Page 28 of Ramsey & Emerson

My grin went ear-to-ear. “By all means, explain it to me, ma’am.”

“Oh, c’mon, Emerson,” she said dramatically, rolling her eyes. “There is no better feeling than a man’s hands on your body. I mean, when a guy has his hands on either side of your waist or hips…that’s the feeling of pure euphoria.”

I thought back to the handful of times that Ramsey had put his hands on me, and I couldn’t necessarily disagree with her. The warmth that had seeped into my skin from the touch of his hands, plus the heat that had traveled up and down my body when he had pulled me towards him couldn’t be so easily forgotten. Roselyn had a good point.

“How awesome would it be to experience that all the time with different guys?” she asked, still trying to convince me. “Imagine, Emer, always a new pair of hands exploring your body, a new pair of lips tasting you everywhere, and a different-sized dick to bring a different experience each time.” She gave an exaggerated shiver as she went on with the pros of being a slut. “Discovering if he likes it fast, hard, slow, soft, dirty or clean…”

I cocked my head at her. “Is there such a thing as clean sex?”

She seemed to think about it for a second, then her brows rose with the answer. “No kissing, no touching, no anything, other than just bending you over, sticking it in you, then catching all that mess in a nice, neat, durable condom.”

“What about the girl’s climax?”

She huffed. “That experience was all for the guy. Trust me, with a quick fuck like that, there’s no way that the girl is going to cum. She will have to finish herself off after he leaves.”

I lasted only three seconds before I started laughing, Roselyn joining in.

After we calmed down, I got serious. “Are you sure being my friend isn’t going to backfire on you? I mean, I know you don’t care, but I have a feeling that this little battle of the wills between me and Ramsey will only get worse before it finally comes to an end.”

Roselyn’s silence lasted long enough that I thought she was trying to find a diplomatic way to tell me that I was on my own. However, it wasn’t until she spoke that I realized her deep thoughts were being centered on me, and I was touched. Apart from my friends back home and my mother, it’d been a long time since someone had actually shown any concern for me.

“I agree,” she finally said. “I’ve never seen anyone go up against Ramsey Reed, and I don’t think this is going to end well. However, I’m not worried about me, Emerson. I’m protected by some degree. I’m worried aboutyou.”

My brows pulled together. “Why?”

“Even though my mom married into it, I still have money, status, and an inherited last name to fight Ramsey with if things ever got out of control. You don’t have any support or backup.” She wasn’t wrong. “Your aunt took you in out of guilt, but she has no real responsibility towards you. She spends most of her time running around, being the perfectly wealthy widow, and Bailey hates you,” she pointed out. “If you go up against Ramsey Reed, you’re doing it alone.”

I didn’t speak about what my father had done to my mother for obvious reasons. I hadn’t spoken to anyone about it since I’d spoken with the police and had thrown it in my aunt’s face. It was no one’s business, and the pain of what my father had done was still there; still as strong as ever. However, if Roselyn was going to stick by me through this disaster with Ramsey, then she deserved some sort of explanation. She needed to know that I wasn’t going to flake on her if she stuck with me.

“All anyone knows is that my father killed my mother,” I told her, registering the shock on her face at my mentioning what’d had happened. “That’s what the headlines read, and that’s what the case had centered on; my father killing my mother.” I took a drink of my water, buying time to find the words. “However, here’s the thing that most people don’t know. He didn’t wake up one morning and think, ‘I’m going to kill my wife’. He also hadn’t been on any medication that had triggered a bad reaction, causing him to begin hallucinating, or anything like that.”

“You don’t hav-”

I waved away her concern. “It’s okay, Roselyn. I want you to know.” She silently nodded her head for me to continue. “My father beat my mother for as long as I can remember, and we’re not talking a backhand across her face or shoving her against the wall.” The memories were as vivid as each day that I lived. “He beat her. He beat her like she was a grown man fighting back, and she wasn’t the only one that he had beat.”

Roselyn gasped. “Oh, Emerson…”

I waved away her concern again. “It’s fine, really. He can’t do it anymore,” I said, hoping it calmed her discomfort. “The point is that I’ve endured a hell that most people wouldn’t be able to survive. I’ve fought off bigger men than Ramsey Reed, Roselyn. So, trust me when I say that I’m not scared of whatever he has in store for me.”

I wasn’t.

The unease that I was feeling was due to the anxiety of the unknown. I’d always known what I was dealing with in my father. Yeah, the abuse had varied from time to time, but the situation had always been the same.One man, always the same weight and height. At home, always at night. No weapons, always his fists and feet. Also, no help from anyone.

Never any help.

However, this situation was full of unknowns. I had no idea who would come after me, how many, when they would decide to attack, or in what manner.

“Do you really think that things will get that far?” she whispered. “Do you really think someone might actually try to hurt you?”

I thought about that, and I honestly didn’t know, and I told her so. “I’d rather be prepared than underestimate them.”

She smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “Well, I’m not going anywhere, Emer. I say we embrace this new reputation of yours and fuck our way through Manotile this weekend.”

I laughed.

God, if she only knew how far from a whore I really was.

“Why don’t we see how the rest of the week goes before we open our legs to Manotile’s male population,” I chuckled. “Besides, what about your guy?”

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