Freedom (35 page)

“I’ll be okay. Thanks for coming, although it really wasn’t necessary for you to babysit me.”

“Well, Imogene and I haven’t gotten to spend any time with you since you moved here and I feel bad about that. We’ve been so focused on our jewelry business and covering shifts at the diner, we never really made any time for you.”

“I was busy with my new job, too.”

“And Dylan, right?” she sighs. “I’ve known him forever, and I would have never fixed you two up. I didn’t even think he’d be your type—definitely not the way he used to be—but you two really hit it off, didn’t you?”

“You could say that.” A warm smile blooms across my face thinking about Dylan.

“Oh, God,” Lauren says, seeing me flush. “You’re in love with him.”

“Yes.”

“And, he feels the same?”

“Yes, it’s mutual, but we haven’t really gone there because we’ve had a few hiccups along the way. Aside from my father’s dirty dealings and Robert showing up, I didn’t know about Dylan and Jess until the dinner at Carson’s house. You forgot to tell me that part, Lauren.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m not good at keeping track of my gossip, and I never thought you’d be hooking up with Dylan. Maybe it’s a good thing I forgot to tell you about Jess because, if you had known, you wouldn’t be with Dylan now. Right?”

“Nice save.” I give her another hug, and she wraps her skinny arms around me.

“So, is this going to work out, having to see your boss’s wife at every family and social function?”

“I really like Dylan. I’m trying not to think about him and Jess, and he insists they were never in love, and it was nothing.”

“You
like
him?” Lauren scoffs. “You love Dylan. No woman would live in this dump with that stinky couch and those stupid weights in the living room if she weren’t totally gaga over the guy. And Dylan’s right. Jess was always mooning over Carson. It just took a while for those two to get their act together. Forget about what happened between them last summer. Dylan is crazy about you. I can’t believe what you two have gone through already, either. Most guys would feel threatened by Robert showing up. Not Dylan. Cooper told us about the fight and Dylan tackling Robert. Good thing no one got arrested.”

“Well…”

“Oops,” Lauren covers her mouth. “I’m sorry. I meant other than your dad. This whole thing sucks, and I haven’t been a very good friend when it comes to your relationship with Robert, but I’m here for you now. And I guarantee I’m going to scream at Leo and Dylan about fixing this dump up. Dylan needs to at least bring in some new furniture. He’s got a lady living here, not Sasquatch.”

I laugh.

“Okay, I have to get to the diner, but we’re going to have you over for a girls’ night soon. You, me and Imogene.”

I walk Lauren out to her rusty, little car and watch her drive off. Before I turn to go back towards the house, another car comes from the other direction. I don’t recognize it, but it pulls into the dirt driveway that leads up to the house. As it gets closer, I see Robert at the wheel. He parks the car behind Dylan’s Jeep and gets out wearing jeans and a leather jacket. He pulls off his sunglasses as he walks towards me.

“Robert,” I struggle to say.

His face is badly bruised from the beating he took from Dylan. He still radiates a special handsomeness, yet I can see the weathered exhaustion under his façade.

“Emma,” he says my name with a relieved happiness, the way a boy named Robby once did. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay. You must be devastated about your father.”

“I’m doing okay.” I reach out to touch one of the purple bruises on his cheek and then think better of it and pull my hand back.

“I don’t want you to hate me and think badly of me for the rest of your life.”

“I don’t. I think badly of our fathers,” I say somberly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of movement. It’s Dylan running up the driveway, barreling towards us like a running machine. He is bare-chested with his t-shirt draped around his neck and his thick, muscular hamstrings are pumping ferociously as he picks up speed, running straight for Robert, his eyes ablaze with anger. My first instinct is to move Robert out of the way—he hasn’t even noticed Dylan.

I reach out my hand to Robert’s arm, and in a scene that unfolds before my eyes in slow motion, I watch as Dylan throws his two hundred pound plus body down on Robert. As their bodies collide to the ground and skid across the gravel-strewn dirt, I hear Robert grunt in pain and see his Glock fall from the inside of his jacket.

“I told you to stay the fuck away from her!” Dylan shouts as he yanks Robert’s hands behind his back into an arm lock.

I run over to pick up the gun, and just because I am pissed that these two are fighting again, I shoot the gun once into the ground to get their attention and then point it at their feet.

