Page 91 of Beautiful Harmony

“I’ll come with you,” he said.

She glanced at Phoebe and then at the other diners. Most were staring at her and Lucas, and fresh hot shame washed over Emma.

She shook her head. “No, I want to be alone.”

“Emma, wait, I’ll take you home and -”

“I said no. Goodbye, Lucas.” She forced herself to keep her back straight and her head up as she walked out of the diner, hellishly aware of how everyone stared at her.

* * *

“Emma, let me in.”Lucas knocked again on her door. Well, maybe pounded was the better description. Any minute now, her neighbours would start peeking through their blinds to see what the fuck was going on.

He didn’t care. Something was terribly wrong with Emma, and he couldn’t just ignore that.

She asked you to leave her alone.

Yeah, she did, but Emma tended to withdraw when angry or upset, and he needed her to know that she didn’t have to do that with him. And the look on her face at the diner… fuck, he couldn’t get it out of his head.

He knocked again. “Emma, please. I’m not leaving until you talk to me for at least five minutes.”

The door opened, and Emma glared at him with her glorious temper on full display. “You’re being a dick right now, Lucas.”

“I know. Can I come in?”

She sighed loudly and stepped back. “Fine.”

He stepped inside and shut the door before leaning against it. “What did Phoebe say to you?”

Her sarcastic laugh hurt his heart. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Obviously, it does,” he says. “Please tell me.”

“Why did you invite her to have dinner with us?” she asked.

“I didn’t,” he said. “Phoebe told me she had to dine alone. I said that was a real shame, and then she said she’d love to join us and sat beside me. I didn’t want to be rude or hurt her feelings, so I didn’t tell her to leave.”

“She tormented me when we were kids. I mean, she tormented many kids, but she was especially heinous to me and Rayna. And it hasn’t stopped. She was a bully as a child, and she’s a bully as an adult,” Emma said. “She goes out of her way to make people miserable because it makesherhappy.”

“I’m sorry,” Lucas said. “I didn’t know she was like that.”

She laughed bitterly. “Of course you didn’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“It means you see a pretty girl, and it doesn’t matter what her personality is. She can act however she wants, treat people however she wants, and still have men like you falling all over her.”

Hurt shot through Lucas with the force of a bullet. “Men like me, huh?”

“You know what I mean,” she said.

“Yeah, sure I do,” he said. “But it hurts pretty fucking bad that you, of all people, believe that’s who I am.”

“I’ve seen you flirt with her,” Emma said.

“I flirt with everyone!” Lucas’s voice was too loud, and he took a deep breath. “Or at least I used to. But, whatever. I guess you only see what you want to see about me. I thought we were friends, but that was before I realized you believe I’m the kind of guy who’ll sleep with someone just because they’re attractive.”

“That isn’t what I said,” Emma snapped.

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