Page 23 of Protecting Her

“Ember?” I called out, but I could tell she wasn’t there. I wanted to pretend I’d come into the wrong room, but I saw a note on the table in the kitchen. It had my name on it.

I stared at it for a few minutes as I sank into a chair. I didn’t want to open it. I wanted to pound my fist into the table, but I didn’t want to gain a destructive reputation like Mason had. I slid cold, numb fingers across the table and picked up the envelope finally, and opened it.

“I’m done. Don’t look for me. Leave me alone. Thanks. Ember.”

That was all it took to make my world crumble around me. A few lines, not even a paragraph really. Just a few lines, and all of my plans for the future, all of the hopes I’d started to build, were gone. I stared at the paper, dry-eyed and hollow inside.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel. I felt numb. Betrayed. Confused. So I did the only thing I could do at that point. I slid off my shoes, slid into the bed that still smelled of her, and wrapped my arms around her pillow. I blocked it all out and went to sleep rather than face the music. Or lack of it. There was a definite lack of music now. I might never listen to it again.

A restless night left me achy and grouchy the next day. I didn’t know what to do with myself. All of my work centered around Ember, all of my plans, all of the tasks I had to do, had hinged on her. And she’d fucked off.

It was really hitting me this morning. The rest of my team hadn’t figured it out yet, but they would soon enough so I called a meeting. I wanted to run away, to head up into the mountains and hike this ache away, or climb rocks until the pain in my body and fingers surmounted the pain in my heart, but I had an obligation to my family to help run this business.

“Paula, I need you to find another act to replace Ember. It seems she won’t be signing a new contract with us for now. Mark, you need to help her out. Sarah, can you take down all of the notifications about Ember’s times on our social media platforms? And the posters here in the hotel, take those down too.” I could see a row of shocked faces in front of me, a row of faces with questions, but they could tell from my tone I had no answers.

For the first time in my life, my heart was broken and nobody could fix it. I thought about calling my mom or Emily, but I’d always done my own thing. I was never really close to any of my family, and I didn’t want to start opening myself up now. It might hurt too much.

Words beat inside of my head, to the pace of my heartbeat, over and over again, without end. She was gone.

I had no idea why or where she’d gone, but she had. Her note made it clear that she was done with me.

“Are you alright, Kevin?” Sarah asked, and I smiled at the young woman. Leave it to the toughest looking one to notice when someone else was in pain.

“Just tired, Sarah, but thanks. Any questions?” I knew there wouldn’t be but gave them a chance, just in case. When they all shook their heads I dismissed them.

What purpose did I have now? I decided I needed a drink. A drink where nobody could judge me or report to my father about it. I picked up the phone and made one very long distance call to an old friend in England. It only rang once before he answered.

“Kevin? Hey, what’s up, mate?” I heard Henry’s voice as clear as if he was right beside of me, but he wasn’t.

“Ah, you know how it is, Hen, some days are your days, some days you need to borrow an old friend’s cabin in the woods to lick your wounds.” I knew I could be open with Henry. We’d been best mates in school, and the bastard son of a king was a generous kind of guy. He also had a cabin near some rocks I loved to climb, and wouldn’t refuse my request.

“You know where the keys are, Kevin. That bad is it?” I heard sympathy in his voice and knew I’d made the right choice.

“It’s pretty bad, yeah. Who knew love could you fuck you up like this?” It wasn’t something I’d planned to admit, but I had so I let it go.

“Things are never black and white are they?” Henry, a wise guy for a playboy bastard prince, said with a chuckle of commiseration. “Use the place as long as you need it. Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll send the cleaners in.”

“Thanks, Henry, I really appreciate it. You coming over this way soon?” It had been a few months since I’d last seen him and told him all about the most incredible woman I’d only just met.

“I don’t know. I have a few things on my plate, but I might. Take care, my friend. I have to go, but you enjoy those rocks. Later.” Henry hung up then, and I took a deep breath. I closed down my laptop, my phone, and packed a bag for my time at the mountain hideaway.

Henry’s dad owned properties around the world, this cabin in the mountains was one he’d given to Henry as a token of love. Henry’s father might not have married his mother, but he cared for his son and his son’s mother very much. If only Ember had loved me that way.

Kevin

Bleary sunlight broke through a window as I cracked an eyelid open a week later. Something had woken me up.

“Kevin!” I heard the sound of my name and a fist against a door.

“What the fuck?” I said, but said it quietly. My head was thumping.

I stood up and kicked away the bottles of beer and knocked over a half-empty bottle of whiskey that some idiot had left teetering on a side table as I made my way to the door. The fact that I’d been alone all week meant that idiot was me. I was going to have to hire cleaners when I left.

The fist against the door wouldn’t let up, and I almost got a fist in the face when I pulled the wooden door open. “Emily? What are you doing here?”

My cool, calm, and collected sister swept in, her blonde hair neatly in place, and her eyes a glare I couldn’t look away from.

“Where have you been? And where’s Ember?” She looked me over, a grown man still in his boxer shorts, hair in fifty directions with a beard on his chin and a glaze in his eyes.