Double Dare (23 page)

Abigail pffted. “You’re the one who has been missing from the group. Do you know how many times Sasha and I went to McNally’s the past two months since Tobias breezed into town?”

“Probably plenty, but it’s mainly to prepare for our business deal. On top of the Whitmen wedding coming up in two weeks. It’s not all Tobias.”

“But you admit it’s some part him.”

“You sound jealous,” Emma said.

“Damn right I am.” Abigail shrugged without an ounce of guilt. “We’ve been friends for a long time. I’ve gotten used to being able to drop by your house when I’m craving sweets or just company. You haven’t been home, not really. And now when I think you might be I can’t just waltz in for fear I’ll see Tobias’ man parts swinging. How can I eat in the kitchen wondering which surface you were serviced on?”

Emma’s mind swerved to Tobias’ cherry syrup comment. She shook the image out because it was distracting from the conversation. “We haven’t had sex in the kitchen.”

“Yet.”

She couldn’t argue against the possibility. “So, you’re saying the only way for us to be friends is that I have to stay single?”

Abigail let out an exasperated breath. “I’m saying what I feel isn’t rational and I don’t know how we go forward. I don’t know if you going this path means I’ll lose you. You’ve been telling me to shove it a whole lot more often.

Emma shifted closer to her friend and lifted her shoulder. Abigail stilled and then sighed, leaning against it.

They sat in that moment quietly. Emma glanced at her friend and smiled. “Maybe I should have been telling you a whole lot more before now.”

Abigail snorted. “He’s changing you.” Her shoulders slumped. “All great love does and quite frankly it makes me bitchy.”

Emma laughed. “Yes, it’s all about you.”

“I know, right?” Abigail lifted her head, a smile curving her lips. “Why are you my friend?”

“Because we’ve been friends since forever or at least it feels that way. You’d know exactly what to say to me that would put doubt in my mind about Tobias. You haven’t done that despite me falling for him makes you feel bitchy.”

“Not feel,” Abigail corrected and placed her head back on Emma’s shoulder. “I am.”

“You are.” She put her head on top of Abigail’s. “It’s not a great love. It’s infatuation.”

“And that’s how I know it will be for you. You told us everything about you and Sean.”

I wasn’t scared then
. She hadn’t had the sense then to know it could all end with a word. A change in mood. Too young and dumb to know opposites could repel as strongly as they attracted when one key fact came into the picture. “It’s infatuation.”

“Ok,” Abigail agreed with the single word, but her tone didn’t.

Emma ignored the insinuation. “And you call Sasha.”

“You still won’t tell me what’s going on.”

Emma sighed, exasperated but amused. “It’s not mine to tell.”

“You hold us together, you know that, right?”

And wasn’t that the problem? Despite all her bravado, Emma knew she could never be that with Tobias. He had his one great love and the woman had died in his arms. Were you lucky enough to get two, or more? She wanted to be the love that held him together. But, that would mean she’d be the one to tear him apart. That was a heavy burden. He’d barely survived it with Gabriella. He was still putting together the pieces. It was selfish to want him to go through it again. It was crazy for her to go through it again.

Abigail pulled back and narrowed her gaze. “What’s wrong?”

Emma blew out a breath and lied. “Nothing.”
Everything
.

*****

Tobias watched his arms in the mirror. His biceps flexed beneath the frayed edges of the sleeveless black shirt. In the reflection, Josh mounted the bicycle in the corner next to the treadmill.

“Crack in a cup, huh?”

Sweat dripped down his brother’s face, but still he grinned. “I can’t even look in your direction. Everything about you is an inappropriate thought.”

“Put in more resistance. You’re going too fast.”

Josh pushed a button and then leaned forward, his legs pumping slower. “When are we going to get a ring for her?”

Tobias’ grip loosened and he almost dropped the weight. They had to stop having these conversations in the weight room. “We’re dating.”

“Oh, ok. That’s good though, because Roger called today while you guys were on break.” Josh picked up the towel hanging over the handle bar and wiped his face. “She blushed like crazy.”

“She what?” He practically growled.

“I mean if you guys are just dating…” Josh shrugged. “No problem, right?”

