7.1
chapter twelve , Aftershock
a/n : it's been awhile!
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Emerson didn't want to be in this position. I mean, she always had things under control. She tried to keep things just the way she liked them. And Emery liked William. But liking someone just isn't enough. And the end of their relationship proved that.
Emery lets out a huff as she sets the boxes on the ground. She straightens her back and looks at the loft door. Emery swipes her tongue across her lower lip. She knocks on the door and starts to walk down the hall. Then the door swings open immediately.
"Emery?"
The curly-haired girl doesn't stop, she just keeps walking.
"Emerson, wait!" William jogs down the hall and catches up to her.
Emery stops and turns to him. "I only came by to drop your stuff off." She then looks to the side. "That's all..."
William stuffs his hands into his slack pockets. "I also had stuff for you, if you wanted to come and get it."
Emery swipes her tongue across her lower lip and nods her head. She follows William down the hall in silence. Neither of them knew how to even start off a conversation that wouldn't lead into screaming. So, it was easier to not say anything at all. William stops at the door and opens it. He steps aside and lets Emery in.
She presses her lips together before stepping into the apartment. Emery looks at the one box with her name on it. She makes her way over to the box while William closes the door. Emery opens the box and a small breath leaves her lips. "Did I really not have that much stuff here?"
William leans against the wall. "You didn't really like staying over."
Emery gnaws on her lower lip, "Right..." she picks up the shirt and a crease forms between her brows. Emery stands up and turns to William. "What the hell?"
William raises his brows, "I-It was your favorite shirt of mine." He looks off to the side.
Emery looks back down at the Muppet Graphic Tee and she grinds her teeth and William notices. "Em—"
"You don't remember?" Emery asks.
William blinks and he looks at the shirt, then back at Emery. She raises her brows and a bitter chuckle leaves her lips. "God, it was two nights ago, Will!" Emery raises her voice. "Stacy was wearing this shirt!" She tosses it at William and he catches it.
William's eyes widen, "Shit, Emerson. I had no idea—I'm so—"
"Yeah, you're sorry." Emery picks up the box. "I've heard it all before." She lightly pushes him out of the way and opens the door. William drops the shirt to the ground and follows after Emery.
"Emery, please, let's talk."
"There really isn't anything to talk about." Emery speed walks down the hall and her stomach tightens with rage. "Go to work, Will."
Emery gets to the door of the complex and leaves the building. William continues to call out to her, but Emery's rage continues to grow. Emery gets closer to her car, but she quickly drops the box and turns to William with tears in her eyes.
"I know we had issues." Emery presses her hands together. William closes her mouth and swallows. "But, I don't understand why you didn't fight for us. I was...I was trying—"
"You didn't want to be with me, Em." William says. "No matter how much you cared about me and wanted to make us work...I knew it had to end."
"You thought that this would be better?" Emery snaps. "Cheating on me—"
"Emerson, I love you, okay?" William gently grabs her hands. Emery shakes his head and the thoughts she's been keeping down this entire relationship start to come out.
"Well, I don't love you." Emery's voice starts to shake.
"Wh-what? Emery—"
"I'm serious, William." She softly shoved him back. "Believe me, I have tried but I...I couldn't."
Emery knits her brows together when she sees the distraught look across William's face. "I'm sorry, William. But, deep down, you knew I didn't..." she looks off to the side and sniffles. Emery grabs the box and picks it up. "I am really sorry, Will. And I wish you the best."
William keeps his shaking eyes on Emery's. He wanted to say so much more to her. But he knew that nothing would matter. William and Emery were done. And he had to let her go. Emery needed him to let her go.
"Y-Yeah...I wish you the best too, Em."
William walks away from the girl and Emery watches as he goes back into the building. She looks to the side and scoffs. "I'm so fucking stupid..."
She tosses her box into her car and gets in.
☆
"Oh, thank god."
Hen, Chimney, and Bobby watch as the girl makes her way over to the table. "Food, I need food." Emery grabs a plate.
"You always need food." Hen comments.
Emery rounds the counter and stands beside Bobby. She frowns, "Food is one of the seven wonders in this world." she then points at herself. "At least it's one of my seven wonders."
Bobby places an omelet on her plate and Emery smiles.
"You ever feel like you missed your calling, Cap?" Chimney asks.
