Page 18 of That One Night (The Heartbreak Brothers Next Generation #4)

Chapter

Fifteen

Maybe making a fool out of yourself in front of a full bar of revelers wasn’t everybody’s idea of fun, but Emery actually found herself smiling and enjoying this.

And she got to mark another item off her list. There was no way Maisie would believe she’d actually gone through with number five on the fuck-Trenton list, but dammit she had.

The loud throb of music had her hips swinging to the rhythm. Next to her Sabrina was dancing like she was made for it, getting down low, lifting up again, causing the guys to whoop and reach out for her every time she leaned over to blow them a kiss.

Emery, on the other hand, was happy to dance with her hands raised up, her dress swishing around her thighs as some talented guy with the mic sang out the chorus to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer” .

“Come on,” Sabrina shouted in her ear. “We need to get dirtier.” She grabbed Emery’s hands, facing her as she swung her hips low, encouraging Emery to do the same.

“Let me take you home tonight,” one of the men standing at the bar shouted up to Emery. She rolled her eyes at Sabrina.

“Sorry, gentlemen,” Sabrina called back to him. “Tonight is ladies’ night.” She leaned into whisper to Emery, “You look so beautiful. Look at them all watching you.”

And they were. A whole cluster of men were cheering them on. But this wasn’t about them, it was about her. About feeling free to do all the stupid stuff she should have done when she was younger.

She’d been so busy trying to be somebody that she wasn’t, that she forgot about finding out who she was.

Not that she would ever be the kind of person who willingly jumped on a bar to dance. But how would she have known that unless she tried? And until the end of the song, she would try.

She’d let the music fill her up as adrenaline flowed through her veins. She’d let her body move the way it wanted to, not because she wanted male attention, but because it felt good.

“Uh-oh,” Sabrina called out. “They look mad.” She didn’t sound worried at all as her cousins approached them. Pres and Marley had their eyes narrowed, staring at their younger girl cousin.

Hendrix, however, was looking straight at Emery.

And she liked the way he looked at her. Like there was nobody else in the room except the two of them. She locked her gaze with his, her breath escaping through her lips as she kept dancing.

For him. Only for him.

That’s how it felt.

He kept walking forward, people parting like waves in front of him as though they knew he’d barge through if they didn’t. And not once did his eyes waver from her. His jaw was tight, his body tall, his shoulders held so damn proud it made her body ache.

And once he was at the front of the crowd, standing only inches away from her, she felt like she was on fire.

Sabrina opened her mouth – presumably to remind him it was ladies’ night – but when she looked at the expression on his face she closed it again. Her eyes moved to Emery’s face, like she was trying to work out what was going on.

Good luck with that. Emery had no idea herself.

All she knew was that every time this man was close she felt like she was somewhere between flying and falling. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the sudden effect all of those cocktails had on her thought process, but whatever it was, she was certain how she felt about him.

She wanted him. She wanted him to want her. To touch her. To kiss her until neither of them could breathe.

She was the teenager she’d never been. Hormones surging through her like they were an alien force.

And all through this revelation, he didn’t move a damn inch. Didn’t try to stop her, didn’t try to encourage her down.

Just stood guard in front of her. His eyes never wavering. Completely locked on her face the way her gaze was set on his. It felt like everybody else in the room had faded away, that the spotlight was just on the two of them.

She swayed her hips and his mouth parted, letting out the softest of breaths, like he couldn’t keep it in.

She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this in control. Like she was taking her life into her hands at last. There was nowhere else she’d rather be right now than here, dancing, looking at him.

Wishing for everything she couldn’t have.

The song came to an end and everybody cheered.

Sabrina lapped it up, her hands waving in the air.

“Who’s gonna catch me?” she shouted, launching herself into the air like a rock singer.

A dozen guys ran forward like bridesmaids trying to catch the bouquet, jostling each other to be the one to have her in their arms.

With the attention firmly on Sabrina, Hendrix stepped forward and held his hands out to Emery. She let him reach for her, his palms warm and strong as he lifted her down from the bar. And when her feet touched the ground, he didn’t let go.

