Heartbreak Roommate

Chapter Twenty-Four

I didn't know where that power came from, but it was like a fire that filled me up from the outside in. It was a burning light that sizzled the nest of pain in my chest.

Once we were all buckled in, Emmett dared to speak. We were both seated in the back on opposite sides of the car while Lucas drove.

"Well, that was an eventful family dinner. Your dad agreed to help us out and figure out the case number tomorrow, so that's a plus."

He didn't ask about the meltdown. Either Lucas had already filled him in or he simply didn't want to pry into my personal life. It still felt like I owed him an explanation.

"Look, about what happened back there-"

"No no, it's cool. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I can tell that you're still really worked up from it, we can talk later if you still want to tell me."

"Thanks," I said, the fluttering in my heart coming from somewhere other than the massive amounts of adrenaline that was quickly leaving my body.

Our eyes met in the backseat, passing headlights illuminating his bright eyes and for a moment I imagined what it would be like to lose myself in them.

The thought of his hands running up and down my body, his lips on my own, traveling down my neck to my chest...

A burning in my cheeks reminded me that I probably shouldn't have been fantasizing about Emmett while staring longingly into his eyes, lest he find out the contents of said fantasies.

I cleared my throat and tore my eyes away, even if it was the second hardest thing I'd done that night.

I couldn't believe my mother, bringing Christian's father to our home like that. He was running for the Senate and my mother was trying to get my dad voted to be police commissioner, so I assumed she was trying to get on his good side.

What a total miscalculation on her part. If anything, I had completely and totally derailed her plans to get my dad voted into any public office. There would be no way that Harvey Berks would support his run after the things I'd just yelled at him.

I still couldn't believe her complete and total disregard for my feelings in the situation. There was once a time, before all of this drama had occurred, that we'd been best friends.

We used to always go shopping after school every Tuesday. We'd go to the local mall and she would let me pick out any top I wanted, and later we'd go have ice cream and cookies in the food court.

I remembered our trips to the nail salon, our numerous family vacations...it was always us against the world, until it was me against her.

But then boys happened, and I became too enraptured in trying to get their attention that I'd let my guard down...and the rest was a history I knew all too well ingrained in my memories.

"Hey, you okay?"

We were in park back at the rent house, and the guys were waiting on me to get out.

"Yeah, fine," I said, forcing my arms to open my door and then my legs to exit the car.

"Lydia, I have to go to bed because I have a huge project due tomorrow, are you going to be okay tonight, after everything that happened?"

"I'll be fine Lucas, thanks for going with me tonight."

"Love you sis."

"You too."

And then there were two.

I shuffled into the kitchen to grab some ice cream and cookies when a shadow descended upon me.