Chapter Nineteen

Crew came to a stop. “How are we going to play this?”

“Can we go hide out at your place?”

“Do you think they’ll go away if we do?”

“Probably not,” she muttered. “They’re persistent assholes, to the say the least.”

“Hey,” he said, placing a hand under her chin and bringing her gaze to meet his. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

She grasped his hand and linked their fingers together. “They’re horrible people. Don’t think less of me because I came from them.”

“Never,” he whispered and bent his head to place a kiss on her lips. “Together?”

Suddenly, things shifted. A dynamic formed between them that hadn’t been there before, like they were true partners. Puzzle pieces suddenly fitting together. A united front against the world that would try to devour them through the media. She’d had some run-ins with paparazzi, and she was sure so had he. Where she’d been alone in a world that had turned on her after Jacoby had died, along with the parents who acted like they didn’t give a shit. Cole—no, Crew— understood in a way no one else could possibly imagine. With him she felt safe. Protected. Emmie immediately became addicted to the intoxicating emotions, in all the right ways, and she had this vision of the future where she was happy. No, not just happy. Fulfilled. Loved. That’s all she had ever wanted.

Emmie drew in a lungful of air, lightheaded after holding her breath for the past year. “Are we doing this?” she answered the question with her own.

“Damn right we’re doing this.”

He kissed her knuckles and then continued, pulling into her driveway a moment later. Only after they both exited the car, did her mother step out of the limo. Her father walked around it to join her. A wall of self-righteous entitlement against their wayward daughter.

“What are you two doing here?” Emmie demanded.

“Do not talk to us like that,” Bunny Adinson ordered in a cold tone. “What have you done to your hair? Brown looks horrid on you.”

“Gee, thanks,” she sneered back, matching the chill. “And don’t you tell me what to do. Why the hell are you both trespassing into my vacation?”

Her father raised his hand, as if to strike her, but Crew caught McBride’s arm before it connected.

“Don’t touch her,” Crew warned.

Her father yanked back his arm. “I beg your pardon? Who the hell are you?”

“I’m hers,” Crew said confidently. Boldly. It turned her on. “And she’s mine. There’s no place for narrow-minded parents.”

“How dare you!”

“No.” Crew shook his head. “How dare you? This isn’t the Dark Ages. There’s no gilded cage.”

At that moment, a car rolled by, slowing down as if curious about what was happening.

“Let’s go inside so we can talk.” Bunny turned to march toward the front door.

“Why don’t you just leave and I’ll call you in a few weeks?” Emmie suggested.

Her mother didn’t even break her stride. Sharing a look with Crew, they followed her parents. Once inside, all pleasantries dropped.

“All right. Mother, Father, what are you doing here?”

Bunny looked around the beach house with disdain. “Saw you’re infamously shamming your status in some derelict country bar and came here to take you home.”

Crew opened his mouth, ready to defend her. Emmie laid a hand on his arm, shaking her head. She didn’t need him to rescue her.

“I’m not going back with you. I’m finishing my vacation and then after, I’m…” She looked at Crew, who watched her with a smirk lifting the corner of his mouth. He gave an almost imperceptible nod of encouragement. “Then after, I’m moving to St. Louis.”

“Hell, yeah, you are,” Crew said, smiling.

“You will not ,” her father snapped. “You will return to New York. You will marry who we’ve chosen—”

“I’m not marrying anyone,” she interrupted. For the first time in her life, she took a stand against them. “Least of all to a man you think is the best choice.”

“You forget, without us you have no money,” her mother spat. “No future. No hobbies. Not even your precious animals.”

Emmie crossed her arms over her chest. “You forget that you weren’t privy to Jacoby’s will.”

Her parents blinked at her, looking like they just ate a lemon.

“What will?” her father asked.

“Jacoby’s death opened up his trust fund, and he left it all to me,” she explained. “And there was enough to secure the animals in the shelter. You can’t touch them. Plus, I had a lawyer investigate that little threat you gave about locking up my inheritance. And it was bullshit. If you try to hold it up in court, it’ll be you paying the price. My birthday is next month, and then I’ll have enough to live comfortably, until I figure out what I want to do. Now I know I’ll be in St. Louis. In any case, however, I never want to see either of you ever again. So kindly fuck off.”

She opened the door and stood by, staring expectantly at her parents.

“If we walk out that door, you are cut off!” her mother yelled.

“I suppose you’re deaf now, too.” Emmie shook her head. “Leave. I’m divorcing both of you.”

She held her mother’s gaze for a long moment, and then true to form, Bunny Adinson stuck her nose up and marched out of the door. A heartbeat later, her father did the same and Emmie slammed the door behind them.

There was a moment of silence, then her eyes grew wide. “Did I just do that?”

Crew settled his hands on her hips and pulled her into his warmth. “You sure did. You’re a badass, and you turn me on so fucking much.”

Then he kissed her. He kissed her so long and so deep, she was ready to combust when they broke for air.

“Can you fuck the aggravation out of me?” she asked, batting her eyes innocently.

“I can fuck you into next Tuesday, if you’d like.”

She beamed. “Yes, please.”