Page 21 of For Emery

She wrapped her arm around my waist, and I willingly let her move us toward the back gate. We both knew it was smarter to avoid the inside of the house. Nothing good would come from me going back in there.

CHAPTER NINE

Grady

I rolled over, nearly slipping off the side of the bed. My arm shot out. The wall that normally lined the left side of my bed was no longer there. I struggled to open my crusty eyes. Once I did, sunlight infiltrated my vision, stinging like a mother. No wonder why the wall wasn’t there. I was in Sabrina’s room. I opened and closed my mouth, but I couldn’t rid it of the cotton texture and stale beer taste.

“Morning, sunshine.”

I looked to the floor where Sabrina lay under a blanket texting on her phone. “What are you doing down there?”

“I wasn’t about to sleep with you.”

“Why not?” I propped myself up on my elbow. “I would’ve made all your dreams come true.”

“Then Crosby would’ve killed you.”

I scoffed. “I’d like to see him try.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s really a moot point since you could barely make it up the stairs to get up here. You weren’t making anyone’s dreams come true.”

“That bad?”

“That bad,” she assured me.

I fell back on the bed and scrubbed my hands up and down my face, trying to recall the night’s events. How much had I drank?

“You gonna tell me who that girl was?” Sabrina asked.

“Girl?”

“The one with the quarterback.”

“Fuck!” I sprang up. “Emery.”

“Who’s Emery?”

Fuck, Fuck, fuck. “I’ve gotta find her.”

Sabrina’s face scrunched. “What aren’t you telling me?”

I groaned as the previous night’s events flooded my brain. I was such an idiot. Such a fucking idiot.

My parents and friends back home knew never to mention Emery. So it had been a long time since I’d actually talked about her. But I trusted Sabrina. And I clearly needed someone to talk to. So I talked.

I talked a lot.

I talked until Sabrina stared at me with pity in her eyes. “Don’t look at me like that,” I warned.

She huffed. “Forgive me for liking the vulnerable side of you.”

“I’m not vulnerable,” I grumbled. “I’m pissed.”

She snorted. “There’s the big baby I’ve grown to know and tolerate.”

“Liar. You love me.”

“Don’t let Crosby hear you talking like that.”

---