Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Emmett

W e walk into The Hidden Cave, and since it's a nice night, we find everyone hanging out on the outside patio. There's a stage for live bands, rows of picnic tables, and the bar is an old silo they cut down and put a bar top on, then added a roof. There are no waitresses going to the picnic tables. It's a come-and-get-it place, which is perfect for the situation we're in tonight.

My hand itches to grab Briar's hand, but I slide it into my jeans pocket instead. She wouldn't be happy to draw attention to the fact that we've become friends and become more affectionate with one another. If we pass one another in the kitchen, usually a hand touches a shoulder or a back to let the other person know we're passing behind them. The other night, she fell asleep on me while watching some reality television show she said she loves. I should've woken her up or propped a pillow under her head, but instead I let her lie on my shoulder.

"Briar!" Gillian raises her hand and beelines it over to us. She wraps her arms around her sister. She pulls away and studies her. "Have you been dodging me?"

"Hey, Gilly Bean," I say to distract her, but she gives me a fleeting glance and concentrates back on Briar.

"No, I've just been busy," Briar says.

Gillian looks at her skeptically, grabs her hand, and drags her over to the girls' table.

"Good to see you, Gilly Bean. Chat later? Okay." I wave my hand at her back.

Briar shoots me a pleading look over her shoulder.

"I'll get you a drink. Margarita?" I say loudly enough for everyone to hear me.

Briar smiles, but it's not the one I'm used to seeing lately. It's forced and etched with worry.

I head over to the bar. "Hey, Tammy," I say to the blonde bartender as she places a napkin down for me.

I smack Melvin, the owner's son, who has a designated stool right next to the outdoor version of The Canary Wall, Willowbrook's biggest gossip board. He says he likes the spot, but I think it's to make sure no one pulls the notecards off the board if the gossip is about them. There's only one person who Melvin didn't say anything to once, and that was Jude.

I let Tammy know I'm going to chat with Melvin for a second and that she can go on and help another customer.

"Emmett, where the hell have you been lately?" Melvin asks, with good reason.

The Hidden Cave was my regular Saturday night place until Briar moved in. I came a few times after she moved in, but I started to feel weird leaving her on the couch to go find pussy.

"Busy. Jude's teaching me the lay of the land."

He nods and sips his beer. The man has the tolerance of a bull.

"Do you mind if I make myself a drink?" I ask, not sure what he'll say. But Tammy is close to Gillian, and if I order a non-alcoholic drink for Briar, she might casually mention something to Gillian. Nothing is safe in our small town.

"Why you wanna make your own?"

I lean in close to his ear, looking around the space. "I'm trying to impress someone, and she has a favorite drink that I'm trying to replicate for her. You know, it'll help me score some points." I pull back, and Melvin laughs.

"You found someone you want to put effort into impressing?"

His humor is warranted. I've never really cared that much about any of the girls I've either hooked up with or dated.

Now that I think about it, I'm doing so much for Briar, and I'm not getting anything in return. I'm not even expecting or really hoping for anything, given the situation she's in.

Shit, that's a realization I hadn't had before.

"Have at it." Melvin motions toward the bar. "Tammy, Emmett's coming back."

"Good, he can help me with his obnoxious cousins." She doesn't seem bothered, which is good.

"Thanks, man." I pat Melvin on the back and round the edge of the bar.

Usually, I'm boisterous, asking who needs a drink, but I need to do this on the sly. My eyes are trained on Gillian and my cousins to make sure no one sees me. Thanks to the internet, I found a recipe for a Margarita Mocktail and memorized it while waiting for Briar to get ready.

Do not think about what happened before you came here.

I keep the glass low, pouring juices and sparkling water into a margarita glass. I put salt around the rim and add a lime. Pretty damn good if you ask me.

Grabbing myself a beer, I nod a thanks to Melvin and step out from behind the bar.

"Already done?" Tammy asks, eyeing my drinks. She was way too slammed to have noticed how I made the drink.

"Don't worry, I'll be back." I wink, and she rolls her eyes.

