Page 12 of Ember
“I will be,” she assured. “Mom took it pretty hard. I think a part of her believes what my father is saying about Marco’s death being her fault. She was his wife for so many years; I’m betting that he did some major damage to her psyche.”
“That’s horrible,” Ember breathed. This next part was going to be painful, but she had always been a rip the band-aid off kind of girl. “And I hate to pile on, but I have to head back to New York.” She didn’t necessarily have to go back to NY—it was more of a want to. She felt this unexplainable need to go back to Yonkers and begin her new life—whatever that might end up looking like.
“So, the mystery guy wins,” Kelsey teased. She was surprised that Kelsey remembered her even talking about a guy. Ember was careful not to mention Jack—they didn’t even know his name.
“No,” Ember breathed, “I win. My new life is there, and I’m not even sure that there is a mystery guy anymore.” That was the most she had said about Jack in the past two weeks. A bus ride was going to do her some good. It would give her time to think. That might be a bad thing, but she was hoping that everything would end up as it was supposed to be.
“But you said that he has been texting you. I took that as a good sign,” Kelsey challenged.
“He has been, I just haven’t been texting back. I just needed some time to think, but I’m ready to go back to New York. I have something that I need to do up there, and I have a feelingthat it’s what I’m meant to do—you know?” Kelsey nodded and smiled, although Ember was pretty sure that she wasn’t following what was coming out of her mouth. Hell, she was having trouble following her train of thought, and she was the fucking conductor.
“I just want you to know that no matter what happens, you can always come back down here and stay with me. I know that my brother wasn’t an easy person to love, but I do know that he loved you.” That wasn’t something that she’d ever believe. If you claim to love someone, you don’t beat them until they agree with you, but telling Kelsey that wasn’t going to happen. If Marco’s little sister needed to believe what she was saying, then so be it.
“Well, he loved me enough to stalk me,” Ember teased. “Sorry,” she squeaked. “I should have kept that to myself.” Sometimes, she just couldn’t help herself.
“I don’t think that he was actually stalking you,” Kelsey said.
Ember barked out her laugh. There would be no holding her punches with this part for Marco’s little sister. “Your brother followed me to New York and tried to drag me back here,” she reminded.
“I don’t know that it was his idea to come after you. When you two broke up, I was pretty upset, but he told me that he was okay with it. He said that your relationship had run its course. He was fine with letting you go.”
“Okay, then what changed?” Ember asked.
Kelsey shrugged, “I’m not sure. I do know that Keith started hanging around more at the time. He always did love to egg Marco on, you know? Maybe he stuck his nose into Marco’s business and told him to come after you.”
“That’s a stretch,” Ember said. “Keith and I had no problem with each other.” He was Marco’s best friend and someone who was always around. He played bass in the band, and Ember kindof accepted Marco and Keith as a combo package—where there was one, there was the other.
“He did come up to New York with Marco,” Ember whispered to herself. Why would Keith want Marco to stalk me?” she breathed.
“Again, it’s just a theory, but I was around the two of them enough to know that they were up to something when you left, and Keith seemed to be the one calling the shots for some reason.” Ember wasn’t sure what she was going to do with that new bit of information, but for now, she’d tuck it into her back pocket for later.
“Will you drive me to the bus station?” she asked Kelsey.
“Of course,” Kelsey agreed. She stood and pulled Ember up to hug her. “I’m sure going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too, Kelsey,” Ember said, wrapping her arms around her. She didn’t have too many friends in the world but knowing that she could count Kelsey as one of them felt good.
“Let me grab my purse and tell Mom that I’m leaving,” Kelsey said.
“I’ll come with you,” she offered. “I’d like to say goodbye to Jean—if you don’t think that it will upset her too much. Ember knew that letting go of her past wasn’t going to be easy, but she had a bus to board and a new life to get to. All she had to do was put one foot in front of the other, and she was pretty sure that her path would lead her back to Yonkers, New York.
Spark Plug
Jack had left Ember sixty-four messages in the short two weeks she had been gone. Well, it had been almost three weeks now, but who was counting? He was, and the wait for a response from her was agonizing.
He had spent most of his time at Hurricane’s House, hanging out at the bar, pretending not to miss Ember. God, he missed everything about her—even her sexy mouth that seemed capable of taking down small nations with one sarcastic quip.
The other half of his time, he spent at work, trudging through cases that left him feeling hollow inside. He had kept an ear to the ground for any news about Marco and his buddies hanging around looking for Ember, but he knew the truth. Once she stepped foot back in Florida, he wouldn’t be able to protect her from her past anymore. The thing was, Jack wasn’t sure that Ember ever needed his protection. She was so capable, even when it came to handling herself around Marco and his friends.
Jack sat up at the bar and cringed when three of the guys’ Ol’ladies surrounded him. Tina was married to Hurricane, Wren to Yonkers, and Brandi was married to Reacher. “We need to talk,” Wren said.
“Good to see you three,” he said. “How can I help?” The guys in the club knew to steer clear of the three women standing in front of him. They were trouble when they put their heads together, and he had a feeling that now was going to be no different.
“Where’s Ember?” Brandi asked. After just a few months of Ember hanging out with them, she had become one of them. It’s why Hurricane had asked her to be in charge of the Harlots—he knew that she was a good fit for the roll. Plus, all the women seemed taken with her as their new Prez.
“I thought that she told you guys,” he said. “She’s in Florida.”
“We know that, but what’s taking so long?” Tina asked. That was a very good question—one that he’d like to know the answer to, also.