He partially squatted like a skier about to attack a slope, positioning himself to start the reverse flies. “Stop trying to egg me on.”

But his brother didn’t grin, only shrugged again. Tobias’ face frowned back at him in the mirror. He and Emmaline had talked about being exclusive, but that didn’t mean they were a couple. In a sense they were still very much free agents. Then again Emma didn’t see him as a potential anything. They were lovers for now. Emma would want to get married, and she’d told him from the beginning he wasn’t her type. Sex wouldn’t suddenly make him the type she’d see herself with forever.

Did he want to be her forever? Her face came into his mind and he could see that gleam in her golden irises when she smiled at him. Well, that was something he wouldn’t mind seeing forever. And that same gleam turning into a steely glint when he pissed her off. And the fact she called him Couch or B and E with a straight face. What the hell did it mean that he couldn’t stop smiling or laughing whenever she was in the vicinity? It sure as hell didn’t mean she would be his forever. But did he want her to be? Did he want to be hers?

“You look like you’re about to have a brain embolism. I was just toying with you.”

“What?” Tobias said, not able to shake Emmaline from his mind. It was almost as if the scent of vanilla was imprinted on his senses. And the silk of her skin. Her laugh. Everything about her filled him and left him a little breathless.

“Shit.” He settled on the weight bench because his legs didn’t feel steady anymore.

“I was messing with you. Roger isn’t coming by. Are you ok?” Josh stopped cycling and looked like he was about to get up.

“We won’t get married. I’ve only known her two months. That’s crazy.”

“Pops knew Mom for a week.”

When Pops had that heart attack and suddenly died, the news had taken their mother. A crappy way to go, but they’d gone together. If anything happened to Emmaline…he forcibly put the thought out of his mind.

“Shut up,” he finally said to his brother.

“Tomorrow,” Josh ignored him, “there’re some big events going on. Will you guys need me all day?”

“What things?”

“I’m surprised Abigail didn’t tell you.”

His brain couldn’t move from one thought to next so Tobias asked again.

“Extreme sports events,” Josh said. “The Dean’s been having a heart attack about it all week.”

“How do you know?”

“Safety first has been the theme in every syllabus. All the big wigs will be there to make sure no one gets hurt. That means you’ll be busy all day. Only day I don’t have classes.”

“I’m sure Emmaline won’t mind,” Tobias said.

His brother shook his head. “Why do you call her that?”

“It’s the name she prefers.”

“It’s a stupid question to ask, but why doesn’t she make everyone call her that?”

“It’s who she is.” Tobias scoffed and stood up, getting into position again. “How do you know her so well?”

Josh shrugged. “Her friend was there last night. Looked like one of those touchy-feely moments, but it passed. Then I told her you needed her.” He shrugged again. “She was out of there.
That’s
who she is. She’s good for a crisis. To just be there, you know?”

Tobias kept to himself that the other underlining motivation was sex. “It is Emmaline.”

“Plus, you know, you guys kept circling each other. I was tired of watching it.”

Tobias snorted. “You see too much.”

“You don’t see enough.” His brother raised his brows in a challenging gesture.

“Fair,” Tobias agreed, but wondered what else he was missing. “Now shut up.”

Josh grinned.

*****

Around one in the afternoon the next day every customer had turned into a blur. Tobias and Emma had decided to stay open until every last crumb and coffee bean were gone. It was heading toward three and her arches were screaming in the loafers, and even Tobias had stopped trying to feel her up. A testament to exhaustion.

The crush of the crowd around them was getting to her. But, the special was Late Night and the coffee Tobias had given her the other morning. She kept trying to imagine the till at the end of the day to keep up her spirits, but that had worn off an hour ago.

So, Emma had to do a double take when she squinted down from the canteen order window. “Do my eyes deceive me now?”

Abigail’s hand was looped through Sasha’s arm. “We kissed and made up,” Abigail said. “And we realized that I’m in need of a dare.”

Emma perked up and didn’t begrudge the work she still had to do. “Can’t. I’ve have to stay here.”

The bodies behind her friends seemed to grow in size, and damn her preparedness. They had enough desserts to feed an army until they fell sick.

“What?” Tobias said on the other side. His eyes never left the coffee machine.

