Emilia
It took a millisecond to confirm that what woke Emi was her doorbell and not just something she’d been dreaming. In the next second, she saw him, Sydney, standing by her bed, half-dressed, staring at her with the same alarm in his eyes as the one she was feeling in the pit of her gut. She brought her hand to her mouth and gasped when the memory of last night assaulted her.
“Nothing happened,” Sydney said, holding up one hand in front of him and pointing to her front room. “Someone’s at the door. You expecting anyone?
Emi had barely jumped out of bed, covering herself when she saw what she was wearing. Then she heard the voices calling out to her: first her sister, then A.J, and then, good God, Sly. In a complete panic, she grabbed a sweatshirt and threw it over her head.
Just as quickly Sydney scrambled around her room, picking up his shoes from the floor and his wallet from her nightstand. In a composed voice she knew was meant to calm her, he said he’d leave through her sliding door, which meant no one would see him or know he’d spent the night with her—in her bed.
Feeling the slightest relief but at the same time guilty because she remembered being the one who insisted on coming back to her place when he didn’t seem so eager, she began apologizing until he stopped and peered at her
“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled so sweetly her heart doubled over. “If I hadn’t wanted to, I wouldn’t have. And for the record, you may not remember, but we had a good time. At least I know I did, but I’m pretty sure you did too.”
A visual of her shamelessly dancing for him in the skimpy clothes she’d woken in made her face flush. She forced a mortified smile, feeling like an idiot. Sydney said nothing more, but the smirk on his face only furthered the heat that had already set her cheeks ablaze.
She walked him out, thanking him and apologizing again, feeling terrible about having to throw him out the back sliding door. As soon as she closed the door, she rushed out to the front room, thankful the sweatshirt she wore—an old high school favorite she’d swiped from her brother Nathan—was long enough to cover the skimpy satin shorts she wore.
To her horror, not only was it A.J., Livi, and Sly who stood outside her door but her two other brothers, Nathan and Isaiah, and her brother-in law Enzo as well. “I overslept,” she gasped, opening the door all the way so they could all come in. Each one stopped to hug her as they entered.
“Hey,” Nathan said with a big smile, staring at her sweatshirt. “The fighting Cougars. I haven’t seen that sweatshirt in years.”
“That’s ’cause I took it from you years ago,” she said, hugging him. “I’m sorry I overslept. But I can get ready in under fifteen minutes.”
“You have time,” Sly said, hugging her a little longer and tighter than the rest of her siblings, but he peered at her once he pulled away and lowered his voice. “What happened last night? You hung up on me.”
Emi’s eyes opened wide in a panic. “I don’t remember talking to you,” she whispered, bringing a hand to her disheveled hair. “I guess I had too much to drink.”
“You said you’d just gotten home and were real tired,” he said, searching her eyes a bit suspiciously. “I guess you fell asleep.”
She nodded, wracking her brain as the faint memory of hearing his voice in the kitchen came to her but not much else.
“Just let me use your bathroom real quick before you jump in the shower, Em,” A.J. said, already rushing into her bedroom.
Her heart rate sped up, remembering the champagne bottle and two glasses in her room, not to mention the stilettos still sprawled out at the foot of her bed. Liv, Enzo, Nathan, and Isaiah began setting down the coffee cups and muffin box they’d walked in holding on her kitchen table when one of their phones went off, buzzing loudly against the tabletop.
“Did you get a new phone, Emi?” Liv asked, reaching for the still-buzzing phone as Emi’s heart nearly gave out. “This is a nice one.”
“That’s huge,” Nathan said, staring at it. “What is that an iPhone?”
“Sydney must’ve forgotten that last night,” she said, reaching for it and feeling all eyes on her suddenly. Sly’s especially bore through her.
“Sydney?” Isaiah asked.
Her two oldest brothers were probably the most out of the loop about her friendship with Sydney, since she talked to them least.
“Yeah,” she said as casually as she could, reaching for the set of keys on the table as well and feeling her heart accelerate even more. “We went out to celebrate our birthdays last night. He stopped by here so I could show him something on the way back. I’ll have to get this back to him later today.”
Liv was staring at her, eyes wide, as if she’d just figured out why Emi must’ve slept in late. Her attention dropped to the keys in Emi’s hands now, her eyes going even wider. Even her husband Enzo’s expression was a strange one.
“I get to meet him today, right?” Sly asked, making Emi bring her attention back to him.
“Um, you know I didn’t even think to ask him if he’d be joining us today.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Nathan asked. “Isn’t he like a real good friend now? I’m sure Sarah will be glad to see him. Aren’t they related?”
