Chapter Twenty-One
Cooper
I drove down the road toward Keefer’s, a lump in my throat, my nerves entirely on edge. Emma wouldn’t answer my calls and she sure as hell wasn’t going to return them considering how she felt. And I’d called what I felt was non-stop for the eighteen hours since she’d told me goodbye and hung up on me. Even after I’d left countless voicemails practically begging her to call me so I could explain. I got the point. She was ignoring anything that had to do with me. But her talking to me wasn’t even my main concern. Her safety was. After Felix’s phone call and the threats he and his thug friend had made, I just needed to know that Emma was safe. And since I didn’t know where she lived, there was no way I could attempt to see her in person and make sure she was.
The only thing I wanted more than to try to explain my reasons for what I had done, was to protect her. I should have just been upfront with her from the beginning, but I let my fears get the better of me. Once she opened up and told me about her trust issues with her last boyfriend, I should have laid it all out on the table then and there. God knows I didn’t do myself any favors by keeping it from her. I could tell her all day long that I just wanted her to see me as some normal guy and not the billionaire this money created, but it wouldn’t matter. In her eyes, I wasn’t honest with her. And now she was gone.
My fingers hammered nervously along the steering wheel as I pulled into the parking lot of Keefer’s, maneuvering my corvette around back. We were supposed to work the same shift and then we’d had a standing date to go surfing after work. I doubted we’d be doing so unless my level of groveling climbed to expert and worked extremely well. Then again, she might want to keep that surf date just so she could drown me. I couldn’t blame her. I had essentially done what Tim had done to her, just in a different manner, and I couldn’t begin to explain how ashamed I was to even be in the same category as that prick. I wanted her to trust me. Hell, I wanted her to love me. My feelings for her hadn’t changed.
As I pulled into an empty parking space, my heart sank when I didn’t see her car. It was only ten minutes before the start of our shift. Maybe she was running late. There had been an accident on the highway right above where I entered so I hinged a little hope on the possibility that maybe she got held up in traffic waiting for it to clear. I climbed out of the car and walked inside, nodding toward Chris as I put my things up and prepared the bar for the lunch time rush.
* * * * *
I wiped down a glass and set it behind the bar, my eyes scanning for Emma for the hundredth time in the three hours since my shift had started. Even when she didn’t make it on time, I still tried to attribute it to the accident. As the lunch crowd started to file in, I stayed busy making drinks and helping the wait staff with some of the tables. No one else seemed concerned that she wasn’t there and, for a second, I wondered if maybe she had taken a few days off to not only avoid me but hopefully use the money I had given her for some much deserved rest.
But my curiosity turned into concern shortly after that thought. Emma wasn’t the type to take days off unless something was wrong, money or no money. So, on my lunch break, I walked back to the kitchen where Chris was busy slinging burgers.
“Hey, fry pan man,” I said, my hands in my pockets. He flipped me the bird as he didn’t turn away from the smoke and fire billowing from the massive grill. “What do ya need, barboy?”
“Where’s Emma today?” I asked casually, hoping I didn’t sound too eager. “Is she sick or something?”
“I dunno,” Chris answered, flipping the burgers on the grill with his spatula. “She just called and said she wouldn’t be in. I figured she didn’t need to give me a reason. She hasn’t taken a day off since she started working here.”
I swallowed hard; it was because of me. It had to be. What if she was going to quit her job to avoid me because I was working there? I couldn’t let that happen. She loved working at Keefer’s and everyone there loved her. I would feel like the world’s most supreme asshole if she did something like that. “She, um, she’s coming back to work, right? I mean, she didn’t quit or anything?”
Apparently something in my voice struck a chord because that’s when Chris turned around, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me. “What did you do?”
I removed one of my hands out of my pocket and ran it through my hair, feeling lower than low. “I, uhhh. Aww, hell, Chris. I messed up.”
I never saw it coming. One moment I was standing there, the next Chris’ beefy paw had me jacked up against the wall, his face red with anger. “What the hell did you do?”
Despite his size, Chris was lightning fast and way stronger than he looked. “I left out a small detail about my life,” I forced out, feeling the brute force of Chris’ power against my neck. One squeeze and I wouldn’t be able to breathe. “Can you let me go so I can explain, at least?”
“I knew you were trouble,” Chris grumbled as he reluctantly loosened his grip on me. “I saw how you couldn’t keep your eyes off of her. I swear to God, if you’ve hurt her in any way, I will beat you so badly that your own momma will feel the pain.”
“I didn’t hurt her,” I said, holding up my hands. “I swear it. I’m the one who gave her that money, the big tip she got yesterday, and didn’t tell her it was from me.”
