Page 26 of Lose to Win: Lost Trilogy: Part 3
“Puck,” she grabs my hand and brings it to her chest, clutching it against her breasts. In another life, I would’ve taken advantage of the situation. In the current life, I feel nothing.
“I don’t want to hear anything else right now, Em,” I manage to speak over the lump in my throat. “I need a bit of time to process, yeah?”
She nods, snot and tears running down her face and pooling around her full lips. I can’t take not touching her, so I just lean forward and kiss the top of her head. That only seems to make her even more upset, but I don’t have any words of comfort in me at the moment.
I pull my hand away from her chest, and she lets go, albeit reluctantly. I wrap both arms around her body and bring her onto my lap, then switch seats so I can be closer to the window.
I hold her while she cries as I stare out at the white clouds that seem to travel with us. They look soft and inviting, like if you jumped on them, they would envelope you into the warmest hug.
We are literally up in the clouds, and I don’t want to ever come down. The disappointment stabs me right in the heart when the seatbelt warning comes on and we start descending.
Unlike when we took off, I am now more careful with Emily. I put her in the seat next to me, making sure I click her seatbelt on, then hold her hand tightly when we get closer to landing.
Jeff, the pilot, is good, and we barely feel it when we touch down. I hate how easy it is, and I hate even more the fact that we now have to get off the plane.
The plan was for the driver to take us straight to the courthouse in Las Vegas, where a judge is waiting to marry us. He can file the paperwork right away, so there would be no delay, and we would be legally married before we walked out of the building.
“What do we need to do to go right back?” Emily asks in her raspy from crying voice.
Her question makes me mad. That is the right thing to do, but I still want to lash out at her, make sure she feels as miserable as I do. I want her to hurt, to bleed out right at my feet.
My jaw is clenched hard when I turn my head to stare at her, and what I see hits me hard, like a lightning bolt. I love this woman. I really do. There is no way I want to live this life without her. And if that includes a baby I did not help make, so be it. That baby is now mine, too, just like its mother.
“We’re not going back for now,” I tell her, my voice coming out a lot harsher than she was expecting. I don’t know how to explain to her that I am so angry that I can’t think. But not with her, never with her. And the people who did this to her will die, there’s no doubt about it.
I look back out the window and watch the workers on the ground as they bring a ladder on wheels and anchor it by the door of the airplane. Jeff, the pilot, walks out of the cabin to unlock and open the door for us.
“I hope you enjoyed your flight,” he smiles politely at both of us. “I will wait for instructions on the return.”
I nod and drag Emily with me, rushing down the stairs and to the car Devereaux arranged for us. I don’t say a word as I wait for her to get in, then follow her inside the cool vehicle. The driver knows where we’re going, so I don’t need to tell him anything.
“Whatever you think you’re doing right now, Puck,” Emily’s voice reaches me through a tunnel of despair, “it will end badly. You need to let me go back.”
“No.”
She gasps in shock but doesn’t attempt to say anything more. Instead, she covers her mouth with one hand and stares out the window. I just look ahead, ignoring the buzzing of my phone, signaling an incoming call. It stops and starts, over and over again, until I finally reach my limit.
“What?” I growl at Sully when I see it’s him calling.
“When are you coming back?” I hear urgency in his voice, but I appreciate him not asking me where I am or why.
“Tonight,” I say, ignoring the sudden intake of air from Emily. The volume on the phone is up, and I know she can hear my conversation with Sully.
“Okay. We need to talk.” With that, he just hangs up.
I tap the phone against my thigh all the way to our destination, my focus solely on what needs to be done.
When the car stops, I jump out, then wait for Emily to crawl across the back seat until she can come out the same way I just did.
“Puck,” she tries to stop me when she notices where we are. “You need to stop!”
There is no way in fucking hell that I am going to stop. I start walking faster until we are inside the building. As soon as I give my name to the person sitting at the desk by where the metal detectors are located, I get a nod, and we are through. Since I carry, it is a blessing that they’re not making us go through the detectors.
We stop in front of the elevators and wait. That just gives Emily more time to try to get to me.
“Puck, you know this is wrong,” she cries. “On so many levels,” she adds. “You need to let me go. This is a bad enough situation. Why are we adding more to it?”
The elevator doors slide open, and I pull her inside the car with me. I push the button for the floor we need, and off we go.