Emery sits beside Chim and starts to eat.
"What are you thinking? Michelin-rated restaurant or short order cook?"
"I was thinking TV chef." Chimney voices. Emery hums and points at Chimney agreeing.
"I mean, what you do, it's like performance art." Chimney states.
Hen nods, "And much like watching cooking on TV, we never get to taste anything. Usually, by the time it hits the table, the bell goes off."
"Knock on wood," Emery speaks.
Hen knocks on the wood of the counter, "Thank you."
"Captain, I feel like you would definitely have a cooking competition show." Emery nods her head. "Find the next best Chef?" she takes a bite out of her omelet.
Bobby chuckles at the girl's comment, "There are plenty of shows like that, right now."
Emery shrugs her shoulders, "Well, yeah, but I feel like you could give a new perspective to the art of cooking." she points at Bobby. "Just a thought."
"All right, speed round. If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?" Bobby asks.
"Fighter Pilot. Topgun. Call Sign: Shogun." Chimney answers in a dramatic tone.
Emery and Hen look at each other before laughing. Chimney pulls his brows together, wanting an explanation. Emery slightly opens her mouth, "Look, Chim, I am all for anyone wanting to be anything they want. But, planes? Don't those kind of freak you out?"
Chimney purses his lips, "I mean, yes. But, if I wasn't a firefighter and became a Fighter Pilot--that fear would've been wiped away!"
Emery frowns and nods her head, "Fair point." she looks at the woman in glasses. "What about you, Hen?"
Hen sits on the other side of Chimney. "Editorial cartoons, The New Yorker."
Emery, Chimney, and Bobby exchange a look. "I have a lot to say," Hen says with a shrug.
"Can you draw?" Emery questions.
Hen slightly opens her mouth, "I mean, no, but it's a dream." she shrugs. "It's not supposed to be attainable."
She then points at Chimney. "Top Gun? You can barely drive, you rebar head."
"Hey!"
Emery laughs and takes a bite out of her omelet.
"All right, Em. What about you, huh?" Chim looks at the girl. "What job would you have had if you weren't a Firefighter?"
Emery's smile saddens and she thinks. There was a time when Emery had another career in mind. She was so passionate about it, then she pivoted to being a Firefighter. And that's when her marriage started to fall apart.
Emery blinks and looks at each person at the table. "Uh, Photographer." she nods. "Definitely would've been my job."
"Is Photography an actual job?" Buck speaks, making his way over to the four.
Emery scoffs, "I was wondering why today was so peaceful..." she points her fork at Buck. "Probie was nowhere to be found."
"Former Probie, Emi."
"I don't have an 'i' in my name." Emery huffs. "And yes, photography is an actual job. How else could there be photos in articles and photos of celebrities in magazines?"
"All right, Buckaroo, if you were not a member of the LAFD, what would you be doing?" Chimney asks.
Buck opens his mouth, "Uh, I don't know." his face then drops and he snaps his eyes over to Bobby. "I'm not getting fired, am I?"
Emery sighs, "One can hope."
"He'd be a Golden Retriever." Hen states. Emery then scoffs, "One that pisses all over the carpet."
Buck reaches over Emery's shoulder. She moves her gaze and pierces her challenging brown eyes into his. Buck smirks, "You know what, Em? I feel like you could also be a Golden Retriever."
Emery laughs, "Oh, you're joking, right?" she then looks at Chimney and Hen for backup, but they look away from her. Emery's back straightens and she looks at Bobby, who presses his lips together. Did they all think she was a Golden Retriever? Emery looks at Buck and he cheekily smiles.
"Okay, well, at least I'm not a Golden Retriever that pisses on the carpet." Emery seethes.
Buck laughs and tosses his apple in the air confidently, knowing he got on Emery's nerves.
"I feel like Buck would be a bartender." Chimney states. "No, no, no Bouncer at a bar."
"A bouncer at a strip club," Hen speaks.
Emery snorts, "The owner of a strip club."
Hen and Chimney laugh with Emery. The three of them exchange high fives. Bobby notices Buck's silence, "What's going on with you, kid?"
"You and Abby finally call it quits?" Emery leans her chin against her hand and teasingly smiles at the boy.
Buck gives Emery a pained smile. He chuckles, but then his face drops. "Me and Abby are fine, actually."