“Nothing,” she said and then of course the canteen door opened and Josh propped it wide with his back. The sight of him would have been a godsend two hours ago. Unfortunately he was there now.

“I don’t have time for this,” she told her friends.

“A tradition is a tradition.” Sasha held up straws Tobias had laid out for customers.

“I’m not doing a dare,” Emma protested, but knew she was on a sinking ship. Her friends had familiar expressions of determination. She tried another avenue. “She’s not even sad.”

“This tradition was your idea,” Abigail said.

“Then I should be able to veto it. Let’s go get drunk at the end of the day. I’m going to need a Scotch.”

A man behind them huffed. “Are they going to order?”

Both Sasha and Abigail turned to the man and he quickly shut up. They would have physically removed him if he spoke to Emma again in the same tone. They’d kissed and made up and were here letting her know. They could have called, but they knew she would have wanted to know face to face. God, she loved them.

And, hell
.

“Ok,” she finally said to them. “But later.”

“I’ll cover you,” Josh said.

“And I need a break too.” Tobias’ tone sounded guarded.

Emma felt surrounded by Merchant men, friends and traditions. Her heart lurched, right on the edge of something she didn’t need but wanted. Desperately. Happiness, unadulterated and unbidden filled her. This could be her family. Not by blood, but no less family. She didn’t want this feeling to change, ever.

She fought back the smile, reached down through the window taking a straw. “Oh, come on!” Right off the bat she ended up with the short stick.

Abigail cackled. “This is going to be classic.”

Sasha snorted out a laugh. “It so is.”

“What?” All the humor had left Tobias’ gaze.

She frowned at him, but said to Josh, “Come on in. It’s crazy out there, but I shouldn’t be long.”

“We’ll put up a Closed sign,” Tobias said.

Finally, she took him in, the tone and demeanor. She moved to him, placed a hand on the side of his cheek. “You want to see the dare?”

“Yeah.”

Josh wore the same strange expression on his face. “Yeah, I want to see it too.”

Emma went back to the window. “Ha, you can’t make me get naked. The Merchant men are coming.”

Both Abigail and Sasha grinned at her, and Emma’s stomach dropped. They looked way too satisfied. “That’s ok,” Abigail said.

“Oh, hell,” she muttered but said loudly, “Sorry! We’re closing down for a lunch hour.” There were a couple of curses and groans and only a few people left, most didn’t move out of the line. With everyone’s help, it didn’t take long to lock up.

Outside of driving up to the fountain and stocking the canteen, Emma hadn’t walked around the campus. The university held an eclectic crowd of students. Some looked criminally young while others looked like they’d lived there most of their adult life. The Mohawks balanced the amount of tweed jackets. At the moment, a good portion gathered on the east side of the campus in an empty field that always held the college’s events.

“I have got to pay attention to what you tell me, Abigail.” Fear pooled like bile in Emma’s stomach. What felt like over night a platform reached to the sky. And because she knew Sasha and Abigail, Emma knew that was her fate. “I’m going to make you guys pay,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Skate boarding is an extreme sport,” Josh offered.

“This is insane,” Tobias said.

Her friends just grinned like evil stepsisters. Emma turned to them. “Let’s look at this logically.”

“Oh, and the bargaining starts.” Sasha shook her head.

Students, and probably half the town by now, milled around them as Emma looked at someone crashing down to earth only to be jerked up by a man-sized rubber band just before going splat. The thought that she would be doing it too scared her beyond words.

And, because she’d never acknowledged that side of her until now, it thrilled her. Yeah, she did these things for her friends, but not even loyalty could make her do something deep down inside she didn’t want to do. She laughed and embraced her friends in a hug. Both women felt familiar and everything she thought of as home.

“I’d be a stick in the mud without you guys. I love you both.”

“You’re not going to die.” Worry filled Abigail’s voice. “I talked to the guy earlier. It’s safe. There’s always a risk, but, hell, that’s deciding to leave the house, too.”

She let them go and kept walking. “I don’t think I’m going to die,” Emma said. “This will be fun.”

“Are you ok?” Sasha asked. “You’re not going to try to talk your way out of this?”

“To keep up tradition, but you guys know I’m going to do it.”