13. Emory

13

EMORY

I luxuriate in the bed with Cole. Our breathing has slowed. I can tell he's close to drifting off to sleep. That's okay. How could I possibly be greedy enough to want more from him tonight?

Except that I am that greedy. I start snuggling up, trying to get a rise out of him. Literally and metaphorically. But his soft snores soon draw a softer chuckle from my lips. I sigh and just content myself with his presence and warmth.

At some point, I drift off myself, into a deeper sleep than I've known for some time. If I dream, I don't remember it.

Cole's voice awakens me. There's an edge of panic to it. I come alert, wondering if Julian or his accomplices have somehow surprised us.

But there's no one here but us, and Cole is still asleep. His eyes are closed, his head jerking to the side. Whatever he's dreaming, it can't be pleasant.

All of the medals he earned. Purple Heart, Medal of Honor. Those things probably come with unimaginable trauma and baggage. I don't know if I should wake him up or not. But his distress continues to grow, and he starts mumbling.

"Jake," he cries. "Jake, what have you done? Why? WHY?"

"Cole," I say gently, shaking him. "Cole!"

He sucks in a stuttering breath, and then his eyes open. For a moment, his gaze is wild and unfocused. Then he zooms in on me and his expression changes.

"Are you all right?" I ask.

"I'm fine," he mumbles in a voice thick with sleep. "What's up?"

Should I tell him he was thrashing around, talking about someone named Jake? I'm not sure it would be right. He'll share this with me when he's ready.

"Nothing. I think you were having a bad dream."

His eyes grow distant, and he nods.

"I was. Sorry I woke you."

I kiss him and then snuggle up, laying my head on his tattooed chest. "Don't be sorry. It's not like you chose to have a nightmare."

His arm encircles my shoulder. I listen to his heartbeat as it slows. Soon he drifts back off to sleep. I sigh and settle in myself. It seems like a long way to morning, and we could both use the rest.

If Cole has any more bad dreams, they're silent ones. When I awaken again, it's to the warmth of the morning sun streaming in through the curtains. As much as I want to just bask in the glow of how amazing last night was, the thought of Julian on the loose still makes me worry.

Cole is totally out. I chuckle softly and kiss his forehead before sliding out of bed. I'm sore in all the right ways as I head to the bathroom for my morning routine.

A powerful thirst grips me. Parched, I head downstairs and look for something to drink. A peach sports drink seems to fit the bill. I drain half of it in one go, then set the bottle on the counter.

Picking up my phone, I check for messages. My thumb slides a bit too far and I turn on the news feed instead. Before I can close it, a headline catches my attention.

Breaking: Several children ill after drinking contaminated water at LA daycare.

A sick feeling grips my stomach. It can't be. It just can't…

I tap the link with a trembling finger. The sports drink threatens to come back out the way it went in as I anxiously read through the article.

Panic gripped the staff at the Sunny Daze Creative Learning Center today–

"No! No!"

I cover my face with my hand, unable to read any further. The sound of Cole's footsteps rapidly approaching herald his arrival. Damn, he got down those stairs quickly. Did he jump the last landing?

"Emory," he cries, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Are you all right? What's wrong?"

I look up at him in misery, showing him the phone.

"My…my sister works here…"

He takes the phone from my grasp and stares hard at the screen. His jaw works silently as he reads.

"It's okay," he says. "None of the staff were affected."

It's cold comfort. I'm glad my sister is okay, but those poor kids!

"What kind of monster would do this?"

"Glen Banner," he says in a tight voice. "He needs to be brought to his knees. Brought down to his stomach. Brought down so low he never gets up again."

I call my sister straight away, but it goes right to voicemail. Panicking, I shoot off a text before trying to call the daycare directly. The number is busy.

Before I can work myself into a total frenzy, Hellena texts me back.

I'm all right. Please take care of yourself, I'm surrounded by police. Nothing is going to happen to me.

I send back a relieved response filled with I love yous. If something had happened to her, I don't know if I could stand it.

"None of this is your fault, Emory," Cole says firmly, reading my mind. "We all know whose fault it is."

I grab him and bury my face in his chest, letting the tears fall. Cole envelops me in his embrace, his hand smoothing my hair.

"It's all right, Emory. It's going to be all right. They didn't get her. You hear me? They didn't get her, and they won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'm going to find them first."

I pull away from him and look up at his face. He means it. Every word.

And god help me, I hope he does.

