Loving the Best Man (Friends & Lovers Book 2) (17 page)

“Grace, don’t go there!” Emerald warned, although she was fighting a smile.

“I think you should just move in here with Linc and live happily-ever-after!”

“Stop it, Grace.” Emerald pulled away from her friend and wagged a finger at her. “And keep your voice down! The door is open!”

“Sorry,” Grace said with a giggle, lowering her voice. “It’s been occurring to me lately that you and Linc are so perfect together and now I’ve decided that you two can’t just screw each other. You have to be married. And of course I will be a bridesmaid.”

“Enough, Grace.” Emerald walked to the office door and looked out. The hallway was empty. She closed the door.

“I don’t know how I never saw how much you two match,” Grace said, unfazed by Emerald’s warnings. “I have to admit, I was so shocked to find you in bed together. But the relationship has just made so much sense to me since then.”

“We’re having fun. And that’s all,” Emerald said, speaking to Grace as much as she was speaking to herself. She couldn’t let herself get too comfortable in Lincoln’s home or in his life.

“We’ll see.” Grace had a sublime smile on her face.

“As soon as my father’s in-laws leave town, I’m out of here.” She didn’t know why she suddenly felt the need to explain herself to Grace. “I couldn’t stay there because those morons invited themselves over.”

“Sure. We’ll see if you leave.”

“I will!”

“What’s the point? Just stay here. Why bounce from place to place?”

“I’m not going to stay here and play house with Lincoln. That could confuse things.”

“If you’re just having fun, why would staying here confuse anything? Hmm.” Grace tilted her head to the side, smirking, and sassily walked to the door. She opened it and strutted out of the room.

“Little bitch,” Emerald whispered affectionately under her breath. But she loved her friends for their honesty, even if they sometimes said things that she couldn’t handle hearing.

Chapter Nine

Emerald arrived at work the next day, in a somber mood but also optimistic. Lincoln had shown her how to block all contact from numbers that weren’t saved in her phone. It had felt so good to go the whole day without any stupid messages or notes. She felt so stupid for not knowing that she could block people that way.

When the harassing messages had first started to come, she’d blocked the number they’d been sent from but he’d switched numbers multiple times so it hadn’t mattered if she’d blocked his number. It was relieving knowing that he had no way to reach her on her phone. If she went to her apartment there would probably be a couple of notes waiting for her. She’d deal with that when the time came.

Tasha and Lacey were already at their desks but the office wasn’t actually open yet. Tasha was grinning down at her phone and Lacey quietly leaned back in her chair and sipped coffee.

“Good morning,” Emerald said, sitting down at her own desk. It was as clean and neat as she’d left it on Christmas Eve. In many ways it reminded her of Lincoln’s apartment. Pristine but plain. No personal touches whatsoever.

She’d already been at 50G for nearly six months and that had never bothered her before. It was strange that it would bother her now. But she decided she’d get a couple of little knick-knacks to adorn her desk, give it a personal touch.

Lacey and Tasha said their good mornings and they all asked about each other’s Christmases. Of course Emerald lied and said that hers was very nice. And although Samantha’s family were whack jobs, they hadn’t managed to ruin the entire occasion. Losing her car made the annoying Christmas dinner seem relatively minor.  

She looked over the days’ appointments and memos, and had just turned on her computer when she heard her name.

“Emerald, can I see you for a minute?”

She looked up to see Devin standing on the other side of island, looking very serious.

“Sure, Dev.” She stood up and left her desk, approaching the island quickly. She already knew what he wanted to talk about and she braced herself for a lecture. She’d always liked Devin although they hadn’t become close until the past year. Since she and Robyn had met in the eighth grade and become instant friends, Devin -and his family- had always been in the picture.

“I spoke with security,” Devin said, speaking very low so that Tasha and Lacey couldn’t hear. “They have a description of Evan Marley and they’ve been told to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”

“Okay.” She let out a small breath. At times the situation was still hard to believe.

“I know you won’t like it, but I also asked them to keep an eye out for you.”

“Devin-” She immediately protested.

“Don’t bother complaining about it.” He rested a hand on her shoulder. “They’re not going to follow you anywhere. That’s not what they’re paid for. They’re just going to keep an extra close eye out.”

