Page 3 of Splintered Memories (Ember Hollow Romance #2)

Emersyn

L ate-afternoon sunlight filtered in through the tall windows, warming my face as I looked out on Center Street. It was a clear, beautiful spring day. People milled about, visiting the shops and businesses inside the historic buildings nestled against one another, lining both sides of the street.

“The view is nice,” I mused, turning toward my brother. He was seated on the cream-colored couch in the living room of his new apartment.

Jake stretched his arms above his head with a heavy sigh. We’d been working all morning and afternoon to get him moved in, and he looked about as exhausted as I felt. His dark eyes scanned the space, softening as they did so.

“I guess it’s not a bad place.” He chuckled low. “I’ve definitely lived in worse.”

My back straightened. Yes, he had lived through worse.

The apartment was clean and newly renovated. The kitchen was small, but open to the living space, with granite countertops and stainless- steel appliances. There were two bedrooms with as many baths, and the primary suite had a walk-in closet.

This place was basically a palace considering my brother had lived on the streets at one point. But I didn’t like to think about that time.

Shaking those thoughts from my mind, I walked toward the couch and sat next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “I’m really proud of you.” I meant it with my very soul.

Jake had officially been sober for over a year. Although my optimism was cautious, I was beyond happy for him.

Jake squirmed uncomfortably under my arm, but the grin tugging at his mouth was genuine. “Thanks.” He averted his gaze from mine. “I wouldn’t be able to afford this place without Dad, though.”

I pulled back, folding my arms over my chest. “Stop it,” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him. “Don’t let our father take the credit for your hard work.”

Our father, Tristan Hawthorn, was a powerful man in this little town.

When we were little, he was the mayor of Ember Hollow, and even now he headed the town council and was buying up real estate around the area.

He turned this building into business space on the ground floor and luxury apartments on the second and third.

Jake’s jaw clenched, and he still wouldn’t look at me. My anger surged. Our father might be giving him a great deal on this place, but that didn’t take away from the work my brother was doing. He had a steady job for the first time since I could remember. He didn’t make much yet, but he enjoyed it.

“Really, Jake,” I continued, voice firm. “You’ve come so far and you should be proud of yourself.”

His gaze held straight ahead as he pondered that. “I am.” He nodded slowly, as if this were a new realization. “It has felt like a damn slog sometimes, but yeah, I’m happy I’m still going.”

I tilted my head to the side, inspecting my brother.

His dark-brown hair was getting longer again, falling over his forehead and curling over his ears.

His face was changing, I realized. His cheeks were no longer sunken and hollow.

His body was filling out in a good way, no more sharp angles of bones. He looked…better.

I pressed into his side, leaning my head against his shoulder. We sat like that for a while, sitting without speaking as the muted sounds from the bustling town outside filtered in from outside.

“Thanks for helping me out,” Jake eventually said.

I pulled in a big breath. Moving was one of my least favorite things, but I’d do anything for him. “Anytime.”

He tilted his head, laying it on top of mine. “And I don’t just mean today. If it wasn’t for you, Emy, I don’t know where I’d be.”

My heart constricted. Jake had been living with me for the last year, but it was time that he got out on his own. He was thirty-two and ready to start his life over again, and living with your little sister wasn’t an ideal situation.

I shrugged. I would’ve done anything to get him clean. Would’ve sacrificed everything to get him better. We were all we had left. “I wouldn’t leave you, Jake. You’re my family.”

His body stiffened. “But I left you. So many times…” His words were a whisper so soft I would’ve missed them if I hadn’t been so close.

My chest burned as memories I didn’t want to remember flashed through my mind.

I straightened, jerking away from him and standing up.

“No need to wallow in the past, Jake,” I said, my words as stiff as my muscles.

I glanced at my watch and blanched. “Crap.” I glanced back at my brother, ignoring the guilty look in his expression.

“I have to go. I’m going to be late meeting up with Lark. ”

Jake nodded and looked away.

I let out a breath, fighting down that burn radiating from my chest and forcing a smile. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

I didn’t have time to say anything else before grabbing my purse off the kitchen counter and hurrying out the door.

I had just pushed out into the warm, fresh air at the back of the building when my cell phone rang. My heart sank at Lark’s name flashing on the screen.

