Adri opens her front door and stands there with her arms crossed over her chest. Her hair is in a high ponytail and her face is void of makeup. She looks a bit puffy like she's been crying a lot and it makes me feel like a piece of shit. I get off the bike and remove my helmet. She stands up straighter and watches me closely. I love the effect I have on her.
I walk up to her and she doesn't bother to move and let me in. I raise my eyebrow and she raises hers to match.
"Travis texted me and told me you were coming to explain some shit." She says, her voice sounding hoarse.
"You okay?" I reach out and run my finger along her cheek.
"No, I'm not." A tear runs down and onto my finger, "I fucked everything up."
I gather her into my arms and kiss the top of her head, her hair smelling like strawberries, "nah baby, you didn't. Let me in so I can talk to you."
"Just talking, Emmett." She turns and leads me into her house, "I'm already in trouble because of you."
"That wasn't just me, baby girl. You did that, too."
"Yeah well, let's not get into any more trouble."
"We won't." She leads me into her kitchen which is all dark colours and stainless steel appliances and picks up a half drunk bottle of wine. "Looks like I will be taking you to meetings along with Ember."
"She texted me that she was back but I can't stomach talking to her right now." Her bottom lip quivers.
"Don't ignore her for too long, it'll just rile the beast."
"I'll call her later, what are you here for?"
"You have feelings for me, right?" Her brow crinkles and she lifts the wine bottle to her mouth, "okay, let's try this again. I have feelings for you, Adrianna."
"Okay..." her plump mouth turns down into a frown.
"I would like the chance to take you out to see where this can go."
"But Travis..."
"He knows and says we have his blessing."
"So, him and I are over then." More tears run down her cheeks.
"No," I scrub my hand over my face, how the fuck am I going to do this? I decide to conjure Ember and do it her way, "we both want you and right now Travis is not in the right headspace to have a relationship and I want to take care of you. Then later, when he's good and ready to tell you everything maybe we can both have you."
Her mouth has dropped open and her eyes are the size of fucking dinner plates, "what the actual fuck, Emmett?" She yells.
"Uh... too direct?" I raise both hands.
"What? Like my very own harem of guys? Can I just keep adding to it?" She gulps down the wine, "don't you see how that shows how little you guys care?"
"No other guys. Just me and Travis," I look her in the eye, "we both care about you… a lot. Him and I have come to an understanding. Now think about it... do you have feelings for both of us?"
"Yes." She whispers.
"Good." I nod, "so while Travis is getting himself together, I will be wooing you."
"Wooing?" Her brow raises.
"Yeah, taking you out and dating you. Give us a chance to get to know each other, see if we even work."
"God, this all sounds so fucking crazy." She mutters.
"It does, but it can work if we want it to." I nod.
"And you two are just good with sharing a girl?"
"Yeah." She doesn't need to know that she will have to share us too, I'll wait until Travis is ready before I let her in on that.
"I need to think about this." She rests her head on her arms.
"Okay." I get it, it's a lot to take in. The last thing I ever want for her is to think we don't care enough. I want her to feel like she's cared for always. I get up from my chair and place my hand on her hair. "I'll let myself out. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Hey Emmett?" She calls out as I reach her front door. "Tell Travis he needs to call me before I take this any further."
"Yes ma'am." I nod and blow her a kiss. I watch as the blush forms on her cheeks and chuckle as I close her front door behind me.
13
“Hey.” A soft knock lands on my door and I look up to see Ember in the doorway.
“Hey.” I smile at her.
She comes into the room and sits at the bottom of my bed. Her shoulders are hunched forward and her head hangs against her chest. “I need to talk to you about something.” She exhales a heavy breath.
Fuck, did Emmett say something? Am I getting kicked out right now? “Okay.” My voice sounds worried with tension.
“It’s about what I found at your coach’s house.” She turns and looks me in the eye, “I will need complete honesty, Trav.”
“E, I am always honest with you.” I raise a brow.
“Okay,” she nods. “Before I killed him, he was throwing just about everyone in this town under the bus to save his ass.”
“Obviously, he wanted to live.” I shake my head in disgust, “what was he saying?”
“He was telling me about a pretty large group of criminals here in Whitsborough and the shit they are doing is not petty.”
“Really? Did you actually believe him? He knew he was about to die.”
“He gave me proof, Trav.”
“Okay, what is it?” I’m not sure what’s happening right now and I don’t know what proof she got but she’s looking at me like I have two heads. She pulls her hands out of her pockets and shows me an USB. I instantly recognize it as one of my father’s.
“This is what he gave me. It has a lot of information on here and a lot of it is fucking disturbing.”
“That came from my father.” I
