Page 94 of Burned in Stone
“Bones.” Stone’s voice is quiet. Dangerous quiet. “Is something going on between you and my daughter?”
Bones goes still. For a long moment, he doesn’t respond, just stares up the stairs where Emma disappeared. Everyone in the room holds their breath.
“I’ve been doing what you asked,” Bones finally says, voice carefully neutral. “Keeping an eye on her.”
“That’s not what I?—”
“WHO THE FUCK IS LIVING IN MY APARTMENT?!” Emma’s shriek cuts through the tension, and Bones takes the opportunity to sprint up the stairs after her.
Cash winces beside me. “Oh. That.”
“THERE ARE CLOTHES IN MY CLOSET! SOMEONE’S SHAMPOO IN MY SHOWER!” More crashes from upstairs. “ARE THOSE—IS THAT A MAN’S RAZOR?!”
Bones’s voice floats down the stairs. “Technically, the apartment was never yours. You said you didn’t want to stay with a bunch of sweaty bikers—your words.”
I wince. That was possibly theworstthing he could have said.
“TECHNICALLY YOU CAN GO FUCK YOURSELF!”
“Emma—”
“NO! I just got kidnapped, I found out my most trusted friend has been tracking me like a wild animal, and now someone’s living in my space!” Her voice cracks. “I just—I need one thing to be how I left it. Just ONE thing that’s still mine!”
The raw pain in her voice makes my chest tight. Cash squeezes my hand.
Bones’s voice gentles. “Everything about you is yours, Emma. Your space, your life, your choices—I never wanted to take any of that from you.”
“Then why does it feel like you already did?”
Silence.
“Because you never fucking ask for help until it’s too late! Because I’m forever racing across state lines to save your ass from your own bad decisions.”
“Then stop saving me. I don’t even need your help!”
“You needed it tonight!”
“Once! I needed help ONCE in seven years!”
“You needed my help in Vegas! You needed my help when that asshole director tried to corner you in the dressing room! You needed my help when your so-called roommate stole your rent money and you were too proud to call Stone!”
“Those were different?—”
“How? HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT?!” Bones’s voice rises to match hers. “Every time, Emma. Every time you’re hurt, or scared, or in trouble, or just fucking lonely—who do you call?”
I watch Stone’s face as Bones’s question hangs in the air. His jaw is tight, eyes locked on the stairs like he’s trying to will himself not to charge up there and separate them. Maggie’s hand finds his arm, a silent reminder to let this play out.
“You,” Emma finally says, voice barely audible. “I always call you.”
More silence. Then Bones speaks, and his voice has lost all its edge. “That’s right. Me. Not your dad. Not Lee.Me. Because even when we were kids, you knew I was the one person you could trust to show up. No judgment. No questions. Just there.” His voice cracks slightly. “So yeah, I tracked you. And yeah, I should have told you. But don’t you dare stand there and tell me I took something from you when all I’ve ever done is show up when you needed me.”
The silence that follows is suffocating. I glance at Stone, whose jaw is working like he’s chewing glass. Lee looks ready to storm up there himself. Cash pulls me against his side.
Maggie speaks first. “That’s a lovers’ quarrel if I ever heard one.”
“That’s my little sister you’re talking about,” Lee spits.
“And my daughter,” Stone adds.
