Unbreakable(39)

“I’ve never come like that before. Not while having sex, anyway. Maybe while I was alone, but never with a guy.” Her cheeks turn pink. “I didn’t feel like I had to put on a show with you. I could just be myself.”

Now that surprises me. “Really? Not even with Aidan?”

She shakes her head. “It wasn’t very good with him. I always felt like I was doing something wrong. Or that I wasn’t enough for him.”

That vulnerable look is back, and I pull her close. I won’t let her feel bad because of that *. She’s amazing, and he’s a complete tool.

“For the record, Sunshine, you did everything right. Everything, okay?”

She snuggles against me. “Thanks for saying that.”

“It’s the truth.”

My phone buzzes with a text, and I roll over onto my back. “Fuck. I should have just turned it off. I don’t want any interruptions tonight.”

She laughs. “Well, turn it off now.”

“A little too late for that.”

I pick up the phone, and my blood runs cold. “No. Fuck, no.”

“Will?” Emmy sits up, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

I toss the phone down and leap to my feet. “It’s Sully. He and the rest of the crew are here, Emmy. They’re fifteen minutes away. More like ten with the way Sully drives.”

Her mouth falls open. “What? They’re not supposed to be here until the day after tomorrow.”

“Fuck!” I kick at the blankets. Of all the shitty goddamn motherf*cking luck. Karma is rearing her ugly, bitch head because I took advantage of my best friend’s sister.

“Violet and Peyton convinced their boss to let them go early.” I run a hand down over my face. “They wanted to surprise us. Oh, Christ.”

“This can’t be happening,” she murmurs. “It can’t.”

I skim on my jeans and toss her clothes to her. “But it is. Go inside the cottage. I’ll clean up everything out here. It’ll be faster if I do it myself.”

“But Will—”

“We’re running out of time,” I say grimly. “C’mon Sunshine. We have to move.”

Emmy clutches her shirt to her breasts, her eyes full of tears. “No. I don’t want this to be over, Will. Not yet. Please.”

Oh, f*ck. I can’t handle this. I just can’t. Emmy looks completely destroyed.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, reaching out to cup her face. “I’m so sorry, Em.”

Her lower lip trembles as she stares at me. “Please. Can’t we just—”

“You have to go,” I say gently. “Go on, Em. I’ll see you inside. I need to make this stuff disappear. Like nothing ever happened.”

“Like nothing ever happened,” she repeats, looking down at the scattered blankets and pillows. She glances back up at me, and I have to turn away. She’s breaking my goddamned heart.

Emmy gets dressed silently and turns to go, but not before I see the tears rolling down her face. The wall of guilt I’ve been fighting crushes me as I watch her walk slowly into the house.

The moment I kissed her in the rain, I knew that this wasn’t going to end well. But my selfish desire for her outweighed everything else.

Now, we’re out of time. I thought we’d have a chance to work through this together and bring it to an end that we could both handle. I was counting on it.

But this? This is like walking away from an explosion. One that I’ve set off myself.

And Emmy and I are both collateral damage.





Chapter Seventeen





EMMY




I slowly climb the stairs to my room and somehow manage to change into my pajama pants and a tank top. Thank God for waterproof mascara, because my tears haven’t stopped since Will got Sully’s text.

When I was seventeen, I was in a car accident. My car got hit by some jackass who blew through a red light. The impact of the crash spun my car around in the intersection. Though I hadn’t been physically hurt, I was shaken to the core and a complete emotional wreck. That car had come out of nowhere.

I feel the same way now. Completely blindsided and totally freaked out.

Peeking out of the bedroom window, I see that Will has completely deconstructed the tent and packed it away. I’m not sure what he did with all of the pillows and blankets.

I turn away. The sight of the empty backyard makes me too sad. Will’s right; it looks like absolutely nothing ever happened.

But it did happen. I’ve never had a more incredible night with a man. And it doesn’t matter what rules we’d laid down or what we’d talked about before. What had happened out there meant something.

We’d connected, and everything had been perfect. Not just physically, but in my heart.

I might have developed a crush on Will a few months ago, but these past few days, I’ve really fallen for him. Crazy, head-over-heels kind of fallen. So how am I supposed to pretend that nothing ever happened? We didn’t have enough time to deal with it coming to an end. It’s just… over.

The tears start back up, so I go to the bathroom and splash my face with cold water. I have to keep things together. I made a promise to Will that I could do this, and I don’t go back on my promises.