My female cousins and their friends sit at a picnic table while all the guys sit at a high table off to the side. I haven't really talked to Jude or Ben since our fight. I take Jude's instruction when he gives it, and I'm thankful he's a quiet guy who doesn't like discussing feelings. So I don't expect him to actually apologize or talk to me about what went down. We'll do what we mostly always do—brush it under the rug and move on.

I set the drink in front of Briar, and immediately all my cousins' attention falls on me.

"You got Briar a drink?" Lottie asks.

"Jealous?" I ask.

"That's gross. I'm your cousin. Never say that again." Lottie sips her usual frozen drink from the machines The Hidden Cave invested in a couple of years ago.

"I guess if my name was Brooks, it'd be a different story."

Her jaw twists, and she narrows her eyes. "Go hang with the boys." She shoos me with her hand.

"You sure? Brooks is over there. Should I ask him if he has his handcuffs on him?"

"He's like a brother to me." Lottie tries to blow it off, but I'm certain there's something between those two. The question is whether they've figured it out yet or not.

Gillian disregards me and turns to Briar. "So, is it horrible living with him?"

Briar looks up at me with an expression of save me, but the rest of the table looks at me like when are you going to fucking leave. I'm tempted to sit my ass down just to annoy them further.

"Thanks for the drink," Briar says.

Gillian's head rears back, staring at Briar as if she had said she was pregnant. I get Briar's terror in telling her sister now.

"Why are you being so nice to him?" Romy asks.

"Catch you guys later. Let me know when you want to go home," I say on purpose to piss Gillian off, then I go to the guys' table with my beer. I sit beside Danson, and my brothers eye me while they're talking to Jensen and Brooks.

"You're late," Danson says to me.

Bennett and I are the same age, so we've always been close. "Surprised to see you out."

"Grandma and Grandpa for the win," he says and shrugs. "It's been a long time since Wren has spent the night with them, and she's in this stage of wanting to be around women."

"I see that playing out with Briar." I take a pull from my beer.

"Yeah, you're not the only one who loves her. Wren talks about her nonstop." He picks at the label of his beer.

"Love? You're delusional." I sip my beer, my gaze straying over to Briar.

She's listening to Scarlett animatedly talk with her hands. I watch her sip her margarita, and she smiles, looking at it and twirling the straw before taking another sip. She searches me out, and I raise my beer in the air when we make eye contact. The look of appreciation on her face says it all, and if it doesn't prick at my heart a little… fuck.

"Am I really delusional?" My attention turns back to Danson, and he laughs. "Shit, man, you're invested."

I could tell Danson about Briar being pregnant, and he wouldn't tell anyone. He keeps secrets the best out of all my cousins, but it would feel like a betrayal to Briar, so I keep it to myself.

"I think she masturbated to me earlier," I say quietly, still trying to wrap my head around it. I swear, when I knocked, I heard her moan and say my name.

"Are you eavesdropping on the poor woman?"

We both stare toward the dance floor. The live country band is pretty good.

"No, I just heard it when I went to tell her I was ready to go."

"How do you know it wasn't me she was thinking of?" He laughs and takes another pull of his beer, eyeing me over the bottle.

"She said God, and that obviously implies me." I shake my head. "She said my name, but the turnaround is odd since she used to hate me." Then I realize I should ask Danson about her in high school. "Hey, do you remember her from high school?"

"Yeah. She's Gillian's sister, and I remember when Gillian brought her to family stuff, even after Ben left for Clemson."

I scour my memory. "I don't."

"Because you were probably in the barn with whoever was willing."

He's right. In high school, I was a little bit of a man-whore, if I'm honest. I never had a girlfriend and swore against them after I saw what happened to Ben and Gillian when he left for college. Girls liked me, and I took full advantage of it. So during parties at the ranch, I'd always take girls to the barn and make out.

"What do you remember about her?" I ask.

His gaze travels to Briar. "She didn't look how she does now; she's done a one-eighty. I remember her having glasses and braces, and she'd never talk to anyone." He tips his beer in her direction. "She didn't have the confidence she has now. But isn't that the majority of people in high school, with the exception of you?" He twirls the bottle in his hands.