Emery holds her hands up, "Somebody's mad..."
Buck sighs, "Traffic sucks in this town unless you're driving ten tons of engine with sirens." he states. "It took me almost two hours to get from Abby's place to the call center downtown, then back over here."
"Just told Maddie she needs to start ubering."
"Or you could stop going to your girlfriend's vacant apartment," Emery says. "She has no pets or plants, so...what are you still doing there?"
Buck deadpans at the girl, "You are relentless, you know that?" he tilts his head. "Don't have anything better to do?"
Emery purses her lips and hums. "Oh, come on...you know you enjoy our banter."
Buck couldn't help but smirk at that. He then pulls his brows together and his smirk drops. "Right, you wish."
"How's your sister settling in down there?" Bobby asks.
Buck looks at Bobby and smirks. "Well, she's a Buckley. Practically running the place," he says with all the cockiness in the world.
Emery wrinkles her nose, "Shut the fuck up..." she murmurs, loud enough for Buck to hear.
Hen, Chimney, and Emery stand up with their plates and go sit at the table. They've had enough of Buck for one shift.
After eating her omelet, Emery went to work out. The entire time, she was putting all her focus on the punching bag. And she was just imagining it was William. It made it a lot easier to slam her fists into the bag without restraint. After working out, Emery felt her phone begin to buzz. She pulls her phone from her leggings pocket and sees messages from Amaya.
Mom and dad dropped me off at your apartment. It's date night.
Emery purses her lips and sputters. She was planning on being alone tonight, but after her conversation with William, she needed someone to talk to. Emery texts back.
Yeah, I'll pick up a pizza after my shift. You pick out the movie :)
Emery slips her phone back into her pocket and makes her way to the locker room. She pulls her tank top over her head and folds it neatly, as usual. Even though Emery was still in deep thought about William, she wasn't going to let that get in the way of her job.
"Someone's quiet."
Emery's body tenses from the grating voice. She turns to see Buck at his locker. "Yeah. You should take a page from my book." She buttons her work shirt up.
"Oh, what's the matter? You and William finally called it quits?" Buck says the same phrase Emery teased him with earlier.
Emery stops pulling her leggings off and sighs. The girl stays silent which causes Buck to turn to her. "Oh shit, did you guys actually...?—"
"No!" Emery shakes her head. "No, we just...it's none of your business, Probie!"
"Well, 1. I'm not a Probie anymore, that's Eddie. And 2. All I need to know is if this is going to mess with your head and affect our shift." Buck raises his brows.
Emery scoffs and shakes her head. "It won't." Her tone was firm. "And quite frankly, I'm offended you even asked me that."
They both look back into their lockers and finish getting dressed. Buck closes his locker, "Hey, I'm just looking out for my co-worker."
Emery closes her locker and walks with Buck toward the exit. She keeps her eyes forward, "Well, I don't need you looking out for me. I can take care of myse—"
The entire firehouse starts to shake, which causes everyone to either stop what they're doing or let out sounds of shock.
"Earthquake!"
The lockers being to shake violently and fall to the ground. Emery stumbles to the side and so does Buck. "This has gotta be a seven."
"How about we leave the room with glass doors before we predict the level of this earthquake is?" Buck voices.
Emery slightly opens her mouth and nods her head. "Right, of course." She and Buck run out of the locker room.
A wire snaps down in front of Emery's feet and she stumbles back. Before she could fall to the ground, Buck grabs her arm with one hand and grips her waist with the other. He pulls her toward him and her chest hits his. Emery grunts softly and tilts her head up to meet Buck's eyes. "Uh..." she couldn't think of anything to say. The earthquake comes to a stop.
The feeling of Buck's hands on hers and her chest pressed against his was something Emery never thought she would feel. And she definitely didn't think she would like it.
And yet here she was. Her body gradually began to get hot.
Emery pulls her brows together from the thoughts and pulls herself from Buck's grip. "Thanks—Thank you."
Buck opens his mouth, "I wasn't gonna let you fall, Em. I don't hate you that much."
Emery forces out a chuckle. "Funny. You're a...funny man..." she walks away from him.
Emerson lets out a quick breath and tries to cool her body down. She shakes her head, "No way this is happening to me..."