“Thank you, Devin.” She smiled primly.

“You’re welcome.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze, waved at Lacey and Tasha and walked towards the elevators.

“What was that all about?” Lacey asked, tossing her empty coffee cup into the wastebasket near her desk.

“Family business,” Was all Emerald said. She would never allow Devin to be a part of office gossip and she had no problem shutting her coworkers down.

She ignored the look that Lacey and Tasha shared with each other and got down to work. With any luck, she’d be able to keep busy and almost feel normal for the first time in a long time.

“What’s wrong with you?” Devin asked Linc that night. “You’re never this quiet. What’s up?”

They were in a bar not far from Linc’s apartment. It was busy even on a cold Monday night and they’d been lucky to find a place to squeeze in at the bar.

The music was loud but not overbearingly so and the sound of laughter rang throughout the place, mixing with the music.

“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” Linc lifted his beer for a sip but it was tepid after sitting in front of him untouched for so long.

“Emerald?” Devin asked, already knowing where Linc was going with the conversation.

“I can’t figure her out. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” He repeated.

“I don’t think there’s a man in the world who understands women.”

“You got that right.” Linc waved at the bartender and ordered another beer. “Every time I think I’m getting closer to her she backs off. I can’t take her mixed signals. She’s making me crazy.”

“Talk to her.”

“It’s not time yet. She doesn’t know what the hell she wants.”

“What do
you
want?” Devin asked, looking sympathetic.

“Just to be with her. Is that too much to ask?”

“You are with her, bro.”

“She was going to go to her father’s house tonight,” Linc said suddenly, remembering their conversation the night before. “His guests finally went home. But I convinced her to stay one more night. And it helps that her old man still didn’t even ask why she needed to stay with him anyway.”

“Her father gets caught up in his own life sometimes. Too caught up. At least that’s what Robyn’s told me over the years.”

“Emerald said something like that last night. Said he got some promotion so he’s probably distracted by his new position.”

Devin sipped his own beer. “So this is her last night at your place?”

“Unless I can convince her to stay longer. What the hell is she so scared of?” Linc wondered out loud. He’d always thought he’d been scared to commit but it hadn’t been a fear of commitment. It had been a fear of committing to the wrong woman. Now he was ready to commit and he had to deal with Emerald’s commitment issues. He didn’t even know where to begin.

“She’s had a tough life,” Devin said simply. “You know a little about it but not everything. Talk to her. Keep it casual. She’ll open up. Start there.”

“I might as well,” Linc agreed, wanting to ask Devin for specific details. But that wouldn’t be fair to Dev or Emerald so he resisted.

“She’s tough,” Devin said, admiration in his voice. “But I know she cares about you. Believe me, she wouldn’t stay with you if she didn’t care about you. She doesn’t like to lean on anybody.”

Linc raised his eyebrows as he took in that information. It renewed some of his fading hope.

“She wouldn’t let me drive her to work this morning,” Linc said, thinking of how fiercely independent the woman was. It was infuriating at times. A man with a lesser ego would have washed-out and given up already.

“I’d wondered,” Devin responded with a grin.

Devin had dropped Emerald off after work and waited for Linc to come out of the apartment building.

“She said she didn’t want me to be late for work. I told her that’s up to me.” Linc wondered if he sounded as petulant as he thought he did. This was all new to him.

Devin still grinned but to his credit he didn’t laugh.

“She took the bus and the train. She’d rather take the bus and the train in freezing weather than let me drive her.”

“Even though we both work in the city, we’re on opposite sides. If you had driven her you
would
have been late. She’s right.”

“But that’s up to me,” Linc retorted. He took the beer the bartender slid over to him. “Fucking stubborn woman.”

“So you two argued?”

“You can’t even call it an argument.” Linc took a gulp of the cold beer and set the bottle down with a thud. “She just refused and didn’t want to talk about it. And I didn’t try to say much because I didn’t want her to change her mind about staying another night. Shit. I’m turning into a pussy.”

This time Devin did laugh.

“Shut up.” Linc glared at his best friend and Devin laughed even more.

“So what did your P.I. tell you?” Devin asked after laughing for several more seconds.

“Marley has an alibi for everything. He’s just started tailing him so he’ll let me know more in a few days.”