Chris whistled and turned back to the grill, flipping the burgers once more like he hadn’t just shoved me against the wall. “You butted into her personal life. Dude, that’s like the worst thing you could do. She’s never gonna forgive you for that. She’s extremely private.”
“Yeah, I know,” I sighed, sagging against the wall. “I just wanted to help. She told me about her dad and all and I just wanted to relieve some of the stress off of her shoulders.”
Chris turned around halfway, his face full of surprise. “She told you about her dad?”
“Yeah,” I replied, feeling miserable about the situation.
“Wow,” he said, tapping his spatula against the edge of the grill. “I can’t believe she did that. She only told me after she’d known me a couple of years and probably only then because it got to a certain point that I needed to fix her schedule so she could take him to appointments, but she hasn’t known you that long.”
“I really care about her, Chris,” I said simply, my heart aching over the pain I might have caused her. “I just want to help her as much as I can.”
“Well, then you better start groveling, my friend,” Chris said with a shake of his head. “Because she isn’t just going to let you back in without a damn good reason. I should probably go ahead and shoot you to put you out of your misery.”
“Do you think she would see me?” I asked hesitantly, figuring he knew her better than anyone else. “If I went to her apartment?”
“Maybe,” Chris said slowly, taking the burgers off of the grill and carefully placing them on the waiting buns. “But again, I would be prepared to grovel.” He turned around and checked the clock on the wall. “But you’ve still got two hours in your shift.”
“Can you do without me?” I asked, thinking that now since we had gotten through the lunch crowd, it wouldn’t be that busy before my relief would come in. “Lunch rush is over and I’ll make it up, I swear.”
“I’ll have to dock your pay,” Chris said.
I nodded and peeled off the bar apron tied around my waist. “Thanks. This means a lot.”
“You might as well try, at least. But she’s probably not going to be at her apartment. She’s likely at her dad’s house,” Chris informed.
“And what are the odds you know where that is?” I asked.
“Dude, she would kill me if I gave you that information. Like, dead.”
I looked at Chris, concern filling every cell of my existence. “Chris, I can’t explain it right now, but I just need to know she’s okay. Not just emotionally, but physically. I just need to know.”
Chris drew in a deep, concerned breath. “I don’t know why, but you make this sound pretty serious. You’d better not be bullshitting me, barboy. And she’d better be okay.” He shook his head and reached in his pocket. “She’s going to kick my ass for this,” he mumbled. “This is the address to her dad’s place outside the city.,” Chris replied, writing something down on a piece of paper and handing it to me.
“Thanks,” I said, genuinely meaning it. Chris didn’t have to help me out, and I wasn’t really sure why he would, but for some reason, he was.
“Don’t get used to it,” he grumbled as I turned to go. “Hey, barboy.”
I turned around to find him glaring at me. “If this doesn’t work and she doesn’t want you back, I’m gonna have to fire you. I can’t have my best worker not wanting to be here.”
“Understood,” I acknowledged before heading to the locker room. I would gladly give up my position if Emma didn’t want to work this out. This place made her happy, and I wasn’t going to do anything to take that away from her. I’d clearly already done enough of that.
I grabbed my stuff and walked out to the car, hopping in before programming the address into the GPS on my phone. It was going to take me about forty-five minutes to get there so I had plenty of time to work on my groveling to get her to forgive me.
* * * * *
I sighed and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, looking at the time on the clock. I only had twenty-six minutes before I reached my destination and had yet to come up with a good speech to give her when I got there. Everything sounded so rehearsed. Then again, I was doing just that, rehearsing it.
Glancing in my rearview mirror, I realized that the same car I’d seen since shortly after leaving Keefer’s was still behind me in the traffic. The car hung far enough back and the windows were tinted just dark enough that I couldn’t get a good idea of who might be behind the wheel. My first thought went straight to Felix and his goon. I hadn’t heard from them since they’d called and threatened the women in my life if I didn’t get them money. I had no intention of giving them any money, and I’d been trying to come up with a good plan when Emma called all upset. At that point, instead of talking to my mom about the Felix situation, I’d found myself talking to Emma’s voicemail over and over, hoping to get her to answer her phone so that I could explain myself and apologize.
But now, with the possibility of being followed, that all came back to the forefront. Whoever it was, they were close enough that when I changed lanes, they followed suit. It made me wonder if this was part of what they had warned me about, some scare tactic to convince me to give them the money and be done with it.
I changed lanes again and then threw on my blinker with barely enough time to make the left hand turn before I missed it. The rear end of my ‘Vette fishtailed a bit, but as I regained control the car tailing me reappeared in my mirror. My hands began to sweat under the grip I had on the steering wheel. After that stunt, there was no doubt — I was being followed.