Loud: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Male Romance) (26 page)

I'm so sorry. I wish I could've somehow gotten word to
you that Monday that I’d lost my phone. I thought about you the whole ride to
dad’s. And, I was missing you. Just so you know, Dad's surgery was successful,
and he's going to make a full recovery. But back to you and me.

I drove back the next day fairly late after Dad’s
surgery.

When I arrived & walked into my apartment, I was
promptly arrested because the cops had been called on Chris for the noise and
of course, they found all the alcohol.

Now here's where I really messed up.

First, I wasn’t upfront with you. I didn't tell you my
mom is Dean of Faculty. It's not something I tell many people because I feel
like they'll just assume I got into this college because of her or that she's
doctoring my grades or something. You know how people jump to assumptions.
Assumptions I really don't want people making about me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell
you. I know you're not the kind of person who would’ve judged me based on who
my mom is.

My second major mess up was making assumptions myself.
And this was the WORST mistake I made. I assumed that you were the one who
called the cops. Please let me explain why I thought that.

One day in chemistry class, I overheard you and that
Garrett guy talking about the noise from my place. He recommended you call the
cops on us and you seemed to agree. Then Chris said he saw Leslie leave that
night, so he was sure it was you who called the cops since Leslie wasn’t home.

I’m sorry I jumped to that conclusion. I should have
talked to you, but I was pretty upset about that, because of…well, because of
what had been going on between us. I had grown to trust you and thought you trusted
me, too. I thought maybe you cared about me as much as I do you, and then that
happened. I know I was wrong to assume you called. I can't believe I was so
stupid and made such an epic error in judgment.

I know you didn’t call the cops on us and-

A sound I hadn't heard for a while interrupted my
reading.

Grunting, groaning, moaning. A headboard pounding
against the other side of my bedroom wall.

My blood began to heat. Anger, jealousy, and the
bitter feeling of betrayal began rising in me. He had some serious nerve
sending me an apology message, and yet right next door, just on the other side
of the wall, he was back in bed with another woman, his hands and lips all over
her, his beautiful body smothering hers, his cock-

No. Just, hell no.

I put my phone down and closed the message. I wasn't
going to bother with him anymore. He was showing me exactly what kind of person
he really was and there was no way he was going to sweet-talk his way around
that. All the proof I needed was echoing through the wall.

“Sorry, Emerson,” I said to the phone, “but you've
blown your cover. I hear you loud and clear. I
hear you
.”

CHAPTER
THIRTY

Emerson

I sat in the emptiness of my new apartment amidst the
minimal furniture and still-unpacked boxes and stared at my phone. As soon as I
sent the message, my heart started to race. Would Brooke read it? Would she
respond? What would she say? Did she feel the same way about me as I felt about
her?

I hit the “send” button with my heart in my throat. I
had considered sending it in an email, but I wanted to know when or if Brooke
had even read the message. So, I sent her a text instead. At least I could get
a confirmation using a text message. And considering it was the first
communication I'd had with Brooke since the night we’d been together, I needed
to know where I stood. If she wouldn’t even read it, that would tell me loud
and clear.

My message confessed everything — the loss of my
phone, my foolishness, jumping to conclusions, and why I hadn’t told her
everything. I'd laid it all on the line, opening myself up and telling her how
much I cared about her.

I couldn’t deny how I felt about her anymore; that had
become clear in the light of possibly losing her. I had to let her know how I
felt.

After nearly ten minutes of pacing from one room to
another and literally checking the phone every thirty seconds, I picked up my
guitar and turned on the amplifier I had brought over from my mom's place. I
plugged it in, turned it down low so I wouldn’t upset my new neighbors before I
even had a chance to meet them, sat down, and started to play. The gentle sound
reverberated through the room, emphasizing how empty it was.

I played a song, then checked my phone only to find
the message I’d sent remained unread. I did this three more times. About half
an hour later, there was a notification the message had been read.

My heart started to pound. I imagined her reading it
line by line, word by word. I waited with bated breath as I stared at the
message and waited desperately to see her name switch to “Brooke is typing a
message” — it didn't happen. She’d had to have finished reading it; five
minutes had passed, at least. That was plenty of time to read it.

And then, finally, it happened. She started typing.

