Page 57 of Hope's Heartlands

Bull stands up and stomps over towards me and his bike. "What the fuck, man? You never come to any of the parties or anything anymore. It's Emma's coming home party."

At that, I glance up at him and try to keep the longing out of my voice. "Is she coming home for good?" I've told myself over and over that I'm not going to stand in the way of her dreams. I know that she's the type of person that could do anything, and I don't want to stand in her way.

Bull shakes his head side to side. "Nah, just spring break."

I press my lips together and nod my head. "Hmm. I'm busy tonight."

I pull the ball cap lower across my forehead so that he can't see my eyes. It's hard hiding my feelings to one of my best friends, but the fact that he's her stepdad makes it impossible to come clean. No, I just need to keep doing what I've been doing. I can avoid her any time she's home. I can avoid her until she finally settles back here, and then once she does, I'll see if there's any chance for us then.

Bull grabs a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and then stalks back over to his seat. He no sooner sits down than I hear his phone ding. Thank goodness. Maybe he'll give me a break and talk to whoever's on his phone. "Son of a bitch," Bull exclaims.

Wanting a reprieve from my thoughts, I look over at him. "What is it?"

He holds up his phone. "I just got a text from Kate."

I shrug as if it's no big deal. Kate's his wife, Emma's mom. I'm sure he gets plenty of texts throughout the day from her, so I can't help but wonder what he's pissed off about. "What's up?" I ask.

He shakes his head, and his forehead creases. He looks a cross between pissed and ready to kill somebody. He holds his phone up as if I can read it from across the room. "Looks like Emma's bringing a friend home, and Kate says I have to be nice to him."

My hand tightens on the wrench. All I can do is blink at Bull. It's like I have tunnel vision. I feel hot all over, and there's a heavy weight that's on my chest. I stutter out the words, but finally get them out. "Is Emma bringing a boy home?"

Bull is gruff when he answers me. "Fucking looks that way."

As soon as he says the words, I get back to the bike. In one twist, I'm able to break the bolt off easily. I guess all it takes is for me to get pissed off to get the super human strength to do something. I work on replacing the part. I do it swiftly, without even thinking. I've done this job a thousand times, and I could almost do it blindly. My thoughts go to Emma. Even now after all of this time, she's all I think about, and even though I've succeeded in avoiding her, I still know what's going on. I'm still able to keep an eye on her through Bull, Kate, and the rest of the club, but this is the first time that she's ever brought a boy home. It must be serious. My heart starts to race in my chest.

As soon as I'm finished replacing the part, I stand up, wiping my hands on the towel that I had in my back pocket. "What time did you say that party was tonight?" I ask Bull, avoiding his eyes.

He comes over to inspect my work. "Nine o'clock"

I give him one look. "I'll be there."

I don't know if I should be worried or not when he doesn't seem surprised. Now, all I have to do is go to this party tonight and see her with another man. I don't know if I'm a glutton for punishment or what, but there's absolutely nothing that's going to keep me away. Not this time.

Chapter5

Emma

As we cross into Heartlands territory, I can't help but feel nervous, but I know I shouldn't. Yeah, I have some guilt for not coming home as much throughout the years, but I shouldn't be nervous about it. The club is my family, and I know that they love me no matter what. And even if I am a little scared about tonight, I'm still excited to see everyone. It blows my mind to think that in two months I'll be home for good. I'll spend the summer applying for jobs at different schools, and I hope that I'll get to stay in Heartlands. That's the goal, anyway.

The trip seems to go by fast. Carson talks nonstop about Candace. "She's just so pretty, you know?" Carson says.

I roll my eyes and laugh, because it's funny to me that he just can't stop talking about her. I promise myself that once I get back to school, I'm going sit down and talk to her, because she really should give him a chance. My phone rings, and it's connected to the speakers of my car. The caller ID shows up on the radio screen, and I point at it. "Speak of the devil."

I hit the answer button, and before I can even say hello, Candace is laughing. "Did you make it?"

"Nope. We are 30 minutes out," I tell her.

She sounds surprised. "We? Who's we?"

I look over at Carson in my passenger seat, and he's staring at the radio as if he's actually looking at Candace. I roll my eyes at him. "I asked Carson to come home with me. His plans got canceled, and I didn't want him to stay on campus by himself."

Candace lets out a little gasp, starts to say something and then stops.

Confused, I ask her. "Candace, are you there?"

She starts to stutter again. "Uh, yeah. So I didn't know ..." Her voice trails off, and I wonder what she's going to say. Instead of finishing her train of thought, she says, "You guys have fun. I'll talk to you later." She hangs up quickly, and it disconnects before I can ask her anything.

Surprised, I look over at Carson and shrug my shoulders. For an instant, I wonder if maybe she was jealous, but I know that's not it. She literally shows no interest in Carson whatsoever. I point to the turn off in front of us. "This is us," I tell him as I take the turn and drive into the gravel lot of the Ride or Die. All the bikes are lined up outside, and I park at the first available parking spot.

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