Page 22 of Owning Emma

Chapter 12

EMMA

It wasa few days after I caught them in the kitchen standing a little too close not to raise questions, when it happened. A call came in to Shaw’s old cell phone around three in the morning and I stumbled out of bed, my heart racing in panic as I tried to locate the blaring device.

I picked it up, frantically hitting the accept button. “Hello?”

“Shaw?”

Um, I’m pretty sure I didn’t sound like Shaw, but I went with it. “Ah, no. I can get him for you if you want.’

The gruff voice hacked before answering, “Yeah. That would be good.”

I fumbled through the room before searching out the light switch. After flipping it on, I pulled open my bedroom door and used the light from my room to guide me through the hallway, toward their bedroom doors. I approached Shaw’s door and knocked but was only greeted with silence. After I knocked again, I pushed the door open and ran my palm over the wall until I was met with a light switch. I flicked the light on, only to reveal an empty room.

“What the hell could he possibly be doing at three o’clock in the fucking morning?” I grumbled into the open room and at the sound of my voice, the person on the line started saying hello rapidly, as if the call was being cut off with static.

“Hi. Um, I’m unable to find Shaw. Would Roman do?” I bit my lip as I waited for an answer.

“If you could find him. The bastard isn’t answering his phone.”

I heard some sirens in the background. “Oh? Well. Let me check, hold on, please.”

I left Shaw’s room and took a few steps before I knocked on the door of Roman’s room. I was about to knock again, when I heard movement on the other side of the door. At least someone knows where to be at three in the morning. There was a silent pause before I heard Roman’s voice, then his footsteps as he walked toward the door.

He opened the door a crack, looking shocked to see me standing in front of him. “What are you doing up? Is something wrong?”

“Umm.” I was so focused on his rumpled appearance and the look of concern in his eyes that I lost my thought for a second. “You have a phone call. Well . . . technically Shaw did, but he’s not in his room so I’m bringing it to you.”

He took the phone and brought it to his ear, curtly greeting the man on the other side of the line. Then he listened, cursed, and listened some more. He hung up the phone and handed it to me before forgetting about the door and letting it fall open.

He walked toward the bed, a sheet tied around his waist and nudged Shaw and the woman his body was intertwined with. His voice urgent as he demanded, “Get up, she needs to leave! R’s Auto is on fire!”

My mouth fell open at the realization of what I interrupted. Then disgust toward both consumed me as the naked woman sat up, utterly unashamed that all her body parts and all their glory were on display for both men and I to see.

Roman, as if he just remembered I was standing there, looked up, locking his eyes with mine. He didn’t say a word as he stalked toward me, stopping to reach the bedroom door, then slamming it in my face.

I stood there another few seconds, completely shocked and unable to move before I walked back to my room. They don’t concern you, I scolded myself. And it was true, everything that Roman and Shaw did on their time had nothing to do with me. It shouldn’t bug me that they brought women home, or that they spent time in that capacity . . . together. They were grown men and they could choose to live their lives however they wanted.

But as I closed my eyes, the image of Roman with a sheet wrapped around his hip, and Shaw spread across the bed, his bare backside completely exposed, had my heart beating a little more intently. Despite the disgust I felt for the girl sitting on their bed, no doubt covered in bodily fluids and missing some morals, I couldn’t help but feel a ping of jealousy. Jealousy for their attention, jealousy for their care, but most of all, jealousy for the fact that she had something that I never once knew I wanted. Until now.

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