The suspense was killing me. I couldn’t help but
wonder what she was going to say. What she was going to tell me. And as if the
universe wanted to torture me, my phone's screen went black.

“What?!” I yelled, my voice echoing around the empty
room. “No! No, no, no, no, no. Not now, not now!”

I ran around trying to locate my phone charger. When I
did, I quickly plugged it in thinking the battery had died. However, instead of
the “charging” icon that should have shown up on the screen when I plugged in
the charger, the screen simply remained black.

With desperate, fumbling fingers I opened the back of
the phone and pulled the battery out, checking for something…anything.
Wondering if maybe there was some sort of obvious problem with the way it was
plugged in. Everything seemed fine. I cursed under my breath and put the
battery back in, then tried the charger again.

It was still dead.

The timing sucked and the scenario was maddening,
infuriating, and frustrating. Brooke had typed out a reply, but I couldn’t
access it! What the hell!? The cellphone store where I'd gotten the phone
wasn’t open at this time on a Friday night.

What options did that leave me? None. At least, not
until the next morning when the phone store opened its doors. I leaned against
the wall and slid to the floor, my hands running roughly through my hair.

It was going to be a long night.

***

I’d hardly slept all night. I was feeling pretty
haggard as I stood outside the phone store, checking my watch, waiting for the
associate to open the doors. Finally, the shop associate showed up and unlocked
the door, giving me a strange look as he did. The plump, computer nerd kind of
a guy with thick glasses and expressionless face shuffled in, taking his sweet
time as he went over and started unlocking counters, drawers, and things while
I stood around tapping my foot impatiently.

“Alright sir,” he said eventually. “How can I help
you?”

I took my phone and charger out and put it on the
counter. “I bought this from you guys just a few days ago and it suddenly won’t
turn on or charge. I have a twenty-four month warranty.”

The guy remained expressionless as he picked up my
phone and looked it over. “Yeah, we've been having a few problems with this
model. One of the battery connecting wires on the circuit board-”

“Look, I don't need to know all the technical stuff.
Can you fix it or not?”

“It'll take about half an hour. I'll have to open it
up and do some soldering.”

“Okay, can you like, get on that now?”

“Uh, alright. You wanna have a seat? Or maybe go walk
around the mall or something while I fix this?”

“I'll go get a coffee,” I informed him.

“Cool. Like I said, it'll probably take me about half
an hour to sort this out.”

I nodded and walked briskly out of the store. My ability
to maintain patience was at an all-time low. I'd waited all night to get the
phone sorted out and having to wait another half an hour. It seemed everything
was working against me.

I ambled through the mall in a trance-like state. Time
itself seemed to have slowed down. I wandered along halfway looking for a place
to get coffee, but also kind of walking just for the sake of walking.
Eventually, I came across a place and ambled to the counter to order a cup of
coffee, checking my watch every few minutes to see when the half hour would be
up.

When my thirty minutes was nearly up, I practically
ran to the phone store hoping there hadn’t been any setbacks in repairing my
phone. I was greatly relieved when I realized the shop assistant did, in fact,
have my phone waiting for me.

“Here you go,” he said as he handed it to me already
turned on. “I even out a fresh battery in it for you so you wouldn’t have to
wait for it to charge. Shouldn't give you any more problems. If it does, just
bring it back.”

“Thanks so much,” I said as I rushed out of the shop
and headed straight for a quiet alcove to sit and check my texts. Sure enough,
the message Brooke had sent me the night before was there just waiting to be
read. With trembling fingers, I opened it.

Hey, Emerson. I'm glad to hear your dad is better and
going to make a full recovery. That's great news. However, regarding the other
stuff you messaged me… I'm sorry, but I couldn't even get through all of it.
First of all, I can't believe you genuinely thought I’d have called the cops on
you guys. Seriously?! I’m actually insulted.

But that’s not what has me so heartbroken. That would
be your lying to me this whole time. And not about who your mom is. That’s
understandable. What isn’t understandable is you trying to play me. And you did
a pretty damn good job. But I’m done.

I know what's been going on with you and Melissa. Or
is it her and multiple other girls? Whatever. The point is I can hear you and
whoever when you're participating in your extra-curricular activities. Yes. I
can hear you through the wall into my room. And just let me say how classy it
was that you started going at it with some bimbo only a few minutes after
sending me this message. Just classy, Emerson, real classy.

