almost instantly.

“And no pie for two weeks. You bitches don’t deserve my pie.” I turned and headed out of the office and towards the front of the diner, the girls hot on my heels.

“You can’t do that,” Savannah whined. “You know I depend on that pie as a replacement for all the sex I’m
not
having.”

“Y’all were no help at all back there, at all!”

“Well, what did you want us to do? He got all possessive and sexy, and we just got sucked into the moment.” This came from Stacia. I cut my eyes in her direction.

“You’re lucky it’s only for a few weeks. I could ban y’all for a month. You’re lucky I like you, now get outta my diner.”

Savannah stuck her bottom lip out as they headed to the door. “You suck and we aren’t friends anymore.”

I went back to serving my customers and silently freaking out. I had no clue what I was going to do about the whole Luke thing. He’d made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t taking no for an answer, and while part of me wanted to continue to fight the attraction that was between us, the other part of me wanted to give in and see where things could go. But I just didn’t know if that was a risk I could take. I’d nearly been destroyed the first time around. Was I going to be able to handle it if it went bad again? I didn’t have an answer to that question.

***

LUKE

My day had started with so much potential. All of that went down the toilet the minute I rolled over and discovered that I was in my bed, alone, with nothing but the smell of Emmy on my sheets. After searching the apartment and coming up empty, I glanced out the window and saw that her car was gone. “Goddamn it!” Rushing back to my bedroom, I threw on clothes and started for the door when Trevor came walking in.

“Whoa, where’s the fire, man?”

“Move outta my way.” I tried to shove past him, but his hand clamped down on my arm in a vice grip.

“What’s going on, Luke? I’ve never seen you this pissed. Tell me what happened.”

I raked my hands through my hair and stared up at the ceiling. “I swear to Christ. When I find her, I’m gonna cuff her to the goddamned bed
after
I put her over my knee.”

“Uh… What the fuck are you talking about?”

I told Trevor about the night before, getting more and more pissed as I thought of her sneaking out of my place before the sun even came up.

“Okay, you just need to breathe, brother. You can’t go after her until you calm the hell down.”

“Fuck that. Now move.” I pushed him hard, but he stepped back in front of me.

“I’m serious, Luke. If you go after her now, when you’re this pissed, you’re gonna end up saying something you can’t take back. You need to get your shit straight first.”

It was a sad day when Trevor was the voice of reason. I sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to calm my nerves. “Fuck, you’re right. I’d likely wring her neck if I saw her right now.”

Things didn’t improve any as the day dragged on. I finally felt calm enough to confront Emmy a little after lunch, but that didn’t exactly go like I was hoping. Everything about her demeanor screamed that she was going to fight me at every turn. I spent the rest of my shift in a foul mood, lashing out at everyone who crossed my path.

By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was have a few beers and watch the football game on TV. When Jeremy called me earlier to tell me their band was playing at Colt’s, I really didn’t want to go, but when he said
everyone
was coming to the show, there was no way I was passing that up. I could only hope my mood improved before I saw her again.

CHAPTER 23

EMERSON

Walking into Colt’s in my “I’m a groupie and proud of it” t-shirt, I had a sense of dread at seeing Luke again. Trying to convince myself that I didn’t want him was no longer an issue. It wasn’t just a physical craving that I felt for him. It was an all-encompassing
need
to be with him. I had stupidly dropped all guards and had fallen in love with the asshole all over again.

“Stop it,” Lizzy hissed at me. “You look like you’re waiting to be executed.” I knew she was just kidding, but that’s how I felt. It was like the countdown had started on how long it would take for him to break my heart all over again. I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s night, so I tried to make light of what Lizzy said.

“Shut up.” I gave her a playful shove. “I still don’t like you.”

“Whatever. Your pie’s not that great anyway.”

I leaned back and gasped. “Take that back.”

Lizzy looked at me with a smug grin. “No.”

“Take it back right this minute, or I’m gonna un-friend you on Facebook. And you know that shit’s legit.”

It was her turn to feign terror. “You wouldn’t.”

“Just watch me.” I pulled the phone out of the back pocket of my skinny jeans, brought up my Facebook app and held my finger over delete.

Savannah and Stacia picked that moment to walk up to us. “What’s happening right now?” Stacia asked. “This looks intense.”

Neither Lizzy nor I broke eye contact. “This bitch is threatening to un-friend me.”

“What? Why?!” In Stacia’s world, being un-friended was one of the worst things that could ever happen.

“She said my pie wasn’t that great.”

Both Savannah and Stacia took a step back. “Them’s fightin’ words, Lizzy,” Savannah told her.

I started to count down. “Five… four… three…”

“Alright, alright! I take it back. You’ve got the best pie in all the land.”

Stacia let out a relieved sigh at Lizzy’s surrender.

