“I know. I just wish for once people wouldn’t treat me like I’m fragile.” She stands and deposits her plate in the sink before walking over to my bar. “Want a shot? I could really use a shot.”
Sitting up straight, I nod. Why the hell not?
Four shots later, Kate and I are telling embarrassing stories about Ian. I’m way past drunk and headed into trashed. A knock at the door halts our laughing and Kate offers to answer it. I go into the kitchen and pour myself some water before hearing the commotion.
“Why are you here?”
“Well, you came to this house, why are you here?” Kate responds. “Who the hell are you?”
“Casen’s girlfriend!” I hear Embyr answering back, and I drop my plastic cup onto the floor. Not sure if it’s the shock of hearing Embyr’s voice for the second time today or the alcohol. Probably both.
At my door is Kate, barely dressed, in a standoff with Embyr.
Kate scoffs. “Casen doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
Embyr peers past her, looking beautiful yet so very broken and finds me staring back. “Didn’t take you very long, huh, Casen?”
She turns away from the door. Maybe it’s the alcohol or the talk with Reece, but I take off and run after her. Kate lets me by as I race past her in all my alcohol infused glory. I hear my door shut behind me just as I catch up to Embyr. I grab her upper arm, stopping her in her tracks, and turn her to face me. “What are you doing here?”
She rips her arm away from me. “I came here to talk to you.” Looking past me she adds, “But I see you’re busy. And you smell like a bar!”
My eyes widen. “Are you serious? You can’t come over here and pitch a fucking fit after I found out what you’re doing!” My voice booms off the hallway walls. My conversation with Reece is long gone. She makes me so fucking angry.
“Was.” She states, her shoulders slump.
“Was, what?”
She nervously shifts from foot to foot. “Wasdoing. I was doing all that stuff. Not anymore.” Her gaze searches mine. “Things changed.”
My heart starts to beat one hundred times faster. She can’t do this. She can’t seep into me and make me forget all the bullshit she did. What she put me through. What she put my friends through.
“I don’t care. You need to leave.” I point toward the elevators. She needs to do it soon before I pull her into my arms. My heart and alcohol are leading this conversation and not my brain. I need to rectify that.
“Do you still love me?” she asks, tears cascading down the side of her cheek. “I heard you tell Reece you did outside the funeral home.”
I take a moment to think about what I should say. I don’t want to give her the satisfaction. I want to hurt her just as much as she hurt me. I want to lie, but I can’t. “I still love you.”
Embyr lessens the gap between us, reaching out, looking for comfort. I step back, out of reach and watch her hand fall lifelessly to her side. “You have to go,” I tell her again.
“Are you sleeping with her?” Her breasts graze against my chest. I can feel myself becoming one with her.
I lean in real close, inhaling her scent. “If I was, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”
She shudders. “I miss you, Casen.”
I’m so drawn to her that I can’t help what comes next – I grab her by her neck and crash my lips to hers. They are soft, relenting, as I push my tongue inside and infuse it with hers. The tenseness in her body releases as she grabs my shirt and pulls me deeper into her.
“Embyr,” I whisper across her lips, blissful. But that only lasts a moment.
Not Embyr. Annie.
I pull myself away from her. “Leave.” I command.
She stands there as I walk back into my place, closing the door on us. On her.
