Page 15 of Stolen Dreams

Emmett stands there watching me, and his eyes go to our hands that are linked together.A look I’ve never seen on his face washes over him.“It’ll be fun,” he says to Lucy, who just squeezes my hand like I told her to do the day before if she was scared.

The words get lodged in my throat, and I’m about to say something when Autumn comes in with Landon in his stroller.“Hey,” she greets us, and I smile over at Lucy.“There she is,” she says and looks at me, and I raise my eyebrows.“Are you having fun with the horses?”Autumn asks Lucy, who lightens her grip on my hand.“I was going to see my friend at the donut shop and then go to the park and thought you might want to come.”

“Oh, fun,” I state, trying to make Lucy look at me so I can see her eyes, and she does.“They have the best donuts I’ve ever had.They are this big.”I pick up my other hand and show her.“Can you bring me back one?”She looks at me, then at Charlie and then Emmett, before looking back at Autumn.She nods and lets go of my hand, and my fingers absentmindedly move to grab her hand back.But she walks away with Autumn with her head down.I watch Charlie look at me and then look back at Emmett before he follows Autumn.

“Thank you,” Emmett says, walking into the horse stall with me.

“There is no need to thank me.She’s amazing,” I say, and my phone vibrates in my back pocket.“I think she would love to ride,” I suggest, and he nods at me the same way his daughter did to me not too long ago.“I can take her.”

“No,” he snaps.I try to hide the hurt, but I’m afraid I’m not fast enough.He says something, but I hold up my hand.

“I understand.”My eyes get dry, and my nose pinches.Before I lose it, and he sees how much that hurt me, I walk away from him.“I’ll see you later.”

ChapterNine

EMMETT

Iwatch her in front of me, her eyes lighting up when she talks about Lucy.“There is no need to thank me.”Her soft smile comes out, making her even more beautiful.She is always beautiful, but when she smiles, it simply takes my breath away.“She’s amazing.”She fidgets with her hands, and I can see she is nervous about something.She looks down and then looks back up at me.“I think she would love to ride.”I nod, agreeing but still not able to say anything.“I can take her.”

“No,” I snap.When I do, I see her eyes shield over, a look that shows me how hurt she is by my tone.A tone I use with her all the time, a tone I’ve used so she wouldn’t know she was getting under my skin.

“I understand.”Her voice sounds like it’s dead, monotone, and not there.My stomach tightens, and I fucking hate it.“I’ll see you later.”

She turns to walk out of the stall.“Lilah,” I shout, and she stops in her tracks, “wait!”

She slowly turns around to face me.“I didn’t mean it like that,” I start to say and run my hand through my hair.“I mean, I didn’t mean to snap.”

“But you still meant that you don’t want me to take her riding,” she replies, and I nod, “because I’m reckless.”

I close my eyes for a beat, hearing my own voice in my head telling her she was reckless so many times.“No.”I shake my head.“Because I want to be the one who does that with her.”I take a deep breath in.“She hasn’t said a fucking word to me since I met her.”I close my eyes, trying to fight back the emotions coursing through me.Emotions I thought I didn’t have since I grew up hollow and empty.Emotions that are so foreign to me, I think there is something wrong with me.Emotions I have no idea what to do with.

“Which was?”she asks and I don’t even think I can look at her when I tell her, the shame might be just too much for me to bear.

“Six days ago,” I reply and she gasps.I finally look up at her and see her with her hand to her mouth.“She said one sentence to me,” I admit.“Am I going to have to live with you now?”I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut.“That’s it.Then it was nothing, not a peep, not a sound.Nothing but nods and shakes.”My voice trembles on the last word, and I stop talking to clear the lump from my throat.“Then I come to find you two, never expecting to hear her voice and then her laughing.”

“Emmett.”Her voice is in a whisper, and I’ve had dreams of her saying my name in that tone.Dreams where she would smile at me while she looked into my eyes and said my name just like she did.Dreams I would wake up from and wish were real.Dreams I feel were stolen because they weren’t supposed to be mine.

“It’s fine.”I shake away the emotion.“It’s all good.Thank you for helping her.”I put my shoulders back, standing straight, not willing to show her how it felt listening to Lucy talk to her.The hurt that she was so comfortable with Lilah that she even giggled.But to me, I’m the worst human in the world to her right now.Instead of staying and talking to Lilah, I take a deep inhale and start to walk out of the stall, marching right past her.However, the stall isn’t big enough for me to clear her, so I have to move to the side not to touch her.I’m about to walk past her when I feel her hand grip my arm, stopping me from walking out.

I look down at her hand on me, not sure there was ever a time she’s had her hands on me, and it is exactly the way I thought it would feel like.Heaven.“Emmett.”My name is a whisper on her lips, and my heart, which has been all over the place the past six days, finally feels like it’s beating normally again.I stand beside her, our faces toward each other, our eyes locked.Our chests rising and falling at the same time.“I have no doubt she’s going to trust you soon enough.”Her hand lets go of my arm, and I want to slide my fingers with hers.“I should know, I trusted you the first day I met you.”I watch her lick her lips, wanting nothing more in my life than to mix my tongue with hers.Fuck, I’ve never kissed her, but I have a feeling one kiss would make everything in the world better.“She’ll come around, and then she’ll never want to leave.”

The lump is back in my throat as she moves away from me, walking out of the stall, leaving me alone with her words.My eyes track her every movement as she turns the corner and disappears from my view.My breathing feels erratic, and I need some fucking air as I walk away from her instead of toward her.

Closing the stall door after me, I walk toward my desk, seeing Bobby and Sammy there.“Hey, I’m going to the other barn.”I don’t even wait for them to say anything to me.Instead, I walk out and get into my truck.

Hector spots me when I arrive.“Want me to saddle him up?”he asks of my horse.

“I’ve got it,” I say.“Just going for a quick run.”He doesn’t say anything more to me, just gets on with his chores as I walk into the barn and grab my saddle.I get him out of his stall and out of the barn before I mount him.“Let’s go.”I say two words to him, and he’s already gone.

Riding has always been a stress reliever for me.I need a good ride, and I’ll be back better than ever.I push my horse faster and faster, the wind on my face, but nothing can make the burning in the pit of my stomach better.

I get off him when we get close to the barn and let him go as I see Hector bringing out the other horses.“Leave him there.I’ll take care of it.”I walk him over to the water by the side in the shade before I walk back to my truck.

Taking my phone out of my pocket, I see Charlie texted me while I was riding.

Charlie: Got the name for the school and called them for a meeting.Be back with her to pick you up at eleven.

I put the phone back in my pocket and look at the house that now feels like it’s her own personal hell.When she went to bed, I sat outside her door with my back to the wall and my knees up, listening to her cry.I wanted to go in and comfort her, but I knew nothing I said would have made it better.I got up after fifteen minutes and turned the handle of the door.She must have heard it because when I stuck my head into the room, she faked that she was sleeping.Another kick to my stomach—she hated me so much she would pretend she was sleeping.I closed the door behind me and sat outside again for another ten minutes, listening to her sniffling before it stopped.

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