Page 52 of Friends with Benefits
“Hello?” She bit her lip. “Yes, this is Ember Stevens.” I went to her side and took her free hand in mine. She clenched onto my fingers like they were a lifeline. “You do? Oh, my God. Yes, I’m home. That’s correct. Thank you, Officer. Thank you so much. I’ll be here.” She ended the call, and her hand fell to her lap. When she looked at me, a kaleidoscope of emotions raced across her face: anger, fear, relief. “They were found at a restaurant in the mall. They said Mom told them I was going to pick them up. What a fucking bitch.”
“They’re bringing them here?”
“Yes. I don’t want to cry. I’ve been crying so much lately.”
“Baby, you don’t have to be afraid to cry on me.” I pulled her onto my lap. “You don’t ever have to be afraid of that. At the center of everything, you’re my best friend, Em. I’ll always be here for you, whatever you need. Tears, orgasms, tacos. I’ve got you, babe.”
That made her laugh, and then I just held her. When the officer arrived to take Ember’s statement, I held the twins. After the officer left with a promise to send social services for a checkup, I held all three of them. Then they all curled up on the couch together while I made them canned chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese. We ate it while watching the firstHarry Pottermovie. The only thing that was missing was a big old fluffy puppy at our feet and a cranky cat on the back of the sofa.
Ember fell asleep first, and I told the girls how glad I was that they were okay. They cried some more, and then they snuggled up on either side of Ember and fell asleep holding hands. I was pinned to the couch by the three of them. I couldn’t have imagined a better place to be.
It wasn’t lost on me how different my last night had been, and even though today had been rough on us all, I couldn’t help but think these girls made it all worth it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ember
“Mm hmm,look at all those big…bats,” Charlie said with a wicked grin. Her dirty-blonde hair whipped in the humid air. She was effortlessly beautiful in a dark t-shirt and skinny jeans kind of way. One black Chuck-covered foot was propped on her knee. She’d say she was a tomboy, but I always thought she was simply comfortable in her own skin.
She’d become even more so now that she and her best friend, Liam, had stopped dancing around each other and had started dating and living together. It was like he gave her the space to comfortably be herself. Truth be told, I envied them.
Layla giggled and smacked her on the arm, causing Charlie’s drink to wobble precariously in her hands. “You have a boyfriend!”
“So do you,” Charlie retorted. “Besides, it doesn’t hurt to look. Liam doesn’t care what I do as long as I bring it back to him at the end of the day.” She tilted her head, studying the away team as they swung their bats at the plate, readying for some practice hits. “Do you think if I got him a pair of baseball pants, he’d dress up for me?”
“Dash had a kilt from Halloween a couple of years ago. When I found it, he let me talk him into wearing it. I never knew a man in a skirt could be so sexy.”
Despite my preoccupation with what I needed to tell Tripp, my head jerked in Layla’s direction. Layla, the one who’d been a virgin up until the year before. Layla, the studious bookworm who never put a toe out of line. Dash must have changed her in more ways than one. Charlie and I shared a look. It was sweet of them to try and distract me from thinking about how much of a complete and utter piece of crap my mom was. They’d voted to put a hit out on her, but I’d convinced them putting a curse on her was enough.
“What?” Charlie shrieked. “Dash wore a kilt?! How did you not tell us about this?” Her voice took on a high-pitched tone. “When your boyfriend wears a kilt, you should be taking pictures. For…bribery purposes. And research. But mostly to share with your best friends!”
Layla’s smile turned mischievous. “I was too busy doing other things to take pictures.”
That stunned the indignation right out of Charlie’s expression. When she could speak, she said, “It’s like I don’t even know you. Who are you, and what did you do with our friend?” Charlie demanded.
Layla blushed prettily and sipped her beer with an elegance I never seemed to be able to imitate. “My lips are sealed,” she said.
“Ohh, no, you don’t. You can’t say something like that and then not give us the juicy details. Spill.”
Their banter faded into the background as our team swarmed the field, their garnet practice jerseys drawing my eye. I drank thirstily from my soda, suddenly parched. I wished it was a beer, then remembered I couldn’t have those, which only made my stomach churn more. I found Tripp almost immediately, his number three like a beacon. My heart sped up at the sight of his dirty blonde hair glinting in the bright afternoon sunlight. Charlie wasn’t wrong. The sight of him in baseball pants wasn’t one to be ignored.
Not that I’d been able to ignore him at all lately.
“—and then he did this sexy little dance, and I jumped him,” Layla was saying when I could focus back in on their conversation. I was being an awful friend, but I couldn’t seem to think of anything other than the positive pregnancy test I had hidden under the sink in my bathroom.
“You dirty bitch!” Charlie exclaimed with bright eyes. “You’ve been holding out on us. Em, can you believe it? Our little girl is growing up.”
Layla rolled her eyes, then glanced at me. “What’s up with you? You’ve been very quiet. Is everything okay?”
I was too hollow to cry and too tired to lie, so I settled for something sort of in between. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
Charlie sobered, her gaze sharpening as she studied my face. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought you and Tripp were great. ‘Having fun’ is what you said. Did he fuck something up? I’ll kick his ass.”
“No, he didn’t do anything.” He found me from his place on the pitcher’s mound and lifted his hand in a wave. For some reason, I felt the gesture deep inside my chest. I waved in return. “He’s been great. Much better than I deserve.”
“Oh, shut up. You deserve the best. And if he isn’t giving it to you, well, then we need to have a talk with him.”
“Yeah,” Charlie agreed. “Or we’ll kick his ass.”