"All right, 118!" Bobby calls out. "We are going to have calls coming in from everywhere in L.A. be prepared--"
The alarm blares through the firehouse. Bobby nods his head, "Let's move out!"
Emery looks at Buck before quickly walking towards the Fire Engine. Buck, Eddie, and Emery were in the fire engine. Emery was trying to get ahold of Amaya and her parents. But she got nothing. She scratches the side of her neck. "Eddie, you got anything?"
Eddie tries to send one last message and he curses. "No, nothing."
"Everything okay?" Buck asks.
Emery sinks into her seat, "No service." she sighs.
"And that means texts won't even go through," Eddie says.
Buck looks between the two, "Who are you trying to get ahold of?"
"My son. I'm trying to reach my son." Eddie answers.
Emery presses her lips together and gives him a pat on the arm.
"Whoa, you got a kid?" Buck asks.
Eddie looks through his phone, "Christopher. He's seven."
"And super adorable. I, uh, I love kids." Buck states.
"Maybe you could tell us more about that some other time." Emery squints her eyes at Buck, telling him now wasn't the time.
Buck's smile drops.
"Well, I love this one," Eddie says, his eyes sadden. "I'm all he's got. His mother's not in the picture."
"He's at school?"
"Yeah." Eddie looks back at the picture of his son.
"Hey..."
Eddie turns to the girl on his right. Emery had a comforting smile across her lips. "He's gonna be fine. Schools in L.A. are so guarded. Those kids are safer in that building than being outside."
Eddie presses his lips into a small smile. "Thanks, Em." he searches Emery's eyes. "What about your family, they answer?"
Buck shifts his eyes to Emery and notices her body tense. He then looks down at her phone and sees the many text messages that didn't go through to her family. Emery shakes her head, "Uh, no." she scratches at her wrist. "My parents are pretty ready for these kinds of things. But my sister..." she trails off. "She's at my apartment right now and as a Firefighter, I have everything bolted to the walls, so she should be good for the most part." The girl thinks.
"Unless the entire complex falls into itself and becomes an enormous sinkhole." Emery inhales a deep breath. Buck and Eddie exchange a look as the girl begins to worry herself. Emery looks back at her phone and tries to text her sister again.
"Emerson."
She shifts her eyes up and meets Buck's eyes. And for the first time, since she's ever looked at him, his expression was soft. And it was towards her.
"You know how you just told Eddie that his son was gonna be fine?" Buck raises his brows. "Well, your sister's going to be fine too. And so are your parents."
Emery slightly pulls her face back. She then looks at Eddie, wondering if they both heard the same thing. Eddie then nods his head with a small smile, confirming to her that they in fact heard the same thing. Buck totally tried to calm Emery down. And it worked. Holy Shit. Emery manages a small smile. "Thanks, Probie."
☆
"Holy Shit!"
Everyone looks at the girl and she slightly jumps. "I-I'm sorry." she then closes her eyes.
"I'm guessing from that reaction you guys have never dealt with anything like this before..." Eddie says, his eyes also on the tilted skyscraper. It was close to collapsing.
Emery lets out a breath from her lips, "You are correct."
A couple soon passes by the firefighters shouting about their eight-year-old daughter still being inside. Her name was Kat.
"They seriously think that's gonna hold it up?" Buck points at the incident crew. They were propping up metal bars against the tilting building.
"It's kind of protocol," Emery states. "They have to try and do everything they can. Because if they don't...lawsuits."
Buck slightly opens his mouth and nods his head.
"Let's go find the incident commander." Bobby leads the group through the crowd of people. As soon as they met the Incident Commander, Chief Williams, she explained to the 118 the situation they were walking into. There were only 12 of 68 staff accounted for. She told them that the aftershock could bring the rest of the building down. She needed as much help as she could get.
The Chief left shortly after. Bobby turns to his stunned team. "All right, listen up. Here's how you make it to the end of the day." he starts. "You don't worry about the things that you can't do anything about. Focus on one task at a time."
"I can't order you guys to go inside that building, and I'm not gonna judge you if you decide not to."
"Hen, you got a kid, so..."
"Yeah." Hen nods her head. "And I'd hope if someone whose job it was to save him had the chance, they'd do it."
Emery smirks, she shifts her eyes to Eddie. He feels her eyes on him and he stares down at the girl. Eddie raises his brows, knowing she was asking him the same question. "Oh, you already know I'm going in there."