"Let's see if the news has any more information for us," he suggests.

I nod, and hug him again. He flips on the television. As I expected, the top story is the daycare. The daycare Hellena works at is one of the fancy, upscale ones. They have a water fountain on their playground with four spigots shaped like dolphins.

Someone tampered with the filter, adding in a small amount of a nerve agent. I almost faint with relief when the newscaster says it wasn't a lethal dose, and the children are expected to recover.

"Fucking monsters," Cole growls.

I'm inclined to agree. When my phone rings, I look at it eagerly, hoping it's Hellena calling me back.

Instead, I see a restricted number. I tremble with the implications. Is this a spammer, or is it Julian?

I show it to Cole. He nods, and quickly gets on his own phone, contacting Platinum Security's hacker expert Harlowe.

Maybe, just maybe, I can get him to stay on the line long enough to ping his location.

"Hello?" I say, trying to keep my voice neutral just in case it's not Julian.

But it is.

"Hello, Emmy. Have you checked out the news today?"

"How could you do this, Julian?"

"Why, whatever are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean! Kids, Julian. Children!"

"Oh, Banner was careful. They won't die. I mean, probably not. It was just a message. A message I expect you received loud and clear. If you'd been a good girl and listened to me, none of those kids would be sick and your sister wouldn't be in danger of losing her job."

"Why would she lose her job over something your monstrous friend did?"

"Guilt by association. You know how it is in this town. Reputation is everything. Your sister is damaged goods, now. No school is going to hire her. I hear the fast food places are paying twenty bucks an hour, though, so…you know. Jackpot."

Cole makes a gesture for me to keep him talking. I try to calm myself.

"You're not going to get a rise out of me that easily, Julian. I'm immune to your word twisting at this point. How in the Hell are you getting a maniac like Banner to do your bidding?"

"Money. Lots of it. Just because I went to prison doesn't mean I'm not still rich. Sure, the police froze my assets, but only the ones they knew about."

"You just have an answer for everything, don't you, Julian?"

"You're damn right I do. Come on, Emory, we both know how this is going to end."

"We do?"

He snickers, and it makes my skin crawl.

"Oh yes. Sooner or later you're going to realize I was the best thing that ever happened to you."

"Julian, what on Earth makes you think that?"

"I showed you a world you had only dreamed of. Like Alladin on the fucking magic carpet, I took you to places you'd never have gotten into alone. You really think you landed all those high profile gigs because you're a good choreographer with a tight ass?"

I flinch, but I have to take his abuse. I have to keep him talking long enough for the trace.

"You drove me to this, Emory. You tore my heart out and left it bleeding on the floor. No amount of suffering is too much for what you've done to me."

"What I've done to you?"

"You got restraining orders against me! You sent me to Prison."

"I had to protect myself from you, Julian. You sent yourself to prison because you couldn't stop yourself from making really bad decisions."

I look up hopefully at Cole. He shakes his head. Damn it, how much longer do I have to talk to this monster?

"I know you're just trying to drag this conversation out so the cops can track my location, Emory, so I'll make this short and sweet. Get rid of the bodyguard and be ready to obey by sunset today, or someone you care about will die. Period. End of story. You've been warned."

"Wait, Julian."

The call ends. I want to throw my phone across the room but I stop myself. Cole rests a hand on my shoulder and purses his lips in a worried frown.

"I'm so sorry you have to keep talking to him."

I shake my head. "This is a nightmare."

He takes me in his arms and holds me. I want to cry, but the tears just won't come. It's like they're burning behind my eyes, but can't actually come out.

"I have to get ready for work," I say at last. "God, I just want to forget about this morning."

I really want some sense of normalcy. But when we arrive at the studio, I discover there's another surprise waiting for me. A mob of people have gathered outside the studio gates, formed of reporters, looky-loos, and, apparently, protestors.

Emory, cash in those frequent flier miles already, says one of the signs carried by the angry mob. And that's one of the nicer ones. Men's rights activists have posters proclaiming the whole thing is my fault for driving Julian mad. Great, he's got the public on his side.

But there are people there to support me, too. Only, they're getting in my way to work just as much as the haters.

"Julian is making it impossible for me to do my job."

"I know. I'm sorry. We're going to get this mother fucker, all right?"

I nod, but then I break down in sobs. It all seems so hopeless. After last night, I thought things were getting better.

Now I can tell the universe was just setting me up for a bigger fall.