The Four

Chapter 16

"Emmet, let's go!" Melanie yelled over her shoulder at the man.

    "Okay, yelling at me won't make me go any faster!" Emmet snapped as he struggled to get all of the luggage he had out of his apartment.

    Melanie made a face at all the bags he was holding in his hands, "How much shit did you pack?"

    "Enough for the lake and New York." Emmet answered as he threw his bags in the trunk of Shay's car.

    Melanie nodded a little before going to help Addilyn carry one of her bags. Shay looked into the trunk then back at Emmet with a disapproving look.

    "What?" Emmet asked, looking over at him.

    Shay sighed and held up a book from one of the bags, "Since when do you read?"

    Emmet snatched the book from him and put it back in one of the bag compartments, "For your information, I read a lot! Or at least I will when I turn twenty-five"

    What the man was hiding from the other two was that his birthday was in three days. He had always hated his birthday ever since his mom had left him in November years ago. Emmet wanted to keep his secret between him and Shay only since he knew the other man wouldn't make a big deal out of it or pressure him to celebrate his birthday.

    His mom had twisted the day into an awful memory. The thought of his birthday made him sick. When Emmets mom had left it made him feel useless, like he had no place in the world because everyone would always leave him. Emmet felt as though his birthday shouldn't be celebrated by others because ultimately they would all disappear from his life.

    "If we don't leave now the vein on Melanie's neck is going to explode." Addilyn knocked on the car next to the trunk, "Also, please be nice and don't mention James, they got into another fight." She narrowed her eyes at Emmet when she said the last part of her warning.

    "What was this fight about?" Emmet asked as he shut the trunk door.

    Addilyn chewed on her lip trying to figure out if she should tell them or not, "Just the usual."

    Emmet and Shay nodded a little before jumping when the car horn was blared.

    "Let's go!" Melanie yelled at them before a door was slammed shut.

    The other three all rushed to get into the car. Emmet made sure to not say anything when he climbed into the backseat with the other brunette. Addilyn glanced back at her friend with a small frown on her face.

    Melanie felt the tension the second Shay had started to drive, "You can stop staring now, the vein went away." She looked between all of them with a glare, "Emmet, it's gone. Seriously, stop looking at my neck."

    "It's not the vein I'm staring at" Emmet muttered as he averted his eyes from the small bruise on the girl's collar bone.

    Melanie glanced over at him briefly, before pulling up her shirt to cover up the mark. Just after she had gotten into a fight with James about her going on vacation alone with Shay and Emmet he had told her that the only way he would feel comfortable with her going was if he got to prove that she was his and his alone. The mark on the girl's neck wasn't the only one but she was going to cover the rest up later.

    The whole reason that the fight had started was because he had overheard Melanie tell Addilyn that she was going to get 'college girl drunk'. James had burst into the room not even five seconds later, yelling at her wildly.

    The rest of the car ride was filled with either music or Melanie and Emmet debating over something foolish.

    "That's it, out of the car!" Shay demanded once the long car ride was over. He had a glare on his face as he stared at the back seat.