“Damn straight I do,” I said with a triumphant smile.

“Now that that’s over with, can we please get up to the stage so I can see my man play?”

I turned to Stacia and laughed. “Did you bring your panties this time?”

“Damn it,” she said as she stomped her foot. “I knew I forgot something.”

The four of us laughed as we made our way to our coveted spot at the front of the stage. As the night wore on and Luke didn’t show, I slowly started to relax. The four of us drank, danced, and sang along to what the guys were playing. I was in the middle of some serious ass shaking as they played The Ataris version of “
The Boys of Summer
,
” when I felt a pair of hands snake around my hips. “Jesus Christ, baby, do you have any clue how fuckin’ good you look when you dance?”

My brain instantly malfunctioned as Luke whispered in my ear. It felt so damn good to have him wrapped around me.

I started to pull away, but he grabbed my shoulders and spun me around so that I was facing him. “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked as he slid his hands over my ass.

“What’s it look like I’m doing?” he said in my ear as he traced his tongue along the sensitive cord of my neck. “I’m dancing with my girl.”

“I’m not your girl,” I mumbled weakly. I might have said the words, but nothing about my body language backed them up. I latched on to the front of his blue button-down as he slid his thigh between my legs.
God
, everything about that man felt good.

“In a few minutes, I bet I can get you singing a different tune.”

In a few minutes, I was going to be a big puddle of goo on the dance floor. “Luke,” I tried to protest.

He brushed his lips gently against mine to silence me. “Just dance with me, baby girl. I just need to feel you in my arms.”

How could I say no to that? We spent several songs wrapped up in each other. Even though my brain’s initial reaction was to fight it, I couldn’t get past the sense that it seemed
right
just to be held by him.

“Do you know how much I missed you?” he asked me as we swayed to one of the slower songs.

I buried my face in his neck to hide the tears. “Then why’d you leave?” My voice broke at the end of the sentence, and Luke ran his fingers through my hair in a calming gesture.

“Because I was stupid,” he stated matter-of-factly. “I loved you so damn much, but I thought I was no good for you. I really did think I was doing the right thing for you, Emmy.”

I pulled out of his neck and stared up at him in shock. “You loved me?”

He smiled down at me as he trailed his fingers down my cheek. “I still do, baby girl. You’re the only reason I came back.”

I shook my head in disbelief as more tears fell. Luke wiped them away and pressed his lips to mine. I didn’t bother pushing him away. I wanted the kiss as much as he did, and I was done denying it.

We stayed that way until someone cleared their throat from behind us. I pulled back and looked over my shoulder to see all my girlfriends and Trevor staring. Savannah looked a little concerned but the rest of them all had shit-eating grins on their faces, Trevor included. He could be such a chick sometimes.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Trevor said with a chuckle, proving he wasn’t sorry at all. “But we’re heading to the bar. Y’all feel like joining, or you gonna stand here and suck face longer?”

Luke took my hand and started leading me to the bar with the others. “You want a place to live?” he asked Trevor as we walked.

“Just feelin’ the love, man. That’s all.”

“Feel it silently.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the interaction between Luke and Trev. At times, they seemed like an old married couple.

We got to the bar, and I glanced over to Savannah. It wasn’t lost on me that she was being unnaturally quiet. I started to pull away from Luke but his hand tightened on mine. I looked up and saw the question in his eyes. “I’m just going to talk to Savannah.” He gave me a smile and let go, but not before delivering a bone-melting kiss.

When he finally released me and my legs started cooperating again, I made my way over to her. “Hey, sweetie. What’s on your mind?”

She plastered on a fake smile. “Once I get a beer, not a damn thing.”

“You really want me to call you on that lie?”

“No,” she said on a sigh. “Look, I’m really trying to be supportive of this whole Luke and you kissing thing. I just can’t help but worry, you know?”

I gave her a big hug. “I know babe, believe me. But I tried ignoring what’s happening between me and Luke, and it just didn’t work.”

She squeezed me back tightly. “I know, Emmy. And I’m happy if you’re happy.”

I gave that statement some thought. “You know, I am.”

We talked for a few more minutes before her smile dropped and her happy demeanor turned vicious. “Can we have just one night without that walking STD ruining it?”

I turned to see what she was talking about and saw Allison draped over the front of Luke and Trevor looking a little scared. In Luke’s defense, it appeared that he was trying his hardest to detach her talons before I noticed.

“Seriously? You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled before calling out. “Hey Luke, you’ve got a little bit of trash stuck to the front of your shirt.”

I caught Luke’s lips quirk up and Trevor choked on his beer then busted out laughing. Allison wrinkled her nose at me and turned away.

Lizzy joined in on the fun. “You might want to get your hands off her man before she breaks your fingers,” she told Allison as I walked up next to Luke and slipped my arm through his.

