there, all I wanted was to be here.” She sank her teeth into her lip. “I could have died tonight and when he had his fingers wrapped around my neck, all I wanted to do was live.” She looked up. “All I want in my life is to be with you guys. I don’t know what it is you do to me, but I don’t want to be anywhere else. This is home. With you guys. I still don’t think it’s the perfect setup, but if you want me, then I want you all so much.”
“Then we’re going to make it work,” I said.
“Fuck, yeah,” Gael said.
“I like that Caleb gave you the illusion of having a choice,” Vadik said.
Emily laughed, resting her head on his shoulder. “I love you all. All of you crazy, stupid men.”
“We’re stupid, crazy in love with you,” Gael said.
She shook her head. “That’s not good. What do you guys think about kids?”
“Love them,” I said, and I did. I wanted a whole load of kids, but I had a feeling Caleb wasn’t so fond of the idea, especially after what happened to his mom.
“I want them,” Gael said.
“Me too,” Vadik said.
Caleb was silent.
“It’s a lot to take in,” she said.
“We’ll make it work,” Caleb said. “We all will make this work.”
Chapter Fourteen
Vadik
Ashley and Earl were due to arrive any time now. They didn’t exactly give us a time for when they would be here, just a day. Emily stood in the closet, a towel wrapped around her body as she fingered her way through the endless supply of dresses, skirts, pants, and shirts. We’d fully stocked her closet.
I was distracted by the small gap in the towel that kept showing off an impressive, juicy thigh. Emily had lost weight during her time away from us, and I hated it because I knew it was down to sadness. When Emily finally fell asleep last night, we all agreed to do our part in taking care of her. We weren’t going to fail her again.
She was the love of our life in every single way that counted. We were going to make this work, and part of that was taking out our family once and for all.
I never wanted Emily to know the truth of the extent of torture I put my father through, just for the pleasure of it. He’d hurt me and I had gone out of my way to hurt him. If I didn’t find him first, I knew it was going to cost me in a big way. He’d hurt Emily and I couldn’t allow that to happen.
“I have no idea what to wear,” she said, taking out a black dress, which looked a little too formal to me.
“She’s your best friend, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then why not just go with the whole casual look?”
She groaned. “We haven’t seen each other in so long.”
“Emily, babe, it has been about a week.”
This made her stop and turn toward me. “Are you kidding me?”
I laughed and stepped into the closet. “I’m not kidding you at all.”
“Wow,” she said. “Really, a week?”
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close and breathing her in. “I’m not joking. It’s been a week.”
“It feels like I’ve never left.”
“You haven’t left this house in nearly a week, Em.” It was clearly messing with her mind and I didn’t like that. Pressing a kiss to her neck, I held her tightly, never wanting to let her go. She meant everything to me. I couldn’t get enough of her. I knew my friends felt this way, too.
“I’m so stressed.” She rested her head back onto my shoulder. “Why do I feel this way?”
“It’s your best friend and you know what is going to happen today. You’re nervous. If Earl has agreed to bring Emily, then you need to know he’s not hurt her in any way.”
“Do we really need him on our side?” Emily asked.
“Why don’t you wait to see Ashley to see what she thinks of everything happening? What if she likes belonging to Earl? You enjoy being ours.”
“But that’s different. I’m in love with you. Earl only wants her for what he can get and that’s not good. Ashley deserves better. She wants to be a cook and write cookbooks, and make cooking shows, and do all that stuff. She’s normal.”
I slid my hand between the slit of her towel and cupped her pussy.
She gasped. “Vadik?”
“You need to relax. You’re way too stressed, and panicking like this, it’s not