It took working quickly and fast, but we set everything for the haunted house and party. We needed to keep Frisco in check while trying to oversee everything until Jordan arrived. Easy peasy, right? Wrong.
Frisco got suspicious quickly, which didn't bode well for the rest of us. The dude is insanely smart and part psychotic at the moment. Plus, he had his eyes set on Emma. That meant not leaving her alone, period. Call me overprotective, but I'll be damn if I would let her get hurt.
We all took our places in the haunted house, which would have last four hours so we could still do our party. Emma worked with me. It was easier than having to worry about something happening to her.
Mostly, the next four hours breezed through like nothing. People got scared, and we got to have our fun while getting paid, now onto the party.
The party was in full swing as we were enjoying ourselves. Emma went to the bathroom while I grabbed a drink.
After taking care of business, she came walking out, trying to make her way back to me when someone stopped her, Frisco.
"Hey Emma," Frisco said, smiling.
"Hey, Frisco. Are you having an enjoyable time?" Emma asked.
"Yeah. It turned out to be a glorious night. What about you?" Frisco asked calmly.
"Definitely. I got to get back to RJ," she said.
"Oh, that's what I came to tell you. RJ asked me to tell him to meet him outside," he said.
"Why?" Emma questioned.
"He has a surprise for you," Frisco reasoned.
She looked at him a bit confused, then something inside her clicked as she said, "Okay. Let me just let Maggie know."
"Okay," Frisco said, not thinking anything of it.
She walked towards Maggie and Leslie as they were dancing with Angelo and Xavier. She grabbed Maggie's arm and pulled her to her. "Em, what's wrong?" Maggie asked with concern.
"Nothing. I was going to let you know that Frisco is taking me outside so Ryan can surprise me," Emma said, giving them a look, confusing them, knowing I was in the room with them. "He said Ryan has a surprise for me." She repeated herself with more emphasis on my name.
They looked to see Frisco standing there, getting impatient.
"Okay," Maggie said as Angelo stuck his hand in his pocket and hit Dylan's name. As Emma left to meet Frisco, our phones all went off in unison. That caused us to all leave through an original entrance.
As Emma walked with Frisco, staying calm, he led her to an unlit place. "So, what is my surprise?" Emma tried to steady her voice and act cheerful.
"Wow, you are a stupid girl, aren't you?" Frisco mentioned as they both stopped.
"Excuse me?" Emma questioned.
"You made this so much easier than I could imagine," he said, slowly walking towards her, pulling a pocketknife from his pocket and opening it up.
"Um, Frisco. We can talk about this. There is no reason to get violent," Emma said in a calm voice.
"We won't talk. What you'll do is drop your panties for me. We'll have some fun then maybe if you stay quiet I won't kill you," Frisco said with his face contorting in anger.
Not wanting to upset him or make him angry, she complied, reaching under her skirt and sliding off her panties.
"Now be an obedient girl and turn around," he said, and she nodded, turning around with her back to him. He walked over her and pushed her against a car. He placed the knife to her side and undid his pants. Just as he was about to lift her skirt, someone knocked him out from behind, causing him to fall to the ground.
Emma stayed there, not moving until I walked over to her. I took her skirt and pulled it down, leaning into her ear and whispering, "It's me."
She turned around quickly. I saw her tear-streaked cheeks as she grabbed onto my shirt and sobbed. I wrapped my arms around her and stroked her head as I comforted her, "Shh, I got you."
The brothers grabbed Frisco and took him while Liam announced, "Party's over. Go tell everyone to go home." He looked at the others.
They all nodded, and Mel walked over to Emma. "Come on, sweetie. Let's go home." She nodded as Mel wrapped her arms around her, and they went back to the house with Liam and me behind them.
We said nothing on our way back. Once we got inside, the four of us went upstairs, and Mel drew a bath for Emma. She came out of the bathroom once the tub filled. Mel and Liam left us alone. I led Emma into the bathroom, helped her undress since shock took over, and then helped her into the tub.
She sat there, staring into space as I sat there with her.
"How is she?" Austin asked, walking in with the others.
"Shocked. RJ is with her," Liam said.
