Page 25 of Theirs to Love

Emily

They were lucky to find a pizza place that was delivered and was still open when they finally got around to having dinner. Emily sat between both men eating pizza, laughing, and joking as if no time had passed and Jack hadn’t disappeared. She hoped that they would be able to find a new rhythm that worked for the three of them and having pizza and being silly seemed to be a good start.

The fact that her father had tried to tear them out of her life caused them all so much anguish. She was never close to her parents, but she expected more from them. Besides the yearly birthday or Christmas card from wherever they were staying at the time she didn’t hear too much from them. Connie had kept her in the loop, always filling her in on where they were or who they were vacationing with. Why did she have so much trouble believing that her friend wasn’t doing the same for her parents? If what the guys believed was true and Connie was the one that wrote the letter then they could all be in danger now. Emily had been filling her in on their whereabouts, which was probably how the mysterious white truck kept finding them.

“I have a little confession to make and I’m afraid you guys might not like it.” Emily threw her half-eaten slice of pepperoni pizza into the box and wiped her hands on Jack’s borrowed shirt, causing him to scowl. “Sorry Jack, I’ll wash it when I get a chance.” She shot him a saucy wink making him laugh.

“Anyway, I’ve been telling Connie where we are every time we have stopped. She was texting me that she was worried, and I felt bad about keeping secrets from her. It had been almost two months, and I thought it was time to forgive her for what she said about our relationship and move forward.” Emily shrugged hoping that she wasn’t making things worse by sharing where they were with the woman who was like a mother to her. “Connie sent me a message about a week ago telling me how sorry she was about everything and asking if we could get together for my birthday.” Jack stood and paced the floor and Emily could tell that he wasn’t too happy about her news.

“I’m so sorry Jack if I had known that there was a possibility that Connie was helping my father or that he was involved in the first place, I would have told her nothing.” Emily wrung her hands worrying that she could cause the three of them any more trouble. They were in this mess because of her and that thought made her sick.

“Get your stuff, we’re leaving,” Jack barked. “They’ve probably been watching us this whole time and we’re just sitting here with targets on our backs.” Emily gasped at the thought of someone trying to hurt either of her guys. It would destroy her to lose them.

“Jack’s right, baby. We need to get out of here and find another place to lay low,” Travis said, throwing Emily her jeans. She pulled them up her legs and just left on Jack’s T-shirt. They grabbed the few belongings that they had, and Jack told them to wait until he brought the truck around. Travis agreed, telling Jack to be careful and Emily was pretty sure that she didn’tbreathe until she saw Jack’s truck pull to a stop in front of them allowing them to jump in.

Jackson pulled out of the motel’s parking lot before she could even fasten her seatbelt, and it scared her the way both guys kept looking around as if watching for someone to follow behind them.

“Did they find us?” She felt silly asking that question. It was almost as if they were in a bad mystery movie and all she wanted to do was get out and resume her regular life.

“No baby, I think that we’re all right for now.” Jackson was so quiet she found herself leaning in to hear him.

“I’m so sorry, guys. I didn’t think it was a big deal telling Connie where I was. Hell, up until a few hours ago I thought that she was my friend. I still can’t believe that she would do this to me, not after everything that we’ve been through together. She taught me how to cook and took me prom dress shopping. Heck, she even taught me how to dance with a boy so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself at prom.” Emily felt sad thinking that her relationship with Connie had been fake. Was her friend just another one of her father’s employees who cared more about the money that he offered to keep tabs on Emily?

“I’m sorry honey, but until we know what’s going on here you can’t tell anyone where you are. Give me your cell phone.” Jackson held his hand open waiting for her to hand over her cell. Her whole life was on that thing and what if work needed her?

“Em,” Travis barked, “he's right, we all need to disable the GPS on our phones and turn them off. We don’t want anyone having the ability to track us.” Emily sighed and put her phone in the palm of Jackson’s hand. They were right, if she led the “bad guys” to them, she’d feel awful.

“Thank you, honey. As soon as this is over you will have it back,” Jackson said, slipping the phone into his jacket.

“Can I call Regan to check in on her and the baby?” Emily hated being away from her patients, but she disliked being out of the loop when it came to Regan’s care. She and Regan had become close and leaving her prenatal care up to another doctor, felt wrong.

“Already done honey and they are all fine. The police were out there earlier tonight and arrested the guy who took the picture of the two of us yesterday. He wasn’t smart enough to erase the evidence from his cell phone. And, according to Ash, Regan is sleeping like a baby and so is Star.” He laughed at his joke. “You know because she is a baby.” Emily couldn’t help but smile and shake her head at him.

“Yep, I get it, Travis. You are so funny,” she mockingly joked. His smile disappeared from his face and for a moment she felt bad for making fun of him.

“Wait, I have another one,” Travis said, holding up his hand as if to ask a question.

“No!” Jack and Emily said in unison making them all laugh.

“Being with the two of you again feels right,” Emily whispered.

“You too, Em. I’ve missed you both,” Jack watched her from the rearview mirror, and she didn’t miss the heat in his gaze. Truthfully, she wanted to spend the rest of the night in bed between the two of them but now they were probably going to drive for hours.

“So, where are we going?” Emily asked stretching and yawning in the back of Jack’s truck.

“Home,” Jackson barked.

“What the fuck,” Travis growled. “You can’t just take her back to the place where they will be looking for her. What if her father gets his hands on her? I won’t lose Em.” She loved the way Travis wanted to protect her. But she also trusted Jackson and knew that he would never do anything to put her in danger.

“Let’s hear him out, Travis. Jack would never hurt me.” She reached over the seat and linked her fingers with Travis’s, trying to soothe him. Travis and she had become that for each other over the past couple of months, balms that soothed and healed.

“Fine, but this better be good Jack.” Travis sulked and she wanted to laugh but judging from the grumpy expression on his face, now wasn’t the time for humor.

“Well, I’m thinking that since Connie likes to keep tabs on where Em is, we tell her exactly where to find her. But this time, when the white pickup truck shows up Emily won’t be there, but I will be, and I’ll have plenty of backup with me.” Jackson waited Travis out and she loved the give and take that was redeveloping between the three of them.

Finally, Travis nodded his agreement. “As long as Em is nowhere near the location that we give to Connie, then I’m fine with the plan.” Emily breathed a sigh of relief because she thought that it sounded like a pretty good plan too.

“I’ll drive for a few more hours and find us a place to stay for the night. Tomorrow morning, we will roll back into town after I talk to my Captain to get everyone in place. We won’t let your father’s goons anywhere near you, honey.” Jackson smiled at her in the mirror, and she couldn’t help but smile back.

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