Emmerson's Heart (9 page)

Still, I had to be careful in what I did. I couldn’t go up to the door and demand answers from her dad. This could really just be an accident. Maybe she got in a fight with someone, which was possible with the way people teased and picked on her. And there wasn’t anything else telling me this was more. Maybe her dad wasn’t even home. Maybe she left the television on and locked herself out.

No, she was smarter than that. Hell, she was smarter than me at a few things. I watched her help Rob with a few of his assignments without batting an eye. Something else was going on. This couldn’t just be an accident, but I was hoping it was. To think
that someone was hurting her….She was a damn good girl. Very good.

Looking over at my brother’s classmate, I swallowed hard
as my stomach began clenching even tighter. Turning on the dome light, my chest tightened as I saw something on her neck. Moving her hair to the side, I gasped when I had seen the large man-sized purple bruise. My eyes caught something on my sleeve, the sleeve that her back rested against. There was something there. Something chunky….something…red? What would she have gotten into that was red and chunky?

Looking down at the front of my sweater, there was more. A lot more. Hell, there was red all over. Could it be blood? Reaching over, I tugged the back of her shirt up seeing
, nothing but large and long lacerations. Her whole back was just covered with them. The blood was so thick over her back that I couldn’t even see any skin. Blood. It was all blood and most of it was still chunky. Hell!

Cursing, I put the truck in drive and went straight home as fast as I could. I knew there was something strange with her.
Pulling right up to the house, I jumped out, carefully picked her out of the seat, and practically busted through the kitchen door. “Mom! Mom, I need you!”

The living room light flipped on and she had come out tugging her robe on with my dad hopping after her. Hell, since he had broken his damn leg, he wasn’t able to move around much. Not without hopping or his crutches. “What’s wrong?”

“I found her out-freaking-side!” Nudging the chair out from under the table, I felt myself shaking so bad that I was scared I was going to drop her. Hell, what kind of pain was I inflicting on her just by holding her?

“Just calm down….” My dad cleared his throat as he hopped over to the table for support. He hated when we swore. There was no reason to use that type of language and normally, I really watched what I said, but tonight was something I never imagined I would ever see. 

“She’s hurt, Mom. She’s hurt really bad.” Cursing, I braced her on the chair seeing Will’s tired face. His dark hair was messed and his pajama pants were hanging low on his hips. There was no way that he should be there witnessing this at all. “Get your ass back to your room!”

“Where is…”
Carefully, my mom lifted the back of her shirt and gasped. Her eyes glassed over with tears as she looked back at my dad’s tense face. His jaw was so tight, on the verge of breaking as his eyes drifted over her.

“Get her to the bathroom in our room. Then, get the first aid kit and that wrap for my leg.” His growl came out as he turned to hop out of the way.

“Should I take her to the city? I found her outside!”

“No, they will call her dad. Just take her to the bathroom.” Fist pounding the table, he glared at her, at Emmerson. This wasn’t her fault. This was ours. We should have seen this was happening. And this, by just what I saw, wasn’t just
a one-time incidence. This was someone that beat the shit out of this girl and left her outside to freeze to death.

“Be careful with her. She’s thawing out and she will be hurting soon.” My mom put the shirt back down and brushed the tears off her cheek. “I will be right in there.”

Picking her back up, I held her like a little kid feeing just how starved she was. God, for her age she was so thin and I could feel her damn bones. Tears hit my eyes, tears of anger and hatred for her father, for someone that could do that to her. She was a good kid. Being at our place, she had actually started to become happy and eating more. Then Thanksgiving had to hit. I should have checked on her. I should have when Will said that she hadn’t been in school all week.

Taking her into my parents’ bedroom, I went straight to the bathroom and put her down on the counter
, holding her up and trying not to inflict any more pain on her.

“Paul?” Her raspy, pain filled voice came out
and shattered my heart. “Paul, it hurts.”

“You’re going to be just fine.”

“I’m dying this time, aren’t I?” Her face pressed into my chest as her body was still limp. I imagine if she even tried moving, the pain would knock her out now that she was unthawing. Maybe I should be thankful it was as cold as it was. If this had been summer, she probably would have bled to death before I found her. 

