Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Emmett

B riar pulls up in her car in front of my house, and Gillian is in the front seat. Ben also drove over—probably to run interference. I'm not sure.

"I don't get it. You make a bet with me, and you move her in here after Gillian arranged a spot for her at the girls' house?" Ben crosses his arms, watching Briar park her car next to my truck.

"I think it's extreme that Gilly Bean wanted her to sleep on a couch when I have three empty bedrooms here."

"She's worried that only one bedroom will be used," Ben says, stepping off my porch to grab Briar's stuff.

I jog down, too. "What's the big issue if I did hook up with her? Your fiancée is going to extreme measures."

"She's protective."

"Protective? She acts like Briar is an innocent cub she's releasing into the wild."

Ben stops and places his hand on my chest. Here we go. "Just remember the bet, okay? Hands off, and you'll get your little dude ranch."

I stare down at his hand, ready to remind him that he might be a retired professional football player, but I'm bigger and stronger than him now.

He pulls back his hand. "Please," he says, without sounding genuine in the slightest.

"I told you once, and I'll tell you again, you don't have anything to worry about." Especially now that I know she's pregnant with another man's child.

"Just make sure of it. Gillian's happiness is the most important to me. You fuck with that, and you fuck with me."

I hold up my hands and shake them. "Ohhh…you're scaring me."

"Fuck," he mumbles, but he smacks on an exaggerated smile when he turns back toward the car. "Hey, you two."

Briar climbs out. The trunk pops open, and Briar moves to get a box.

"How nice of you to help, Ben," Gillian says. "I know you have track practice."

"This is more important." He bends down and kisses her.

"And you're welcome, Gilly Bean." I put my hand on Briar's arm. "Let the men get it. You just sit there and look pretty."

"Oh no, you didn't," Gillian says.

"Really, I'm fine." Briar's teeth are clenched, and she's giving me that look that says she wants to cut off my dick.

"Ben and I are here to help. There are drinks in the kitchen."

"Fine, come on, Briar. Rarely is Emmett such a gentleman, so let's take advantage," Gillian says.

I'm impressed that I got Gillian to go along with it by acting like a chauvinist. I thought she'd tell Ben and me to have a seat, and she'd carry two boxes at once.

One look at the boxes that are barely taped, and I wonder how fast Briar moved out of her place in Chicago.

"Is this a produce box?" Ben asks.

"Yeah, and it looks like she just threw stuff in there." There's a picture frame, cords, pens, notepads. "Why did she move back again?"

Ben shrugs, putting the produce box on top of another box that looks as if it's about to disintegrate. "Gillian hasn't told me, and I'm wondering if maybe she doesn't know because when I ask for specifics, she says Briar just told her she had to get out of Chicago."

We walk up the porch steps and inside.

"Who ordered grapes?" I ask the girls because of the box.

No one laughs. Gillian used to find me funny, but I guess not now that her sister is moving into my house.

"Did you pick a bedroom?" I ask Briar.

Ben repositions his boxes, wincing and sighing. Briar clearly hasn't picked a room, from the blank look on her face.

"Go on up and pick one."

She looks at Gillian, and they both get up.

"You've turned over a leaf. Now you're treating her like a princess." Gillian walks by the two of us and heads upstairs with Briar right after her.

I can't wait to see what kind of person Briar is without Gillian around.

Thankfully, Ben blocks me from seeing Briar's ass by walking up the stairs before me.

When we reach the top, the two women are discussing closet space.

"You should take this one," Gillian says. No coincidence, I'm sure, that it's the farthest from my bedroom.

"Yeah, but this one has the en suite, and it has the walk-in closet." Briar gravitates toward the bedroom right next to mine.

"I'm sure you don't want to share a wall with him," Gillian says.

"Can we hurry this up?" Ben repositions the boxes again, almost dropping them.

"When did I become just ‘him?'" I ask.

Gillian glances over but doesn't really look at me, and she doesn't answer my question.

"This one, Ben, thanks." Briar points at the one where our beds will share a wall.

I bite the inside of my cheek and look away because trying not to look at Gillian is like driving by a car on the side of the road pulled over by the police after they flashed their lights and sped by you. It's oddly satisfying.

"Are you sure?" Gillian asks.

"She's sure," Ben says and walks by his soon-to-be wife, placing the boxes on the floor.

I furnished all the rooms one by one over the years I've lived here. Not that I get a ton of visitors, but I like it feeling like a home instead of vacant rooms. So she's got a queen bed, a dresser, and a vanity in the room she chose.

"I love the paint color," Briar says.

"It's Meet Cute."

"I'm sorry?" she asks.

"The paint color. It's called Meet Cute." I point at the blush color on the wall.

Gillian grunts and stares at Ben.

"I'm gonna go get more boxes," he says, fleeing the room like a fly escaping from a fly swatter.

"Let's start unpacking," Gillian says and eyes me. Man, I am not her favorite person these days.

"No, Gill, I'll get there. I barely have anything," Briar says.

While they hash it out, I jog down the stairs to get more boxes. The sooner we get Briar moved in, the quicker Gillian will leave.

I walk out of the house and back to the car. Ben is tripling the boxes up as if he's a professional mover.

"You're going to kill your back."

"Cut the shit," Ben says, not moving.

Are we playing a game of who can hold the most weight?

