by Rebel Hart
They grin and glance over at each other. “Date night?” Brendan questions with a teasing tone. “You sound like an old married couple.”
“They will be before you know it,” my mom taunts.
Their jokes make me stop for a moment, but I’m quick to roll it off my shoulders and get back to cleaning my plate. It’s not the kind of thing I want to get into with them right now, but the assumption that Emmett and I will be together forever is making me more uncomfortable every day.
Of course, I love him and can’t imagine life without him. But I’m not naïve. I’ve heard less than stellar reviews about high school sweethearts who got married. Aside from the grim odds of our relationship actually surviving college and the early adult years after that, there are all the other reasons I have to be wary about where this is going. All the things Brendan and my mom know nothing about. But thankfully, it’s all weighing on me a little less ever since I was able to vent to Bridgett.
I jump up the second the doorbell rings. “That’s him,” I announce, my voice still muffled with food. “I’ll be back later.”
“Have fun!” my mom calls out to me as I bound for the door. “Don’t stay out too late!”
Regardless of what happens five or ten years from now, tonight I am just excited about going on a normal date with my boyfriend.
“Hey you,” I smile as I hop into his car and lean over for a kiss. “What’s on the docket for tonight?”
“A big surprise,” he grins. “Something we’ve never ever done before.”
I buckle my seat belt and brace myself for whatever mystery thing he has planned. As he drives, I study his face as the passing lights move across it. Sometimes the sight of Emmett takes my breath away. Especially now that he’s out from under the expectations of his family and he’s become more down to earth. His shaggy curls and crooked smile, all leading to those piercing gray eyes that always spark with something dangerous but alluring. I can’t stop myself from sliding my hand across his knee, teasing toward the top of his thigh. He responds with a smirk but is quick to cup his hand around mine, stopping it from traveling any further.
I shrug it off, hoping we’ll have some time for that kind of thing later in the evening. But it’s hard not to let it get to me. Ever since his family disowned him, we’ve been having sex less and less. The tinges of anxiety I feel about it only worsen as he pulls up to our destination.
“Bowling!?” I shriek.
“Yup!” he beams back proudly.
I shift in my seat, remembering my parents’ jokes about us being the old married couple. Sure, bowling is fun. But for date night? Maybe we’re even closer to being in some middle-aged, sexless relationship than what I thought. But Emmett looks so excited, I can’t bring myself to give him too hard of a time about his choice.
I follow along as we go in to rent a lane and some shoes. We order pizza, wishing we could have some beer along with it. Each turn I take is comically bad, and I start to think goofing off with rolling the ball in ridiculous ways will be more fun than I originally gave it credit for. But then I notice how serious Emmett is taking each of his turns. He poses carefully before rearing his arm back and skillfully gliding it across the waxed floor. Each time it pummels towards with pins with good aim, usually getting him a spare or a strike.
“Have you been skipping school and coming here to practice?” I ask skeptically, only half kidding.
He looks pleased with me noticing his good performance. “Not exactly,” he smirks. “But I have been practicing.”
I feel him watching me as I shrug and bite into a slice of pizza that’s dripping with cheese. I shouldn’t have any room for it after dinner, but a good pizza is too hard to pass up.
“I’ve been thinking of joining a league,” he blurts, sitting back in his seat casually.
“Huh?” I shoot back. “A bowling league?”
“Yeah,” he rolls his shoulders defensively. “Why not? I mean, you’ll be busy with college soon and I feel like I need a new hobby.”
“But…once we move…Aren’t you going to think about college? Or work or something?” I ask lightly, trying to hide my rising panic.
I’ve been understanding of Emmett needing time to figure things out after all that’s happened, but now I’m worried he’ll get too comfortable and lose all ambition. As he leans back and adjusts the waist of his pants, I suddenly see a flash of him twenty years from now. I imagine him with a gut and a mustache, drinking away in the bowling alley several nights a week while working some dead-end job.
“On that note…,” he answers slowly. “I meant to tell you…” He winces slightly, hesitating to finish his thought.
“Yeah?” I stare back expectantly.
He looks around and shifts uncomfortably as if he’s struggling to spit it out. “Well,” he stands, taking a few steps back towards the revolving line of bowling balls. “I talked to Theo the other day.”
His words stop my heart cold and were so cleverly planned. Before I can get over being tongue-tied from shock, he’s already stepped up to the line to take another turn.
“What!?” I bark, but I know he can barely hear me over the echoing crash of pins.
He calmly strolls back to the table as if he didn’t just drop a huge bomb. “Your turn,” he states.
“What is wrong with you? Do you think I’m stupid?” I seethe, not moving from my seat. “You just casually announce that you talked to Theo and then act as if it’s not a big deal? You think we just talk about other things now?” He recoils from my ranting, leaning across his knees to stare at the floor. “Talked to him how!?” I continue. “Phone? In person?”
“Phone,” he replies. “For now.”
I’m too afraid and enraged to keep doing this dance with him. As my anger boils, I fly up from the table towards the door. I can’t just sit there and try to coax the details out of him. I’m not sure I want to hear them at all, much less beg to know what it was all about. I just wish they hadn’t spoken at all, especially not behind my back. The last secret meeting they had resulted in me being taken hostage before Theo shot Emmett’s father to death.
