Page 42 of Sebastian

“Thanks,” she whispered as he pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

Stone and Hawk walked into the room, faced pulled tightly into sullen scowls as they both looked Emma up and down.

“Hey, Em.” Stone walked up to her, gently squeezing her shoulder while Hawk sat across from her at the table.

“Sorry I freaked out, Stone. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No way, gorgeous. Other than maybe giving me a mini heart attack with how white you turned. You feeling okay?”

“Not really.” She fiddled with the bandage Seb had wrapped around her hand, sinking into the rhythmic ache that seemed to be emanating from the cut.

“Can I give you a hug?”

Emotions burned in her throat. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

And it was. One tear got away from her, then two, and before she knew it one set of arms released her and another wrapped her tightly against a solid chest. Sebastian. She needed to get herself together, but she had never felt so safe to just exist in the moment.

“God, I hate crying,” she tried to laugh as she swiped at the tears pouring down her face. “I’m not weak. I don’t need coddling or soft, sad looks thrown my way. I’m not going to break just because my mind and body betrayed me earlier and shut down. It won’t happen again.” As she looked around the room, she realized that Gage, Nash, and Gunner were also sitting around the table. Five sets of compassionate eyes were watching her with an intensity that made her skin burn.

“Are you ready to tell us what this is all about?” Gunner asked, in his usual cold, indifferent tone.

She took a big breath in, but before she could say anything, Seb reached out and took her uninjured hand in his. “Only when you’re ready, Sprinkles.”

Emma nodded. “I left some things out about my past. I’m so sorry. I honestly thought it was Lawrence. I thought he found me. I thought he was the one who tried to hit me with the car. That he was the one I could feel watching me,” she shuttered.

“But now you don’t think it is? Why?” Gage asked.

“I know it’s not. I saw…” her voice felt thick in her throat, her body physically unable to say the words out loud.

“What did you see?” Nash leaned forward as he asked.

“I saw my husband.”

“Your what?!” the guys all took turns reacting to her admission. All, except Seb, who she noticed just sat quietly staring at Gage, while he ran his thumb over the back of her hand.

“Who is he, Emma? And why are you running from him?”

“I wasn’t completely honest about everything that happened after my mother died and I found out about the loans my step-father had taken out to help with her treatments.”

“Okay. So tell us now.” Gunner’s scowl made her shrink back in her chair.

“Reap, I love you like a brother, but if you talk to her again like that, you and I are going to exchange some not so nice words.” Sebastian was still holding on to her hand, but he leaned into the table and glared at Gunner.

“She held information back from us, Cap! How are we supposed to protect her when we don’t know every detail of who we are facing? And why didn’t this show up in her background check, Tracker?” Gunner’s scowl turned to Gage.

“What background check?” Emma asked, searching his eyes for an answer.

“Why don’t we give Em a chance to explain things before we go off the deep end? You think that’d be okay?” Gage’s anger met Gunner’s challenge.

“Fine. Explain.” Gunner mumbled.

“You already know about my step-father. I didn’t leave any details out about that. The last time I ever saw him, he really did get drunk, and I really did hide in the bathroom that night for hours. But I didn’t leave on my own the next morning.”

She closed her eyes to steady her breath. She could do this. She could relive it one more time. She felt Sebastian’s hand slide onto her back in support, and she couldn’t help but smile softly at him.

“That morning, I heard Lawrence talking with someone in the kitchen. Another man, but I didn’t recognize his voice. I ran from the bathroom back into my bedroom and tried to grab my things for school. As I was rushing out of the house, Lawrence grabbed me and threw me against the wall. I landed wrong and hurt my leg, but that didn’t stop him from dragging me towards the man standing in our living room. I didn’t know at the time, but my step-father had gone to the Santoro family for a loan to pay for my mother’s treatments. When she died, and he decided to stop working and drank himself into a stupor, he couldn’t pay back the loan.”

“Shit.” Hawk said under his breath.

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