“Do you know what that makes me? How that makes me feel?” Emily’s voice came out in a harsh, hoarse plea. Noah couldn’t take her distress another second and he rose and closed the distance. Emily shook her head and took a step back. She covered her forehead with her right palm and tried to keep it together.
“I want to look in that chest. Now,” she said again.
“Baby, take a breath and take my hand,” Noah urged her gently. She continued to shake her head, but Noah countered it with a nod and took a step forward. “Take it,” he said and placed his upturned palm directly in front of her.
“I want…” She broke off and doubled over, placing her hands on her knees. Emily pressed her lips together to stop another word from coming out, but her shoulders began to shake.
“Em,” Gabriel said, his voice firm enough to get her attention.
She slowly stood tall again and just stared at him, but the well of deep hurt was clear for all to see in her gaze. Gabriel hovered right next to Noah, but he was determined to let her make the choice to come to them. Emily needed to feel in control, most desperately at the moment, and he knew forcing her into their arms would do her no favors.
He added his hand to the one Noah was offering. “Remember what you said to us on the cabin’s back porch, honey? Hmmm? Something to the tune of: hold me up when I’m weak and failing. And forgive me when I crumble, stumble, or fall. That’s what partners do, or so someone’s been telling us a lot of late.”
Gabriel’s loving smile began slowly, but it grew and was so full of understanding and kindness that it tore the last of her towering anger right out from under her. Emily saw the same look of compassion and gentleness in Noah’s eyes. She drew in a deep breath and settled her shaky hands against their warm and steady palms. Both men enfolded their fingers around hers and stepped forward, closing the last of the distance between them.
“Come here, honey,” Gabriel murmured.
“Shhh, we’ve got you,” Noah said softly. He pulled the tie from her hair and dropped it on the floor. His fingers delved into the thick mass as he gently pushed Emily’s head down against his chest.
Noah released her hand and pulled her completely into the shelter of his body, wrapping both of his arms around her. Gabriel’s hand took the place of Noah’s, stroking and threading its way through her hair. Only when Noah was ready to let Gabriel hold her, did she move from one embrace to the other. Emily briefly lost track of time as they tried to absorb the self-recrimination and anger that had overtaken her.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his heart. “Both of you.”
“Let’s go look in that chest together, okay?” Gabriel kissed the top of her head, then palmed her face and drew her away from his chest. He nodded slowly until Emily nodded with him. “There we go,” he said in approval.
Gabriel released her face and laced his fingers through one of her hands. Noah took her other. Gabe looked over the top of her head and asked the others in the room, who had gone completely silent during the exchange, to come with them. The entire team and Tara moved to do just that. Not just to look over Emily’s shoulder as she examined the cedar chest, but to support the triad in any way they could.
CHAPTER 31
Emily stopped by the half-bath in the hall near the guys’ study. Noah hovered just outside after she pointed out the room had no windows, thus no way in or out except through the door. She washed her face and cleaned her latest emotional outburst away. Tara skirted around Noah and stepped in behind her. She wrapped her arms around Emily, hugging her tightly.
“I brought your hair tie,” she whispered. Tara turned her face to the side and rested it on Emily’s shoulder. “Want me to put it back in a ponytail for you?”
“Tara?” Emily whispered back at her.
“Hmmm?”
“Am I a complete idiot?”
“What?” Tara asked in surprise. She lifted her head and stared at Emily’s reflection in the mirror over the pedestal sink.
“You said earlier that I’ve always been clueless about what goes on here in town. Maybe you’re right. Tara, I let them walk inside my house. How can I know who to trust after all this?”
“You trust me, don’t you?”
“Of course. That goes without saying.”
“And Gabriel and Noah.”
Emily lifted her left hand and wriggled her fingers in answer. Her engagement ring winked and shone brightly in the surrounding lights.
“And you trust their families. You trust their team.”
“Yes, Tara. I do. Without question.”
“See, the problem doesn’t lie with you then. It lies with the person or persons who have targeted you. But Noah and Gabriel aren’t going to let another with ill intentions get close enough to you to do further harm. Don’t doubt yourself, your true relationships, or them.”
“I love them, Tara. So very much,” Emily whispered. She was still in awe of the way it felt to physically love them. To finally understand what it meant to give someone your all and to show them what they meant to your heart.
“Yes, and you trust those two men enough, that you gave them your virginity while you were away. I can tell,” Tara said softly. She propped her chin on Emily’s right shoulder and smiled at her in the mirror, glad she had heeled boots on that day so she matched her friend’s height. “Are you okay with that change?”
“More than okay,” Emily said with a genuine smile. “It was magical, Tara. Everything I’d ever hoped for, and everything I never knew to dream for. Simply put – it was beautiful. And it has been every time thereafter.”
“Even that quick interlude before breakfast?” Tara teased.
Emily rolled her eyes and placed her hands over Tara’s arms, where they lay wrapped around her waist. It felt so good to be back with her, Emily thought.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“Please, girl,” Tara scoffed. “Gabriel couldn’t have been more obvious! I was just surprised he didn’t throw you over his shoulder and carry you off like a damn caveman.”