Emery nods her head and looks at Bobby. "Where do you want us?"
Before Bobby could speak, an officer came from behind them. "Hey, you guys will want to see this."
The officer leads the firefighters to the designated area. Emery looks up at the building. "Ho-ly."
There was a civilian laying against the glass window of the building. He was high above the street.
"We could set up a bag street-side in case that window gives." Chimney suggests.
"Nobody works under that side of the building." Bobby states. "Somebody's gonna have to get him from the inside."
Since Buck, Eddie, and Emery were the three firefighters that usually scaled high towers in order to save civilians; Bobby decided to have them go as a group while he, Hen, and Chim went to the lower levels of the building.
The three fire and rescue firefighters climb up the ladder leading to one of the windows of the top floor. Buck was in the front, Emery was in the middle, and Eddie was in the back. Buck breaks the glass of the window. Emery was glances behind her, "Hey, did you know after Northridge, FEMA spent $200 million retrofitting every school in the LAUSD?" She moves her head side to side. "Ceiling tiles, lightning fixtures..."
"Eddie, Christopher is in the safest place he can be." Emery gives him a small smile.
Eddie tilts his head, "Funny, because I could've sworn Buck said those were high-rises."
Emery scoffs, "Funny, because I thought I told you to never listen to Buck and always listen to me." She frowns. "And yet, here we are."
"I can hear you, you know?" Buck says as soon as he clears the window.
Emery rolls her eyes, "You know I don't care about that."
Buck presses his lips together, "Yeah, you're right. I just forgot who you were for a second."
Emery chuckles as Buck goes crawls into the building through the window. Emery follows with Eddie behind her. The three firefighters make their way through the building, despite there being debris everywhere. The staircase they came across was tilted do to the building now leaning. And that was the only way they were getting to the top floors.
"It's only six flights." Eddie huffs. "Not exactly Mount Everest."
"That's on my bucket list, y'know?" Emery chuckles as she continues to climb up the tilted staircase.
"Climbing Mount Everest?" Buck questions.
Emery softly hums as she continues up. Buck frowns, "Well, at least Everest won't tip over and crush us like a bug."
The building begins to creak. Emery stays sti for a moment which causes Eddie and Buck to freeze. The building then shakes which causes Buck to stumble back. Without a second thought, Emery grips Buck's waist and keeps him upward, making sure he doesn't fall. She places most of her weight in her heels, to make sure she doesn't fall.
Buck let's out a sharp breath and slightly turns his head. "Damn, Thanks, Sharpe."
Emery raises her brows and chuckles. "Happy to save a Damsel in Distress any day, Probie." She releases Buck's waist and he continues up the stairs. Buck rolls his eyes with a smirk on his lips.
"Maybe, next time, you won't jinx the building we are currently in." Eddie voices.
Emery frowns then shrugs, "Just a thought."
A closed door was in front of the three firefighters, that they had to pry open. Once the door was forced open, the hallway that would normally be upright was aimed down. Emery inhales a soft breath, "So, it's kind of like a slide."
"Yeah, with electrical wires and metal rebars sticking out." Buck winces.
Emery purses her lips and nods. Eddie looks at the two, "You guys ready?"
Emery slightly tilts her chin up, "On three?"
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three."
Buck was the first to walk through the door. He stumbles to the right side of the wall and places his hands against it, to keep himself from sliding down the tilted hall. Emery soon follows behind Buck. Her gloved hands come into contact with the wall and she huffs. Eddie follows behind Emery. Once the three firefighters, gained their footing. They continued down the hall.
"Hello? Hello!" Eddie calls out.
"LAFD!" Emery shouts.
Shouting is heard. But the voices were distanced. Emery turns her head to the closed besides her. She grabs the door handle and pulls it down, but it would open. Emery turns her head, "Buck."
Already knowing what she was going to say, Buck grabs the saw and makes his way over to her. He presses the saw against the door hinge and begins to cut through it. Buck steps aside and Emery presses her hands against the doorframe. She sucks in a sharp breath and raises her leg, the girl kicks the door open with a grunt. Eddie and Buck look at each other, a smirk on both of their lips. Everyone knew Emery was a strong girl. Buck would never admit it out loud, but she might be one of the fittest people in their Station.
