But maybe tonight really wasn’t the best night for it. Maybe we should have that conversation when I was in a better headspace.
I shook my head at my own frustrations and then put the truck into gear. I touched the accelerator and hurried down the road. I was almost out of the neighborhood when my eyes cut to the car that was passing me—a black Mercedes.
There was nothing special about it. Nothing to draw my eye at all. It was a plain, standard black Mercedes. It should have been completely unidentifiable. Any number of people could have the same car in this neighborhood where wealth was on display.
But my instincts told me it didn’t belong to just anyone.
My instincts told me that it belonged to me.
I waited until the car passed me before making my decision. I did a U-turn in the middle of the street and slowly drove back to Emery’s house. When I turned onto her street, I cut my lights and parked two houses down the street. My stomach cramped, and tension bottled in my shoulders. My hands were white on the steering wheel. Of all the scenarios I had concocted in my head, this had never been one of them.
The Mercedes was parked at Emery’s house. The Mercedes that Landon had driven off in earlier that day. He always had access to my cars when he was in town. I’d never cared what he drove or when. Getting a rental when I had a garage full of cars seemed ridiculous. Now, I couldn’t believe that he was using my car to come here.
The passenger door opened. My gaze darted to it in surprise. Then, Emery stepped out, and my hands shook in disbelief.
Emery had been with Landon all night?
Kimber had said she was with Heidi. But it was right in front of my face. Landon was stepping out of the driver’s side. He sprinted around to Emery’s side and wrapped an arm around her waist. She turned her body into his and held on to his shoulder.
I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn’t think I could watch any more of this. If I had thought half-hearted that Landon still had feelings for Emery before, it was now confirmed. He’d run out on me to go see my girlfriend. And here they were, together.
They walked arm in arm up to the front door.
As much as I wanted to look away, I couldn’t seem to. Landon definitely still had feelings for Emery. And the way Emery was acting—leaning against him, holding on to him, practically gluing herself to his body—showed that not everything was gone from her either.
Emery rested back against the brick wall next to the door that I had walked out of only minutes before. She was staring up at Landon’s face, and I didn’t even need to hear what they were saying. The picture was clear enough to me.
I put the truck into drive and zoomed away from the sight before me. I couldn’t watch any more.
I’d thought that there was nothing that would keep me from Emery.
But I would not compete with Landon.
Not in this lifetime.
Not in any lifetime.
Twenty-Five
Emery
My back was against the brick wall to Kimber’s place, and my head felt like I’d blown up a balloon inside it. Landon was hovering. Little hoverer. But I should be thankful because I wouldn’t have made it to the front door without his help.
Somehow, I’d gone from a three-drink max to, like, ten drinks. I didn’t even know how it had happened. At one point, I had been standing, and the next, I had proclaimed to the bar that I was definitely not drunk before suddenly wanting to make out with Heidi. Sure signs that I was a drunky-drunk face.
“Are you going to be okay? You look like you might throw up,” Landon said.
“Just go check on Heidi. If she vomits in that Mercedes, Jensen is going to be sooooo pissed.”
Landon grinned and shook his head. “Man, you’re so fucked up.”
“This is all. Your. Fault,” I said, punctuating each word with a smack to his chest. It might have been some stupid girlie hit, but I felt fierce while doing it.
“Where is your key? Do you still not carry a purse?”
“As if the key would magically appear in a purse,” I said, patting down my pockets in a half-assed effort. “It’d be full of other junk I didn’t need. I’d never find it.”
“You can’t find it now, and it’s in your pocket.”
“Judgy McJudgerson doesn’t find pockets acceptable. You only have pockets,” I slurred, poking at his pocket and giggling.
“Do not make me look through your pockets for you,” Landon said with a sigh. “God, if my wife saw me right now.”
“Her head would explode,” I crooned. Then, I made the boom sound for an explosion.
“Something like that,” he conceded. “So, hurry up, so I can get home and incur her wrath.”
I giggled again and then finally dug out the missing key.