Page 16 of Engulfing Emma

“Over there,” he says to me, gesturing to the back corner. “You a big fucking dude. But you ain’t bigger than my piece so you best not try nothin’. Got it?”

I nod.

“Goldilocks, lift up his shirt to see if he’s packing.”

A different woman stands and does what he asks.

“Now let me see his ankles,” the guy says.

She lifts each of my pant legs.

“Now drop his pants.”

She looks at him in horror. “You want me to remove his pants?”

“Do it, bitch,” he says, holding the gun to the brunette’s temple.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers to me as she unbuttons and then unzips my pants, letting them fall to my ankles.

“Turn around, Ace,” he says to me.

I’m momentarily relieved that I chose to wear boxer briefs today. It’ll be clear that I don’t have any weapons. I’m almost positive the guy would have made me strip naked if I were wearing regular boxers.

Once he’s convinced I don’t have a weapon, he allows me to pull up my pants with the woman’s help.

“Teacher,” he says to the woman still holding my bag. “Show me everything he brought.”

She carefully unpacks the bag, showing him three units of blood, a bag of saline, the tubing, a needle, bandages, and a few other supplies. She picks up a box of candy I didn’t know was in the bag. He must have asked for it as part of the deal.

“Here you go,” she says and hands it to him.

My eyes snap to hers. That’s her voice. I’d know it anywhere. That’s Emma. But she looks younger than I thought she was.

“You take a bite,” he says to her. “Make sure they ain’t tryin’ to poison me.”

She hesitantly opens the package of candy bars and takes one out, eyeing me the entire time. I wonder if she knows it’s me. I haven’t spoken yet. Maybe she thinks I’m a cop posing as a paramedic. I honestly have no idea if they are trying to poison him, so I can’t even nod encouragement.

She bites off the end of the candy bar and chews it. Once the gunman is satisfied she’s not going to die, he pushes her away. “Take the shit, and you and Ace make sure he don’t die. Got it?” He threatens me with the gun. “Don’t try anything, Ace.”

I hold up my hands. “I won’t. I’m only here to help.”

Emma gives me a sharp look after hearing my voice. She knows it’s me. And for some reason she looks incredibly relieved. Maybe she thought I was here to jump the gunman.

“I’ll need my hands to administer the blood,” I say. “Can someone cut the ties off me?”

“Do it, Goldilocks,” he says, holding out a pocketknife. “Any funny stuff, and the teacher gets it.”

My eyes are glued to the gun pointed at Emma’s head as the blonde woman cuts the zip ties and then hands the pocketknife back to the gunman.

He gestures to the door. “What the fuck you waitin’ for? Go.”

We walk into the storage room, and he shuts the door behind us. I hear something heavy being moved in front of it.

“Emma,” I say.

“Brett?” she asks, even though I’m sure she knows the answer.

I nod, and she falls into my arms.

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