Page 29 of Emeric

Sheldon entered the kitchen as we were about to let them know the food was ready. He walked toward us and asked, “He apologized, right?”

I nodded. “He did.”

“Good. You deserved for him to.”

“Thank you for stepping in back there,” Emeric added.

“No worries. I’ve known him most of my life. If anyone can put Ollie in his place, it’s me.”

“Put me in place, huh?” Oleander asked, a small smile playing on his lips as he leaned against the doorway.

“You know I can take you down.”

“Uh-huh. Whatever you say.”

“Everything okay out there?” Emeric asked.

“So far so good,” Sheldon replied. “Lane and the others found the trail and are currently on the hunt. I think they’re enjoying it far more than Jordan is. He wants the people found and eliminated. Lane wants to play with them like a cat with a toy.”

“There was a time when I thought I didn’t want anything to do with this life. Not that I’m in it the same way you are. Lana was meeting with Jordan for the first time, and I told her not to involve me. Years later, and here I am. I couldn’t do what all of you do, but I understand why it has to be done. These aren’t good people. They will hurt others if they get away from you. I’d like to think they’d end up in prison, locked away for a long time. Unfortunately, that’s not always the reality. Horrible people get away with terrible things while minor crimes are gone after.” From the sound of it, Emeric had experience working on various cases.

Sheldon clapped him on the shoulder. “You made the right decision. If you hadn’t come to the dark side, you wouldn’t be here listening to us talk about murder before dinner. Food and entertainment. What else could you ask for?”

“Calm, quiet, and less bloodshed, but who am I to be picky?”

“At least you know you can be. Should we sit?”

“Yes,” I rushed to say. I didn’t want the food to get cold, but I also didn’t want to interrupt their conversation.

Oleander went to let Micah and Forest know about dinner while I made sure everything was ready on the table. I was safe in this home, especially with the men here. It might seem odd that my anxiety wasn’t from a potential attack. In all honesty, if that happened, there was a panic room I could go into until help arrived. Even as we sat at the table, my heartbeat kicked up, and my hands slightly trembled. I knew each of them, some better than others. Yet my mind did what it always did: it went straight to panic.

Emeric sat next to me and slid his hand under the table to place it on top of my thigh. It wasn’t done in a sexual way, but rather in comfort. It worked too. He grounded me in the moment, to keep me present and my thoughts from racing, wondering when everyone would leave or how long they’d be here. How much more of this I could take. What if they were here for days? It was a constant loop of what-ifs, but with Emeric by my side, I was able to pull myself out of it a bit and focus on the table and food in front of us.

13

EMERIC

The banging on the front door was enough to make me scream into my pillow. I was so damn tired, I didn’t even want to lift my head to look at my phone to check the camera to see who the fuck was annoying me. I told my staff I was not to be disturbed unless absolutely necessary.

By the time I got home, it was six in the morning, and I hadn’t slept at all. Jordan’s men took care of the people who went after Micah, so we were free to go. Well, I was free to leave at any point, but I wanted to stay to keep Oleander and Sylvan company. It was selfish on my part. I enjoyed being around them, especially watching their dynamic. Oleander liked to look out for Sylvan, but couldn’t see that Sylvan didn’t need anyone to do that for him.

As for me, I thought Oleander needed someone to care for him. He watched everyone’s backs and had other guards to help him, but who was there for him when he came home? Who was the person Oleander leaned on when things got too tough or hit too close? I saw another side of him last night, one that was very remorseful for thinking he’d hurt Sylvan’s feelings. Oleander was ruthless when need be. I’d heard enough stories. Inside though, he was like everyone else.

The banging started again, echoing through my home. “Someone better be on literal fire in the fucking hallway,” I growled, then slapped my hand around the nightstand until it made contact with my phone. Picking it up, I brought it under the pillow where my head was to see my sister standing outside, staring up at the camera with a bored look on her face.

I hit a button on the app and growled, “Fuck you.” She had the goddamn code to get in. There was zero reason for her to bang on my door. No one could get up here unless they had clearance. The code to get in was an extra security measure.

She flipped me off, then let herself in. I put the phone down.

There was no way I was getting out of bed. Whatever Lana wanted, she could hike her ass in here and tell it to my pillow because I wasn’t moving my head. There was still a lot of sleep I had to catch up on. I rarely took time off, not that this was necessarily that. This was me sleeping a bit before working my ass off like I usually did.

The sound of her heels on my floor reached me before she did, except she didn’t enter the room. “I’m not coming in there if you’re naked.”

“Good. Stay out there. In fact, stay all the way out the door to the elevator, then down that and out into the street where you can fuck all the way off.”

“God, you’re an asshole today. Who had you up all night? Oh wait, I know because I got called to go get Raiden out of jail.”

I really wasn’t going back to sleep. Not only would Lana need something, which was why she was here, but I was curious what happened that I wasn’t told last night, probably because I stayed near Sylvan most of the time, and they only seemed to discuss so much in front of him.