Emme
Run, Emme. Run as fast as you can. You’ve got to get away. Don’t let him catch you. Keep moving forward. One step at a time.
I keep telling myself to run. Left, right, left, right. I see the light in the distance. Please let me get past it. With each step, it gets brighter and brighter.
I’m so close now and I see something new. A figure in the shadows beyond the light. Oh no. The figure moves out of the shadows and into the light toward me. I gasp when I see Zane.
“Zane,” I call as I keep running toward him.
“Come here, Emme. Come to me and let me help you. Let me protect you, sweetheart.”
I keep running toward him as he stops and waits for me. He’s so close yet, so far away. I am nearly there when I lose my footing and go crashing to the ground.
I look up to see Zane there looking down at me. “You’ve got to come to me, Em. Get up and run, sweetheart, and I’ll never let anything hurt you again. You need to come to me.”
“I can’t, Zane. I can’t.”
“That’s right; you aren’t going anywhere, Emily,” I hear Seth’s voice say from somewhere alongside me. I feel a cold, empty feeling in the pit of my stomach simply hearing his voice. “I control you. You belong to me.”
“No. Please, no. Let me go.”
“Never, Emily,” he begins. Then he kicks me in my side. “Never.”
I do my best to curl up into a ball to shield myself, but he continues to kick me.
“Get up, Emme. You’ve got to get up,” I hear Zane say. “Sweetheart, come to me so I can keep you safe.”
Seth bends down and rolls me over so I’m on my back. He grabs the neckline of my shirt at my chest and lifts me ever so slightly off the pavement and punches me in the face. My head jerks to the side and he throws me back down to the ground.
He leans down and whispers in my ear, “You aren’t going anywhere. You belong to me forever. And if you keep running or try to get away I’ll kill him.”
Then, he pulls out a gun.
“No!” I scream as I find the strength to sit up.
“Oh my God, Emme. It’s ok. It was a nightmare. You’re safe,” I hear Nikki’s voice filter into my head as her arms wrap around me.
Nikki’s here. She’s here. I’m here. Seth is not.
I hear the door to my bedroom open, but I don’t look. I’m too scared, too worried. Is he coming for me?
“What happened?” Monroe asked.
“She had a nightmare. I tried to wake her and she wouldn’t.”
I feel the wetness sliding down my cheeks. “Zane,” I whisper.
“You want him here, Em?” Monroe asked as she sat in front of me on the bed.
“Oh my God, Zane.”
“Call him,” Monroe said to Nikki.
I shake my head.
“No, no, no. Please. I don’t want him to know what happened. And, it’s not safe; he’s not safe,” I answer, panic filling my voice.
“It’s ok, Em. He doesn’t have to know, but if you need him we’ll get him here.”
I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I completely broke down and cried. I just kept crying.
“Where’s your phone, Em?” Nikki asked. “I’m calling him. You kept saying his name while I tried to wake you.”
I looked at Nikki, scared out of my mind.
“It’s going to be ok, Emme. You don’t have to tell him anything, but you want his comfort right now,” Monroe said as she grabbed my phone off the nightstand and handed it to Nikki.
Nikki handed me my phone so that I could unlock it. I scrolled to his name and handed the phone back to her. She looked down at the display seeing his name and chuckled. I didn’t care in that moment that she knew.
“No. Sorry, Zane. It’s Nikki,” she said, pausing a moment. “It’s Emme. She just woke from a horrible nightmare and she is in a bad state. She’s called for you several times. Is there any way…” she said before she stopped.
“Right. Thank you. We’ll see you soon.”
I looked to her.
“He’s coming. He said he’d be here in ten minutes.”
“Please don’t tell him,” I begged.
“Don’t worry, Emme. We won’t say anything.”
My body ached. It hurt so bad. The tears continued to fall. Nikki and Monroe sat with me and kept their arms around me as I cried. We heard the doorbell ring and that’s when Monroe got up to go let Zane in.
Not even a minute later, I felt him walk into the room, but I didn’t look at him. The tears were still streaming down my face.
“Jesus Christ,” he mumbled. In the next instant I felt him standing right by my side.
“We’re sorry to call you so early Zane, but…” Nikki said before Zane cut her off.