“Her man? You have
got
to be joking. Luke, please tell me you have better taste than that.”

Luke removed her hands from his shirt and stepped into me. “You need to move along, Allison.”

“Oh my God. I guess there’s no accounting for taste,” she said in my direction. “Luke, when you’re done slumming, you have my number.”

She started to turn away but I just couldn’t help myself. “You know Allison, if you quit doing your makeup like a two-dollar crack whore, maybe guys would quit banging you doggy style and actually look you in the eye.”

Allison turned around slowly and cut her eyes at me. “Oh, that’s hilarious coming from you.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up on ends. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“At least I’m not so pathetic that I’d purposely get pregnant to try and trap a man into a relationship.”

All of the blood drained from my face and I couldn’t move as Luke looked at me wide-eyed. “What the fuck is she talking about, Emmy?”

“BITCH! You did
not
just say that!” Savannah dove for Allison before anyone could react, punching her in the face. The two of them hit the ground in a pile of hair and flailing limbs. Allison shrieked as Savannah connected with her jaw.

My legs finally started working again and I ran for the door. I knew Luke wasn’t far behind but I had to get out.

“Emmy! EMMY!” Luke shouted as he ran after me. He latched onto my elbow and spun me around. “What the FUCK is she talking about?!”

I couldn’t form a sentence as Luke stared down at me, seething with anger. I tried pulling my arm away but his grip just tightened, causing me to wince in pain.

“Let her go, Luke. Right now.” I was so out of it that I didn’t even notice all of my friends following us out of the bar. Brett came up next to me and tried to get Luke’s attention. “I’m serious, man. Let her go.”

“Luke, come on buddy.” Trevor was standing behind him trying to coax him down, but Luke wasn’t having any of it.

“Who got you pregnant, Emmy?” His hushed tone scared me more than when he was yelling. “Answer me!”

“I said back off!” Brett shouted.

“This is none of your fucking business, Brett. This is between me and Emmy.”

“Not when you’re yelling at her like this, man. Just calm down.”

Luke looked at Brett then back at me. “Fuck calm! Who got you pregnant, Emmy?”

I tried to speak past the lump in my throat. “You did,” I whispered.

Luke took a step back like I’d slapped him. “Where’s my kid, Emerson?”

That caused a sob to break from my chest. Savannah must have finished her fight with Allison at some point, because at that moment, she stepped up next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Luke, you need to relax, okay? This is not the time for this conversation.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “Not the time?
Not the time?!
Are you fucking kidding me? I just found out she had my kid, and I never fuckin’ knew it! Where the fuck is my kid, Emmy? Did you get rid of it?”

All the fear I previously felt left my body and was replaced with cold numbness. The fact that he could accuse me of getting rid of my child told me exactly the kind of guy he really was. He hadn’t changed at all; he was still as much an asshole now as he was then.

“Stand down, Luke, before I knock you on your fuckin’ ass.” Brett might not have been as tall as Luke, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in bulk.

“Did you get rid of my kid, Emerson? Just pawn it off on someone else? I swear to Christ, if you gave my child up without my permission, I’m taking your ass to court.”

That was it. Brett’s patience snapped with that one statement. The only sounds were those of flesh hitting flesh and the grunts coming from Luke and Brett as they went at each other. I just stood there watching as two of the people I’d known my whole life beat the hell out of each other. I vaguely recall the screams of my friends begging them to stop as I stared at the destruction in front of me.

Trevor and Jeremy finally pushed their way in, and pulled the two of them away from each other. Brett was sporting a busted lip and Luke had a nasty looking gash through his left eyebrow. Both of them had bruises that were swelling up all over their faces.

“Calm down!” Gavin yelled, trying to get the two men to stop lunging at one another.

“I’m gonna kill you, you motherfucker!” Brett shouted. “Don’t you
ever
talk about her like that. Do you hear me?!”

Luke struggled against Trevor with everything he was worth. “What the hell do you expect me to think, Brett?! I get back after eight years, and find out she had my kid and I never knew.”

Brett stopped fighting against Jeremy, and I could see his grip loosening. “Whose fault is that, asshole? You never picked up your phone or answered any emails from any of us. You wanna know where your kid is, visit Cloverleaf Cemetery.”

“Brett,” Savannah said with a whisper. “No.”

Everyone around me froze, including Luke. “What?” he asked as all the fight drained out of him.

“You threw out accusations without even stopping to think about what that girl suffered after you up and abandoned her. You don’t deserve her forgiveness, but she gave it to you anyway, and you repay her like this? That baby was the only thing that got her through you leaving, and once she lost it, we were all certain we’d lose her too.

“You never should have come back. You’re fuckin’ toxic.” With that, Brett turned and walked away.