Clenching my fists, I hissed through my teeth. This time? This freaking time? What kind of monster was her dad? What kind
of monsters were we for not seeing this was happening to her? “You’re here with us. Mom’s going to make it better.”

A loud cry came from her as she slumped forward. Jumping, I caught her trying not to touch her back. God, I had seen a small portion of that raw back, but with what my mom was able to see, I knew that it was more than that.

“Help me get her clothes off and I will get her in the tub. Will’s getting the first aid kit from the barn and Rob’s getting the one from your place. We are going to need everything.” Her voice cracked as she brushed the hair back from Emmerson’s face. “Oh, Honey. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“He….he….please, I don’t want to go back there. Please, don’t make me go back.” Her cries had come so loud and uncontrollably, my stomach knotted again. Looking over at my
dad, his face turned red with anger. I had never seen him that angry before, even in his most heated argument with our neighbor, Mr. Andrews.

“Alright. We need to get this clothing off so I can see how bad she is.” Turning the tub water on,
Mom had checked it a few times before she had plugged it and let out a little sigh. “We will get her in the tub and wash her up. It’s only just warm enough, but you will have to ease her in there slowly. We don’t want to shock her.”

“You mind your damn eyes, too!” The deep voice drifted through the air from my dad.

“She’s hurt, Dad!” Taking her off the counter, I put my hands on her hips and let my mom peel the thick crusted cotton cloth off her back and her upper body.

“Enough! Just shut the hell up, both of you!” The more that my mom had revealed, the more anger settled into her eyes. “Try not to touch her back. I’m going to have you lift her up so that I can get her pants off. I will tell you when because it is going to….hurt her.”

“Emmerson, just rest against me, okay?”

“Please don’t make me go back there. I will do anything to stay here. I can work outside…”
Her cries had softened as her body fell against my chest. “I can stay here and not….go to school….and please….” The cry wailed out of her as she tried to move. Falling back to me, she just trembled from the pain and the cold I had brought her in from.

“Like hell you are going back there!” Hopping in, my dad’s eyes glazed over with the fire that was raging behind them. “You are not going anywhere!”

My heart jumped hard as I looked at him. This was a side of him that I had never seen and I was proud that he was my dad. Damn proud.

The shirt was tossed into the garbage and my mom knelt by her legs. “Okay, Paul. Easy and do not touch her back. Keep your arms under hers and just lift straight up.”

Tucking my arms under hers, I started to lift up when the loud cry ripped through her. Pressing my cheek to hers, I felt her just shaking like nothing I had felt before. God, how it must have hurt. I was hurting her so much because of this. If I could take it all away from her, I would in a heartbeat. This….this was disgusting—that a father could do this to his own daughter. And I had to be the one to inflict more pain on her to help her. “I am so sorry, Emmy. Just hang on.”

“For crissakes.” The breath had come out of my mom as the tears had rolled faster. “There’s no way that she’s going to be able to go to school for a while.”

“It hurts. It hurts.” Emmy cried softly, making the tears come to my eyes.

“Just hang in there. Almost done.” My chest hurt, my body hurt. Seeing this really made me appreciate my family more and more. Guilt pooled in my stomach over not going to check on her. I should have seen something more. I should have known this was happening.

“Okay. Put her down.” Taking the pants, she tossed them into the garbage also. “Jackson, go and get my red soft pajamas please. They should be in my top drawer.” Her eyes shifted up to me with the pain deep in them. “Okay, we need to get her cleaned up. Try to not let her sit on her butt. That’s just….” Her voice cracked a little as more tears slid out of her eyes. “That’s just as bad.”

It had taken a while to get her in the tub, but we did. The pain that we were inflicting on her had my mom crying and my dad fire red with each cry. God, she was bruised, cut, had scars, and it was just purely sickening to see her like
that. If my parents had known sooner, they would have stepped right in to make sure that this never happened to her again.

