Page 61 of Beaten

“Fuck. This is a mistake.”

My heart shattered.A mistake?With fresh tears blurring my vision, I pushed past him, grabbed my purse off the counter, and ran out the front door.

I ignored him when he called out, “Emily, wait.”

I’m a mistake.I unlocked Ashley’s car, hopped in, and fumbled with the keys. My tears were flowing freely, making it hard to see. But not so hard that I couldn’t see Jamie as he ran across the street.

As soon as the engine turned over, I yanked the car into drive and pulled away. I didn’t want to hear anything else he had to say. The word mistake echoed through my mind as I drove home, the road blurred by my tears.

God, I’d been so stupid. I tried to be more assertive, more carefree, more like Ashley. And it had totally backfired.Jamie thinks kissing me was a mistake.He’d been so nice all day. So charming.

Craig was charming, in the beginning, too.

When I turned onto our street, I looked for the SSI car but didn’t see it.Right. I was with SSI all day, so the person assigned to shadow me for the night wouldn’tstart until I came home. Which I’d just done rather abruptly. I could only assume Jamie called whoever was scheduled after I left.

I pulled into my parents driveway, shoved the car into park, and shut it off before getting out, slamming the car door and storming to the porch. I looked over my shoulder as I fumbled with my keys, suddenly feeling exposed. There was no one here to protect me if Craig showed up.

Chapter 28

Jamie

“What the fuck just happened?” Ashley’s angry voice cut through the chaos in my mind as I walked back into the house.

I wish I knew.What the fuck, indeed.

One second I was kissing Emily, the next she was running out the door. Except that’s not exactly what happened. I was holding her against the wall, kissing her, claiming her. When I grabbed her ass and pulled her into me, something in my brain clicked.Emily deserves better than being groped in the hallway. I doubt she’d expected me to act like a horny college frat boy when she initiated the kiss.

I’d pulled away, jerked away really. I meant to tell her what I was thinking, how I felt, that she deserved to be treated with respect, wooed, loved properly.

But what came out? “This is a mistake.” I didn’t have time to correct myself before Emily’s eyes rounded in shock and filled with tears, then she pushed past me and ran out the door.

I called out, unable to make my stupid feet move to follow her, but she ignored me. My feet finally obeyed my head when she slammed the door, and I ran after her calling her name. I was too late, she was already in the car, and she’d sped away the instant the engine revved to life.

“I,” I looked back at the door.I fucked up. “Shit.” I needed to get Dean to the Taylor’s house. I pulled out my phone and called him. When Ashley started demanding answers, I put up my hand to quiet her and turned around so I didn’t have to see her glaring at me. I could only put out one fire at a time.

“Dean, it’s Jamie, Emily just left, can you get to the Taylor’s ASAP?” I was afraid if I followed her, I’d make things worse. But that didn’t mean I’d leave her without protection.

I pocketed my phone and turned back to Ashley. And AJ.Great, an audience.

“What the fuck happened, Jamie? Why did Emily race out of here?” Ashley crossed her hands over her chest and shot daggers at me.

“I was kissing her. But it was all wrong.” Ashley raised an eyebrow. “Not kissing her, the circumstances.” I looked over her shoulder to see Jack and Meg walking in. Their concern evident in their body language, and etched on their faces.

I didn’t want to talk about this, at least not with them, so I did what I do best and started problem solving. I wasabout to tell Ashley she needed to go support Emily, but she beat me to it.

“AJ, can you take me home?”

“Sure thing.” He gave me a sympathetic look before turning to Jack and Meg. “I’ll come back and help clean up after I drop Ashley off.”

“No worries, we got it.” Jack answered.

Ashley grabbed AJ’s hand and dragged him towards the front door. “Let’s go.”

After then left Meg asked me what happened. I gave them the abbreviated version, highlighting my stupidity. Then asked what I should do.I can’t believe I’m asking Meg for relationship advice. Then again, she went through something like this with Jack, so she was the perfect person to help me get through to Emily.

Meg suggested I give her time, let her calm down, because right now she was acting on raw emotion.

But I didn’t like that answer, so I ignored her.

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