A Shroud of Secrecy

   ▪️ Emily ▪️

       Whoever said drinking would make your clothes fall off wasn’t lying. Emily woke up and instantly knew something was wrong. First of all, she never slept naked. And she certainly didn’t share her bed with anyone else, yet here she was, in a hotel room with someone snoring next to her, and she had no clothes on.

       Oh, and her head was seconds away from exploding.

She closed her eyes, hoping the spinning room and thumping headache would lessen, but instead she he felt sicker than ever when a foot brushed against her. Almost afraid to see who was lying beside her, Emily cracked an eye open, then squeezed it shut.

                  Oh, no. No, no, no. Please, God.

      Maybe she was still drunk and had moved on to the hallucination portion of the night. Or was it morning? Cautiously, she again peered at the naked man stretched out on the her bed.

                     Fuck. This is not good.

          Emily sure as hell wasn’t drunk anymore, and she certainly wasn’t conjuring up the soreness of her muscles when she shifted position. It was that particular soreness that didn’t arise from working out in the gym. Nope.

       She winced and decided to make a valiant effort to sit up and hopefully make it to the bathroom before she lost control over whatever rumbled and gurgled in her stomach. Gingerly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and levered the rest of her body to a seated position.

               She pushed off the mattress, and the room promptly turned upside down. Knowing she had barely a moment to spare, Emily mustered the inner strength she was famous for and raced to the bathroom, where she spent the next several minutes alternating between wishing she were dead and cursing herself for her stupidity.

      How did I allow this to happen? How could I have been such a fucking idiot? She thought. 

      But Emily knew why. Watching her baby sister, Olivia, get married the previous evening had hit her like a punch in the gut. It seemed like only yesterday hse was holding her hand on their way to school or hugging her tight when she’d wake up from nightmares and their mother was too sick to get out of bed. 

        She'd been watching out for her and protecting her, as she’d promised their mother she would. Now she was starting a new life with Laim, and he was at a loss.

       Who was she, now that she wasn’t her little sister’s keeper?

      She picked herself up off the floor and braced her hands on the sink, feeling somewhat human again, but winced when she gazed at her pale reflection in the harsh, unforgiving light of the bathroom.

       Damn, she look like rough trade after an extra hard night.

       Red marks littered her neck and chest, and was that a bite on her shoulder? She touched the red spot and hissed at its tenderness. Finger-shaped bruises marked her biceps and hips.

              What the hell was I thinking? She thought. 

     First things first. She brushed her teeth and washed her face, starting with cold water to wake her the hell up, then hot. Her lips throbbed, swollen and sore. Even her tongue hurt.

         A noise from outside had her whipping around, her head alternating between spinning and pounding. She wasn’t accustomed to being off-balance and off guard. She prided herself on remaining stoic no matter what she faced in life, yet here she stood, uncertain and fearful to leave the safety of a hotel bathroom.

        “Fucking idiot,” she muttered under her breath. “You’re entitled to one mistake.”

         But damn it, did it have to be such a big one?

     “Emily, stop hiding and get your ass out here. I have to pee.”

      The edge of laughter in that voice turned Emily's already sour stomach inside out. Here she was, obsessing over what happened, and that idiot was treating it like he did everything else in life—as if it were nothing at all. A joke. 

            Emily lifted her chin and strode out of the bathroom.

      “I was not hiding. I was cleaning up.” She tipped her head, avoiding the bright-eyed, grinning man on the bed. “Go ahead.”

         How could Ace be so wide-awake and unaffected? Emily couldn’t have been the only one drunk, and the last time the two of them had faced off, Ace called her a goodie shoe who probably hadn’t gotten fucked in a year.

          You showed him how wrong she was. Not only did you get fucked, you did it with him. With Ace. 

        “Well, it sounded really ugly in there for a while. Glad to see you recovered.”

           Ace sprang off the bed, and Emily averted her eyes, but not before glimpsing a nicely rounded, naked butt. When the door closed behind Ace, Emily scrambled to the dresser and yanked the drawer open. She pulled out a T-shirt and a pair of sweats, and pulled the pants on. At that moment, the most important thing was to no longer be naked and vulnerable.

         Ten minutes later, Ace emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, his tanned skin damp and glowing and smelling like the hotel body wash. He directed that unwavering grin at Jude.

       “Aw, you got dressed? I was hoping for a quickie before I left.” He waggled his brows. “We went at it so hard last night, I barely had a chance to savor it.” Ace licked his lips, his appreciative gaze sweeping over Emily, and damned if her body didn’t react.

     “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Emily scowled and froze as Ace strode closer, walked his fingers up her chest, then held her around the neck.

      “Sure you do. Last night? You were an animal, and I have the scratches on my back to prove it.” Ace ran his nose down Emily's cheek, and it took every effort to hold herself still and not shudder from the touch.

      She tried to take a step away, but Ace held her fast.

       “You surprised me,” Ace murmured against her cheek. “Don’t think I can’t tell you’re wet. And here I thought you hated me.” Ace fisted Emily's T-shirt and leaned in, eyes closing in preparation for a kiss.

      Feeling her control slipping again, Emily shoved Ace away. “I don’t hate you. I don’t have any thoughts about you at all. You’re nothing to me.”

     Ace heavy-lidded eyes narrowed. “Yeah? Guess it wasn’t you screaming how you wanted to fuck me harder and faster last night. You couldn’t get enough.”

       Icy-cold spread through Emily , and she bit she inside of her cheek. “I wasn’t myself last night. It was the liquor.” She checked the clock on the nightstand. “Now if you could please leave? I need to shower and get ready for the breakfast I’m giving for Olivia and Liam. 

You don’t have to come if you’re too busy.”

     “Well, thank you, for giving me the best night I’ve ever had.” Ace picked up his suit from the floor and swiftly got dressed. Even with his sun-streaked hair in damp waves and his shirt and suit wrinkled from lying in a ball on the floor, Ace was ridiculously good-looking. 

     And judging by the lazy smile tipping up the corners of his lips, the man knew it. “And of course I’m going to be there. Liam is my brother. And despite Olivia's sister being a goody two shoes pain in the ass, I love her. She’s a fantastic woman.” A little gold earring gleamed in his ear.

      “If you’ll excuse me, then.” Dismissing him, Emily turned around, cutting him off from her field of vision. “I have to shower and dress.”

      “See you there, Emily . Maybe we’ll be able to bury the hatchet now. After all, we’re family.”

             Emily didn’t answer. When she heard the door click, she expelled a whoosh of breath. She needed to get her shit together and head to the banquet hall. She refused to disappoint Olive. She never had, and she never would.