Her uncle cut a glance at us, so I played it up.
Shaking her head, Emersyn looked a little bemused. “I barely got out of the rehearsal rooms. I never did get any sightseeing in.”
“You went to Paris and didn’t actually see Paris?” I shook my head and made the appropriate face. “Unacceptable. I insist, girls’ trip at some point.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
It would never happen. Not unless we both changed our names and just vanished. How tempting was that? Adam moved into my line of sight and I sighed. Why the hell was he here now? But he glanced from me to Emersyn and back. Instead of just interrupting, he shot me a questioning look.
Did he remember what I’d said about her not remembering Ezra? I shook my head a little. I didn’t know if she’d recognize him. Not when she’d forgotten our last visit.
With more effort than I cared to admit, I focused my energy into my smile. “Good. Let’s make it happen…”
“Elaine.” Goddammit Adam. Did you ever listen? “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
“I didn’t plan on it,” I said. “Go away.”
He laughed, but it was a chilly warning. One I recognized as he transferred his attention to Emersyn again and held out his hand. “Adam Reed, and you are…”
“She is utterly unimpressed,” I told him and she didn’t remember him. Was he blind? The last thing we needed to do was call attention to it in front of her uncle. The man was king of the douchebags. I slid my arm through Emersyn’s. “And we’re going inside.”
“Adam.” Her uncle’s greeting killed my plan to sweep her away. Damn Adam for interrupting. “Good to see you.”
Adam’s expression froze into a steel mask. He didn’t even nod in greeting to her uncle. Well, clearly the dislike went both ways.
“How is your father?”
“He’s well, sir. I’m sure he’ll be terribly upset to have missed you.”
“Not to worry,” Bradley Sharpe responded. “The shares I just secured will see me seated on the board. I’ll catch up with him at the board meeting next week. Enjoy your evening. Princess.”
There was no mistaking the order he’d just given. Emersyn let go of my arm with a small smile.
“You didn’t introduce me,” Adam said, his grin cold and predatory.
“You’re right.” Oily and smooth, the man didn’t miss a beat. “I didn’t.” With that, he slid an arm around Emersyn and pulled her away. His knuckles whitened where he gripped her. Goddammit. Maybe I could…
But I didn’t even make it two steps before Adam caught my arm and pulled me back to him. “If you follow them, I’ll pick you up and haul your ass out of here like a child.”
“What is wrong with you?” I demanded. “Did someone drop you on your head? I know it’s not your mother. She loves you so much, she can’t see you for the cold-hearted bastard you are.”
“I’m not the bastard in this equation,” he reminded me, his eyes chipped ice. “Stay the fuck away from Emersyn while she’s here.”
“No.”
“Lainey, I’m warning you…”
“No, you don’t get to decide my friends. I’ve told you this a thousand times and I thought you liked her.”
“She’s fine. It’s her family I don’t trust.” He cut a look over my head and I stomped my foot on his. It was as subtle as I could make it, but I made sure to put all of my weight into it. His lips thinned when he looked back down at me. “You will be the death of me someday.”
“We can only hope.”
CHAPTER 13
EMERSYN
Throbbing in my wrists penetrated the dark fog smothering me. Throbbing and whispering. The whispering was the worst. The whispers punctuated by soft kisses to my brow. The smell came next and brought reality crashing into my awareness. No matter how much I didn’t want to open my eyes, I refused to hide in the blackness. The inky velvet didn’t make my situation more palatable.
His room.
His bed.
Him.
All three things registered in the same breath as he lifted his head to look down at me. The concern in his eyes filled me with revulsion. Worse, he stroked my cheek. “Princess, you have no idea how worried about you I’ve been.”
If my mouth wasn’t so dry, I’d spit in his face. His guard slit my wrists. Wrists. I lifted one hand and the vision of white bandages wrapping it up swam across my vision. He caught my arm in a firm grip.
“Don’t worry about that now,” Uncle Bradley urged me. “I should have come up to see you sooner.” Then he feathered more kisses against my cheek. “But I’m here now.”
I wanted to vomit.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to just disappear.
None of those things happened. Awareness held me in its icy grip and I endured every touch as he moved against me. I was there and not there. It was like it happened to someone else and at the same time, every push and press of his flesh into mine left a vividly nauseating imprint.
I found a crack in the ceiling to focus on while he grunted and shifted. The sound threatened to drag me back into my body, but I didn’t want to be there right now. I’d survived this before. I’d survive it again. I just had to endure.
Thankfully, it didn’t last long. He was shaking as he clutched me to him. The wet tears against my throat almost made me laugh.
“I can’t lose you,” he said, over and over again. Like he truly cared. That was the sickest lie of all. Then he started all over again, more frenzied and angry. When his hands locked around my throat, I finally dragged my gaze to his eyes. The manic light in them promised me a swift end. That, too, was a lie.
But that beautiful lie I wanted and I didn’t fight for a breath. Didn’t try to squeeze in even a drop. When my vision darkened at the edges, I fell backward, letting it swallow me whole. The haze of darkness and pain twisted me into knots. No matter when I woke, he was there. My skin crawled from his touch.
Twice more, he offered to end me with his hands on my throat. And twice more, he reneged on the gift that would have been. When the endless night finally met the dawn, I could have wept. Whether for the fact I’d survived it or for what I’d endured, I had no idea. He had trouble getting out of bed.
There was some small satisfaction in me as he limped—badly—to the bathroom. If only I’d done more damage.
Next time, a vicious little voice inside my head whispered. We’ll do worse next time.
If we survived that long. If I…
The doctor was there. Crap. When had he gotten there?
“I kept her with me all night so I could look after her,” my uncle was saying. Dressed now, he played the part of a concerned family member. “If not for the nurses who checked on her, we might have lost her last night.”
Nurse?
Shithole Cole was a nurse?
A laugh escaped me. It was a broken little sound, sharp and scraping. Both men shot me a look as I laughed. Now that the floodgates had opened, the laughter turned to mad giggles. It also brought the aches in my body into sharp relief. My throat burned, the sound aggravating the rawness inside.