Also, you’re gonna need a new lab partner. I've
arranged with our professor for Garrett to be my new partner. I cited “irreconcilable
differences” as the reason I needed a change.

The saddest thing about all of this is I had genuinely
changed my mind about you and thought you were different. Thought you were
actually a decent guy that I could see myself with. Shame on me for actually
let down my walls for you, for believing I could trust you.

Thanks though, for showing me the real you – through
my bedroom wall.

Please don't ever speak to me again.

Goodbye, Emerson.

Brooke

I wanted to throw up. Emotions I couldn’t describe if
I wanted to rolled through me. I wanted to punch something. Someone.

Chris.
 

I jumped up and almost fell over I was so frustrated
and angry. All that time, I hadn't given much thought to the fact that Chris'
bedroom was next to Brooke's. Knowing that every time Chris had brought a girl
home, Brooke had thought it had been
me
getting it on with the girl made
me sick.

It was a disaster, an absolute disaster. If she
stopped reading my text before the end, the odds are she probably hadn't even
read the part of my message where I had poured out my heart. Not that it would
have mattered, considering what she thought of me. Considering she imagined I
was a womanizer like Chris.

And, what was even worse, that scumbag Garrett seemed
to be weaseling his way in.

“Alright, Emerson, take a breath. Calm down. There has
to be a way to make this right, to clear up this mess. There has to be!” I said
to myself.

Then an idea hit me. There was only one way to do
this. I took off at a sprint, almost knocking over a cluster of unsuspecting
shoppers as I bolted to my car. After a sprint through the parking lot, I was
out of breath. I jumped in my truck, hit the ignition, and took off with tires
screaming. I was a man on a mission.

I had somewhat regrouped by the time I knocked on the
door.

Leslie opened the door and her eyes widened with
surprise as she saw me standing there. “Uh, hi, Emerson,” she said uneasily.

“Hey, Leslie. Can I come in?” I asked.

“Um, Brooke's not here, she's at her RAG meeting and-”

“Yeah, I know. Her car isn’t here. Look, this is kind
of an emergency. I've gotta talk to you. Please?”

She nodded. “Alright. Come on in.”

I stepped into the living room and immediately began
to spill everything. I told her about what had happened with me and Brooke.
Everything, from the beginning to the end. I told her how I felt about Brooke.
The words just started tumbling out of my mouth like an avalanche —
uncontrollable and with a great force — and I didn't stop until I'd brought
every last detail out into the open.

When I was done, Leslie sat there with a shocked
expression on her face.

“This is all true? All of it?” she asked.

“Everything.”

“And, you really feel that way about her?”

“Absolutely. She's the most amazing woman I've ever
met. Ever.”

Leslie breathed in deeply and then nodded. “Well then,
we've gotta fix this mess. I’m sorry I messed up by calling the cops and
causing that whole misunderstanding, so I need to help you fix it.”

I muttered a silent prayer of thanks before looking at
Leslie. “Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“She's my best friend, Emerson, and I want her to be
happy. And after everything you've just told me, if you really feel that way, I
think you're the kind of guy who can actually make her happy.”
“I know I can, if she'll just give me one more chance.”

“Alright, well, I think I've got a plan. Do you have a
voice recording app on your phone?”

“I do.”

“We're going to need that.”

“Okay,” I replied.

“And, what are you doing tonight?”

“Whatever it takes to win Brooke back,” I replied
without hesitation.

“That's the answer I wanted to hear. You own a decent
suit? Something dashing that you’ll look totally gorgeous in?” she asked.

“I do.”

“And, can you get a picnic basket together by seven
this evening?”

“Not a problem. I know exactly what she likes. Is this
for a picnic?”

“Kind of. There's a charity bachelor auction that
Brooke is co-chairing tonight. One of my friends from drama class is one of the
bachelors, but he doesn't really want to do it. I'll convince him to switch
places with you so you'll be up for auction. And if everything comes together
like I'm hoping it will, Brooke is going to be the winning bidder on you, my
friend. Just do everything I tell you to and Brooke will be yours by the end of
the night. Come on, we don't have much time.”