“Don’t apologize. Would have been pissed if you hadn’t called. If she ever needs me, you call. Doesn’t matter what time it is, I’ll be here.”
Nikki’s face came level with mine. She was blurry since my eyes were filled with tears.
“We’ll give you two some time, babe. You need us you just yell, got me?”
I nodded and then barely rasped out, “Please don’t tell Charley. She’s going to worry.”
“You’ve got it, babe.”
A few seconds later I heard the door shut.
Zane rustled around a few minutes as I sat there staring straight ahead, my eyes filled with tears. I was so afraid for him.
The next thing I knew Zane was in the bed next to me. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his lap. That’s when I lost it. I fisted his shirt in my hands and buried my face in his throat. I cried. I cried for him. I cried for me. I cried for everything that I wished I could have, but never would. I cried until there were no more tears left. Zane held me and comforted me without a word through it all.
The crying eventually ceased. We sat in silence a while before Zane asked, “It’s ok if the answer is no, Emme, but do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head.
“Ok.”
“Zane?” I called.
“Yeah, Em?”
“Thank you for coming.”
“Like I told your girls, Emme, if you ever need me you just need to call me and I’ll be here.”
I snuggled into him and his arms tightened around me.
“Will you hold me just a little while longer?”
“Sweetheart, I’d hold you forever if you’d let me.”
If I were ice I would have turned to a puddle at that moment.
“You can’t say things like that, Zane,” I said to him.
“Why not? It’s the truth.”
“Because I can’t handle that. I just stopped crying and that’ll push me over the edge again. Sometimes, we want things that we can’t have. Every time I see your face or hear your voice it reminds me of how badly I want something that I can’t have. When you say stuff like that, it makes it that much worse for me.”
“Emme, if you want me you can have me. I feel like I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m seriously interested in you as more than just friends.”
“I can’t, Zane. It’s for your own good. Please trust me on this. Just know that if things were different I would grab on to you so tight and I’d never let you go.”
“Breaks my fucking heart, Em. Please tell me what’s eating at you. Let me help you get through it. I promise you if you take that chance on me, I’ll fight this battle with you every fucking step of the way, no matter what it is.”
I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and I whispered, “Zane, please. I’m sorry; I can’t.”
He let out a frustrated sigh, but squeezed me tight.
“It’s ok, sweetheart. I’m still here for you whenever you need me.”
Zane stayed with me for a while before I got up and told him I was good. I thanked him again for coming to me and comforting me. He, of course, told me he needed no thanks and that if I ever needed him again he’d be there. I appreciated him so much.
After reassuring him that I was fine, which took a lot of effort, he took off and said he’d catch up with us in a couple hours over at Wes’ place. I spent the rest of the morning talking with Nikki and Monroe. They were more than concerned for me and kept pushing to have me schedule an appointment with a doctor to deal with everything that had happened and to hopefully help me get past the nightmares. I listened to their concerns, but had no intentions of following through on seeing a therapist.
We had breakfast, got ready, and left the condo to head over to Wes’ place. By the time we arrived everyone else was already there. I was really grateful for Wes’ hospitality. It was so nice to have a laid-back day with all my girls and a couple of really great guys.
“Hey Emme,” Wes said as I walked into the kitchen to get a drink while everyone else was in the great room.
“Hi Wes. Just wanted to grab a bottle of water if that’s ok.”
He chuckled and said, “No problem, Em. You don’t need to ask for water.”
I gave him a small smile and then he continued, “I actually wanted to ask you a question. I know you took a couple of pictures when we were riding at Parks Ridge on Friday. Any chance you could send me a couple of the shots you took to check out? If there are some good ones, I would be interested in purchasing them.”
“Sure, I can send them to you tomorrow. If you need me to sign a waiver for the rights to the photos, Wes, I’m happy to do it. You don’t need to pay me for them, though.”
“How do you support yourself, Emme?”
“What do you mean?”
“How do you make a living?” he asked.
“With my photography business,” I answered.
“Ok, so if I want any of the photos I’ll expect you to send me a bill.”
“Wes, you didn’t ask me to take the photos. I did it on my own because I wanted to. If you like any of them you can have them. It’s really not necessary to pay me.”
“Pay you for what?” Stone asked as he walked out into the kitchen.
