Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

C offees in hand, Wyatt and I head down to our girl's cabin.

Waking up at the crack of dawn and doing chores has been something I've done as long as I could remember. It's just been a part of who I am. I enjoy my life here, I love what we do.

But since Emma has been here, I find myself excited to wake up, knowing I get to see her gorgeous face. Work seems to go by a bit quicker with her at our side. And mostly I just enjoy seeing her do what we do. She doesn't complain and takes everything in stride.

It's fucking sexy.

Stepping up to the door, Wyatt knocks. "Wake up, sexy!" he calls out with a chuckle.

Grinning, I shake my head. "Who knew we would resort to being love sick fools."

"I mean, I don't hate it." He grins.

"Neither to I."

When Emma doesn't answer, we say fuck it and let ourselves in like we've done many times before.

"Hope you're decent!" I call as we walk in. "Or not. I'd rather the not option."

My brows furrow when we're met with silence. My gaze meets my brother's, his face a mirror of mine.

"Emma?" We walk into the cabin.

When we step into the bedroom, my heart sinks.

There's no response. I head into the bathroom, checking to see if she's in the shower but nothing.

"Weston," my brother calls out.

I find him in the bedroom, sitting on the end of the bed. There's a piece of paper in his hands and a distraught look on his face.

"What's that?" I ask carefully, knowing I'm not going to like the answer.

He looks up at me with heavy eyes. "She's gone."

"What?" I growl.

"She left this morning." He hands over the note. I snatch it from his hand and read every word carefully.

By the time I'm done, my hands are shaking. I feel like someone shoved their fucking hand into my chest and ripped out my heart.

"She just fucking left." My voice feels hollow, my head swimming with too many damn emotions. My pulse quickens, my breathing deep and labored as hurt and anger fill me. "She didn't even say goodbye!"

With a roar of fury, I swipe my arm across the dresser, sending the cups of coffee flying.

"Weston!" my brother shouts through the ringing of my ears. "Stop it."

Swinging my narrowed eyes over too, I get in his face. "She fucking left us, Wyatt! Aren't you fucking pissed?"

"Of course I am." His nostrils flare. "But you read her letter. She left for our little sister, so she didn't get charges pressed against her. She didn't leave because she didn't want us, she said she cared about us deeply. She left because she thought it was the best option for everyone. That has to make up for something…right?"

"She's wrong." My shoulders deflate, anger leaving me, replaced with this crippling feeling of hopelessness. "We could have helped her. She should have let us talk to her."

Grabbing my phone, I bring up her name.

"What are you doing?"

Pressing the contact, I hit the call button and bring the phone up to my ear. "I'm calling her. She needs to know we will work through this. Hadley won't care about the charges, not if it means Emma has to go home. And with that fucking piece of shit!"

The phone doesn't even ring before it goes to voicemail.

"Shit," I hiss, ending the call and trying again. Same results. I wait until it allows me to leave a message.

"Red, it's Weston. Baby, don't do this. Don't leave like this. Get your sexy ass back here and let's talk about this. We can work through anything, okay, just, fuck–" I run a hand through my hair, grabbing it at the roots and tugging. "Just come home."

Hanging up the phone, I storm toward the front door.

"Where are you going?" Wyatt calls out after me.

"To get our woman. She can't have been gone long. If we go now, we can get to the airport before she leaves."

I'm halfway to the truck when Wyatt grabs my arm, pulling me to a stop. He shoves his phone in my face.

"The flight left already. That's probably why she's not answering. It's a short flight. When she lands, we can call again. We can tell her she shouldn't have left. You're right, we could have worked this out. But there's nothing we can do about this now. All we can do is wait."

"How are you not more fucking pissed?" I seethe.

"Oh, I'm pissed, so damn pissed. Not at her, though. She's doing what she thinks is right and I fucking love her for it. I just wish she would have let us help."

"Hadley is going to hate herself if she finds out Emma left to protect her," I sigh heavily, leaning against the truck.

"I know." Wyatt takes the position next to me.

"We can't lose her, Wyatt. I love her, so fucking much it hurts. I don't care that it's only been two weeks. My heart and soul know she's the one."

He gives me a sad look. "I feel exactly the same, brother. She's it for me. I can see myself spending the rest of my life with her. Round and pregnant with our babies running around the ranch. We will get her back. She cares about us, Weston. We'll make her see reason."

"What if we can't? What if she gets back to the life before she met us and realizes that this was all just a faze, and time away from home."

"You can't fake the things she felt, Weston. You could see it in her eyes. This place felt like home. It was in the way she talked, smiled and acted."

"I hope so." I tip my head back to look up at the sky. "I fucking hope so."

Needing a distraction, I do my best to do my chores. My head is a mess, and I'm fucking everything up. I don't have the patience for shit.

"Weston, what the hell has gotten into you?" my dad asks as I toss a bag of feed in anger. I'm vibrating, while on my hands and knees aggressively trying to clean it up.

"She left," I grind out.

"Who left?"

I shoot him a glare over my shoulder. "Emma," I snap and get to my feet. "She left a letter in her cabin and took off back home."

His face softens; I fucking hate that pitying look. "I told you this could happen. She comes from a completely different life."

"Don't fucking talk to me like that." I shake my head. "She didn't leave because she didn't want us, she left to protect Hads. She cares so damn much about this family, about us, that she's willing to go back to that soul sucking life. I just wish she would have talked this out with us, we could have found another way."

"You really love her, don't you?"