I scour the area for any ears. The other four are at the bar getting refills for everyone now, so I lean in close to Danson. "I have this feeling…"

He laughs but tries to sober up when he sees my face, failing miserably. "Feeling?"

"Yeah, it's weird. I like her living with me. I like having her at my house. I like coming home to her."

His laugh grows louder, garnering the attention of the girls' table.

"Stop laughing. I don't know what to do, and since I heard her coming to imaginings of me?—"

"Allegedly," he clarifies.

"I assure you she wasn't thinking of your limp dick." I scowl at him.

"Everyone loves a single dad." He waggles his eyebrows as he sips his beer.

"Whatever. Anyway, what am I supposed to do? Gillian will castrate me." Just the thought of her finding out I touched Briar makes me want to cover my junk.

He pats me on the back. "I know this is a foreign feeling for you, but I say trust it and go with it."

"Go with it?"

He doesn't know the whole story, and I'm sure he'd change his opinion if he knew she's carrying another man's baby. And I know he'd probably be right, but I just can't seem to stop myself from wanting to be involved.

"It's all over your face. Maybe that's why Gillian is so worried. She probably sees it, too."

"What are you talking about? No one sees anything."

He swivels to face me directly, no longer giving me an excuse to look away from him. "You just went behind the bar to make her a drink. She had a place to stay with the girls, but you chose to move her in with you. You're never around anymore except for breakfast. I was down at the barn the other day with Wren to get her on Biscuits, and you weren't there."

My forehead wrinkles. "I was done for the day."

"You used to always work on your reining with Brutus after hours." His eyebrows raise. "I've seen you with her so many times during breakfast, and you're pretty transparent. My mom sees it too."

"You talked to Aunt Darla about it?" Traitor.

He chuckles. "No, but I'm gonna give you some advice from a guy who lost his entire world the same day his heart was so full he thought it was going to burst."

"Not the widow shit again."

Danson is always trying to lecture me about time, or lack of it. I feel horrible for what he went through. Just hours after Wren was born, Kristie died. But we're different people.

"You're not guaranteed time." He raises his hand when I try to interrupt. "I'm just saying that if you like her, you'll regret not acting on it. This is the first woman I've ever seen you show any real interest in. Explore it and see what comes of it because if she is the one, you're gonna wish you'd acted sooner. Trust me."

"But—" There's a whole list of reasons why this is a bad idea.

"There will always be reasons not to pursue someone, but if you think this feeling you have is gonna just vanish one day when you wake up, I hate to break it to you, it's not."

I sip my beer, and my gaze falls to Briar's table again.

Damn Danson, I hate when he's right. She is all I think about, all I want. She's something I shouldn't have for more than one reason. The dude ranch, for one. She doesn't need someone like me, someone who has never been in a relationship. Someone who doesn't know how to be in a relationship. What if I fuck it up? This is probably already going to be one of the hardest times of her life. But Danson's right—this need I have for her is something I've never felt for anyone else, and it's only growing by the day.

"As long as you treat her right, I don't think Gillian will be opposed once she sees that you're serious," Danson says.

Gillian turns to me, her eyes narrowing when she sees me looking at Briar.

When did I become the guy who doesn't go after what he wants? It's time I find him again. So I ditch the beer and slide around the table.

"I didn't mean right now," Danson says, but I shake my head.

Standing behind Briar in front of all my cousins, I squat down. "Want to dance?"

Gillian is listening to me, but Laurel is talking about some customers at the bakery.

Briar surprises me and swivels around at the picnic table, sliding her hand in mine. "Sure."

"Um?" Gillian says.

"It's just a dance," I tell her, leading Briar to the dance floor.

"Ben, we're dancing!" Gillian shouts to the guys' table.

I chuckle, pulling Briar into my body and wrapping my one arm around her waist.

I have no idea where this is going, but I do know that this has to go differently than I've ever done things before.