Page 119 of Renascence
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to answer when she called. What did she want? Permission to date some fuckface I’ve never even met? I know she’s okay. If she wasn’t, I’d have heard from Rico or the prospect. Getting Emily out of my system is something best done cold turkey. I couldn’t deal otherwise. She’s strong—stronger than me it seems, for her to be on a date. I’ve never given much thought to names and their meanings, but after she told me about mine, I looked hers up. If any of that shit is true, then she’ll be fine. Me? I’ve been keeping busy with renovating the showers at the gym just to keep her off my mind. Hasn’t worked for shit.
“Where is he?” Gage’s voice echoes through the clubhouse.
The crowd parts, giving him a clear path to me. He stomps over, Einstein in tow.
“Stand up,” he growls.
Whatever’s coming, I probably deserve it, so I do it without argument. Two seconds later, I’m on the floor, my jaw smarting from my prez planting his fist in it.
“Consider that me keeping my promise. You don’t answer your phone anymore?”
Forgetting the pain, I jump to my feet, heart hammering in my ears. The only calls I haven’t answered arehers. “Is Emily okay?”
“Oh, so now you care?”
“Prez….”
He takes pity on me, answering, “She’s fine, and on her way here. You got about two hours to get your shit together, motherfucker. After that, I’m personally helping Emily find another man.”
He storms off, mumbling under his breath.
“I guess you’ve made your decision,” Einstein says.
“Yeah.”
“And Emily? You find out what she wants?”
“Me.” I shake my head, still unable to understand why.
“I wonder why,” Einstein voices the words I was thinking.
“Save the sarcasm, Doc. Emily deserves the best. I’m not it.”
“Okay. If you really believe that, I’ll drop it.”
“I do.”
He nods, backing away. I head to my room, cleaning it up so Emily can stay there. Gage is right about one thing—I need to do everything I can to protect her. Cutting her loose didn’t help. If anything, it made her more susceptible to harm. I only hope she can forgive me.
After getting the room in order, I head to Sweet Treats to get her some of those cannoli. She seemed to love them. Fuck knows I loved licking the cream from her body.
Her body.
Fuck, I miss her in my bed. I can’t fuck her out of my system because I can’t even look at another woman. All I do is compare them to her.
“Hi, Venom!” the girl behind the counter greets me when I walk in.
“Hey.” I don’t even know the chick’s name, so I just point to what I want. “Let me have six of those.”
“Sure thing. You should get your fill before they’re gone.”
“What do you mean?”
She nods to the window and I glance back to see a “For Sale” sign taped to it.Huh.Interesting. I’ll mention it to Gage and see if he wants to go into the bakery business.
“Why’s it selling?”
“The owner’s retiring and moving to Florida.”