“Emma!” they both shout in unison.

“Both of you stop it,” I demand.

“Emma, you don’t know what you’re doing,” Dylan says. “Put the gun down.”

“Don’t taunt her. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s a very good shot,” Robert grunts as he struggles against Dylan’s weight on top of him.

“Both of you shut up and get up.”

“Emma, give me the gun,” a familiar voice says from behind me. I turn around and there’s Cooper, holding his hand out with a little smirk.

“You again? How do you keep showing up?” I screech.

Dylan gets up and yanks Robert with him.

“I’ve been watching Robert. I saw him head this way,” Cooper explains. He is very calm and waves his palm upward at me, waiting for me to turn over Robert’s gun. “Come on; you’re not going to shoot anyone.”

“Of course not. I was only trying to get them to listen,” I say as I release the magazine from the gun, eject the round from the chamber, and shove both parts in the back waistband of my shorts.

As if things aren’t getting interesting enough, Carson’s big, black truck comes up the driveway followed by Sean’s car. Dylan and Robert glance in their direction before turning back to me. Dylan’s eyes go wide as they settle on me.

“Did you just put a gun down your pants? You can’t keep that!” Dylan shouts.

“Stop shouting!” I shout back.

“Both of you calm down,” Cooper says in his steady, laid-back voice.

“What’s the problem?” Carson questions as he and Sean approach.

“Emma?” Dylan asks.

“Well, Cooper took my knife, and maybe I need something for self-defense. The gun doesn’t have serial numbers anyway. It’s not registered. I could keep it for my own protection. Right, Sean?” I turn to him and he sighs. “You were the one who gave me the knife. You taught me how to defend myself.”

“Jaysus, Emma. You don’t need the fecking gun. Give it to Cooper,” Sean responds.

Huffing out a sigh, I pull the gun and magazine from my waistband and slam them into Cooper’s palm. I am surrounded by five hulking, controlling men. This is bull, again.

“I want my knife back,” I mumble to Cooper and cross my arms.

Dylan stares at me, his composure collapsing momentarily as he recognizes my fear. Then he turns his anger back to Robert. “Why the hell are you here?”

“To say goodbye to Emma.” Robert’s tone is clipped, but his eyes land softly on me with regret.

“Oh, fuck you and your goodbyes,” Dylan yells. He pushes Robert back with that I’ve-had-enough-of-this-bullshit expression before he strides towards me.

“Why do you need a knife, Emma?” His tone softens as his hand gently cups my face.

I look at Sean.

“No, don’t look at him for answers. You tell me,” Dylan urges. He is perspiring and breathing hard. I watch a drop of his sweat fall from his chin to my wrist.

“I’m a little freaked out over everything. I feel like I need something for protection, and that knife once saved my life,” I say softly to him, self-conscious that the others can hear me.

“What?” Robert asks.

“What happened? Tell me all the shit now,” Dylan says calmly.

“When Robert and I started… dating… I was attacked in the parking garage at a mall near my parents’ house.”

I have everyone’s attention now. Sean looks very uncomfortable, and I can tell by the stunned expression on Robert’s face that he has never heard about this.

“Tell me,” Dylan says, taking my hands. Everything, from his loving eyes to his tender touch, tells me that he wants to be the one to save me from these men that have let me down over the years. He wants to be my hero.

I stutter for a moment, trying not to cry as I retell the incident. “The guy came from behind and grabbed me. No one was around to help or hear my screams, so I hit him in the groin and may have broken his nose, just like Sean taught me. When the guy started to buckle, I swiped his face with the knife to scare him off. It worked. He was wearing a ski mask, but I could see the blood seeping through where I slashed him. He took off.”

“Jesus, what if he’d had a gun? He could have killed you,” Dylan argues.

“So I was supposed to do nothing and let him rape me? He wasn’t trying to mug me. I recognized his voice. I knew who it was. He was there to rape me, and when a guy’s private parts are searing in pain, he generally loses his ability to use a gun.”

Dylan grimaces. “You’re very brave,” he says quietly to me.

“No. I’m very scared. That’s why I react the way I do.” I wish the others weren’t listening; I feel so exposed. “Bravery is about risking your life for someone else. I was only protecting myself. I’m not afraid to fight back if it means I get to live.”