They laughed and boy did it feel good. Emily laid her head against Tara’s, the two resuming a position they had fallen into often over the years that they’d been best friends.
“Is the reality of being with them both, something you can live with, Em? I mean, I know you’ve carried a torch for them for ages, but from what I’ve seen since you came home, it’s something to behold. Now, you don’t move without their eyes tracking your every nuance. But it’s not a suffocating feeling or oppressive vibe I get. No, I’d say it’s like you’re their air and they can’t breathe without you. Heady stuff to witness, I gotta tell you.”
“Tara, I thought you’ve never liked that kind of relationship?” Emily asked and furrowed her brow. “You always said you would rule the roost and any man who married you would have to deal.”
Tara shrugged. “Ah, what can I say? What we think we want and what we learn we need are most often two different things. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to belong to someone else like the three of you obviously do now. To know that you’ve got backup and that another’s gonna see you through the shit life will hurl at you… Maybe I need to rethink my take on things, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Well, coming from you, that’s saying a hell of a lot,” Emily chuckled.
“Shut up,” Tara grumbled as she laughed.
“Make me,” Emily countered. It was a standard jab at one another - something they’d repeated often through the years.
Tara pulled an arm free from their hold and smacked Emily’s butt. They laughed a little more, but the door swung open, causing them to meet Noah’s gaze in the mirror now.
“Did I just hear, what I thought I heard?” he asked softly, angling his head at them.
“Depends,” Tara retorted. “What’d you think you heard, big guy?”
“Someone in here just got their ass smacked.” Noah blocked the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest.
; Tara met Emily’s eyes again and, after a few seconds, they burst out laughing. It continued to grow until Emily had to turn in Tara’s arms and hug her while happy tears streamed down their faces. Noah leaned against the wall and watched them dissolve into a fit of giggles. Ethan stuck his head in and glanced from the ladies to Noah.
“Your girl just slapped my girl’s ass. Might want to do something about that,” he whispered low enough that Emily nor Tara heard him.
“Shit,” Ethan grumbled. “Thanks for that visual.”
“You should have heard it.”
“And who says Tara’s my girl?” Ethan asked a little too defensively.
“Please!” Noah grinned widely. He slapped a hand on Ethan’s shoulder and redirected him back out into the hall. “Let me give you a very practical piece of advice. If you and Lawton like Tara… really like her… don’t waste years like Gabe and I did with Em and let her get away. Life’s too short, man.”
“Just leave it for now, Noah,” Ethan warned him. “Lawton nor I are ready to go down that road and buy a ring like you and Gabe did.”
“No one says you have to take the plunge yet,” Noah smirked. He could see Ethan’s obvious discomfort and the faint blush that always stole up his neck when he got embarrassed. “Just don’t ignore a good thing when it falls in your lap. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Duly noted,” he said absentmindedly. Ethan was watching Tara and Emily wash their faces. They were still laughing and trying to push the other away from the sink with their hips. But their laughter was contagious and he couldn’t help but smile with them.
Emily got one last flick of water in and Tara gasped as the spray hit her face. She shot Emily a wicked grin that suggested she’d get her back later. Noah cleared his throat loudly and angled his head at them.
“Finished playing now?” he asked, chuckling over the joy Emily was finding in the moment. Maybe coming home hadn’t been such a bad idea after all, he thought.
“We are.” Emily walked forward and rose up on tiptoe to brush her lips against his.
It simply wasn’t enough for Noah and he hauled her up close and gave Emily a scorching kiss that made her toes curl. He pulled away, grinning over the bemused look he saw on her face, and then tucked her into his side.
“Come on, baby,” he said and led her towards the study.
Ethan and Tara followed, just a step behind them. Though they were careful not to let their arms brush against one another.
Gabriel already had a pair of latex gloves on when they walked into the study, as did every other member of the team. He handed Noah and Emily a pair, and looked on as Lawton extended gloves to Tara and Ethan. Noah snapped his gloves on with barely a glance, but his eyes stayed trained on Emily’s hands as he made sure the pair she wore fit her small hands.
“Oh, crap,” she murmured. Her engagement ring poked a hole right through her left glove when she flexed her fingers.
“Take it off and put it in your pocket for now,” Noah said. “We know you’re ours, ring or not.” He winked to reassure her, and she took off the damaged glove to remove her ring.
Emily slipped it into the tiny, front pocket on the right side of her jeans. She’d always wondered what the little pocket could hold, and now she knew. Though she hated the thought of taking off the ring for any reason.
Gabriel handed her a new glove and she slid it on. “Ready?” he asked.
“More than,” she replied.
He bent to kiss her forehead, then motioned for Emily to kneel with him in front of the cedar chest. Noah followed them, getting so close that his body brushed against her left side. Emily could feel Gabriel on her right, and she appreciated the wall they’d built around her and the silent support they were offering.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Open it up.”
Gabriel lifted the black metal hasp on the front and then pushed the chest’s attached lid upward. The scent of aged cedar escaped the antique piece of furniture. It was a symbol of the ladies who had come before Emily in her family, each using the chest to store valuables, or items which represented their hopes and dreams. Gabe knew she might someday pass the trunk on to her own daughter as well.
