Page 54 of Ramsey & Emerson

The way that I saw it, had Constance not been such a cunt of a mother, Bailey might not have turned out the way that she’d had. Therefore, I’d had no qualms about taking Constance down with Bailey. What was really sad? That wasn’t even everything that I had on that family. When I went for revenge, I never used up all my ammo.

Never.

Now, to be fair, the video itself wasn’t that big of a deal. Sadly, in this day and age, a sex tape didn’t bring down shame like it should. Hundreds of people and countless celebrities could be found on the internet doing the deed. Hell, porn was so mainstream now that people had their own personal websites, and everyone seemed just fine with that.

What had really fucked Bailey was her arrogance. She’d been very vocal while being recorded, and she could be clearly heard saying that five cocks weren’t enough and had even suggested that some of the guys bring their hot dads into the fray.

Now, this was a pretty, tight-bodied, eighteen-year-old girl taking cocks in her mouth, pussy, and up her ass. Hell, some of those cocks had been crammed in her orifices two at a time. That kind of porn performance might entice a middle-aged man to get his dick wet with her, and that was one thing that the women of Sands Cove would not risk. No eighteen-year-old slut was going to make them an ex-wife, risking their wealthy lifestyles.

At this point, I’d be willing to bet that Constance and Bailey would be run out of town before the month ended, if not sooner. Bailey hadn’t shown up for school Thursday or today, and Deke had informed me that all her social media accounts had been deleted. Constance’s accounts, too.

Of course, none of that had done anything to make me feel better. I didn’t care about Bailey or her mother, so their downfall brought me no satisfaction. It’d just been a way to make Bailey pay for playing with Emerson’s life.

I was also fairly certain that Emerson wasn’t going to forgive me, and it would be no less than what I deserved. However, I was hoping that she’d find some peace or satisfaction in knowing that Bailey was paying for her cruel games. Maybe she’d be happy that her aunt was suffering, too. During our weekend together, Emerson had told me all about how her mother’s family had abandoned her mother in their time of need, and Constance’s and Bailey’s suffering was the only thing that I had to offer Emerson at this point. I knew that she didn’t care about my money, and my last name meant as much to her as a million other people’s last names. I also knew that if I uttered the word ‘love’ to her, she’d probably stab me in the neck before I even finished my sentence.

I’d also let her.

Hantover was a day’s drive northeast from Sands Cove, and I was using every minute of the drive trying to figure out how I was going to get Emerson to forgive me. A part of me wrestled with just letting her go because I knew that there was nothing that I could say to make her forgive me. Still, no matter what, she deserved an apology. She deserved to see me beg for her forgiveness. She deserved to see me beg, period.

I didn’t make it a habit of lying to myself, so I knew that the real question was whether I would be able to let her go or not. If she says that she wants nothing more to do with me, what was I supposed to do with that?

When I’d told her that I loved her, I’d meant every fucking word. I did love her. I loved her so much that the betrayal that had sliced through me when I’d thought she had played me had nearly crippled me. That was why my revenge had been so lethal. I’d wanted her to hurt as badly as I’d been, and it had worked a little too well.

Nevertheless, I didn’t regret what I’d done because it’d been brutal. No, I regretted what I’d done because it never should have happened. I should have confronted Emerson privately, giving her a chance to explain. I should have hunted her down, then demanded an explanation.

However, I hadn’t.

Instead, I had let Bailey’s poison seep through my pores until I’d bought what she’d been selling, and it didn’t matter that she was paying for it now. It also didn’t matter that I had hunted down the guy that had helped her execute her scheme and had left him in the same shape as Jamie, Ricky, and Roman.

So, my only two choices were to let her be, or to force her to be with me until she called the cops or killed me. I didn’t mind the killing much since I’d be dead and not have to suffer in this life knowing that Emerson existed but wasn’t mine. It was the calling the cops that gave me pause. My money could buy me out of stalking charges only so many times, and it would suck to be stuck in jail and never see her again. So, it looked like she was going to have to forgive me because everything else tilted towards illegal activity that I wasn’t above attempting.

I finally made it to Hantover, and the town looked exactly as she had described. It was small with buildings looking about as old as the town itself. When Emerson had been telling me about her hometown and her childhood, she had painted a very vivid picture of Smalltown, USA. She’d said the town had a ‘rich’ side, but it was really just middle-class compared to the rest of the nation. My GPS navigation was leading me down the town’s main street that was lined with shops, a laundry mat, and the like. However, this was actually a good thing for me because it wasn’t going to take much for me to find The Cozy Diner.

Whenever I thought about confronting her, I imagined a scenario with vile words, physical abuse, and lots and lots of blood. So, I was hoping that approaching her at work would limit all three of those things. While I wasn’t trying to ambush her at her place of business, I knew that she was going to see it like that, but I just needed to try to get an edge anyway that I could.

It wasn’t too long before I finally found what I was looking for. The Cozy Diner was a commercial corner property that was located smack dab in the corner of the two busiest streets, according to the internet search that I’d done on Hantover.

I slowly crept by the diner, and looking in, I could see Emerson serving tables, and my heart skipped a beat. I pulled into the parking lot located behind the diner, but I didn’t get out right away. I sat in my car, trying to calm my racing heartbeat. After wasting another ten minutes, I finally found my balls and got out of my car, then headed towards the entrance to the diner.

When I pushed the front door open, I swear to God, an honest-to-goodness old-time bell rang from the top of the door. I scanned the diner, but I didn’t see Emerson anywhere. My eyes were straining towards every nook and cranny of the place, trying to locate her, when a tall blonde approached me, her trained smile spread across her face.

“Hi, there. Can I find you a seat?” Rebecca-read her name tag-asked as she gave me an appreciative look over. I wasn’t surprised by her perusal, but at least she wasn’t as obnoxious about it like most girls.

I smiled back. “Actually, I’m looking for Emerson. If it’s not too much trouble, you can just point me to her section, and I can wait.”

Her smile stayed perfectly in place, but the sparkle in her eyes died a quick death. “Oh, uhm, sure,” she muttered. “Just…uhm, follow me.”

Following her, we weaved our way through the tables, then Rebecca sat me down at one of the corner tables for two. I took my seat, then looked up at her. “Thank you, Rebecca.”

“No problem,” she replied. “I’ll go let Emerson know that she has a customer.”

I watched Rebecca disappear towards the back, then prayed for divine intervention that these next couple of minutes would be long enough for me to get my shit together.

Chapter 32

Emerson~

My shift was going to end in about an hour, and I dreaded it. I hated the thought of going back to the trailer with nothing to do but drown myself in sorrow and self-pity again. I’d been so happy when Muriel had said that I could return to work immediately, because I needed something to do if I was going to move past all that crap with Ramsey.

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