Considering I’d passed out next to Aly and spent the night dreaming about everything we’d done, I should’ve woken up on a high.

But I knew the second I opened my eyes that something was off, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was gone. She had work. I knew that. I had mentally prepped myself to wake up to an empty bed in the morning. I needed to prepare myself for that after last night – after watching Aly suck my dick like a porn star, swallow every drop of my cum and then make this sexy little half-yawn, half-moan sound before letting herself fall back into bed.

“’Night,” she’d breathed, her eyes heavy but still open as I flopped down next to her. I expected her to protest and send me back to my own room, but she didn’t. Instead, we stared at each other for a few sleepy, intensely intimate seconds.

Then she drifted off to sleep and I told myself not to get used to the feeling.

As good as it felt, I reminded myself that I wasn’t going to wake up to find her sleeping against my chest. She was going to be in five hours and I was going to wake up alone.

I was already prepared for all that.

But I wasn’t prepared for the part about this morning that made me feel suspicious.

Blame it on the dresser across from the bed.

The top drawer was left wide open and something about that didn’t sit right with me, so flying up from bed, I went to confirm what I already suspected:

That all of Aly’s things were gone.

“Fuck,” I hissed. Second drawer, third, closet – everything was empty and before I knew it, I was yanking my shirt and jeans on, my pulse racing out of control as I flew out the door and down the hall. I’d promised both Julian and myself awhile back that I’d never bother Aly at work, but fuck it.

Today, I clearly had nothing left to lose.

* * *

The restaurant was packed.

Literally every seat, including all six at the raw bar, was taken – and from what I could tell, my guests were all happy and satisfied.

And normally I’d be thrilled by that.

But right now, I was desperately wishing for everyone to just leave, because unless my anxious mind had imagined it, Emmett’s truck had just turned into our lot.

“Shit,” I hissed, my hands shaking as I put in the order for my regulars at the bar. Hannah had called out this morning with a fever, which meant the tiny restaurant was way understaffed. Evie was drowning in double the paperwork in the office, and I was alone on the floor. With one hand still putting in orders, I used my free one to grab my phone out of my apron and send a text.

* * *

ME: MAYDAY pretty sure Emmett is here please come outside so we can switch spots

Evie and I had loosely planned for this moment after I’d come in with all my packed bags. If and when Emmett came, we’d switch posts and she’d insist that I hadn’t come in to work. We’d gone over that.

But we hadn’t gone over the part where she might not answer her cell since she was busy pleading on the phone with the New York State Liquor Authority about our expiring license.

Crap. I could just see her getting so worked up in the office that she’d completely forgotten about her phone. After calling to no avail, I opted for a second text.

ME: Evie!!!!! Come outside please!!!!

I hit send with my thumb but before it could even deliver, I heard our door chime sound off louder than usual. The air hitched in my throat and I froze, simply staring ahead at my computer screen and praying to God that it was someone else who’d just walked in.

But then I heard my regulars at the bar start to whisper.

“Holy shit, Quinn. Do you see that?”

“Girl, I saw that out the window. That’s the babe who owns Blue Harbor.”

Fuck.

“Lord, he is gah-orgeous. I would let him do filthy, filthy thing to – ”

“Shh! He’s coming to the bar.”

I heard Quinn’s hiss just as my peripherals processed the tall figure suddenly standing right in front of me.

Emmett. Obviously.

He stood there in front of the computer I was on, and I didn’t have to look up to know that he was pissed. I didn’t have to look up to know that every seat at the raw bar was hawking me as Emmett stood there – towering, silent and rigid as he waited for me to acknowledge him.

Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck.

I breathed deep as I finished putting in the order. With all my guests watching, I did my best to gather myself before looking up.

But the second I did, the storm of emotions hit me like a punch to the gut.

I was prepared for his anger, but I wasn’t prepared for the simultaneous hurt in his eyes. I wasn’t prepared for the pleading look that twisted his gorgeous features as he stood still in the middle of my bustling restaurant, silently asking me why the hell I’d packed my things this morning.