“What the hell…” Devin muttered.

“Some woman named Larissa who works with him and who’s his girlfriend. She claims he was with her both times that Emerald’s car got hit.”

“Shit,” Devin reacted harshly. “The bitch is lying for that asshole.”

Linc nodded. “I was pissed too. Still am. She’s going to help this guy get away with all the shit he’s done.”

“There has to be some way to get proof. What about all the notes the asshole left at Emerald’s place? She can’t be an alibi for all those incidents.”

“She admits that they’ve only been together for a few months. But she swears that they go home from work at the same time every night and leave out the same time every day. She said that they’re always together.”

“That’s bullshit. What couple is together twenty-four-seven?”

“Wilson said the detectives are skeptical of that so they’re keeping an open mind. The investigation goes on.” Linc finished his beer and signaled for another.

“I don’t think Emerald knows who the alibi is,” Devin said, “She didn’t tell Robyn anything about that. But she did say he had an alibi for what happened with the car.”

“She doesn’t know,” Linc confirmed. And he knew she would be mad as hell when he told her. “I’ll tell her later.”

“So who’s this security guard you hired?”

“Mark Appleton. Wilson got him for me. He’s outside my place watching right now.”

“Good. I can let Robyn know. She’s starting to really stress about this.”

“Don’t tell her.”

“Why not?” Devin frowned.

“Emerald doesn’t know about Appleton. I don’t want her to know.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day, Linc. You have to tell her. Maybe she’ll appreciate it.”

“No, she won’t. Trust me.” The woman had a stubborn streak like he’d never seen before. She thought she had to take on the world all by herself.

“If you don’t tell her about the security guard and she finds out later, she’s going to feel like you hid it from her. Tell her.”

He realized that Devin was right. He recalled her reaction to finding out about Wilson. He just didn’t want to go home and argue with her when it would probably be their last night together for awhile. Although she was a grown woman he couldn’t see her leaving his house in the middle of the night to go back to her father’s house. He already knew her well enough to know what she’d consider that inconsiderate to her father and his wife.

When Devin dropped him off at home a little while later, Linc felt resolute. He and Emerald were going to have a much needed talk. He hoped that it brought them closer together rather than pushed them apart but he didn’t know what to expect. She was so unpredictable. So far, every time he thought he was making progress with her it had quickly flipped. He constantly felt like he was being pushed back to square one.

Linc looked down the dark street in search of the security guard’s car. He’d met Appleton that day on his lunch break. The guy was in his early forties and was built like a truck. He had served in the marines before doing private security, which he’d done for more than ten years. Linc felt confident that Marley wouldn’t get too close with Appleton on the job.

Spotting Appleton’s unmarked black sedan, he waved at the man, letting him know he was free to go, before entering his building. Appleton sent Linc a confirmation text message and Linc sent a quick reply as he greeted the doorman and walked to the elevator.

When he entered his apartment, loud rap music greeted his ears. He hung up his coat and searched for Emerald, finding her in the kitchen at the stove. She bopped her head and moved her shoulders and hips as she danced to the music.

He smiled at the sight she made, dressed in a T-shirt and sweats and dancing while she cooked. Her hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and he thought she was so cute that he fought the urge to run up and hug her.

“Hey, Em!” He called loudly in order to be heard over the music.

She whirled around with a grin, apparently not caring that she’d been caught jamming all by herself.

“What smells so good?” He asked.

“Beef stew!” She called back. “I hope you like it!”

“I’m sure I will!” He went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He opened it and took a long drink. When he put the bottle down, she was gone and the music quickly turned off. She returned to the kitchen, still smiling.

“Had a good time with Devin?”

He nodded slowly, his stomach starting to churn as he thought of everything he wanted to talk to her about. At first he’d been apprehensive about addressing certain issues but an eagerness was beginning to set in and he knew he’d have to choose his words wisely.

“I told Robyn that we all should hang out sometime soon,” Emerald said as she stirred a pot of white rice. “We haven’t done that in a long time.”

“You mean like a double date?”

“No, it wouldn’t be a date. It would be the four of us hanging out like we did so many other times.”

It was the perfect opening to discuss their relationship but he decided not to. She looked so calm and happy cooking at his stove. He didn’t want to mess up her mood with a serious discussion.