Page 10 of Unveiled Wishes

Now, Em was coming to visit for Christmas. I wouldn’t be able to avoid her, and How would ask too many questions if I wasn’t here. Any chance of volunteering for a run was out. Sabrewouldn’t have any assignments away from the clubhouse, and then he’d ask questions I wasn’t ready for.

I was going to have to grin and bear it. I could for a week. It was a lie that I kept telling myself.

Chapter 5

Two Peas in a Pod

Emily

“You’re no help, Eric.” My brother was driving me crazy. He had called to tell me it was okay to book the ticket, but he wasn’t working with me on dates and times.

“I told you I didn’t care. Just pick a date, Em. Email me the confirmation, and I’ll think about picking you up at the airport.” He blew out a breath, like he was over having this conversation. If he had just been helpful, I could have booked already.

“I don’t find you funny right now,” I exhaled into the phone. “This is our first Christmas together in a long time, and you’re not making me feel welcome.”

“If you’re not on that plane when you’re supposed to be, I am coming to New York and dragging you here myself.”

“Better. I’ll take that.” Eric had been a Marine for six years and a biker for not much longer than that. The Park Avenue Prince no longer spoke like he had a hot poker up his ass. “There’s an early morning flight on the twentieth. That’s the last weekend before Christmas vacation. Will that work?”

“Em,” Eric sighed. “Book it, and email me the confirmation.”

I made a few more clicks, paid for the flight, and that was it. I was officially heading to my brother’s for Christmas. “Eric, I’ve never met the club, and I want to make a good first impression. Who should I bring a present for to say thank you?”

“What do you mean?” His tone showed that he had better things to do.

“I don’t want to show up empty-handed. That’s just rude,” I said to him. When he didn’t answer me, I asked again, “Who should I bring a Christmas present for? Like a ‘thanks for having me, and putting up with my dumb brother’ gift.”

“I am not dumb.” He pulled the phone away from his ear. “Hey, Zook! Em said I was a dumbass,” I heard him yell.

Zook. Tyler Mitchell. My heart rate tripled, and if I passed out, I wouldn’t be able to explain why.

“She’s right. You’re a dumbass. Always have been.” His voice hadn’t changed in all these years.

“Whose fucking side are you on? Bros before hos.”

I gasped. How could my brother say something like that?

“Your sister isn’t a ho, and you better take that back before I bend you into a pretzel so that you can find your own dumb ass.” It wasn’t the prettiest thing that had ever been said to defend my honor, but it was the best.

“Since you two want to gang up on me, here, talk to Em.”

Had Eric passed the phone to Tyler?

“Em?” He had. I was going to kill my brother when I saw him.

“Tyler,” I said, hoping I sounded like the sophisticated woman I was. His last letter had accused me of being a little kid who had made something out of nothing.

“Hey, Em. I wasn’t sure if your brother was fuc... messing with me or not.” He always measured his words when he was speaking to me. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was afraid of what he might say, or if he just didn’t want to offend me. He didn’t do it with anyone else in my family.

“No, I was trying to get Eric to commit to a date so that I could book my flight. He just told me to do it, and he’d make it work.”

“He always says that and then bitches about what you decide, but if you try to include him, he doesn’t want to be bothered. Seven is too early, ten is too late. Fuc…crybaby.” I could hear the eyeroll in his voice.

“Hey!” I heard in the background.

“Yeah, it went something like that, until I finally just booked a ticket.” I tried to infuse a smile into my voice. I wanted Tyler to think everything was fine, but I was really shitting bricks to be talking to him. There were too many unanswered questions, and now wasn’t the time to dig. I wasn’t sure there was ever going to be a moment, and I had to make sure I was alright with that. I was visiting my brother, not interrogating his best friend.

“When are you coming?” he asked.

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