I was already breathless from two seconds of looking at him, but with a glance at my guests, I still tried my best to look professional.

“Can I help you?” I asked, my voice cracking in the process.

Emmett narrowed his eyes for a second. “Really?” he finally said, keeping his stare pinned so mercilessly on me that I felt my knees go weak.

Goddammit. Right away, I looked around for a waitress or busser or someone I could ask to get Evie for me, but everyone was running around, far too busy to notice my look of distress.

“What, you couldn’t make it more than a week?”

My head snapped back when I heard Emmett’s question. I stared in disbelief.

“Are you really trying to dare me into staying, Emmett? Because I’m not thirteen anymore, and it’s not going to work,” I hissed.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked.

“I can’t talk about this right now,” I muttered with a self-conscious glance at Quinn and her friend. They were wide-eyed, looking both tantalized but guilty as they watched my personal drama unfold. “Seriously, Emmett,” I whispered just loud enough for him to hear. “Please don’t do this to me here. Not at work.”

“Then where, Aly? Because I know you’re not going to come home tonight.”

My heart twisted. I wasn’t sure why his phrasing made me so sad, but it did, and suddenly I was waving over my hostess to take over while I talked to Emmett outside.

Rounding the corner, I walked us away from the window and out of sight of my captivated audience at the bar. I tried not to get distracted by the gorgeous girls who passed by and checked Emmett out so hard I felt that stupid, nonsensical pang of possessiveness.

Are you fucking nuts? I asked myself because in what world did it make sense to reject a man but hate the idea of him being with somebody else? See? This was another reason why it couldn’t work. Because like he always did, Emmett made me crazy. He made me angry and sensitive and irrational, and I couldn’t afford to feel this scattered for a second longer.

“This is far enough, Aly – just fucking talk to me already,” Emmett demanded, his footsteps finally stopping behind me. My heart was pounding as I spun around to find him standing there, arms out, looking somehow pissed off, fired up and exasperated all at once. “What is it? Huh? What are you leaving for? Just tell me that.”

I felt my throat already trembling as I tried to word my reply.

“If you really need to know, Emmett, it’s because I woke up this morning and felt like shit about myself,” I confessed harshly, my stomach clenching at the instant look of hurt on his face. “I cried in the bathroom for ten minutes because as good as I felt last night, I felt stupid this morning. I remembered the fact that I don’t trust you, Emmett. Every time I think long enough about you, I feel angry. I feel embarrassed and stupid and lonely, so even if I did want you, in what world would it make sense for me to be with you?” I demanded, my eyes stinging. “Answer me that.”

“Who’s the one you’re really pissed at? You answer me that,” Emmett sneered as he came close to me. “You think I’m the enemy, Aly, but if you just take a second to remember everything that happened twelve years ago instead of running from it and sticking to whatever story you made up in your head, you’ll know that as much as I fucked with you in high school, I’m not the one who’s really your problem. I’m not the one who ruined everything. You just want it to be me.”

My stomach lurched.

“No.” I shook my head adamantly. “That’s not true, that’s – ”

Fuck. I searched myself for a comeback but came up pathetically empty.

“You know what, I can’t talk right now, Emmett,” I muttered, feeling the heat of his glare as I rushed past him.

“No, you won’t talk about this – now or ever, because you don’t like thinking about how I’m just your scapegoat,” Emmett ground out as he followed. “You don’t like thinking about how it’s easier to blame me and let the real asshole off scot-free.”

His words hit me like a sledgehammer but I refused to react. My heart was pounding out of my chest by the time I reached the door, but like some kind of masochist, I turned around when he said my name and let him drop one last scathing remark.

“You lied to yourself all these years, Aly, and I let you because I knew you were hurting. I figured I might as well let you believe what you wanted, because I was never going to see you again,” Emmett growled furiously. “But now that you’re here, I can say it – I’m not the one who made your life miserable. It wasn’t me, and fuck it, I’m done letting you pretend that it was,” he seethed before turning around and forcing me to stare at his back as he walked away.