Mom had washed her up, dressed her wounds, and dressed her into the soft, warm fleece pajamas. Taking her to the spare room across the hall, I put her in the bed and covered her up. Leaving my mom to her for a little bit, I went out to the living room
while raking my fingers through my hair. If I hadn’t checked out what that was that I had seen….If I hadn’t left the bar at that time….If I hadn’t decided to go to town, she would have frozen to death. A fourteen year old girl was left outside after getting severely beaten. I couldn’t wait until I found her father.

“She’s sleeping. And you should get some
rest, too.” My mom came out of the room with the tears still running down her face. Her hand rested on my arm as her eyes filled with the pain. Wrapping her into my arms, I let her cry a little. The guilt was deep inside of her. We should have known that something was up.

But I swear. No one
, and I mean no one would ever hurt that girl again. I didn’t care if I had to be with her every second of the day. I would never let anyone ever make her cry like she had tonight again.

Chapter 7

****Present****

Emmerson

Tucking myself into the corner of the hall, the quiet hall filled with beige and white, there I sat on the first weekend I didn’t go back to the ranch. How could I? I could easily go back for the weekend just to hang out with Rob and Will, talk to Connie, cuddle with Ben, and push Jackson where his face reddened with anger. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to face Paul. Not after what he said to me at Thanksgiving.

This was where I needed to be. Alone and at the damn college Jackson pushed me into going for my year. At least one semester is almost done. Three weeks was all I had left. Three weeks until finals week and I would be able to be done for the holiday.

This Christmas was one I actually looked forward to. All those years spent with the Hucks, I was finally comfortable with the holidays and ready for it. I was ready for Connie’s cooking and fussing over me, Jackson’s constant watch, Will’s video games, and Rob’s raunchy talk about what girl he was chasing after for the week. And the one thing holding me back from going to the ranch was Paul and that disgustingly perfect Becky. I hated her. I really did. What woman would come in between Paul and me? But what man, what best friend, would let that happen?

I hated Paul right now also. To look me in the eye and tell me he regretted that night he saved me
… I could understand where he was getting frustrated with me, but what did he expect with the way he was treating me? Since that night of my graduation party, he changed. Something changed inside of him, turning him against me. And it had to be Becky.

I knew he had a thing for her. He always had a thing for her. Whenever we were in town and his beautiful dark eyes caught sight of her, his boyish grin would come out and his shoulders straightened, chest puffed out. Like I hadn’t noticed that turkey going into strut. I wasn’t blind. And her. That little flirtatious wave and that hair flip. Come on. Gag me. She was exactly like these mean girls here at my school. Just something about all them fit. I didn’t like them and they just seemed too perfect.

Checking my phone again, my stomach dropped again. If I did go back to the ranch, I would have been there already. And no one called yet. Not Connie. Not Will or Rob. Definitely not Paul. Jackson….I give him another hour before he called to check on me. It did surprise me a little that Jackson hadn’t been on the phone yet, but with the warmer winter so far, I knew they all were getting as much done and prepared if the winter hit hard and fast.

But Paul. I wanted to see his name on my screen. I wanted him to be the one who called first
, wondering where I was. I wanted to hear his voice, that one I used to know, the one who made me comfortable to talk to him. Every night, I lay in my bed wondering what I did to turn him against me. And all I could come up with was maybe he saw how I was really starting to look at him and he didn’t like it. Maybe he noticed I was a little more attracted to him than I should have been.

Rob told me about guys that did that. He did that a couple months ago with a girl who was chasing him and he had to get a little more mean to her for her to get the point. Not something he wanted to do, but he had to….I guess. Me, I would have just told her I wasn’t interested and let her know how I honestly felt about her right there.
Doing something that hurt something else wasn’t something I thought was right. Then again, maybe it was, but the way I grew up for fourteen years, I had that happen over and over. Maybe that was what Paul was doing with me. He didn’t want to hurt my feelings so he was just saying things to get me to not like him.

Hearing the group of mean girls down the hall in the corner room where the music was thumping, burning water came to my eyes. It wasn’t like I couldn’t hear them. I did. I heard them trying to come up with all sorts of reasons why I was so scarred. And each one hurt more and more, maybe because they were getting closer to the truth. I would have rather done this to myself than to have them because of a man who was supposed to love me unconditionally.  All the reasoning’s those girls had come up with were horrible and I hated it. I hated when they called me those hurtful names I wouldn’t dare to even call the Andrews’ boys in all of our fights in high school. And this morning, because of my new best friends and the
ir comments, I was called to see the life coach on campus because someone was worried I was a cutter. I had a hard enough time being at this hell hole, but to be marked with that when there were real people who truly did things to themselves who needed the help made me hate this place even more.

