Page 68 of Owning Emma

Chapter 32

ROMAN

It wasmidafternoon when my phone suddenly began to blow up. A text from Shaw. A text from Troy. A text from Troy for Royal. It was a mess. A whole sticky mess that for once, I had absolutely nothing to do with, yet I still got dragged into.

I didn’t mind, per se Royal was family. But, damn if my mind hadn’t spent the whole damn day thinking about the night with Emma and Shaw and the kiss. The kiss. The kiss that was still so fucking confusing to me. I liked it, more than I should have and a part of me still screamed it was wrong. Shaw was my best friend, and feelings between us couldn’t happen. But the other part of me knew with every ounce of my being that there was nothing but rightness about the situation. That my feelings have surpassed the point of friendship and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t turn back down.

Fuck society and their standards.

I was going to love who I wanted to love, fuck who I wanted to fuck, and be with as many fucking people as I wanted when I did both. In this case, two. And I was fucking happy with that number.

My phone dinged again, tearing my thoughts away from the drama that was unfolding in Royal’s life. Bianca was apparently coming home with Emma, which was probably the fucking worst timing in the world with all the threats that were already looming overhead. But maybe Bianca here would make Emma safer. Royal’s men arrived earlier today as promised and with Bianca here, the wife of their leader, I knew they sure as shit would be alert and protective.

The girls breezed by me fifteen minutes later as they headed to the kitchen. Bianca, looking like a beautiful train wreck, and Emma well . . . Emma looked absolutely perfect. Always. She was God’s most flawless piece of art, and I was the blank and beaten canvas, aspiring to one day be as good as her.

My eyes couldn’t help but follow her until she disappeared into the kitchen, wishing her friend wasn’t here so I could back her up against a wall and plow into her while I savored every delicious flavor of her skin and mouth. I blinked, trying to erase the image from my mind, but it was no use. My want and need for her would forever be engrained.

Shaw cleared his throat and when I turned to him, he looked away, fidgeting. “I ah. . .” he began and I took a step closer into his space so he couldn’t avoid me. “I found some accounting discrepancies from the shop paperwork that Royal picked up.”

“Human error?”

“Maybe.” He put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head to the side as he thought. “I’ll have to file through the last few years to figure out when it happened.”

“I’m not trying to rush you because I know our system’s a mess, but how long?” I prompted.

“I don’t know, a few weeks?” he answered.

“Damn it!” I growled. “It’s always a few weeks.”

His hands lifted in the air defensively. “What the hell do you want me to do, Roman? I can’t make the wrong errors here. Two wrongs never fix a right.”

And I knew this. But that didn’t erase the fact that the answer to our threats could be right there in front of our faces. The answer to who was putting my people’s lives in danger was so close, I could almost grasp it. But yet, I still couldn’t reach it. “I know this, Shaw. I do. I’m not blaming you for the delays. I’m just frustrated that we can’t get the answers we need to finally get this over with.”

“I want to keep her safe too. More than anything.”

He sighed. When he finally looked up our eyes locked, and I swear I felt a spark. Had it always been like this and I was just too blind to notice? Had his hazel eyes always begged to be loved while I refused to see? He was vulnerable in the moment and so incredibly real I almost reached out to touch him, but then I stopped unsure what to say. He licked his lips and my eyes followed the movement, my cock suddenly feeling a pull of arousal.

I forced my eyes away from his lips. “She will be safe.”

There was no other option, and I think he felt the truth of it. He blew out a breath, his chest rising and falling with the action. “Can we talk?”

I knew what he was asking. Can we talk about the last few days? Can we talk about this morning? Us? But I wasn’t ready to address this, not verbally. “There is nothing to really talk about. You’ve already given your daily update.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I did know it.

“Look. I know that maybe we should address this, set some ground rules or boundaries or something, it’s just that. . .”

“You’re scared,” he accused.

Fuck yeah, I was scared. I’d never been in a relationship with two people before. Never with a man. Never with my best friend.

“I’m cautious,” I corrected.

He took a step toward me, his hand finding my chest as he pushed me back, forcing me to step backward into my office. When I was far enough inside, he shut the door behind us. “I’m not cautious, Roman. What is there to be cautious about?”

Nothing. The more I thought about it, the more I tried to supply him with the answer, the more I couldn’t think of anything significant that would cause caution and force me to deny my relationship with them. But still. This was new.

“I’ve never done this before.”

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