Emi swallowed hard, feeling and seeing Sly’s penetrating stare in her peripheral vision as she turned to Nathan. “No,” she said, clearing her throat. “They’re not related, just longtime friends, but yeah”—she nodded, looking back at Sly whose expression had gone a bit hard—“I’ll let him know.”
“I really wanna meet him, Emi.” The inflection in Sly’s tone was unquestionable. This wasn’t a request. He was telling her now more than ever he wanted to meet the guy she spent so much time with: the guy she cooked dinner for often, who took her to her first bar ever, who was with her last night when she’d hung up on him, and who kept her up so late she’d slept in.
“I’ll let him know,” she said, rushing to her room as soon as A.J. walked out. “I’ll take the fastest shower in the history of the world. I promise. Just give me a few minutes.”
The second she locked her bedroom door she rushed to her closet and pulled a pair of flip-flops on then rushed out the sliding door, sneaking out as quietly as possible. Still tugging at the bottom of her sweatshirt and not caring what a bum she looked like, she rushed through the pool area and into the building across from it then to the elevators, tapping the up button impatiently.
On the way up, she wracked her brain to try and remember everything that happened last night but more importantly what she might’ve said. The few times she’d drunk in the past she’d proved to be an open book with no secrets. “God.” She brought her hand to her face. “What did I say to him?”
Whatever it was it couldn’t have been too bad. He seemed fine enough when he left that morning, even smiling a bit too satisfied. She prayed maybe she’d just flirted because one thing that had come to her clearly was all the stupid dancing she’d done and trying to walk in those damn shoes. Emi glanced at his phone, feeling nosey. She could only see the preview of the last text he’d received and who it was from. It was one dated yesterday and very late in the evening. As if seeing Scarlet’s name wasn’t enough to turn Emi’s stomach, the preview was even more nauseating.
My body’s craving you again . . .
It was all Emi could read. The rest was hidden, and even though she knew his password, because he’d given it to her in the past more than once when she wanted to check something on his phone, she refused to be that nosey. Still, it was enough to frazzle her as if she didn’t have enough on her mind already. She’d never once asked Sydney for any details about his relationship with Scarlet. So while she was pretty sure he’d slept with her, this was the actual proof she could’ve done without.
Once out of the elevator, she rushed out and hurried down the hallway. As she turned, it surprised her to not see Sydney standing outside his door. She sort of expected he might be waiting for her to bring his keys. How else would he get in?
As she reached his apartment, she slowed when she heard female laughter coming from inside his apartment. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand, and she wondered if maybe Scarlet had already rushed down to appease her body’s craving. Feeling her face heat only this time it wasn’t from mortification, she knocked loudly at Sydney’s door. Within seconds, he opened it, holding a bottle of water, still looking as disheveled as she felt, but fully dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.
“You forgot these,” she said, shoving his phone and keys at him, reminding herself she had no right to be upset, yet the jealousy she was feeling was a living thing.
“Yeah,” he said with a wince, taking them from her. “I didn’t even realize until I got to my door that’d I’d forgotten them.
“How’d you get in?”
“Julie Anne.”
A young girl in ridiculously short shorts and a tight T-shirt with a plunging neckline that showed off the cleavage from her fake tits sashayed up behind him. She was even sluttier looking than Emi remembered and exactly why she’d insisted on taking over Homer’s cat sitting. Sydney turned to Julie Anne. “You out of here?”
“Yeah.” Julie Anne smiled at Emi then turned to Sydney, rubbing her big tits against him as she moved in for a quick hug. “I’m meeting someone for breakfast. You’re lucky you caught me. But don’t be a stranger. Call me. I miss hanging with Homer”—she walked two fingers up Sydney’s arm with a galling coy smile—“and you.”
“I will.” Sydney smirked and thanked her again, calling her a lifesaver.
Julie Anne’s sized Emi up before smirking as she walked past her. Emi felt her insides warm and her brow lift as she turned to watch Julie Anne leave, ass cheeks hanging out of her hooker shorts. She turned back to Sydney. The disgust she felt knowing Sydney had likely slept with the whore was impossible to hide, so Emi didn’t even try.
“Why does she still have a key to your place?”
Sydney shrugged, leaning against his door. “I just never took it back, but it’s a good thing I didn’t, right? I might’ve been standing outside waiting for you all this time.”
“All this time?” she asked a bit exasperated but mostly irritated as hell that Julie Anne still had his key. “You left my place what? Ten minutes ago? I hope you took your key back.”
If he tried to hide it, he didn’t do a very good job because Emi could see Sydney was enjoying this, so she did her best to appear a little less ruffled than she felt.
