Page 41

41

HEIDI

I went home last night, but God, I have no idea why.

Mila could sense it the second I came through the door.

“Heidi fucking Flannigan, who was it?” she asks, her brown eyes wide as she looks over my disheveled state.

I thought I did well, hiding what had happened. But my clothes were creased and a little dusty from the garage floor, my pussy feels like it’s on fire, and in the good way that just feels like you’ve had far too many orgasms. The kind of pain I’ve only ever felt when I’m ovulating and left alone with my dildo.

I feel my cheeks get hot as I look down at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact at all cost.

“Oh you dirty bitch! It was Emmett wasn’t it? I swear to god if it wasn’t, I don’t know what to think. The man is an idiot. The worst.”

“It was Emmett,” I admit shyly.

“I knew it! He does have a soul. Thank god you guys got that out of your system,”

She tilts her head. “Why the fuck are you here tonight?”

I shrug. “I think I need to process it all.”

“Do I need to call the girls?”

I smile but shake my head. “No, not at all. I’m going to go clean up and go to bed though, alright?”

She nods, a knowing smirk blooming across her face.

I grab a towel from the pile of clean laundry stacked on top of the chair in the corner of my room, heading to the bathroom where I strip down, studying myself in the mirror.

I look the same, and yet I feel like at a molecular level, I’m different. Like Emmett has changed me fundamentally. Like the second there was that silent agreement between us, my whole life changed.

And maybe it has.

I hope it has.

The Cobras are away on Sunday, and they lose, which means that Emmett needs me at the house on Monday so that he can go in and get his ass chewed out by his coach.

My alarm doesn’t go off when it’s supposed to, so I get to his house a little late. He’s just leaving for the training facility, and he stops on his way out, looking around the room to make sure Juniper doesn’t see him, and kisses me on the lips.

When he leaves, Juniper’s finally ready for school, and she jumps right in the car.

I drop her off, heading back to his place to hang out for a little bit. Emmett shouldn’t be at work for too long, and I think it’s important for us to talk a little about what we’re expecting out of, well, all of this.

I make my rounds around the house, checking up on Theodor, curled up in his little house, before setting some scraps out for the racoons behind the garage. The babies are growing so fast, but they’re still there.

I check the time when I’m done, deciding that I’d like to get a run in before Emmett gets home. Heading into the garage to grab a water bottle from the outside fridge, I blush at the sight of his car before my eyes settle on the present on top of his workbench.

I forgot about it last night, and although I don’t need presents from him, part of me is really curious about what it is.

Shaking off the curiosity, I head back out and change into my running clothes before heading outside, taking off down the road.

I’m about two miles out when it happens.

I’m adjusting my hair when I step a little too close to a pothole, my ankle immediately twisting.

I go down like a sack of rocks.

The pain throbs through my body, and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying hard not to think about it. Maybe if I don’t acknowledge that it happened, it’ll go away, right?

Wrong.

Instead, it gets worse.

The only thing I can do is call Emmett.

There’s no one around. I had gotten far enough that I was out of the neighborhood and a little down the road. And sure, could wave down a stranger, but that could also get me kidnapped, and that would be, well, not exactly what anyone needs at the moment.

He answers on the second ring.

“You okay?” he asks, and can tell he’s anxious.

“Uh, actually no. I think I twisted my ankle. It’s not broken,” I pause, “I don’t think anyway. Are you almost out of work? Can you come get me?”

I hear the sound of cars driving by from the background, and I silently thank the universe that he’s somehow already on the road.

“I actually left a couple of minutes ago. Can you send me your location and I’ll come pick you up?” Although he sounds a little bit better, I can tell that he’s stressed and worried about me.

“Yeah, I’ll send it right now.”

We hang up and I send my location to him, and about ten minutes later he pulls up, hopping out of his large pickup truck and rounding the front. “Are you okay?” he asks, bending down in front of me. He grabs my leg, looking it over. There’s nothing to see with my socks and shoes on.

“I’m okay, I promise, Emmett. Can you just get me back to your place? I’ll ice it and it’ll be fine in a bit.”

He doesn’t look so sure, but he scoops me into his large arms anyways, and I loop my arms around his thick neck until he places me in the passenger seat.

A two mile run may take forever for me to complete, but it takes only a few minutes to get back to his home by truck, and before I know it I’m back in Emmett’s arms and being brought into the house.

He doesn’t ask me where I want to go. He doesn’t ask me anything. Instead, he takes me right to his bedroom, the room I’ve really only been in the one day I took a shower here, and places me in his bed.

I sink into the fabric, which leaves me wondering what the fuck type of comforter he has.

“I’ll be right back,” he murmurs, heading back out the door.

He returns a few minutes later with an ice pack and a couple pillows from the couch. Pulling off my shoes, he places them carefully on the ground before peeling my socks off. I hiss as he gets it over my right ankle, and he watches my reaction carefully.

Pressing gently onto it, Emmett feels around for any clear issues. When he can’t find any, he places the pillows under my foot to elevate it before laying a hand towel over me, and the flat ice pack over top of that.

The ice stings at first, but it numbs the pain quickly.

I sigh with relief.

When he’s finished with that, Emmett leaves the room again. He’s gone longer this time, but eventually comes back with a couple of mugs. He places them on the night stand before stripping me of my other clothing.