That thought gave him pause momentarily. That one day, Emily might have his child. And that child might be a girl who looked like her mother and who might have the same gentle spirit.
He had told her he wasn’t ready for such a change in his life, but in that one moment, Gabriel couldn’t deny the thought of seeing Emily with his baby in her arms gave him immense pride and filled him with hope. Hope that, if and when they decided to start a family - the three of them - he could keep his wife and children safe in a world where monsters often preyed on the most innocent of all.
Lawton pulled him from his uncharacteristic mental ramblings when he joined them on his knees to Gabriel’s right, with a camera in hand. Gabe looked back down at Emily and realized that she hadn’t touched the chest’s contents yet. She was staring inside, lost in her own reverie as well.
“Emily,” Lawton called to her, and she turned her eyes his way. “We’ve cataloged everything inside, photographed and documented it all. But this is actually a good idea you’ve had. You can look through it all with us, touch everything, and tell us what, if anything else, has been removed.”
She gave him a stiff nod and then reached inside to take out the first item. Emily removed each of her photo albums and scrapbooks, noting aloud that none were missing. She placed them in Noah’s hands and he began a pile on the floor. Next, were the silver candlesticks her mother had used at her own wedding, and her blue garter.
“Are we using that?” Noah asked slyly as he bumped Emily’s shoulder with his.
“Someday,” she chuckled. She ran her gloved fingers over the delicate lace. It seemed odd to Emily to touch something so personal, with the impersonal barrier between her and the garter. That thought made her remember telling Gabriel and Noah that she never wanted to use condoms, never wanted such a barrier between them. She knew she was blushing furiously, so she placed the garter in Noah’s hand and then turned back to the trunk.
Emily pulled out her Gram’s old yellow and white afghan, smelling it and remembering how her grandmother always smelled of jasmine. She gingerly removed her father’s journals, which chronicled his life prior to his passing. Emily had never read them and didn’t know if she ever would. But she loved knowing that his voice still remained with her somehow.
She blushed again when she lifted the five bridal magazines and house plan books she’d purchased over the years. They’d fed many a daydream for her as she envisioned what her life might be like someday, if she were with Noah and Gabriel.
There were letters her Gram had saved, which Emily’s mother had written during her own years away at college. She ran her gloved fingers over those as well, wishing she could still have her mother with her. And finally, Gabriel helped her lift the old case which held the typewriter her grandfather had given her when she was a child.
She turned around and looked at the organized arc of all the items Noah had formed behind them. Emily sat down and crossed her feet, then she lifted the first photo album. She began to turn the pages, making little comments to Noah and Gabriel about the images within. So many told of family members who were no longer with her and Emily was grateful that now, she knew without a shadow of a doubt, her loneliness was a thing of the past.
Emily was just cracking the fourth album open when she paused and angled her head. She sniffed and then brought the book up closer to her nose.
“Do you smell that? That strong cologne?” Emily asked. She turned the book towards Noah and then towards Gabriel.
“Yeah, I do,” Noah said, frowning as he took another whiff.
“That’s new,” she said and looked at Lawton.
He moved closer as did Garrett. Garrett knelt before her and he inhaled deeply. “Smells expensive.”
“My granddad never wore cologne,” Emily told him. “And
my dad passed away when I was ten, as you know. I remember saving a bottle of his aftershave until I was almost sixteen, just so I could remember his smell. He wore Old Spice. Not this scent.”
“Keep looking through this one, Em. Tell us if anything else is different.” Gabriel moved off of his knees and he sat cross-legged next to her. He propped his right arm behind her so it touched her back, hoping to silently let Emily know he was right there with her.
Tara moved closer, and Lawton and Garrett gave her room. She watched as Emily slowly turned the pages, scanning for any change. All of the color drained from Emily’s face within the next breath, and Tara knew whatever she was looking at wasn’t good. Not at all.
“This is new, too,” Emily whispered. She ran her gloved fingers over a photo, hating how they shook in the moment.
“Lawton?” Gabriel asked, his anger clearly heard.
“Gabe, we saw that when we cataloged it. But we thought it was something her family had placed in the album. We had no idea it was a new addition,” Lawton swore.
“How could you know?” Emily looked up at him and smiled, though a single tear ran down her right cheek. “Don’t get mad at him, Gabe. This just proves someone’s been very close and that’s what you need, right? Definitive, tangible evidence?”
Emily looked back down at the photo which showed her sleeping in her own bed, curled up with her stuffed rabbit in her arms. A book lay faced down beside her, and her bedside lamp was still on. Whoever had been watching her, had stood at the end of her bed and taken the picture. Actually stood in her room and watched her sleep, and she’d never known they were there.
“I think I remember this night.” Emily tried to begin again, but her throat closed up on her. She coughed to clear the knot and Noah settled a hand on her back. He began to rub slow circles and she chanced a quick glance at him. He looked livid. More angry than she could ever remember seeing him.
Theirs To Claim (Predatory Desires Book 1) Page 30