Page 87 of Snowed In with Four Firemen
I glare at him, my fists clenched at my sides. “Then what the hell happened? You just accidentallystarted fooling around with her in a closet? So your words mean nothing now?”
Emily starts to shake her head. “Wait…what pact? What are you talking about?”
Shit.
She steps closer, adjusting her shirt. “You guys made a pact about me? You were discussing me behind my back?”
“It’s not like that,” Axel says.
“Then what is it?”
Jace lets out a heavy sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Isn’t it obvious what we want, Emily? We were just trying to simplify things between the four of us.”
Her eyes flash, and she crosses her arms tightly over her chest. “Obvious? What’s obvious is that you all apparently think I’m some sort of prize to be won. That I’m just sitting here waiting for one of you to make a move.”
My chest tightens, and I realize just how badly I’ve screwed up. “Emily, it’s not like that?—”
“Oh, really?” she cuts me off, her voice shaking with anger. “Because that’s exactly what it sounds like. You all got together, made some kind of deal, and decided that I’m just supposed to choose one of you? Like I’m an item on a damn menu?”
Axel steps in, his voice steady but cautious. “Emily, that’s not what we meant. We just…we didn’t want to complicate things for you.”
“Complicate things for me?” She scoffs, taking a step back, her gaze bouncing between the three of us. “You think I’m not already confused? You think this makes things easier? God, you guys didn’t even talk to me about any of this. You just assumed?—”
“We didn’t assume anything,” Jace interrupts, his tone defensive. “We were trying to give you space to figure things out. We didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Well, congratulations!” Emily snaps, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You’ve done a great job of that.”
Tanner,why couldn’t you keep your big mouth shut? I think to myself, but the words are already tumbling out. “We just thought?—”
“No,” Emily says, cutting me off again. “That’s the problem.Youthought. You all thought, and not once did any of you ask me whatIwanted. You didn’t think that maybe this is already complicated enough for me without you guys making deals behind my back.”
I can feel the weight of my mistake crashing down around me, the guilt twisting in my gut. “Emily, I?—”
“I’m not some prize to be won!” she snaps, her voice trembling. “I’m a person, and this…this whole pact thing? It makes me feel like none of you actually see me as an actual person.”
Jace opens his mouth to respond, but Emily holds up a hand, silencing him. “No. I’ve had enough. You think you were protecting me, giving me space to choose, but you were just treating me like something to fight over.”
“I’m sorry but with Whit and the proposal…I guess it threw things off axis for us,” I say.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask Whit to propose. I didn’t even know he was going to do that.”
“So…are you thinking about it?” Axel asks, his voice careful.
Emily crosses her arms, her jaw tight. “I’m not sure. It’s complicated. But you crossed a line here, Tanner.”
I shake my head. “Fuck, I can’t handle it. I care too much. I think I love?—”
Before I can finish, however, the sound of heels clicking against the floor echoes down the hall, and then Chloe strides into the scene, her eyes locked on us like a shark smelling blood in the water.
“What’s going on here?” Chloe asks, her voice all sweet and syrupy, but from the look on her face I can tell she’s really enjoying this.
Emily’s expression darkens immediately. She shoots a glare at Chloe, clearly pissed off at her arrival. Without another word, Emily steps out of the closet, brushing past Chloe like she doesn’t even exist.
Chloe’s eyes flick to Emily, then back to us, a smirk playing at the corners of her lips. She steps in closer to Jace, blocking his path as he tries to follow Emily out. “Where are you going, Jace?” she purrs, sidling up to him like a cat.
I watch Jace’s jaw tighten, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “Not now, Chloe,” he says, his voice low, but I can tell he’s trying to keep his cool.
Chloe, though, is relentless. She pouts, leaning in closer to him. “Oh, come on, Jace. I’m just curious. Everyone’s whispering about what’s going on between you guys and Emily. I figured I’d get the story straight from the source.”
