17. Keir

Chapter 17

Keir

S taring out over the river, I think back to last night with Emma. Telling her I loved her just came out, and the fact that she said it back surprised me, but in the best possible way. She is all I ever wanted, and now I have her.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, seeing Emma's name on the screen. I answer it quickly.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Hi, Keir." Her reply is blunt, and it sends a bolt of panic racing through me,

"Is everything okay?" I venture.

"No," she snaps. "Everything is shit."

I gulp. "What happened?"

"My ex turned up on the doorstep and has thrown me for a loop. Jamie scared him off by pretending to be my boyfriend, but I can't help thinking this isn't over."

"What?" I burst out, as Lachlan strolls into the living room. "What do you mean he pretended to be your boyfriend? How? What did he do?"

"What?" Lachlan says, coming over. I glare at him and put the phone on speaker.

"You're on speaker, Lachlan is here."

"Oh, good," Emma says, "now you both know."

"I don't know anything," Lachlan says, confused.

Emma sighs. "My ex, who cheated on me before I left London, showed up at my place this morning."

Lachlan growls. "He cheated on you? Where is this fucker?"

"Never mind that. The part you need to know is that Jamie pretended to be my boyfriend to get him to go away."

"Excuse me," Lachlan spits out.

"You heard me," Emma snarls. "It's fine. Jamie helped me but do not give him a hard time about it. I needed him."

"And we weren't there," I say quietly.

"Look," she sighs. "It's not about that. And needed him was a bit strong. He did me a favour. I'm wound up by his visit, which wasn't all that it seemed, and I'm sitting outside Highland Spirits waiting for it to open, and my nerves are shot."

"We're coming down there," I declare. "We'll be there in five minutes."

"No, no," Emma protests. "I need to handle this on my own. But I appreciate the support, really."

Lachlan paces around, rubbing his temples. "Emma, don't let this ex arsehole get to you. Remember what you're here for and who you've got backing you."

"You're right," she concedes with a deep sigh. "Thank you, both of you. I'm just… I need to focus on this meeting now."

"We believe in you," I say firmly. "You've got this."

"I know," she replies, her voice a little steadier now. "Talk later."

The line goes dead, and Lachlan and I stand there for a moment, absorbing the whirlwind of Emma Thornton.

"So, do we interrogate Jamie now about this?" Lachlan asks the question, rattling my brain.

"Yes," I say. "I want to know who this fucker is and what he wants with our girl."

We bump fists, and then Lachlan pauses. "We should get Taran."

"Yeah, probably," I mutter, messaging Jamie to see where he's at. "Jamie's still at Emma and Anna's."

Lachlan pulls out his phone and shoots Taran a quick text to meet us at Emma's, and we head out for the short drive to the cottage.

Taran is already there when we pull up, and we meet on the doorstep. He looks as enigmatic as always as he waits for us to catch up.

"So what's this about?" Taran asks, his dark eyes glinting with curiosity.

"We need to have a chat with Jamie," Lachlan says. "Apparently, he had to pretend to be Emma's boyfriend this morning to scare off her ex."

Taran's face falls into a deep frown. "What?"

"Yeah, that seems to be the word of the day," I murmur as I knock loudly on the door.

Anna opens it and lets us inside. "Emma isn't here," she says. "But if you're looking for Jamie, know it was my idea, and he just went along with it."

Ah, okay. That makes so much sense now. "You're a good friend, Anna. Thank you having Emma's back. This guy sounds like a real douche."

"Yeah, he's a complete loser. He came here under the guise of wanting to get back with her and then announced she could help him move into sports photography by snapping shots of you guys. It was unbelievable."

"Wow," Taran murmurs.

Jamie enters the living room and runs his hand through his hair.

"Don't worry, they aren't here to kill you," Anna snorts. "They know it was my idea, and besides, Jamie was a hero," she says, turning back to me.

"Yeah, Emma's hero when it should've been us," I grouse, seriously pissed off that I wasn't here when she needed me. "We need to track this guy down and make sure he doesn't come near Emma again."

"Don't think that'll be hard. He came here because he thought Emma would be his ticket to switching his career up. He won't give up on that easily," Anna says. "I've heard some things about him in the past that concerned me. I was going to sit Emma down and tell her when I had all the proof, but then I saw him with that other girl, and that was more important at the time."

"What things?" I ask, getting more worried by the second for Emma's safety.

"Just how he has sabotaged competitors in the fashion photography world to get ahead. But, like, seriously concerning stuff. It's not just undercutting but really nasty tactics. Fake allegations, tampering with equipment, and even blackmail. The guy's a snake," Anna finishes, her eyes dark with concern.

"Fake allegations?" I murmur. "Like going to Highland Spirits, maybe?"

"That was Colin," Anna says with a frown. "Wasn't it? But Carrick needs Emma to give him a leg up, destroying her sponsorships wouldn't achieve that."

"Unless he then swooped in to get it back on track," Lachlan murmurs.

"Wait," I say, pulling back before we all get carried away. "This is just us speculating. We don't know shit."

"No, but we could sure as hell find out," Taran says. "I say we find this dick and make sure he leaves town, like yesterday."

Anna's eyes widen slightly, clearly worried about where this is heading. "Just be careful, okay? He's got a way of twisting things to make himself look like the victim. He is a narcissistic gaslighter."

"The scum of the earth," I growl, wondering how Emma ever got involved with this guy, but none of that really matters. What matters now is keeping him the fuck away from her and making sure he doesn't ruin everything she's working so hard for. "Let's get down to Highland Spirits so when Emma comes out of her meeting, we're there."

Taran and Lachlan nod, each lost in their own thoughts. We wave bye to Jamie and Anna and head out to our cars.

Taran joins us in Lachlan's Mustang. "I don't like this guy showing up here now. I've seen his pics on her Instagram, before she deleted them all. Didn't like the look of him."

I turn to him, incredulous. "And when was this?"

He shrugs, giving me a wicked smile. "Weeks ago. She's been on my radar for a while."

"You toad," Lachlan laughs. "Look, this guy sounds like a real piece of shit, but if he doesn't get what he wants out of Emma, he'll probably just fuck off back to London."

"And if he doesn't?" I ask the question on everyone's minds.

"Then we show him that no one messes with our girl."