Page 77 of One Nightstand With My Ex's Uncle

LUCAS’ POV.

I wondered what Emily would probably be going through.

“Can’t you just do this by yourself? I have to check on someone at home.” I told Tray, who had pranked me to come to his house, so we could work together.

“Nope. These days, I’ve been doing all the work. You have all these documents to look over. Appointments, contracts, requests, reports, employment… They’re too much for me to handle.” He said, without looking up from the document he was going through.

“I know I’ve been a little distracted lately, but I really have to check on someone at home.” I said, feeling desperate.

Emily was probably going to be scared out of her wits, and Sadie was no help. I doubted Sadie would say anything that would be useful to Emily. What if my siblings found a way to pry the truth of her mouth?

What if she confessed that we did sleep with each other once? Will was good at cornering people. She wouldn’t know when he managed to force the answer from her lips. Except he wanted to keep observing her.

I knew he had been watching her ever since he noticed I wasn’t curt, formal and distant with her like I was with other women.

“I have to…” I began again.

“Who? Emily?” Tray asked, finally looking up, and crossing his legs.

“Yes, Emily.”

“Why? What’s wrong? Are you two going out now? Is something wrong with her? Are the effects of the miscarriage showing on her?”

“No, no, none of that. Don’t you check the news?” I asked, and he brought out his phone from his pocket.

“No, no, what happened in the news?” He asked, with his eyes bouncing from my face to his phone as he scrolled to check out what was going on.

“Check.

“There’s noth… Oh my God!” He exclaimed, staring at the phone with great intensity.

“These photos look like you’re having an affair. She’s all smiles with you. They’re bound to suspect something. Even you are going to be a main cause for suspicion. You don’t smile with ladies like this. Why do you look so free? Wow, grilling meat, and laughing late at night?” He said, with his eyes fixed on the phone.

“It doesn’t look like an affair to me. Grilling meat, and laughing over it is a friendly thing.” I said.

“You two were alone, and having fun. The public is thirsty for juicy news. Mothers are looking for news to share while taking their kids to school. Young ladies want something to talk about while doing manicure and pedicure, or having new hairstyles. Men want to laugh about something at company dinners.

“Everyone wants to talk about something, and they wouldn’t care if it doesn’t look like what they want it to. They only take out the key words. She, engaged, night, fiancé’s Uncle, alone. They bring it out as something new. ’She was alone at night with her fiancé’s uncle.’”

“Wow. That’s insane. It’s crazy. Why would they say that? That sounds stupid to me. Is that how people really think?”

“Of course.” He said, dipping his hand into his bag of chips. “So you want to check on her because of this?” He asked.

“Raymond and the others want to meet with her alone. They’ll probably question, threaten, and scare her. What if she spills what we did?”

“Oh my. That will be crazy. They will fry her alive.”

“That’s what’s crazy.”

“It was just once! We didn’t know each other! John broke my heart, and I got drugged. It didn’t mean anything!” Tray said, trying to mimic Emily’s voice, and I threw a cushion at him laughing.

~

Later that evening, I got home after making sure I finished working with Tray, and the first person I saw was Emily. She was on all fours, looking underneath the sofa.

“Emily.” I called, walking to her, and she raised her head.

“Hi.” She said, flinging her swinging hair from her face.

“What are you…”

“Oh, my hairpin fell.” She said, pointing, then got to her feet. “Did you go out with Sadie? I didn’t see you both.”

“I was working. Sadie’s probably at a friend’s house. So what did they say? What did you say?” I asked, and she looked around, before giving a sigh, and tucking her hair behind her ear.

“They said I’m not to be seen with you.”

“Why’s that?”

“Alpha Will seems to think I have feelings for you.” She said, not meeting my eyes.

“Why does he think that?”

“He probably noticed I wasn’t happy with John, and thought my feelings about him changed because I liked you.” She said, lowering her voice.

“Seriously?”