“I didn’t,” he said, looking all too smug, “but I will if you want me to.” That surprised her, and she wondered if he was being serious. Before she could ask, he had an inquiry of his own. “Did they see my phone and keys?”
Emi nodded, explaining as quickly as she could that she’d just been honest about his stopping by last night but saying he must’ve forgotten his phone. “They didn’t ask about the keys. Probably assumed they were mine.” Then she remembered. “Sly wants to meet you.”
The playfulness in his face vanished, and Emi didn’t miss the way his eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“I told you he’s never been too hot about me having such a close guy friend, and he’d mentioned before about wanting to meet you the next time he was out this way.” She frowned. “I spent the evening with you last night and stayed up so late I overslept. Then I have no choice but to admit you were over at my place last night, and well”—she shook her head, feeling incredibly stupid—“he said he really wants to meet you, and my brothers were all like, ‘Yeah, why wouldn’t Sydney come? He’s a real good friend of yours, right?’ Nathan even pointed out that Sarah was going to be there and she’d be happy to see you. I just think it’d be kind of weird if you didn’t show up the one time my boyfriend is going to be there.”
“You want me to be around you and Sabian?” he asked, his expression going almost as hard as Sly’s had back in her apartment. “Watch you and him . . .”
He turned away, but she didn’t miss the way he clenched his jaw. Her brothers did it often when they were pissed, so she knew it well. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said, turning back to her and staring at her a little too hard for a moment without saying anything. “You know what? Sure. Why not? Text me where and when, and I’ll be there.”
Feeling a little confused and nervous about his strange demeanor, she peered at him. “Why are you saying it like that?”
“Like what?” he asked, his arched brow even more telling of this odd behavior.
“I don’t know”—she tilted her head, trying to put her finger on it—“like you really don’t want to. You don’t have to—”
“Oh, I want to,” he said, the corner of his lips twitching as it often did when he was being playful. Only at the moment it felt like anything but good-natured. “Text me. I’ll be there.”
It was too weird and she would’ve questioned him further, but she didn’t have time. Everyone back at her apartment thought she was in the bathroom, taking the fastest shower in the history of the world.
~~~
As expected, just like in Chicago when they’d been around A.J., the most affectionate Sly had been so far was he’d held her hand. It was only the times they’d been asked to pose for a photo that he’d wrap his arm around her waist and pull her to him. He’d snuck in a few kisses when her brothers weren’t watching.
Emi was thankful that Sly admitted he wasn’t entirely comfortable doing all he wished he could do in front of her siblings—most notably A.J., who was his good friend now. When they finally got a moment near the end of their walk, she braced herself. They’d all made a pit stop at the bathrooms, and she and Sly were alone for the first time all day. She was certain he’d take advantage of the moment to kiss her a little more as he had in Chicago when they’d been alone in her room. She kept reminding herself this was her boyfriend. She hadn’t given in to sleeping with him yet, but what they had done in Chicago came pretty damn close. Somehow she didn’t think she’d ever go there with him again. Hell, just holding his hand felt wrong now.
A little more about what happened last night in her apartment and bits and pieces of what she and Sydney talked about had come to her. She didn’t remember exactly what was discussed, but she somehow remembered how she’d felt, completely enamored and incredibly turned on by Sydney to the point she could practically feel the ache between her legs now. She’d felt that same ache most of the night, particularly at the piano bar when she’d sat so close to him she couldn’t resist rubbing his hard thigh. Feeling his big hand hold hers and inhaling his incredible fragrance each time he leaned in to whisper something in her ear had been a welcome agony. She also remembered feeling tempted to turn her head and kiss him. God, she’d been dreaming of it, imagining what it would feel like, for months.
Her biggest worry was that she could’ve easily done or said too much about what she felt for him now. That morning at his apartment further proof of how impossible it was for her to hide what she was feeling for him materialized. Her attempts to quell the scathing jealously she’d felt seeing that whore rub up against him had been pathetic at best. She shuddered to think what she might’ve said to him last night. Her mind kept going over his reaction to her asking him to hang out with them today. It was almost as if she’d slapped him in the face with the suggestion. “You want me to be around you and Sabian? Watch you and him . . .”
Something had definitely changed overnight, but he’d assured her nothing had happened. Still, why did being here today with Sly feel so wrong?
To her surprise, instead of doing what she thought he might do and sneak in a few more deeper kisses and maybe even do some of what she’d allowed him to in Chicago, Sly used the time instead to inquire more about last night.
“So what was it you wanted to show Sydney back at your place last night?”
It caught her completely by surprise, and she felt stupid for not anticipating the question. No way was she telling her boyfriend she’d brought another guy back to her place to watch her prance around in stilettos—shoes so obscenely high her sister jokingly referred to them as fuck-me shoes.