“Ophelia! Wait!” I faintly hear Emmett calling after me as I storm out of the building. I’m halfway across the parking lot by the time he catches up to me, pulling my arm to stop me.
“I’m not playing around, Emmett,” I snap as I whip around to face him. “Either you tell me what you two talked about right now or I’m running home.”
“I’m sorry,” he answers quickly. “I did a horrible job at bringing that up, I know.”
“There is no right way to bring it up! Because you shouldn’t be talking to him at all!” I scream. “Spit it out. What did he want?”
His mouth opens, but nothing comes out at first. “Well…he…actually…he,” he stammers slowly, making me impatient. I spin on my heels to get away from him again. “Okay, okay,” he darts after me, gripping my arm. “He offered me a job.”
My brain freezes with confusion. A job? What kind of job does Theo have to offer anyone, much less my boyfriend who hasn’t even graduated high school yet?
“What?” my face scrunches up. “What the hell do you mean!? A job?”
“I don’t know much about it yet,” he explains. “That’s why he called. To set up a meeting about it.”
My nostrils flare as I glare back in silent anger. I try to speak, but my jaw is locked up. “Yet?” I growl finally through clenched teeth.
“Huh?”
“Yet,” I hiss. “You said you don’t know much about it yet.” He blinks at me with a blank expression. “Implying you actually plan on meeting with him to find out more!?” I let out a shrill groan of exasperation, turning away again. I can’t stand to look at him right now. I’m so angry I’m starting to shake.
“Hey, I didn’t say that,” he defends. “Look, I couldn’t keep it a secret from you. But talking about it makes me nervous, so everything’s coming out wrong.”
I stand in the cold night
air with my arms crossed, shaking my head as I stare off at nothing in the distance. I came to know Emmett as a master manipulator. It’s not even his fault. It’s just how he was raised to be. Even after everything that’s happened, I can’t imagine that trait just disappearing overnight. It’s hard not to feel like every word he says and action he takes isn’t carefully calculated with every possible outcome considered.
“All I know is that he wants to start his own company,” he continues. “A new car manufacturing company, but with more energy-efficient models to compete with Jameson. Obviously, I have the qualifications since my entire upbringing was devoted to preparing me for running Jameson Automobiles.”
“Ha, of course,” I scoff, as my throat tightens. “How convenient. He weasels his way back into Jameson and our lives and suddenly he has a passion for cars and the environment?” He shrugs cluelessly as I glare at him. “Get fucking real, Emmett. All Theo cares about is competing with the Hendersons and the new Elites. I knew getting rid of Thomas wouldn’t be enough for him. He’s the greediest person I’ve ever met. He’s not going to stop.”
“I don’t know,” he answers nonchalantly. “Does it really matter what his motives are? All I have going for me is what my dad taught me about running the company. But with none of the actual work experience for it to matter to another car manufacturer. Whatever Theo wants out of it, it’d be the start of a career for me…”
His defense knocks out what little bit of wind I have left in my chest. “Wait…so you are actually considering this!? What the fuck…” I let out a shaky exhale and start to pace in the dark parking lot.
“I don’t know! I didn’t say that! I…I just don’t know.”
“What about everything we planned!?” I cry out. “All we’ve talked about the past month is getting the hell out of Jameson. Now not only are you actually considering getting a job here, but you also want to work for my father!? What was the point of everything we’ve been through!? You scheming to have your monster of a father taken out of the picture…hoping you could run a legitimate company with some sense of ethics and morals. I know everything changed when your mom took everything and cut you off, but it was supposed to be a fresh start! Now you’re just going right back to...to...”
“Taking my father out wasn’t just about gaining control over Jameson Automobiles,” he defends with that familiar haunted and wounded look in his eyes. “It was much more than that and you know it.”
A streak of guilt cuts through my rage. I firmly believe there’s little to no difference between Theo and Thomas, but I didn’t have to grow up with Theo. A fact that has probably left me better off. Emmett has suffered horrible abuse at the hands of his father. Killing him wasn’t about money or power. It was about survival and getting rid of a sick and twisted man who did nothing but cause harm to others.
“I know, I’m sorry,” I offer. “But that’s just it. Why put yourself into Theo’s hands? And right back in the same situation you had to go through so much to get out of?”
“Hey, come here,” he demands, intercepting my manic pace to wrap his arms around me. “It’s okay. I’m not really considering working for him, okay? Like I said…I had to tell you, and it felt like there was just no good way to go about it.”
I give into his embrace, still reeling with fear no matter what he says. My chest and arms tremble against him, and I can’t tell if it’s from the cold or lingering anger.
“No matter what happens…I just can’t stand to see you slip back into that life,” I explain gently. “Too much has happened for you to end up working in Jameson with a corrupt company the rest of your life.”
I want him to agree and reassure me, but instead he’s silent as he strokes my hair. I know that look on his face. It’s the same one that everyone’s been giving me lately, especially my mom and stepdad. The look that implies I’m holding too much of a grudge against Theo. But I can understand it from them. They don’t know him like I do. Emmett does though, which is exactly why he should be more adamant about refusing his proposal.