“Yes. It was really bad. They didn’t believe me. They said I should be distant with you after they solve the issue.”

“It’s not even that big of an issue. I’ll talk to them.” I said, walking towards the second half of the living room, so I could get to the dining. She followed me diligently.

“There’s no water here.” She said, as I shook the jug, and she walked into the kitchen, throwing open the fridge.

“Thanks.” I said, as she handed me a bottle of cold water.

“So, what do you think about it?” I asked, and she leaned against the closed fridge.

“What do you think about it? My opinion doesn’t matter.” She said, and I smiled.

“Since my opinion matters, I think we can still be friends. Want to have dinner with me tonight? On the rooftop?” I asked, and she giggled.

“And get another picture uploaded to Instagram?” She asked, jokingly, and we both laughed. “What are we having?”

“I’ll cook something up.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wait, you’re cooking?”

“Wait, till you have a taste of my culinary skills.” I said, and she laughed again.

“Someday, we should have a cooking battle.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah.” She said, confidently, and I remembered John saying she was a warrior in the kitchen. It made me smile.

~

That night, I made spicy beef larb with coconut rice, and set the table. She came shortly after I messaged her, in a large white hoodie, and black denim shorts.

“Wow… I’m smelling coconut rice, and…” She sniffed. “Beef?” She asked, then came closer.

“Wow! Beef larb.” She exclaimed, sitting immediately, and grabbing her spoon. I sat beside her, pleased at such beautiful reaction to a simple food I made. “Hmm!” She exclaimed, and gave me a thumbs up, and a surprised look, before going back to eating.

“Is it really that good?”

“Yeah. Who taught you how to cook this well?” She asked.

“Genevieve.”

“She?” She asked, a little surprised, and I laughed.

“She’s actually not all thorny and strict as she makes herself out to be. She cooked whenever I said I was hungry, and I always watched her cook, then she began to explain how she did things.”

“Wow. I thought she’d be the type who read all day.” She said, and I laughed.

“Genevieve? No way. She hates reading, and always got an F on almost every subject back when she was in school.”

“What? Oh my God.” She said, covering her mouth to hide her smile.

“Genevieve hates books.”

“It’s weird how you call them by their names. I can’t get used to it.” She said, laughing, and I laughed too.

“People tell me that. They all dote on me, and I guess I know they’re not all as scary as they look. Not even Raymond is as scary as he makes himself out to be.”

“That’s to you. You’re their youngest. Of course, they’ll be sweet. Their spouses, unfortunately didn’t get that treatment.”

“Maybe, but they’re not all that bad.” I said. I didn’t want her to dislike my siblings. They were only being careful with upholding the family.

“Although, there was a time Raymond hit me and I ran from him for days.” I said, and she burst out laughing.

“Why did he hit you?”

“I brought a girl home, and she used his restroom by accident.”

“What? Oh my God.” She said, looking at me, with surprise.

“She was on her period. It was what made him madder.”

“Jeez! Oh my gosh.”

“He didn’t say a word to her, and acted nice, so she wouldn’t feel bad. I thought he was fine with it, but when I returned from escorting her smiling, I got a hit to my face.” I said, and she laughed again.

“Seriously, that is funny. How could he keep his temper when he was originally annoyed with her?”

“I don’t know myself. He’s a clean freak, and she wasn’t really perfect with the cleaning.”

“Oh my… I understand him. That can be a little disgusting.” She said, and Iaughed.

Then, she dipped her hand into her hoodie pocket, and brought out her phone. I turned back to my food, so it wouldn’t feel like I was prying into her privacy.

Then, I heard her swear silently, and she showed me her phone.

“What is…”

I stopped, as I saw a photo of us at the moment, taken that same night.

I looked around, maybe I’d see the person who took the photo, but there was no one around.

Then I turned back to the photo.

Under it was *A lovely dinner date under the moonlight. How romantic.*