I grab four boxes, but they're smaller. One has a diaper logo on the side, and I think about how ironic that is. "What shit? About your back?"

"No, the whole meet-cute thing. Gillian is going to be spying on you with binoculars if you don't tone it down on the come-ons."

"Come-ons? It's really the paint color. Want to see the can?"

"And you remember this, why?"

I walk by Ben because I've had enough of this bullshit with Ben and Gillian. "Trust me, I'm not trying to come on to her."

For reasons I won't say. Do I wish Briar wasn't hot as hell? It would make my life a lot easier, but Briar being pregnant puts her in a category I'm not ready for.

He doesn't say anything else, and when we get to the top of the stairs, the two women are hugging.

"What's going on?" Ben asks, but walks to the bedroom.

Ben and I share a look but don't say anything. I follow him into the bedroom because I'm not good with girl shit. I grew up with two brothers, and sure, I had my cousins, but they never lived with me.

For whatever reason, the girls don't answer Ben's question, so we move on.

"There's only one box left," Ben says. "In the back seat."

Briar circles out of Gillian's arms. "I can get that one."

Ben steps back, running into me because Briar pushes him back with her hand on his chest.

Is the pregnancy test in there? What's the secret in that box? I hate the fact I'm curious as fuck. I've never been able to control myself.

"I'll get it," I say, walking around Ben, thinking she'll trust me since I already know her secret, but she steps in front of me, and her delicate hand presses to my chest.

I don't draw back because I kind of like it. If only Briar could rake her nails down my abs and dip those fingers under the waistband of my jeans.

Bad dick, stop overriding my brain.

"I said I'll get it." She moves to the stairs.

Gillian gives us a look as though one of us better get our ass down there and get that box.

Ben goes, and I'm about to follow when Gillian's hand lands on my chest. What the hell? At least I don't get the same reaction to her as I did with Briar.

"Listen, I know I'm being hard on you and taking things out on you."

I raise my eyebrows because yes, she is.

"I'm sorry, I'm protective of Briar. She didn't have an easy childhood." She nods toward the stairs where her sister just went. "Her mom didn't die, she left her. Me and you, we understand what it feels like when your mother dies, but her mom decided to take herself out of the picture. To not see Briar grow up and accomplish all that she has. And my dad was great, but he worked all the time to support us. I see she's hurting, but she hasn't opened up to me yet. I know there was a guy, but that's all I know. And sure, you'd be a great rebound?—"

"Ah, thanks, Gilly Bean," I say, bringing comedy in because I don't want to know this shit.

"But she needs stability, calm, and a place to pick herself up. I don't want lust mixed into that equation. I apologize for being so hard on you."

"Why?"

"Why what?" she asks.

"Why didn't you just say this from the start? Instead of treating me like crap?"

She checks the stairs again. "I acted on instinct, like a new mom with a baby. It's hard, but I don't imagine you'll understand."

"I'm your brother-in-law. I've always had your back, and I'll continue to. Trust me on this. I won't hurt her," I say, hoping that puts her at peace.

She blows out a breath. "Okay. Call me if it gets out of your hands."

"If she gets out of my hands?" I laugh. She doesn't. "No one gets my humor anymore."

"Gill, I gotta go," Ben calls from downstairs. "Emmett, come get the box. She's acting like an armored truck driver protecting a million dollars."

We walk down the stairs, and I head outside.

"I can stay and unpack," Gillian says to Briar.

"I've got it. I'm going to unpack and probably go grocery shopping."

"I can go with," Gillian says.

Briar blows out a breath but smiles. "I'm a big girl." She hugs her sister.

"Not a good look when the coach is late," Ben says.

Gillian stands there, staring at both of us. I wink to tell her I have it handled, but she still looks like a creepy stalker.

"Go, Gill. I'll call you." Briar waves.

"Okay, yeah." Gillian walks backward toward Ben's truck.

"She'll be about one hundred footsteps away." I'm trying to give Gillian peace of mind, but she nibbles her bottom lip.

Ben gets out of the truck, picks Gillian up from behind, and takes her to the truck. Briar and I laugh.

"What are you doing?" Gillian says.

"Practicing for when we drop Clayton off at college," Ben says, putting her in the passenger seat of the truck. "See you, guys." He waves.

We watch him pull away, Gillian acting as if she just left her sister in Antarctica, waving with a terrified expression.

"Just you and me," I say.

Briar reaches into the back seat of her car, but I place my hands on her hips to slide her over. Jesus, it's as though her hips were made for my hands. I quickly remove my hands, shaking them out at my sides. Grabbing the box, I haul my ass to the house to get myself under control. It's just lust, and I'm an adult and can control myself.

"Aunt Briar!" Clayton walks through the row of trees that separates my house from Ben's.

I stop for a second to see her walk toward him before I go into the house and up to her bedroom. I'm about to drop the box on the floor when the bottom falls out of it. Spiral notebooks, yearbooks, and I think keepsakes tumble to the floor.

I squat down and fix the bottom of the box, then pile everything back in the box. Then I see scribbling in girl's handwriting that says, Mrs. Emmett Noughton.

What the fuck?

I thumb through the notebook, and there's so much more. I love Emmett. Briar and Emmett 4 ever. The doodles and scribbles are all over the notebooks, with hearts around my name.

Briar Adams had a crush on me in high school. Which makes me wonder—how did she go from liking me to hating me?