“Wanted to look at the shots she took on Friday on the pipe. Told her I might be interested in purchasing some if they were good. She doesn’t want to accept payment.”
Stone looked to me and said, “You’re fighting a losing battle, sweet cheeks. He won’t budge on this. Besides, he’s got enough money. If he wants any of them, let him pay for them. He won’t feel it and you deserve to be compensated for your work. If it bothers you that much, give him a discount…not that he needs one.”
I rolled my eyes at the both of them.
“I’ll email them over to you tomorrow after I edit them,” I assured Wes.
He grinned, winked at me, and said, “Appreciate it.”
I spent the rest of the day hanging with the girls trying to soak up the last couple hours of having Nikki and Monroe around. It would likely be at least a solid two months, if not longer, before I’d see them again. A couple hours after dinner we made our way back to the condo. Charley came back with us since she’d be starting her new job at Blackman Boards tomorrow. She insisted on going to work on her own.
When we got back home I had been worried that Nikki or Monroe would make mention of what happened that morning to Charley, but they kept their word and said nothing to her. I loved Charley and that was precisely why I didn’t want her knowing. She had been so miserable for so long and was finally getting to a place where she was happy. I had no intentions of ruining that for her by bringing up painful memories.
The hours passed quickly and the next thing I knew Nikki and Monroe were leaving again to head back to California. It wasn’t easy to see them go, but I knew they’d be back sometime in the next few months to visit again. Thankfully, I didn’t have another nightmare. I didn’t want to make them worry more than I’m sure they already were. After they left I edited the photos for Wes and emailed them over to him. I was surprised at how well some of the shots turned out; at least, I thought they turned out well. I hadn’t done much research on snowboarding photography, but I guess I’d get an answer on whether they were any good if Wes decided he wanted some of them.
Two days later, I received an email back from Wes telling me that he wanted to meet up with me about the pictures and ‘some other stuff.’ I was a bit nervous about it, but he said that he would be coming over to the condo that night with Charley and we could chat then. I didn’t have any plans or shoots scheduled for that evening so I agreed.
It was just before five thirty that night when Charley and Wes walked through the door. I was sitting in the great room doing some research on my laptop on a venue I’d be shooting an engagement session at the following weekend.
“Hey guys,” I said as they walked in.
“Hi, Em,” Charley said.
Wes nodded at me.
They both came in to the great room and sat down. Charley was acting unusually happy. Something was up.
“What’s going on? Why are you in such a good mood?” I asked her.
She didn’t answer, but Wes did.
“As you know, I got the photos you sent over on Monday. I’ve got to say, Emme, you are an incredible photographer.”
I felt my insides warm. It was nice to get that compliment. “Thank you,” I said.
“I’m going to need you to bill me for prints and posters of most of the shots, I’ll email you the specific details for each one we’d like later this week. I have something else I want to ask you about, though.”
I swallowed hard, feeling a bit nervous about what he wanted to ask. I didn’t think it could be that bad since Charley seemed to be in such a good mood, but still, it was slightly nerve-wracking.
“Ok,” I whispered.
“Do you have anything planned, for work or otherwise, for approximately the last week to ten days of this month?” he asked.
“I don’t think so, let me check my schedule.”
I pulled up my calendar on my laptop and noted that I was, in fact, free at the end of January.
“All clear,” I said.
“Awesome. The X Games are during that last week and we’re going to be debuting the first line in the new series of boards we are releasing. These are the boards that Charley is going to be designing. After seeing the pictures you took this past Friday, I’d really like to have you join us out in Aspen for the X Games. I would need shots of the boards for our marketing material and think you are more than capable of delivering for us.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “Are you serious?” I asked.
“One hundred percent,” he answered.
I looked to Charley.
“Are you going?”
She nodded.
“You really think the shots I took were good enough, Wes? I’ve never done extreme sports. Most of my clientele consists of engaged couples and families. I have a few corporate clients, but none of what they have me doing are action shots. It’s typically just shots of new products for marketing purposes. And while candid shots are a big part of what I do, capturing quality action shots is a whole different thing.”
“I’ve been in this business a long time; first, as a rider, and now as a business owner. As a rider, it used to be my goal to do the craziest tricks I could to get shots taken that would end up being used in promotional materials for my sponsors. I saw those shots then and I still see them to this day as a business owner. What you captured on Friday was just as good and, actually in many cases, better than what I’ve seen in all my years in this business. I have complete confidence in your abilities to get this accomplished for us.”
