Page 93 of Burned in Stone
That stops them cold. For a moment, they just stare at each other—Emma breathing hard, Bones perfectly still.
“That’s not the point,” she finally says, but her voice wavers.
“It’s exactly the point.” Bones pushes off his bike, and the movement brings him toe-to-toe with her. “You got snatched by professionals. Your phone was destroyed. No one knew where you were. But I did. I found you. And if I hadn’t?—”
“If you hadn’t, I would have figured it out myself!”
“Right. Because you had that situation so under control.”
“I had a PLAN!”
“What plan? Pirouette your way through three armed men?”
“That’s—you’re—” She’s sputtering now and suddenly spins toward the clubhouse. “I can’t do this. I can’t even look at you right now.”
She storms toward the entrance, and Bones follows.
“Emma, wait?—”
“NO! No waiting! No talking! I’m done!” She yanks the door open. “SEVEN YEARS, BONES! You’ve been tracking me for SEVEN FUCKING YEARS!”
“More like six and a half?—”
“OH, WELL THAT MAKES IT SO MUCH BETTER!”
They disappear inside, voices echoing.
“That’s why you always just ‘happened’ to show up, isn’t it?” Emma’s voice carries through the open door. “The coffee shop on 52nd? The bodega by my apartment? That restaurant in Brooklyn I’d never been to?”
“I was checking in?—”
“YOU WERE STALKING ME!”
Something crashes.
Stone moves toward the door, but Tank catches his arm. “Give them a minute, boss.”
“She just got kidnapped?—”
“And she’s processing,” Maggie says. “Let her yell it out.”
We all file inside to find Emma pacing at the bottom of the stairs while Bones stands there with his arms crossed, looking like he’s being lectured by a very small, very angry tornado.
“You know what the worst part is?” Emma whirls on him. “Every time you ‘ran into me,’ I thought—” She cuts herself off, shaking her head. “Never mind.”
“Thought what?”
“NOTHING! It doesn’t matter!”
“Emma—”
“Is my apartment still here? I need to get away from you before I commit murder.”
“Upstairs,” Stone says. “But, Emma, it’s not?—”
“I know where it is, Dad. I’ve only lived here my entire life.” She storms up the stairs.
Bones starts to follow, but Stone’s hand lands on his shoulder.
