“Emily,” she cheerily supplied. She barely finished speaking her name before she brought the bat up and swung.

The first thing I lost was my feet when the bat connected with my head. I hit the ground with a cry, and that was the last thing I heard when my hearing went next.

I could feel the first crack in my skull and my blood running down my forehead, though. She hit me again and my cheek connected with the concrete with a hard smack. I didn’t question how I could turn my head and see that her lips were still spread.

Emily’s smile never wavered.

It was also the last thing I saw when she took my vision with her third swing. The bat connected and I finally, mercifully, lost consciousness too.

It sounded like fireworks or a car backfiring.

I almost went back to sleep with an annoyed exhale until I remembered we lived too deep in the woods. Whatever made that sound had been too loud and too close.

“What was that?” Houston asked. He’d woken up too.

“I don’t know,” I answered with a tired shake of my head. My eyes were still closed.

“Then how about you both go back to sleep before you wake Braxton?” Loren grumbled in my neck as he hugged me tighter from behind. I could feel his morning wood, but sex was the last thing on my mind.

If Loren was awake, that means he’d heard it too.

Houston and I weren’t imagining things.

My eyes drifted open for the first time to see if Braxton was awake and wondering the same thing.

The spot where she’d slept between Houston and me was empty.

“She’s not here,” I said more to myself than to them as my heart began to race.

Having noticed, too, Houston was already up, grabbing his phone, and heading for the door. “Get the fuck up,” he barked at us both.

I threw Loren’s arm from around my waist, got up, and snatched a pair of pants—I didn’t care whose—from the floor as I went. Loren was right behind me, though he’d settled for the sheet wrapped around his waist.

Houston was already coming out of the bathroom when we stepped into the hall. For the first time, I cursed the size of this house. There was no sound now to tell us where to look next, and there were too many options to choose from.

“Braxton!” I shouted when I couldn’t think clearly enough to figure out where she would go. Our exhaustion had made it too hard to sense before, but now we were all too painfully aware.

Something was wrong.

Why was Braxton even up this early?

As soon as my mind formed the question, I remembered.

Today was Houston’s birthday.

She’d wanted to bake a cake.

My limbs were getting heavier, too heavy, as we raced down the stairs. I was nothing more than a block of ice by the time we reached the ground floor. Or maybe I was trapped inside of one.

Maybe she hadn’t left yet.

We rushed into the kitchen to check there first and came to a dead halt. The last person we expected to see was sitting on the island, swinging her short legs while she waited.

“Baby!” she squealed when our eyes connected.

I closed mine a second later.

How the hell was she here?

We didn’t buy this place until long after she’d disappeared. Emily wouldn’t know where to find us, much less how to get inside the gates. She’d need the code or the device, which she had neither.

“What the fuck kind of fatal attraction, soap opera, Days of our Lives bullshit are you on?” Loren snapped. “I don’t even want to know how you found us or why you’re here. Just get the hell out.”

My eyes opened when I heard what sounded like Emily’s feet hitting the ground. She was thinner than I remembered, and where there had once been mischief in her eyes, there was now only malice.

“You chased me for years,” she pointed out while ignoring Loren. “Now that I’m here, you want me to go? Sorry, I don’t think so.”

“Where’s his kid?” Houston asked her. “Since you’re well aware that’s who he was looking for.”

Emily glowered at him before turning to me. “You’re still letting them speak for you, I see.”

“What do you want?” I demanded, speaking up for the first time. I still hadn’t recovered from seeing Emily and finding her in our house.

Where the hell was Braxton?

“I want to give us another chance,” she answered as she kept coming closer, “and I know you do too. I know you still love me.”

Loren snorted.

“It’s too late for that, Em. I—we—we’re divorced.”

“Why do you think she’s here?” Loren mused out loud. “She knows that already.” The asshole couldn’t mind his business for two goddamn minutes.

“Yeah, but so what?” Emily challenged. “He still loves me.”

To fuck with Loren, she reached up and wrapped her thin arms around my neck. I saw my best friend stiffen out of the corner of my eye. I knew if I didn’t push her away soon, he’d fling her ass across the room.

It wouldn’t just be for Braxton, though.

It’d be for him too.

Loren was jealous of Emily then, despite his claims, and he was still jealous of her now.

I removed her arms from around my neck and took a step back. “Leave,” I told her. “And don’t come back unless it’s with my kid.”

“If there even is a kid,” Loren couldn’t help adding.

I gave him a look to shut the fuck up already. I could handle Emily all on my own. Loren made sure to sigh as loud as he could before closing his goddamn mouth. Finally.

“Can we talk in private?” Emily requested.

“It’s been five years. You had the chance to talk and work things out, but you chose to run away. I’m not interested in what you have to say anymore. Not unless it’s about my kid.” I searched her eyes. “Where is he?” Or her. I didn’t care as long as I got to be in their life. I didn’t want to miss another day.

“Jericho,” she said while letting the tear she’d drummed up teeter on her lower lash before rolling down her cheek. I was immune to them now, but she didn’t know that, so I let her play her little mind games. “It was very hard when I left. I was scared of what you might do if the baby wasn’t yours. I didn’t want to lose you, so I…”

“You what,” I snapped. I could barely hear my voice or thoughts over the roaring in my head.

“I didn’t have it.” She shifted on her feet as she looked everywhere but at me. “I-I got an abortion.”

“Then tell me,” I started as I backed her into the island behind her. I could feel my control slip to the point of no return. It was her body, so it was her decision, but I was pissed as hell that she let me chase her all that time for no reason at all. I stopped wanting Emily the second I found out she cheated. My only reason to stay had been my kid. “Why the fuck are you are here?”

“Because I lo—”

“You used me!” I exploded before she could finish. I didn’t want to hear those words from her. It only reminded me that I was still waiting to hear them from Braxton. I knew she felt it, but she wasn’t done making us sorry. I once told her if she wanted our respect she’d have to make us listen. She was literally taking my advice to heart. “You preyed on my weaknesses to get what you wanted, and then you threw me away when I got a damn clue. How the hell is that love?”

“Is that what they told you?” she snapped, referring to Houston and Loren.

I chuckled as I looked off. After five years of hunting her down, it was amazing how little I gave a shit now. All I wanted was to get Emily out of my sight so that I could find Braxton.

I didn’t care.

I just…I didn’t give a damn.

None of it mattered anymore.

Emily didn’t matter anymore.

There was no baby, which would have been my only tie to her. I was equally relieved and disappointed. I didn’t know how to feel about not being a father, after all. I just knew that as far as Emily was concerned…I was free.

I wanted to find Braxton and celebrate. Maybe put a baby in her instead.

Yeah…

I liked that idea so much more.

“Thanks for stopping by, Emily. Let me show you the door.” I turned away to do just that.

“Show me the—wait…are you kidding me?” she screeched, forcing me to face her again. “That’s it? You’re kicking me out?”

“Yup,” Houston and Loren said at the same time. “See ya.”

She curled her lip at them. I couldn’t believe I once thought she was beautiful. She was attractive still, but I wasn’t attracted. Honestly, I didn’t understand how she ever got my dick hard in the first place.

My ex-wife was evil as fuck.

“Jericho—”

“Not interested,” I cut her off.

“Well, I’m not leaving.”

I sighed and looked at my friends, dismissing Emily altogether. I didn’t even care enough to force her out. “Have either of you tried calling Braxton?”

I knew she must have been at Laine’s by now, but Emily being here had me paranoid and on edge. We never did figure out the noise that woke us or how Emily had found us or even gotten through the gate.