“Another one from your list,” he murmured. And it made her heart heat up. He remembered. Not only did he remember, he actually looked pleased she’d achieved it.

“Yeah,” she said, grinning at him, feeling a little dizzy and breathless. “How did I do?”

Sure, she was fishing for compliments. Blame the alcohol.

“You looked like an angel. A dirty angel.”

She laughed.

Another singer had taken the mic. A familiar country song replaced Bon Jovi and couples started to fill the dance floor. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sabrina arguing furiously with Pres and Marley.

“Dance with me,” she whispered to Hendrix.

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

The way he said it, like she’d asked him to go on a killing spree with her, felt like a bucket of ice water being thrown over her body. It actually made her shiver, and not in a good way.

Oh, she’d forgotten about the sting of rejection. In all the glory of taking control she’d forgotten about the way this back and forth could hurt.

Like a knife stabbing her heart.

“You’re engaged,” he muttered. “It would be wrong.”

Trying to find a hint of dignity, she lifted her head up to look him in the eye. “If you’re so worried about me being engaged, why did you keep my panties?”

Okay, those cocktails were working. Why did she bring that up now?

Hendrix’s jaw twitched. She’d pissed him off. She could tell that from the way his eyes narrowed and his lips pressed together in a thin line.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter. I want to go home, anyway.” And she did. She wanted to curl up in her bed and smell his damn t-shirt and forget about the mess her life was.

This was the problem with alcohol. Or maybe it was just the problem with her. She messed everything up.

Right now, she felt like she was in a labyrinth of her own making. Every time she tried to find the exit, she ended up deeper into the maze.

No matter what she did, she couldn’t get out of it.

“I’ll just say goodbye to my brothers.” Hendrix nodded.

Oh, he thought she wanted him to take her home? Oh, hell no.

“It’s fine. I’ll find my own way back. I’ll get a cab.”

“In this town?” He lifted a brow. “You’ll never get one. Don’t be silly, I’ll drive you.”

Sometimes, all you had left was pride. “I’d hate for you to have to drive home an engaged woman,” she told him, unable to keep the annoyance out of her voice. “People will talk.”

He blinked at the way she threw his words back at him. “That’s not what I meant. You’re being unreasonable.”

Yeah, she was. But she’d spent a lifetime being reasonable. Doing the right thing, being the good girl. And look where that had gotten her?

He reached for her arm, his fingers curling around the top of her bicep. His palm was warm. Strong. She hated that she loved it. “Stay here,” he told her. “I’ll be right back and I’ll drive you home.”

She didn’t nod. She didn’t say okay. But like everybody else in her life, this man expected her to obey him. And why wouldn’t he? She always did what she was told.

Watching him walk back to the pool room, where no doubt his brothers had disappeared to, she let out a low breath.

What an idiot she was. Thinking he felt the same way she did. Why would he? He thought she was engaged to a man he disliked intensely. A taken woman.

The thought of sitting next to him in his truck for the drive home made her stomach tighten.

She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t let him drive her because he was being nice.

Couldn’t watch the way the tendons on his forearms twisted as he turned the wheel.

Couldn’t look at his profile as he drove, admiring the razor-sharpness of his jaw and the way his nose was so damn straight.

She walked over to the table where some of Sabrina’s friends were standing and giggling, and grabbed her purse.

“Can you tell Sabrina I had to go?” she asked them over the noise of the Karaoke.

“Sure.” Mariah was too busy laughing at something one of her friends was saying to pay much attention. And that was a good thing. Emery didn’t want to explain. She didn’t want to do anything.

She just wanted to go home.

The door to the pool room was still shut. Good . That gave her enough time to make an exit without him noticing.

She’d walk to the curb. And if there were no taxis there, she’d walk home. At least she’d have her dignity.

And with that thought she headed straight for the door leading to the outside, feeling the warm night air wrap around her as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

Emery wasn’t where he’d left her only a couple of minutes ago. Of course she wasn’t. Hendrix let out a low curse, already annoyed because his brothers had decided to tease him when he told them he was leaving.

He was trying to do the right thing here. Why was everybody making it so damn difficult?