He tosses me a shirt from his dresser and helps me pull on a pair of his sweatpants, and once he’s done, he hands me the still hot tea.

I blow on it before taking a sip, watching him as he monitors the situation.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asks, emptying out a few pain pills into his hand. He hands them to me, and I chuck them back with a single gulp, washing them down with tea.

“I’ll be okay, I promise.”

He doesn’t look so sure.

Biting at his bottom lip, Emmett grabs the remote from the side table and flips on the TV, pulling up our options. Handing it to me, I scroll through everything until I find a show I love.

Emmett gets busy changing his own clothes, and without a word he enters his bathroom, closing the door most of the way. I hear the shower turn on, and a couple of minutes later he exits, unable to look at me.

He changes silently, and to my shock, climbs into bed with me.

“You’re okay, right?”

“I told you I’m fine,” I whisper back carefully. I know where this is coming from.

His reaction since we got home makes sense.

His eyes bare into mine, pleading with me. “I promise I’m fine, baby,” I respond, placing my hand on his cheek. He leans into it before placing a kiss on my palm. “It was probably my legs still wobbling from yesterday.”

That gets him to crack a smile. “You would tell me if you aren’t alright?”

“I cross my heart,” I promise, drawing an x on my chest.

He nods, settling in next to me.

I lean into him, curling into his body the best I can with my ankle being iced, and at some point or another, I drift to sleep.

I don’t know how much time has passed when I wake up from my nap. The sun is still up, which is surprising because it sets so god damn early now.

Stretching, I attempt to move my ankle in a circle. When I’m able to do that, I climb out of bed, testing how it feels if I put pressure on it.

Although it doesn’t feel good, it doesn’t feel awful either, and I decide it’s more than worth it to get up and out of bed, trying to find Emmett.

I know where he is.

I can hear the hum of his music from his bedroom.

I find him standing in front of his car, his arms crossed over his chest. The second I open the door, his head whips up, his eyes finding mine before immediately drifting down to my ankle.

“Does it feel better?” he asks.

“Yeah, it does,” I assure him with a smile. “I promise it does, Emmett,” I say with more force. His lips tighten.

I look over his car. “Is it ready?”

“I think so.”

“Why don’t we take a drive?” He doesn’t look so sure, but I know he wants to. “I think it would be really fun.”

Emmett gives in, opening the passenger seat for me.

The engine roars to life the second he turns the key, the sound echoing through the space. He lets it warm up for a few minutes before opening the garage door and driving out.

We get to around where the engine stopped working previously, finding a little pathway to a lot behind some trees where we can watch the sunset.

“Briar got the girls from school, Juniper will be home tonight though,” he tells me, his head falling back against the headrest.

“Are you doing okay?” I ask him quietly.

He looks at me, his eyes sad. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Getting hurt is a fact of life, Emmett. There’s going to be injuries. Shit, your entire career is just a giant injury.”

He weighs my words before deciding he agrees with them.

“I know that this is new for you, but we need to get used to it. I’m going to get hurt sometimes. You’re going to get hurt. But we’re going to be okay.”

He nods slowly, closing his eyes.

I eye the sunset before looking around us, monitoring the situation.

“Hey,” I tell him. “Set the seat all the way back.”

Emmett eyes me suspiciously, but when I bat my eyelashes, he does as I say.

In one fluid movement, I kneel in my seat, draping my leg over Emmett as I climb in his lap, my back to his chest.

I settle in, feeling his arms wrap around my waist to pull me closer. “Does this feel okay?” I ask. He wasn’t joking before. He is a big guy, and just one of his thighs takes up nearly half the seat.

“It’s fine,” he says quietly, burying his nose in my hair.

“Let’s get your mind off of injuries and things,” I say, bringing my hand back to cup his cheek. “What was your favorite thing about yesterday.”

Emmett chuckles against my shoulder, the action sending welcome shivers through me. I want to hear him laugh like that forever.

“I can’t decide if it was you not taking your underwear out of your mouth or the look on your face when I started actually moving inside of you.”

I feel my face heat up. “The underwear thing was hot, even if it was a bit rude.”

“I think you like things a bit rude.”

I sigh, adjusting my hips. His hands find their way to the small of my waist, fixing me in place.

“You’re right. I do.”

“What do you like in bed, Heidi.” It’s not a question. It’s a demand.

“I like it when you’re rough,” I admit. “And I like some good old degradation as long as you’re possessive about it.”

I can feel his chest shake with a chuckle. “What does that mean?”

I lean back further, the back of my head resting on his shoulder. Emmett turns his head, his lips finding the sensitive skin of my neck.

“I mean that I love being called a slut in bed, but only as long as you call me your slut. You know? It changes the entire meaning of it.”

He pauses. “Does it?”

I nod.

“What else do you like?”

“I like it when you’re vocal. When you moan. I haven’t had a ton of sex in my lifetime, but I can tell you I certainly do not like it when men are completely silent.”

“What else?”

“I love it when you’re possessive. Jealous even,” I find myself admitting without hesitation. I’ve never been this open about my desires with anyone. “I’ve always just wanted someone who wants me so badly that they’ll do just about anything.”

Emmett drags his lip up my neck, and I hum in approval. “Did I do okay yesterday?” he asks.

“You did amazing.”

“Good.”