Originally, she’d planned on telling Sydney about the shoes, maybe showing them to him in the box, not modeling them for him and certainly not in the skimpy outfit she’d worn last night all the while dancing around like a shameless stripper.
“I, uh . . .” She swallowed hard, unable to think of a single thing that would make sense or sound believable at least not to her. “I’d told him about the birthday gift my sister sent me,” she said, trying to buy time until she could think of something to say her sister bought her.
“And what was that?”
A teddy bear. A watch. An espresso machine, you amateur!
All of these would’ve been perfectly acceptable, yet she knew without a doubt she wouldn’t be able to pull any of them off. She sucked at lying, and she knew it’d be especially hard to do so with him looking at her the way he was now.
“Emi, you wouldn’t happen to have a Band-Aid, would you?”
Emi turned to see her sister’s pained expression as Enzo helped her limp to a nearby bench. One look down and Emi could see the bloody knee. “What happened?” she asked, completely alarmed and already rushing to her sister’s side.
“My clumsy ass tripped on something.”
“It’s the stupid design on the ramp up to the bathroom,” Enzo said, rubbing Livi’s back. “I can guarantee you you’re not the first one to trip on that half-assed cement job.”
Enzo’s words struck a chord with Emi even as she dug in her small back pack for something to wipe Livi’s knee with. Half-assed. Why did that remind her of last night?
“Here you go.” Sly handed Enzo several wet paper towels.
“What happened? Rosie asked as she and her husband Vince approached.
Enzo gave them his angry version of Livi’s spill. Emi had to smile. If her brother-in-law could kick the ass of the guy who did the half-assed cement job, she knew he would. One by one the whole gang came over to check on Livi.
Within a few minutes, Enzo announced they were done with the walk. “I need to get her somewhere where we can ice her knee.”
Livi pouted. “I’m not finishing the walk?”
“No, babe,” Enzo said, frowning as he scrutinized her knee some more. “This thing’s already swelling up.”
“Yeah,” Isaiah agreed. “You need to get off it, Liv.”
“You can go back to my place,” Emi offered. “But you’re coming to eat with us, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Livi said without even checking with Enzo.
They decided where that would be: an Italian restaurant not too far from where the walk had taken place at Griffith Park. Thankfully, the conversation shifted from Liv’s injury to Sarah and Rosie pouting about feeling guilty that none of them had brought the kids because so many parents were doing the walk with strollers and little ones in wagons.
There was also talk of the restaurant they were going to be eating at as they all continued their walk without Liv and Enzo. Sal and Grace were raving about it. Grace, who was head chef at one of the Moreno restaurants, knew her stuff and had been the one to suggest it. She said it was high-end enough to attract celebrity and high-profile customers but it was also casual enough that there was no dress code. Their casual walking attire would be fine.
Remembering Sydney’s suggestion, Emi began quizzing her about culinary school. She’d since researched the highly accredited culinary program at ESU, but the thought still scared her.
“Culinary school, Em?” A.J. had asked after overhearing her tell Grace she’d been considering it.
Since Liv and Enzo had taken the SUV they’d gotten to the park in, they all had to split up and jump in one of the other several SUVs the Morenos and her cousin Moe had driven up in. It was a tight squeeze, but they all fit. Sly and Emi ended up in Sal and Grace’s SUV along with Angel, Sarah, Rosie, and Vince.
The conversation stayed on culinary school and the different options Emi could consider. It wasn’t until they got to the restaurant that Sydney’s name was even brought up again.
Emi had hoped Sly would let it go and forget about reminding her to text Sydney the name of the place they’d be eating. His words were beginning to haunt her. “You want me to be around you and Sabian?”
No.
No, she didn’t.
Not at all.
Even though she couldn’t remember all that they talked about last night, she sensed they’d had a moment, some kind of breakthrough. Or maybe she’d said something that would have Sydney looking almost disgusted about her even suggesting he be around her and her boyfriend now.
Clearly, something had changed, and as soon as she was able to get Sydney alone, she was getting to the bottom of it. In the meantime, she just had to get through this day with Sabian. She’d begun to think maybe Sly had forgotten about reminding her to text Sydney with the location. Then Angel, the last person she would’ve thought would be thinking of Sydney, brought him up.
“Did you tell Syd where we’re gonna be?” he asked Sarah.
“I did,” Sarah said, pulling her phone out as they parked in the restaurant’s parking lot. “But let me send him the link with their website just to be sure.”
Sly glanced at Emi, squeezing her hand, and she smiled even as her heart rate began to accelerate. “Finally, I get to meet this guy.”