“Wow. I really appreciate that, Wes. Thank you,” I began. “Since I don’t have anything else planned for that time, I’ll do it. I’m going to want to do a bit of research and get some practice in ahead of time. Will you get me all the details for the trip so I know when I need to be there, how long I need to book my stay for, and what dates I’ll be shooting?”
“I’ll get you the specific dates, but you don’t need to book anything. Blackman Boards will take care of your flight, food, and accommodations while you are there and, of course, we will be paying you for the actual work that you do.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind booking reservations for myself.”
He smiled at me and warned, “Don’t insult me, Emme. We have you covered.”
“I’m sorry, Wes. I didn’t mean to insult you. I do appreciate your offer. Thank you,” I said as I looked away hoping I hadn’t upset him.
When I looked back at Wes and Charley, he had a look of concern on his face and she looked a bit worried. Wes quickly recovered and changed the subject to dinner. I was thankful for the distraction. We ate dinner together that night before I took off to my bedroom.
After getting ready for bed I grabbed my laptop and started doing some research on snowboarding photography. Ten minutes in I realized I would benefit from having the real-world experience. I reached out to the phone on my nightstand. I unlocked the phone and scrolled to Zane’s name or, more precisely, the name I had him saved under. I tapped on his name and put the phone to my ear. After two rings, he answered.
“Hey, Em.”
“Hi, Zane. How’s it going?” I asked.
I hadn’t spoken to him since Sunday. We sent a couple of texts back and forth Monday night, but I knew he was training so I tried to give him the time he needed to rest after those full day training sessions.
“Better now. What’s up with you?” he asked.
“I’m a little scared right now.”
“Of what? What’s wrong?” he asked, panic in his voice.
“I’m fine, Zane. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to worry you. Wes and Charley came here after they left work because Wes wanted to talk to me about something. After looking at pictures I took on Friday of you, him, Stone, and Luke riding the pipe Wes asked me to go to Aspen for the X Games to take photos for the new board line.”
“You’re going to be with us in Aspen?” he asked.
“Us?”
“We all always travel together, Em. You going with us?”
“Well I agreed to do it, so yes, I’m going.”
“Good. So, you said you were scared. Why?” he pressed.
“Wes seems completely convinced that I’m more than capable of doing this based on the pictures I took on Friday. I feel like I need more practice before I dive into a thing like this.”
“I haven’t seen the pictures, but I don’t doubt you can do it. If you want we can go out on Saturday so you can practice a little. I’ll be training then, too.”
“Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
“Why would I mind?”
“I don’t want to distract you or get in the way. Plus, you are in training. Maybe you have some top-secret tricks up your sleeve. You might not want people seeing them before the Games.”
He chuckled. “You planning on taking up snowboarding professionally any time soon?”
“No,” I answered meekly.
“I think we’re good then. I won’t have to worry about you stealing any of my moves.”
“Ok. So, what time should I meet you there?” I asked.
“You don’t. I’ll pick you up after training on Friday night and you can stay at my place. We’ll go together on Saturday morning.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Zane.”
“Em, I’ll keep it strictly platonic. Would really like to spend some time with you, though.”
And that’s when I caved.
“Ok, fine. You can pick me up on Friday and I’ll stay with you Friday night on one condition,” I said.
“Which is?”
“I get to use your kitchen that night to make dinner.”
“I’m beginning to think you like me only for my kitchen,” he teased.
“It’s a good fucking kitchen, Zane.”
He laughed. “I’m trying to find the downside to this for me and I’m not sure there is one. It’s a deal, Em.”
“Any special dinner requests?” I asked.
“Whatever you want to make. I’m not picky. Just remember, no peas or lima beans.”
“Ok, I’ll see what I can do. Thank you, Zane.”
“No problem, sweetheart.”
“I’ll see you Friday then. Good night.”
“Good night, Emme.”
I went to bed that night feeling great about my professional life. Even though it felt as though nothing was going right in any other part of my life, this was the one area where I really had no complaints. On that thought, I fell asleep and fortunately, I slept through the night without any nightmares.