I could get up, go down to the door, and tell them stories of what it was like growing up in my house, but what would that solve? I sure didn’t want to ever relive those nights
where I wondered if they would be my last. I didn’t want to relive those nights when I was so scared to get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night for fear of disturbing my dad. I bet they didn’t know what it was like being duct taped down to the kitchen table on your birthday, naked, while your own father carved into your back. Or….beat you so bad on Christmas night, you couldn’t sit down.

Oh, if they only knew what it was like to have lived so many years just to have one person get a strange feeling,
and following it just to find you beaten, cut, bruised, full of your own blood, and left outside to freeze to death to change your life forever. They had no idea what it was like to have that person who saved your life on a hunch to turn so cold on you and walk away like it didn’t matter. If they only knew….

The screen of my phone lit and vibrated in my hand. With blurry eyes, I forced the pain back as I
automatically hit the answer button. It had to be Jackson wondering why I wasn’t there yet. No matter what, I couldn’t let him know what was really going on here. Not with the way he was over me. Once, during the summer, Rob made a joke about a scar on my left shoulder that looked like the letter B and Jackson exploded. Of course, I had to be the one to bring him down and he backed down to me easily, but that day, it had taken a lot. I didn’t mind Rob’s joking. That was just how Rob was and his teasing wasn’t bad at all.

“Emmy? Emmy, are you there?” The voice coming through the phone wasn’t one I expected at all. Sure, we talked a little more now since Thanksgiving, but I didn’t expect him to call on Friday night. Not Marc. “Listen, Emmy. I can hear you breathing so I will just say what I wanted….”

The music blared in the background and I could hear the woman’s voice close by him. It was all I heard when he was home, his great social life that Rob always wanted to hear about. And this was one of those times.

I could picture him in his fancy jeans and spotless gray sweatshirt. And did he ever fill out that sweatshirt
. Unlike the oldest Huck, the one he looked so much like. His dark hair would be a little messy from his frustrating work day, but worked well at night making him look even more attractive. That was just like Paul. Paul always looked better after working all day just to be so sexy at night when he was ready to have fun.

“I am….” The little curse came through the phone
, followed by a little sigh. Hearing him mumbling something to the female voice, he knew I was on the verge of crying. I hated it. I hated having him knowing I was in this mood.

“Can I talk to you later? I’m….I’m studying….” A couple times, he offered to pick me up since I ha
d been back after the little break, but I resisted, knowing he had a life, too. Besides, we really never hung out before Thanksgiving in the barn and I was still a little timid around him. A brother, yet we never were able to get that connection.

The woman snapped loudly
, causing Marc to grumble right back. “You’re just going to have to deal with it….”

“I know. I know. I am sorry.” What was left of my heart dropped hard in my stomach. Maybe they all hated me. Maybe they really didn’t want me around anymore.

“Emmy, I’m….” The woman got louder, making her point about something that I couldn’t quite make out, but whatever it was, Marc wasn’t happy. “No, Emmy. I wasn’t talking to you. Now…” The thumping of the music got softer as his breathing picked up. “I should be there in just a few minutes. Be out front of your dorm.”

“No, Marc. I can…”

“I’m not kidding. Your ass better be outside in five minutes.” Then the phone went silent. Looking at it, I felt my breath hitch a little. He hung up, not giving me a chance to respond. Pushing myself up from the ground, I slipped my phone into the front pocket of my jeans and straightened my heavy sweatshirt. I loved that sweatshirt. I wore it a lot at school and those nights when I needed to have Paul hug me after my nightmares. It was the sweatshirt he was wearing the night of my graduation bon fire, the one he offered me because I was getting a little chilly. And I kept it. I didn’t want to give it back. I needed it, like I really needed him. 