“Did you press charges against him?” Dylan asks, knowing what the answer will be.

“No, he was one of Vinnie’s guys. I heard he left town.”

“Who was it, Emma?” Robert inquires angrily. I can tell he is tired of being pushed in the background by Dylan, and he’s shocked. I know he’s thinking it was an incident that happened on his watch and he’s going to feel guilty about it. That’s why I never told him.

“It was Michael Pasculli,” Sean says wearily.

I turn to Sean. “I suspected you knew my secret, but… how did you know?”

“Because the fecking bastard didn’t disappear,” Sean replies. “That day, when I asked you about that bruise on your neck, you said it was nothing, but I heard you mumbling Pasculli’s name. I paid him a visit and he had a major cut on his face, courtesy of you. All I did was spread the word that one of Vinnie’s own guys tried to rape his son’s girlfriend. I didn’t have to do anything else. The problem took care of itself.”

“Emma, why didn’t you tell me?” Robert looks sickened.

I don’t want to dredge up some old boyfriend-girlfriend drama in front of Dylan.

Dylan squeezes my hands and pulls me closer to him, making it clear to Robert that Dylan is in charge now.

It’s an ugly topic, and although I am relieved to have told Dylan, I never wanted to share it with others.

I look at Robert with reluctance. “Because you would have hunted him down and killed him. I didn’t want you to be that person—a murderer. Besides, he left town.”

Robert shakes his head. “No, he didn’t. That’s when he went missing.”

“Emma, Vinnie took care of Pasculli,” Sean adds.

“Jesus Christ. You people.” Carson shakes his head.

“Wait a minute.” Dylan turns to Robert. “Your dad is willing to kill you, but he gets revenge for Emma?”

“This was more than two years ago,” Robert explains. “It wasn’t about protecting Emma. My father was protecting his reputation. He couldn’t let Pasculli sully our family’s
great
reputation, so I’m sure my father had him disposed of.”

Robert, not intimidated by Dylan’s hold on me, steps closer to me. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this. I would have done something about that guy. If you had never let it slip to Sean, Pasculli could have come back and done something worse to you.”

“Forget it,” Dylan says to him. “I’m watching over her now. You two say your goodbyes. You’ve got thirty seconds, and then, Emma, you’re going inside with Carson. You’re not a part of the rest of this business.”

My mouth drops open, yet I don’t know what I can or should protest. I am honestly tired of this
business
as they refer to it.

Dylan suddenly leans down to my ear so the others can’t hear. “You’re mine, Emma,” he whispers forcefully.

“Em…” Robert begins to say.

Dylan releases my hands and waves me towards Robert. “Go ahead. Say your goodbyes. Thirty seconds. I’m being generous.” He says this directly to Robert.

Robert doesn’t waste time with words he has said over and over. As he steps forward and embraces me—hard—I close my eyes and take in his familiar scent and breathe deeply to soothe myself, thankful that he is alive.

“Goodbye, babe,” Robert whispers and gives me a peck on the cheek.

“Be careful,” I say into Robert’s warm gaze and then Carson’s arm circles around my waist and we turn to walk slowly back to the house.

Twenty-Nine

Dylan

Cooper follows me into the house where Emma and Carson are sitting silently at the kitchen table. When she sees me, her mouth falls open as if she wants to ask me a lot of questions about what’s just happened, and then she looks as if she’s afraid to know.

“So?” Carson asks. “Everything squared away?”

Cooper nods and hoists himself up on the kitchen counter.

“What?” Emma asks. “Is that He-Man code that you’ve killed Robert?’

“Funny,” I say, but I am happy to see that my spunky, little ninja is back. “Don’t worry. He’s gone, and he’s safe.”

“Seriously, where is he?” she insists.

“Robert had two options,” Cooper says to her. “He could participate in the trial and help the prosecutors and go into protective custody, or he could disappear.”

“He’d be killed in protective custody,” she says.

“Most likely,” Cooper agrees. “And Witness Protection wasn’t looking like a safe option to him, either, so he chose to disappear.”

“How?” she asks.

“Cooper has a large network of friends in and out of law enforcement,” I say, putting my hands on her tense shoulders. “They will move Robert out of state and then out of the country.”