“I’m so sorry, I’m on my way,” I said breathlessly as I rounded the building toward Center Street. I was supposed to watch her try on wedding dresses, and I’m pretty sure being late to something like that was a friend faux pas.

“I had to cancel.”

I halted at the sound of her voice. She sounded…awful. Like her voice had been run raw over sandpaper. “Are you okay?”

“I feel like death.” She groaned, and I believed her. “Either this baby is giving me major morning sickness like I’ve never experienced before, or I caught some kind of stomach bug.”

“Damn, I’m so sorry.” Lark had recently found out she was pregnant and as happy as I was for her, she sounded rough. “Do you need anything?”

“No, I’ll be okay. Reid is home. ”

A smile pulled at my lip. Reid Ramsey was her fiancé, one of the rare good guys out there. I had no doubt he was taking great care of her. “All right, well, keep me updated on how you’re doing.”

“I will. Talk to you later.”

We hung up, and I stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of my brother’s building, still looking down at my phone to check my notifications. I opened my email when I suddenly collided into a solid wall of muscle.

I gasped, bouncing back and almost losing my footing.

“Whoa, there,” said a deep voice. A steady hand gripped my elbow, helping me regain my purchase.

I blinked up into a pair of light-gray eyes that gleamed in the sun.

August Ramsey left one hand lingering on my arm as the other balanced a large, pink box of donuts from the bakery. “Hey, Emy,” he said, voice bright as he gave me a boyish grin.

My heart shifted in my chest without my permission.

“How are you?”

I scowled, pulling away from him until my back pressed up against the brick building behind me. My skin tingled where his fingers had slipped from my arm. My scowl deepened.

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, my hand curling tighter around my phone.

August’s grin faltered. “Huh?” He tilted his head to the side, inspecting me with those eyes that always seemed to see more than they should.

I hadn’t known August Ramsey long. The thing about becoming friends with Lark was that she was thoroughly involved with the Ramsey family. In turn, I was also sort of involved with the Ramseys. Including, unfortunately, the insufferable August.

“Don’t call me Emy,” I clarified, annoyed.

I didn’t know why it bothered me when he called me by my nickname, but it did.

A lot of things about August annoyed me, from the first moment I met him at his family’s Christmas party and he pinned me with that easygoing smile and perfect white teeth.

He hadn’t left me alone much of that night, flirting shamelessly like he was a prize.

I didn’t trust people who thought too much of themselves.

“Oh, sorry.” He cupped the back of his neck with a hand.

My cheeks heated, and I looked away. I didn’t know what it was, but August just…put me on edge. I sensed warning bells from the first time I made eye contact with him.

August might have a flawless reputation around Ember Hollow—the treasured son of the Ramsey clan, the Marine who gallantly came back home after being injured in the line of duty to start a security company—but I wasn’t falling for it.

It didn’t matter how his reputation painted him; no one who flirted like him often had good intentions.

Either that, or I was more broken and messed up than I realized.

“Are you all right, Emersyn?” August sounded concerned.

I refused to look back at him. My heart raced, fluttering against my ribs in a way that had the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.

I nodded, pressing my lips together because somewhere in the back of my mind I was fully aware that I was being irrational.

August had done nothing but be flirtatious with me at a Christmas party three months ago.

He had been kind to me otherwise, but I hated the way I felt when he was near, like I was out of control .

I cleared my throat, my face feeling like it was as red as my hair as I attempted to stuff my phone back in my pocket.

Of course, I managed to completely miss my pocket and sent my phone clattering onto the concrete sidewalk.

With a frustrated huff, I quickly bent down to retrieve it…and that’s when a few things happened all at once.

The moment my upper body tilted forward, a sharp crack reverberated around us, the sound so loud that it split my ears. As I tried to figure out what the hell had made such a noise, something heavy hit me, knocking me to the side.

The next thing I knew, my back slammed against the ground as a solid, warm body lay on top of me. A pair of strong arms wrapped around my torso, caging me in.

“Stay down,” August’s voice echoed in my ear, both steady and breathless. One of his hands covered my head as the rest of his body pinned me against the sidewalk, covering every inch of my skin with his. “We’re under fire.”