“Let’s get back inside,” he coaxes, nudging me towards the door. “Wherever we move to is sure to have a bowling alley and I want to show up looking like a seasoned pro.”
Referencing our planned move out of here should comfort me, but it feels half-hearted. I can see Emmett’s wheels turning and I’m terrified about just how seriously he’s considering this meeting with Theo. The thought twists in my gut, leaving me nauseous by the time I lay down for bed later that night.
This new bit of information put a dark cloud over the whole evening, prompting me to refuse Emmett’s invitation to his place after the bowling alley. Once again, something has killed our sex drive. I toss and turn on my pillow and get mad all over again. How could he say there was no good way to tell me about Theo’s proposition?
Your dad actually thought I would consider a job offer from him. Can you believe it!? Isn’t that absurd!? Unthinkable!? Completely out of the question!?
Followed by dismissive laughter and then a change in subject because the idea is too ludicrous to even waste our breath on. That would have been a great way to bring it up. The fact that Emmett can’t see that only worries me more.
Believing that men like Theo and Thomas are the same...is that why it’s so hard for him to see my dad for what he really is? Is that why working for him seems like a logical option? Some of my biggest fears about Emmett come bubbling up to the surface once again. Is he a lost cause? Maybe being raised by that monster left him too damaged and fucked-up to ever really be able to live the kind of life we’ve been dreaming about.
Unable to sleep, Marissa’s diary calls to me once again. I roll over to my nightstand drawer as I flip the lamp switch.
Dear Diary,
As mortified as I was about this whole arrangement with the Jamesons, now I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. My parents were going to dictate who I married regardless. If it had to happen, I can’t believe I ended up liking the guy they picked for me. More than like. I think I am falling in love with him.
We spent the day with our parents going to lunch and then a show. But Thomas was so smooth and charming, he convinced them to let us sneak away afterward. We walked through the park hand in hand while he talked about all of his big plans for Jameson Automobiles. It was all so fascinating and Thomas knows when he takes over, he will do an even better job with it than his father.
His ideas are interesting, but his dreams for life are even better. The Jameson Manor is stunning and impressive, and Thomas talks about how he imagines raising a family there. Such a big beautiful house with all the finest foods and clothes. Not to mention vacations around the world. I always thought that the kind of life my parents envisioned for me would dull, but something about picturing it with Thomas by my side makes it incredible. Suddenly, I want it more than anything.
Just before we turned around to walk back home, Thomas pulled me off under some trees. He passionately pinned me to one of the trunks and kissed me. I have never felt anything like it. I melted into him completely and would have done absolutely anything he asked. I would have given myself over to him right then and there. But like a true gentleman, he pulled away and walked me home.
I can still taste him on my lips and smell the faintest trace of his scent lingering around my neck. It’s intoxicating. After our first couple of dates, I couldn’t stop daydreaming about prom. But now prom seems like a footnote. Now I spend all day fantasizing about being Mrs. Thomas Jameson. I’ve practically planned our whole wedding already and have even started picking out baby names.
Can I really be this lucky? Will this really be my life?
- Marissa
Chapter Thirteen
BOOK 3
I race into my house with my hands full of mail, flinging my backpack to the corner of the room as I begin frantically shuffling through the envelopes. I’ve been watching the mailbox like a guard dog on high alert for the past week, knowing that acceptance letter
s and scholarship offers would soon arrive. They have finally started trickling in day by day.
I flip through each piece of mail, tossing bills and other things for my mom and Brendan onto our table by the front door. Once I have weeded out a total of five letters from colleges addressed to me, I run up the stairs to my room and lock the door.
I sit on the edge of the bed with my hands shaking as I run my thumbs across the envelopes, feeling the current of excitement surging through my veins. It’s possible that none of them have accepted me at all, much less extended a scholarship offer. But Coach Granger and even his new assistant, Jada, have assured me that’s unlikely.
Unable to stand it anymore, I start tearing into the first one at random. The first one I open is from the campus a couple of hours from here. The one where Theo had to rush in and save my ass with a copy of my birth certificate at the interview. It’s Coach Granger’s top pick, but it’s not as far away from Jameson as I would prefer. And it’s definitely too close to Theo.
The thought of distance makes me stop. I suddenly have an idea. I line the envelopes up across the bed, arranging them according to how far away from Jameson they are. I imagine them being like a map. A line across the country, each acceptance a pin signifying just how far away I can get.
I finish opening the first one with the nearest campus. Accepted. Full ride track scholarship. I pound my feet on the carpet in a little dance and squeal as I read the words. Placing it back down on the bed, I think: Okay. There it is. I know I can get at least two hours out of Jameson.
The next school in line is several states away down south and is the most prestigious institution I’ve applied to. I rip the envelope open and see another acceptance. I dance and squeal again, but quickly notice the letter doesn’t include any mention of a scholarship. It doesn’t mean one could not come later, but for now that pretty much rules it out. That’s okay. At least I know I got in, I think as I place the envelope back in line.