Unbroken

trust that everything will work itself out, but I can’t do it anymore. I can’t feel like this all over again!”
    “You can’t?” Emerson turns on me with a bark. He gestures angrily towards the house. “How do you think I feel? I’m gone for a few hours, and you go running right back to him!”
    “What? No!” I cry, confused. “Daniel isn’t… I didn’t call him here.”
    “But you didn’t send him away either.” Emerson’s face is grim: closed off and remote, like all his defenses have snapped back down. The distance in his eyes sends a chill right through me. “I guess it was all bullshit, huh? All that stuff about being broken up with him. You always knew he was the one you’d choose!”
    “Stop it!” I yell, “Don’t make this about him. He’s just trying to help.”
    “Sure he is,” Emerson drawls cruelly. “I guess his money helps too, and his fancy college degree. I shouldn’t be surprised. What was that you said to me, how I’m just like my parents?” Emerson adds, and in a flash, I remember our final fight again, and all the terrible things we said.
    “I didn’t mean it,” I whisper.
    “Sure you did, and you’re right!” Emerson yells. “Just look at me, I’m nothing. I’ll always be nothing. It’s why you picked him, isn’t it? I’ll never be good enough for you!”
    I reel back like I’ve been slapped. “Is that why you left me this morning?” I demand, suddenly furious. “Do you really think that little of me?”
    “I call it like I see it,” Emerson tells me with a cruel smirk. “You picked right, with that guy. You belong with him.”
    “But I don’t want Daniel!” I scream, trying to break through his icy demeanor. “I want you!”
    My voice echoes through the yard, out through the trees and dunes, and the tall grasses that bob and bend as the sharp breeze whips around us. I stand there, shaking, in agony. If he could only listen to me! If he would only understand!
    But Emerson doesn’t flinch, and when he looks back at me, his eyes are dead behind those velvet lashes, so cold in the way I’ve only ever seen once before.
    The last time he left me.
    A storm of emotion comes crashing around me, my heartbeat roaring in my ears. “You’re doing it again,” I whisper, gripped with a dread so cold I can’t feel my arms or legs. “You’re ending it.”
    Emerson’s jaw is clenched with tension, but his posture is casual. I think I see something flash in his eyes, but then his face is set again. Determined. He gives a shrug, so relaxed that it breaks my heart clean in two.
    “Why not?” He says coolly, like it’s all just a game to him. “Fuck, Jules, I never promised you anything. I figured, this was just a one-time thing, you know?” Emerson gives me a leering smirk. “One more fuck for old time’s sake.”
    I crumble with a sickening sense of déjà vu. “You don’t mean that,” I shake my head, desperate. “I don’t know why you’re saying it, but it’s not true!”
    “Sure it is.” Emerson meets my gaze head-on: empty and dark-eyed, like a stranger. He strolls closer, a grim smile on his lips. “You know, it was fun, watching you put up a fight, trying to be a good little girl. I bet Garrett a hundred bucks I could get you out of those panties in a month,” he adds.
    I gasp. “That’s a lie!” I protest wildly. He keeps approaching me, and I back until I hit up against the truck.
    Emerson looms closer, reaching out to trace a blazing path along my collarbone. “Sorry, sweetheart. I figured you’d give me a run for my money, but you were so hot for me, it didn’t even take that long.”
    “Stop it,” I sob, pushing his hands away. I can’t believe what he’s saying, or the cruel smirk in his smile. This isn’t my Emerson, it can’t be!
    “What? You don’t want me anymore?” Emerson’s voice is twisted and teasing. “That’s not what you said last night.” His voice drops, and he leans in closer, breath hot against my ear. “You were moaning my name,” he murmurs. “Begging me to fuck you harder. Don’t you remember?”
    I choke back a sob as he reaches to caress my shoulder. I shudder at his touch, feeling tears flow wet down my cheeks even as my body tightens with desire. I hate myself for the shivers sparking through my body, how my breath quickens just to feel his body close, and my nipples harden against his chest.
    “See?” Emerson whispers triumphantly, and I realize with a flush of shame he can