Yes, Sirs (Book 1 of Desire's Den)

Chapter 147 - Gideon

Action had consequences.

That was the first thing I learned when I was a kid. The second thing I learned was that words wouldn't help me.

Those two things were something I'd brought with me to adulthood. I let the lessons I was subjected to define me, and in return, define my relationship with everyone else.

I saw now that while I'd tried showing Emma how much she meant to me, it hadn't been enough. She was a thinker; a speculator; a twisting-and-turning-each-and-every-thought; a "what if" kind of girl. So, while I'd been busy showing her what I felt for her, she might not have seen it all. She needed to hear it so there would be no second-guessing about what I actually meant.

Words were important.

That was something I learned recently. Words were important because there were things not even action could express.

I was baking when my phone vibrated at the kitchen island behind me, indicating a text message. Whenever I needed to calm down or just needed someplace to think, I found myself either baking something or cooking.

It wasn't helping me now.

Sharing my kitchen with Emma had somehow made the experience into something more, and now, without her, I found it lacking.

Goddamn it. Even cooking had been ruined. Not that it really surprised me. Emma had this uniqueness about her that made everything so much more exciting, and with her gone, so was the excitement.

Another thought I should've shared with Emma, I thought, remembering the text I'd sent her yesterday before my fight. I wasn't usually the sentimental type; it was just another thing she brought out in me—along with the glimpse of happiness and excitement.

Slowly, but surely, Emma changed me, and while a piece of me didn't like that, I could also see how much she meant to me when she was starting to impact me as a person. There were few I would change for, and she was one of them.

Drying my hands on my apron, I turned around and grabbed my phone, checking the text. I'd expected it to be from Callan, so it surprised me when it was from the one person I'd been afraid would never talk to me again.

Meet me at Cute Cat Café in Queens in one hour. I'll be in the backyard. We need to talk.

My lips twitched as I looked down at the screen and shook my head.

Cute Cat Café sounds like my kind of place. I'll be there. I typed and hit send. A second later, I saw that she'd read it.

Abandoning the red velvet cake I had started on, I took a quick shower and left to meet up with her. Thrill shot through me at the thought of seeing Emma after everything that had happened. The pain I'd amassed yesterday in the ring was just a distant throbbing, my mind too busy thinking of her to give any attention to the bruises.

There wasn't a parking space near the café, so I had to walk a few minutes to get there. I didn't mind. It was a nice enough evening. The sun had set, but the temperature was still warm.

It wasn't until I got to the café's backyard that my nerves buzzed underneath my skin. I knew this wouldn't be an easy conversation.

Emma was sitting with her back to me, watching a couple on the table beside her. The couple were gazing into each other's eyes with so much adoration, it twisted my heart. I couldn't see Emma's expression, but I knew the longing she felt because I felt it too. While I wasn't the flirty type, what we'd had between us was just as carefree and sweet as what the other couple had.

The second I got near, she turned around as if she'd sensed me.

Even sad, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Though, it wasn't just the looks that made her so; it was who she was as a person that really got to me. I'd never met anyone quite like her. She was brave, yet naïve, but also intelligent. She cared about those around her and didn't have one mean bone in her body.