"In here—we're in here!"
A lady was holding onto one of the pillars to keep herself from falling onto the window where the older man was. He was pinned against the window with a couch on his back, with his face smushed against the glass.
Emery and Eddie grab onto the the rope around Buck.
Buck enters the room, he stumbles into the room and presses against the wall; in order to keep himself balanced. He looks at Emery and Eddie. Emery gives him a small nod, telling him 'I got you'. For some reason that look in Emery's glistening brown eyes (how is she glowing in a situation like this?), made Buck relax.
The woman hanging onto the pillar begs for Buck to help her. He assures the woman that he would help her and to stay still. Eddie looks at Emery, "You got this?" He holds the rope attached to him towards her.
Emery softly chuckles, "Yeah, I got this." She shrugs and grabs the rope. Emery ties Eddie's rope around one of the sturdy metal poles beside her. She does the same with Buck's. Emery then ties her rope around a pole and huffs.
Eddie makes his way into the room with Buck and Emery waits for them to grab the civilians.
"Uh, no offense, but I think this might be a situation where "women and children first" does not apply." The man against the glass calls out.
"Did you just say "no offense"?" The woman snaps.
Emery raises her brows, "Uh..."
"Everything about you is offensive."
"Father-daughter trouble?" Emery asks.
The woman shudders, "Gross. Hell no."
"Okay." Emery closes her mouth.
"First date?" Buck questions.
"God, he wishes." The woman scoffs. "Amazingly, that sweaty, fat, pock-marked pig is married with five kids. But that didn't stop him from asking me to shower with him."
Emery's jaw clenches and she snaps her eyes over to the man.
"Man, have you not watched the news at all over the past year?" Buck snaps.
"No seriously, catch up with the times." Eddie adds, anger in his tone. He slowly makes his way down to the man.
"All right, fine, so I'm a dinosaur. A forgotten relic of a forgotten age."
"Hey, don't compare yourself to dinosaurs, all right? Dinosaurs are cool! You? You're a perv." Emery corrects. "Stop making excuses for yourself and just take accountability."
"Okay, okay, I will! Just get me the hell out of here!"
Emery rolls her eyes, "This ones all you guys." She sends them a two finger salute. Buck works on reducing the woman while Eddie works on helping the man. Emery hands a rope to Buck, then he tosses it to the woman. The lady goes the rope around her waist, securing herself.
"Don't move!"
Everyone looks at the man against the glass. The building begins to creak again, which causes Emery's heart to quicken.
"Don't breathe."
"Hurry, hurry it's staring to crack!"
"All right, I'm gonna come around to you. You need to stay totally still, sir." Eddie says. "Em, I need more slack."
"Got it." Emery unties the rope Eddie's rope from the pole and wraps it around her gloved hand. She then begins to move more into the room, so Eddie could get closer to the man. As soon as Eddie got close to the man, he was close to tying the restraint around the man.
Then the building began to shake again.
The pillar Emery was holding onto begins to shake and she pulls her brows together.
"Oh! Oh God!" The man screams.
"It's an Aftershock!" Emery shouts. She tightens her grip around Eddie's rope.
The glass underneath the man becomes so brittle to the point you could hardly see through it from all the cracks. The pillar holding Emery up rumbles and begins to slip from the ground. Emery's eyes widen as she slips from the pillar. Buck quickly reacts as the pillar gives way and Emery falls which causes Eddie to fall forward.
Buck grabs onto Emery's free arm and presses his boots against a counter. He lets out a loud scream, holding the weight of Emery and Eddie. Emery shifts her eyes up to Buck and he glances at her.
"I've got you, I've got you." Buck says to the girl.
The glass underneath the civilian collapses and Eddie screams for the man. The man falls through the glass and onto the sidewalk. Emery looks over at the broken window. Her eyes then snap over to the screaming woman as the rope around her comes undone. She begins to fall towards the open window.
"Eddie!"
The woman falls through the window, but Eddie lunges forward and grabs her hand. Buck still had a good grip on Emery's arm while she had a good grip on the rope supporting Eddie.
Emery lets out a huff and inhales a breath through her nose. "This is the best work out ever!"
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author's note.
Buck calls himself, Eddie, and Emery E³—FACT.
Emery and Buck may not like each other but damn do they work well together...
Words : 5114