"What the hell was that? I thought they said he would be okay to be around people," Austin asked him.
"Well, apparently they were wrong," Liam shot back. "Where are the five dwarfs at, anyway?"
"Containing the situation," Nik said.
"Fuck! How the hell are they going to look out for us when one of them tries and harms us?" Liam asked them. "This is fucking bullshit!"
Just then, JJ's phone went off. He answered it and spoke to the person on the other end briefly, then hung up. "Dad and the others are on their way here."
"I thought he was busy?" Shawn asked.
"Well, the minute Angelo hit the button for Dylan, and they found out one of our own tried to rape someone, it takes precedent over whatever is going on," JJ said.
"I'm sorry, Ryan," Emma whispered.
I looked at her and pulled her chin to look at me. "You did nothing wrong. I'm sorry someone put you in that situation."
"I feel like I shouldn't have left. It was stupid," Emma mumbled.
"Look, you did what you thought you had to do. I get that. Emma, you were able to alert us before it progressed further than it did. You are my everything, and I would break if something happened to you," I said to her, looking into her steel-gray eyes.
She looked back at me and said, "So you don't hate me?"
"I could never hate you," I said to her, and I saw a slight smile form on her lips.
I helped her wash up, then helped her out of the tub. I did what most people do; I took care of her. I left her to get dress. I figured they had exposed her enough for the night. I waited outside my door for her to finish when I heard someone come up the stairs. I looked to see dad walking towards me.
"How is she?" Dad asked me.
"A bit shook up," I said to him.
The door opened, and she stood there looking at us. "Hi, Mr. Jones." Her tone was perky, and she was smiling.
"Hi Emma," he said, returning the smile.
"Is Mr. Shaw and Mr. Frazier here?" She asked anxiously.
"They're downstairs," he said.
"Outstanding," she said as she walked past us. We watched as she walked with a bounce in her step.
"What just happened?" I asked.
"She knows she's safe," Dad said, walking away from me.
The minute she reached the bottom of the stairs, we heard someone exclaimed, "Emma, darling! How are you?"
We came downstairs to see Frazier hugging Emma, then walking her over to the couch and plopping down with her.
"Give the poor girl some breathing room, Frazier," Jordan said.
"Oh, hush you. My pal, Em and me have some catching up to do," Frazier said, engulfing her with his body. "Go away."
Jordan rolled his eyes as I asked dad, "What is Uncle Frazier doing?"
"Doing what Frazier does best. Being Frazier," dad responded.
"Mr. Frazier, you're a goof," she giggled.
"Yeah, but I'm your goof," he said, fluttering his eyelashes as she giggled some more. "And call me Frazier. You can call him a dumbass." He pointed at Jordan, who said, "Call him an idiot, since that's what he is."
"Nah, uh," Frazier said, sticking out his tongue as Jordan and he went back-and-forth bantering, making Emma laugh while the rest of us watched in amazement.
"See, son. If it's one thing I can count on, these two are helping in situations like these," Dad reasoned.
"How?" I questioned.
"Because they are getting her to laugh. Laughter is so important after a traumatizing event. It doesn't make them forget, but it helps ease the pain a bit," he said.
"What about the brothers?" I asked him.
"Zane filled me in briefly what's happening, and we'll deal with that after dealing with this," he said to me.
"Anybody up for Old Maid?" Frazier asked with a cheeky grin.
We all looked at each other, knowing this meant one thing, Jordan was going get pissed. That made us smile.
After many rounds of Old Maid with Jordan getting pissed at Frazier, Emma yawned, and I whispered, "Tired?"
"Mmm," she nodded.
"We will head to bed," I said to everyone. We got up and went upstairs. I crawled into bed as Emma snuggled up to me as I wrapped my arm around her. The minute I heard a slight snore coming from her, I drifted off to sleep.
It had been an eternal night, along with a long few days. It still boggles my mind how quickly someone you know or thought you knew could turn on you. The entire time I knew Frisco, he was never violent or even hurt anyone the way he did tonight. I didn't understand why? Even with having mental health problems, I still didn't know why he went after Emma of all people, but I knew one thing was for sure. I wanted answers.