Parchment & Pearls

6. There's Definitely Something He's Keeping Secret

Chapter 6

There’s Definitely Something He’s Keeping Secret

 

 

“Drake!” Emmy yelled, jumping off John’s lap and running to him.  She collided with him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.  “Oh, my God!  You came!”

Drake laughed, steadying her against him.  “I told you I would try to make it…and I did.”

When Emmy pulled away, she wiped tears from her eyes.  “You never really tried in the past few years.”

“Well, Emmy Raymond,” he said, holding her at arm’s length.  “I wanted to see just how fat you’ve gotten in the last few months.”  He grinned, reaching down to put a hand on her stomach.  “I say again, whatever happened to you guys waiting to have a kid until after you graduated?”

Emmy laughed, shaking her head as she smacked his arm.  “Shut up.  Besides, technically, I graduated two years.  This is for my doctorate, thank you very much.  So after tomorrow, it’ll be Dr. Emmy Raymond to you, buddy.”

John was the one to answer, though, walking up to give him a hug.  “Besides, we weren’t really planning on it to happen.  It just kind of happened.  And, technically, the baby won’t be here until the end of October.”

Everyone got up to give Drake hugs and ask him how he’d been for the past few years.  Jason was grinning and joking around with him, happy to have his best friend back and being able to introduce him to Audrey.  Drake got to meet the three new additions to the family – Avery, Darcy, and Layla – since he’d been away, too. 

While everyone else was happy to see him…well, I wasn’t.  I wasn’t the only one, though.

Beau and Gage were glaring at him with narrowed eyes.  Savannah and Ash looked like they wanted to rip his head off.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Beau growled in my ear. 

I cleared my throat, trying to look anywhere but Drake.  “He’s here for Emmy.  The two of them and Jason have been friends since they were kids.  They haven’t seen him since the last time I did almost four years ago.”

But I couldn’t look anywhere else.  It seemed like I was the only one at the moment noticing Drake’s bruised jaw and busted lip, though they looked slightly healed.  They hadn’t been there when I saw him just a few days before.

“What happened to your face, man?” Ryan chuckled, patting Drake’s bruised cheek.  “Someone beat you up?  Please tell me the other guy looks worse.”

He laughed, swatting his hand away.  “Of course, they do.”

“They, huh?” Jason grinned. 

“Bar fight a few nights ago.  It wasn’t a good night…so I decided to drown my sorrows.  Not the best choice I’ve ever made, I’ll admit.”

As he explained, Drake’s eyes were locked on mine.  Everyone noticed and made a path for him as he slowly started walking my way.  I could feel Beau tense at my side, but he didn’t make a move.  I didn’t either, mostly because I couldn’t.  I was frozen in place as my heart pounded in my chest, Drake’s eyes locked with mine.

He stopped just a foot in front of me, reaching forward to take my hand in his.  Slowly, he ran his thumb over my knuckles.  “Hey, Hattie,” he whispered.

My eyes trailed over his bruised jaw, the cut on his lip, and finally up to his eyes.  I had to swallow a few times before speaking.  “Drake.”