There were so many times I looked at Paul’s number on my phone and all I had to do was press send. And I never did. I couldn’t risk pressing that simple button just to hear him curse me for calling and disturbing him. It
was bad enough he regretted that night he had given me back my life, but pushing him away completely would destroy what I had left inside of me. Oh, I missed him so much. If I could just talk to him and see what I did to make him hate me so much now. I needed him to help me get through this year until I could come home to the ranch, but that was long gone. This Christmas, I would lose my best friend completely and I wasn’t sure I could handle it.

Going past the nasty room, I ignored the girls as they snickered and whispered. For some reason, I knew if I wasn’t downstairs waiting for Marc, he would come into the dorm to get me. I just had a feeling about this and the way he was angry. Oh, if I made him mad and hate me also, if he would regret knowing me, I was going to just go into my room, pack, and just leave. I would just go until I couldn’t go anymore.

Just as I walked out, the familiar silver fancy car pulled into the parking lot, bringing my heart to slap hard in my chest. It was now or never. I would soon find out if Marc was mad at me also.

Stepping out to the curb, I sucked in a breath that burned my lungs. Tears blurred my eyes to the point I could barely make out the car. I just wanted to run to him
and cry as hard as I could. I was miserable and hurt and scared I was losing the only people I loved and called a family. But I stayed there, unsure of what to do. I trusted all the Hucks and knew not one of them would ever hurt me…..well, I thought that the one I trusted the most wasn’t going to hurt me, but he did. He hurt me and all I did was love him so much. I just wanted to talk to him, to tell him that I was sorry, and I loved him, missed him, and needed him. If he didn’t want me, then he could just simply tell me. I could understand that. I would understand that because I did love him.

“Emmy!” Marc’s voice shot out through the thickly damp air as the body emerged from the car. “Damn it!”

Hearing the snickering behind me, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop the tears and the pain that was pushing its way up. The lump was so thick in my throat, it actually hurt. It was bad enough I had to listen to those girls every day talking bad about me, making my life here miserable and shameful, but to follow me out of the dorms to watch me, and to humiliate me in front of Marc, that was something I never went through. 

“Damn it, Emmy! Don’t you ever scare me like that again!” Those thick, muscular arms wrapped around me so
tight, I just fell right into them. This wasn’t Paul, but I needed this. I needed this hug, this comfort from the next best thing, the one who reminded me so much of the one I lost. “Honey, I am right here.”

“I…am….so….sorry….” Pressing my face into the gray sweatshirt chest, I cried a little
and let the pain free. I needed to. So many times lately, I held it in and it was starting to get to me. At least at the ranch, I could run to Ben and he would comfort me. Here, I didn’t have that.  I had nothing here. Not even a friend, someone to talk to, nothing. Not a damn thing. And it wasn’t like I could go back to the ranch and tell Jackson that I didn’t want to come back here. His word on college had been set in stone and there wasn’t anything I could do to change that. I tried like hell, but that was one thing I couldn’t break of him.

Maybe telling him wouldn’t be so bad, but then again, my classes were already picked and paid for. Everything was all taken care of for next semester. There would be no way he would let me drop out and go back to the ranch
, even to take the online classes. Though, if I did tell Jackson, he would come down to the school and make a scene, one that I didn’t need on me along with all the rumors.

“Come on.” Keeping his arm tight around my shoulders, Marc walked me to the passenger door of his car. “Did you eat yet?”

“No…” When he opened the door, I slid in as fast as I could to get away from the snickering and the giggling. Didn’t people know that wasn’t how you treated others because you never know their history? To make fun of someone because of some scars was the worst thing to do because you didn’t know how they got them. And from what they were saying about me, it was all about how much I did this to myself. I mean, come on! I had scars on my back. How in the hell could I cut my own back?

“Neither did I. We will go get something to eat.” Slipping gracefully in behind the wheel, Marc filled the seat just as his oldest brother had in the truck, but this wasn’t Paul. This was Marc. As much as I needed Paul right now, he wasn’t there for me. But I wouldn’t turn away from Marc now. He
was still one of my so called brothers, just the one I really never had been around. And lately, he had been there, talked to me, and even stopped in once over the week to check on me.