Page 20 of Owning Emma

Chapter 11

ROMAN

My nerves wereon edge about the whole situation. The threat. The possibility of betrayal from my men. Emma. Seeing Emma naked. My unwillingness to waver as Shaw pulled me near. Emma’s defiant mouth.

I groaned as I plopped down in a chair a day later. All the thoughts bombarded my mind, forcing me to feel jittery and on edge. The threat and betrayal? That was something I was positive needed to be addressed soon. Me seeing Emma’s naked body? Well . . . now that my angry and shock wore off, I suppose I did owe her a proper apology and she would get it, eventually.

But Shaw, that was a whole other situation I wasn’t willing to look at right now. He was my best friend. My partner in crime. My right-hand man. He always had been and always will be. The confusion lay where the lines became blurred. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the touch and comfort he gave me at the exact time I needed it, but I did know, deep down . . . I had no desire to pull away. Fuck. I was a mess and now really wasn’t the time to deal with my emotions. The emotions I just discovered existed.

I picked up my cellphone from where I had tossed it on the desk, bouncing the weight in my hand for a few seconds before I dialed Shaw’s number, now Emma’s and waited for the phone to ring. It rang four times before her delicate voice came on the line, “H-hello.”

“Hey, Sugar, how’s your day?” I bit my lip, knowing I had told her I wouldn’t call for bullshit.

The moment she realized it was me and not just a random number, she growled, “What do you want Roman?”

“I told you I would get my number to you and I forgot. Now seemed like as good as time as any, don’t you think?”

“No. I don’t think. I have sticky fondant all over me, my hands are dyed pink, and I’m trying to hold this damn phone with my shoulder.” She laid into me, and I chuckled at the thought that at one time, Shaw and I had thought she was timid. Oh, no, maybe she could be a bit shy, but there was no way this little mouse was a bit nervous, at least not around us any longer.

“So you’re saying you’re busy then?” I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing as another growl escaped her.

“Did you need something? Because if you don’t, I’ll see you tonight, dinner is at seven, like always.”

I heard a rustle like she was about to pull the phone away, and I shouted her name to stop her. When she came back on the line, giving me a sassy acknowledgement, I told her to put Shaw on the phone. She grumbled, but agreed and in two minutes the rich sound of his voice filled the line.

“Yeah?”

“Hey. First, have you ordered a new phone? The tiny baker seems a bit miffed today. Second, I’ve decided I’m going to invite Royal down and discuss maybe borrowing a few of his men. It will take the stress off you wondering who to trust on the safety front and allow you time to find the errors financially.”

He made a humming sound of approval. “Cell is ordered. Comes in tomorrow. Royal would be good. He tends to have a trustworthy group, and I don’t think there is a reason not to trust them. They aren’t invested either way. As for the tiny baker, she’s been a bit miffed all damn day. I got a roll thrown at my head earlier for asking if I could have a cookie that was broken. I did not get my cookie.”

“That must have been heartbreaking.” I smiled into the receiver, knowing he couldn’t see it.

“I’m still suffering from the pain of loss.”

“I bet you are. You’ll survive,” I said, then silence sat between us. I suddenly felt the air suffocating me and I had to swallow hard as I shifted in my seat searching for something to say. Finally, when it was clear he wasn’t going to talk, I cleared my throat, “So, I’ll see you tonight? Take care of her.”

“Copy that.” Then the line went dead as he disconnected.

I madethe call to Royal, arranging for him to come during the weekend, only divulging the aspect of a possible business arrangement. I knew it would be more one sided. He would never ask me to pay him or give him things in return, especially when it came to protecting people we view as family.

But, Emma is not your family. My inner voice nagged, and I knew it was right. We hardly knew each other and even if it had only been a few weeks of her being my employee, we both probably could have worked harder to fix that. Hell, I should have worked harder to fix that.

Shaw. Shaw was my family and even if the threat wasn’t directed at him, the situation put him in danger, and I couldn’t allow that to continue. Even if he could take care of himself, which I knew he could, with the threat being possibly internal, I couldn’t depend on his ability alone.

That night, when I got home from one of our shops, Emma and my mom were already ladling the table with plates and platters of food in the hall. I made it a point to bypass them, going straight to the shared bathroom to scrub down my hands and shower before changing into some clothes I kept in one of the lockers. We all had one, a locker with spare clothes and toiletries. Not because we didn’t have access to our places, but with all the activities here along with a good-size home gym, this tended to be the place everyone gathered most.

Fresh and clean, I left the bathroom and strolled down the hall toward the food, only to stop at the sight of Shaw hunched over his computer at a bistro table in the kitchen, his papers all surrounding him. I detoured toward him and he was so captivated by what he was working on, he hadn’t noticed.

Placing a hand on the back of the chair and my other on the table next to his computer, I leaned down to look at the screen. “Any luck?”

He tilted his head as if he was working through a scenario, still not looking at me and I took the free moment to examine him. Memorizing the fine lines and sharp angles of a face I knew better than my own. Had it really been so long? We were kids, eleven when I first met him and we never looked back at our lives after that. Us against the world. Always. Now? Shit. We needed to talk, but I couldn’t even suggest until I figured out what the fuck was even happening in my head right now.

“I think I’ve narrowed down a handful of possible locations.”

“Employee lists available?”

He nodded. “I can see if I can get them. It might take a bit of time though. I don’t know why the fuckers can’t keep a proper paper trail like we trained them. I’m going to expand our data system and enter all their papers manually, then from there, give them all access. I don’t want shit like this to happen again. It’s your business, you would think giving them the opportunity and a cut of the profit to run it accordingly would make them want to handle it with care.”

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