"More than anything," I say with all my heart. "Wyatt too. She's it for us, Dad. We don't see ourselves with anyone else."

"I can see that." He nods his head in understanding. "When the heart knows what it wants, it knows. Was the same way with your mama." He chuckles. "I know if she was here, she would tell you not to give up. To give Emma some time but also to fight for her."

"How do we do that? Just hop on a damn plane? Something tells me if we did, that would cause more damage than good."

"I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. But I'd say wait. Call her when you can, talk to her. Let her know your feelings, then let her make the choice. Don't force it, Weston, it will only drive her away. Now, take the rest of the day off because clearly, you're useless right now." He tosses his hand to the mess on the ground.

"Sorry," I mutter.

"Get." He swats at me with his hat.

I don't want to take the day off because it means sitting around twiddling my thumbs, driving myself mad.

The goats bleat at me as I pass their pen. Like a love sick fool, I think of her and how she would make the sound back, both Wyatt and I laughing at how silly and cute she was.

And now I'm even more depressed, awesome.

I manage to keep myself busy by watching Josie so Sophia and Marshall can have a lunch date together.

The look Sophia gave me when I told her Emma was gone sucked. She looked so damn sad, but also sad for me. She even started tearing up.

When Dad's done with his work for the day, he grabs Josie and sits in his chair.

"Can she have a Papa sleepover tonight, Dad?" Marshall asks.

"You two just had a lunch date. Now where are you going?" I ask my brother and his wife.

"Copper Kitten. Wanna come?" Sophia asks.

Some drinks could distract me seeing how, even though Emma's plane landed hours ago, her phone still goes to voicemail. I don't bother leaving another one, because I'd just tell her the same thing. That I miss her, I need her to come back.

"Yeah, you know what, some drinks would be good."

"Ah, maybe that's not such a good idea after all," Sophia says hesitantly.

"Why not?" I frown.

"Well, you're gonna get drunk, right?"

"Yeah, so? Better than being sober and thinking about Emma."

"You do stupid things when you're drunk," she points out.

My frown deepens. "What, you think I'm gonna cheat on her or something?"

Not that it would be cheating seeing how we've never made anything official. We never even talked as if that was a possibility. Still, in my heart, Emma is my girl. So to me, it would be cheating. And I'd never do that.

"It's not that." She looks to her husband for help.

"I'll keep an eye on him, Little Felon."

"I don't need to be watched. Fuck it, I'll just go myself." I shove past them and head for my truck, a new wave of anger filling me.

Four hours later, I'm drunk as hell. I lost count how many drinks I've had. My vision is blurry, my speech is slurred and my brother has been treating me like a damn toddler.

Worst of all, drinking has done nothing to help me forget about Emma, even temporarily. If anything, it's only gotten worse.

"Hey, Weston." A voice sounds next to me.

Squinting, I look over to see a girl sitting next to me at the bar. It's Amy… or Lisa… Maybe it's Stacy. Oh well, it doesn't matter.

I don't respond and look down at my drink. Empty.

"Can I get another?" I slur my words.

"Fuck no." The bartender laughs. "Sorry, Wilder, you're cut-off."

"Well fuck you." I pout, but I don't argue. Can't afford to get kicked out of the only bar. I'll sober up and drink some more.

"You can have my drink, sugar," the girl I can't remember her name says, sliding her drink along the bar top.

"No thanks." I push it back over to her.

"Oh, come on," she says in a pouty tone. "You look sad. Let me cheer you up."

Her hand brushes down my arm, and my whole body stiffens.

My eyes snap to where she's touching me and I pick her hand off like it's a bug and let it drop.

She frowns.

"I said, no thanks."

"You're no fun," she huffs. "Where's your brother?"

I let out a humorless laugh. "Don't know, but you wouldn't have any better luck. You're not her, you will never be her. You don't stand a chance."

Hurt flicks across her face and then I feel the sting of her hand as it slaps me across my face.

"You don't have to be so damn rude!" she snaps before turning around and walking over to a group of guys.

Rubbing at my jaw, I let out a huff, not even caring.

"Damn, brother, harsh much?" Hadley sits next to me, giving me a pitying look.

"What is everyone with that damn face?" I mutter.

"You're hurting."

"No shit," I snort.

"You're not going about it the right way, dude," she sighs, shaking her head. "Emma would scold your ass for getting lost in a bottle."

"Emma isn't here now, is she? She's not answering my calls. She's cut us out of her life."

"You're being dramatic," Hadley frowns. "She's not going to be gone forever, I know it."

"Yeah? And what's going to tear her away from her rich, lavish life?" I grumble sourly.

"Love." She shrugs. "Your love and hers. I might be single as fuck, but I know love when I see it. She looks at you and Wyatt like the sun shines out of your asses. Whatever she feels like she needs to take care of, I know she will come back when she's had some time to think."

"What makes you so damn sure?"

"Because we're awesome, duh." Hadley rolls her eyes with a grin. "And, she loves me. We're besties. She can't stay away from me, she would die."

"Now who's the dramatic one." I give her a blank look.

She sighs. "All I'm saying is, don't give up hope."

"I love her." I put my forehead on the bar top. "I'm crazy about her. I've never loved any woman, Hads. She's it. For me, for Wyatt."

"I know," she says.

"Time?" I ask, rolling my forehead to the side to look at her.

She nods. "Time."

"I hope you're right." I sigh heavily, exhaustion starting to take over.

I really hope she's right.