Yes, he found her attractive. Okay, he thought about her every damn night. Imagined the way her lips tasted. Imagined the way she tasted.

And the panties. Shit, she knew about them. He felt like shit, keeping them when he knew she was taken.

But he also had enough common sense to know it could only ever be a thought. There was no graceful way out of this situation that didn’t end up with somebody getting hurt.

He should have stayed away from her. He knew that. He’d always known that. God knew, he’d tried.

And then he’d wavered. Well, this time it would be different.

He’d drive her home and that would be it.

They both knew this thing between them was a ticking time bomb.

Even the thought of her sitting next to him in the cab of his truck – those lithe, tanned legs stretching out, that red dress making the most of every curve she had – was making his neck feel hot.

Sighing, he walked over to the table where she’d spent the evening. Sabrina was talking to her friend, the two of them giggling.

“I thought you’d left,” his cousin said to him as he leaned in to ask her where Emery was. Because she certainly wasn’t at the table.

“Just about to. Where’s Emery?”

Sabrina blinked. “No idea.”

“She said she was leaving, too,” Mariah told Sabrina. “I was supposed to tell you that.”

“So where is she?” Hendrix frowned, looking around the packed bar. Another Karaoke song had started up, and the singer was murdering the ABBA song. Christ, he was getting a headache.

“I don’t know,” Sabrina replied. “Maybe she got lucky with another guy.”

“She’s engaged,” he reminded her.

Sabrina gave him a slow grin. “She sure wasn’t acting like it when she was staring at you.”

His jaw tightened. And yeah, he wanted to defend her, even if there was a kernel of truth in his cousin’s words. Emery wasn’t acting like she was engaged. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

“Maybe she went to the bathroom,” Mariah suggested.

“Can one of you go look?” His voice was tight.

“Why are you so annoyed?” Sabrina asked him. “A girl is allowed to spend some time getting ready, you know?”

He took a deep breath. He was on his last string of patience here. “I’m not annoyed. She just said she wanted to go home and now she’s not here.”

“Men.” Mariah rolled her eyes at him. “Always expecting women to be at your beck and call.”

“You know what?” he said. “I’ll go check for myself.”

He turned and strode away, hearing his cousin and her friends laugh softly at him. And yeah, maybe they were right. He wasn’t even sure why he was so pissed. He just was.

He’d been feeling that way a lot recently. Ever since a certain somebody moved into the house opposite his.

It took a hot minute to get to the bathrooms. The door to the ladies’ room was open. A line formed through the doorway and out into the bar.

“Listen,” he said to the woman at the end. “I’m trying to find my friend. Do you know if she’s in there? Emery Reed?”

“I’ve no idea.” She shrugged.

Damn it. “Emery?” he called out, his voice loud enough to carry into the bathroom. “You in there?”

“Whoa,” another women in the line said. “He’s angry.”

“But hot,” her friend replied. “I’ll be Emery,” she said to him. “You can call me anything as long as you call me.”

For God’s sake.

“There’s no Emery in here,” a voice called out from in the bathroom.

The Moonlight Bar was full, but it was also compact. If she wasn’t in the bathroom, then she wasn’t here at all. She must have left the way she’d threatened to.

Annoyance rushed through him as he strode across the room to the front door, pushing it open. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, he looked around. And that’s when he saw her in the distance, walking away from him.

“Emery?” he called out.

She didn’t even flinch. Just kept on walking.

“Wait the hell up.”

Still nothing. He ground his teeth together, unlocking his truck and sliding quickly into the driver’s seat. Sure, he could run after her, but then they’d be arguing in the street.

Instead, he started up the engine, reversing out of his parking space, and gunning the engine to catch up with the small, female form disappearing into the distance.

It didn’t take long. Even in those tennis shoes she was walking at a steady, almost slow pace. His breath caught as he looked at the expression on her face. She looked so damn sad it was killing him.

He hit the window button and called out to her.

“Get in the truck, Emery.”

And damn if she didn’t just jut her chin out, the way Frank did when he was pissed. “I told you, I can walk myself home.”