Entangled (Phoenix 1)

CHAPTER 10

It didn't take long for Justin and James to arrive at Emily's place. It was only a five-minute drive. Since her apartment was on the sixth floor, they took the elevator. Once they both were in front of her door, Justin was anxious.

He prayed that Fiona was on the other side of this apartment.

"Believe me, Justin. Fiona is in there inside. This is the only place where she could actually be." James tried to assure his best friend while keeping his hand on Justin's shoulder.

"I certainly hope so, James. Nothing should happen to Fiona." Justin took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell.

When the doorbell rang, Emily, Fiona, and Mason were lounging on the couch, snacking on chips and watching a movie.

Fiona and Mason were confused as it was past ten in the night, as none of them were expecting anyone at this time of the hour. Fiona cast sidelong looks at Emily, wondering whether she was expecting someone, but Emily's lips were pursed.

"Some kids might be trying to play a prank. Ignore it." Emily tried to wave off the doorbell as she had a slight clue who the visitor could be. She had a feeling that it could be Justin.

Unfortunately, James is too smart for his own good.

Justin grew anxious when the door did not open, so he pressed the button again. On the other side, Emily made no attempt to open the door. So, Mason stood up from his seat, frustrated, to check who the uninvited visitor was.

Instead of Fiona or Emily, James and Justin were astonished to find a man standing before them. Justin looked at his friend and asked him telepathically whether they had the correct address.

"Can I help you?" Mason interrupted them.

"My name is James, and this is my best friend, Justin. Is this Emily's home?" James asked the guy who opened the door.

He hoped that he was not Emily's boyfriend or, worse, her fiancé because he knew that she wasn't married yet (according to her résumé).

"AH! So you are the famous James. Dude, I am your big fan. There are rarely any people who can make Emily riled up and, at the same time, not make her kill them. Oh! And yes, this is Emily's not-so-humble aboard. I am Mason, Emily and Fiona's best friend."

The man's identification eased both Justin's and James' minds, as neither wanted him to have a romantic involvement with their girls.

"Who's at the door?" Emily asked out loud when Mason didn't appear after opening the door.

"Your number one fan." Mason laughed aloud while giving space for the two men to enter the house.

"What the hell the two of you are doing here?" Emily asked when she saw it was both James and Justin, while Fiona quenched her thirst for water in the kitchen.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me, Ms. World's Biggest Liar?" James cocked his head and folded his hands.

"Don't you dare call me a liar. At least I don't play mind games with anyone like your best friend over there." Emily retaliated back, clearly showing her distaste for Justin's presence in her house.

"Emily, I get that you don't like me, and that is fair. I haven't been a great person lately, and I take full responsibility for that. I know and accept that I am guilty here, but please tell me that Fiona is here with you."

Justin just wanted to see Fiona for himself, with his own eyes. He can deal with Emily later.

"No, she isn't here. So now you can go," Emily told them in a bored tone.

"What is going on here?" Fiona said from behind.

Since both Emily and Mason were standing in front of her (their backs showing), she could not see who the guests were.

Justin was relieved to hear Fiona's voice.

"I told you, Justin. Emily was lying to you. She would have killed you thousands of times if Fiona had gone missing." James scowled at Emily while speaking to his friend.

"Thousands is not even close to what I would have done. And for the record, I do not regret lying to him. He deserved it." Emily told him smugly as Mason flashed her a warning stare.

"Fiona, why the hell you didn't tell me that you were going to spend the night here?" Justin asked her, trying not to raise his voice. He felt a little enraged now that he had seen Fiona with his own eyes.

"Why would I do that?" She asked him, perplexed.

Fiona was pissed, as Justin had no right to demand an explanation from her, not after their current situation. They were no less than strangers.

"Wait! Fiona, didn't you text him about you staying here? I remember telling you to do so." Mason asked her in surprise.

"You did, but then I thought otherwise. And besides, he could have called. There is magical equipment called a phone that allows you to easily connect with anyone." Fiona replied to him smartly.

"Really? Thank you so much for letting me know about this new invention. I am sure to get one now that I know such a thing exists in this universe. For your information, I called you over twenty times. But your goddamn phone is switched off." Justin told her, annoyed.

This was the most they had actually conversed in the past two months.

"That is not possible. I kept my phone on charge." Fiona fumed and walked to her room to get her phone to show him that she didn't keep her phone switched off.

"Shit," she swore under her breath when she found that she had forgotten to turn on the switch. She slowly came into the living room after pressing the button.

"So, what's the verdict?" Justin raised his eyebrows with his arms crossed when he saw Fiona was looking down and she didn't have a phone with her.

"I forgot to turn on the power. But in my defense, you could have called Emily." She tried to defend herself.

"Well, I did. But she lied to me." Justin threw Emily under the bus, which made Fiona look at her.

"What? Come on, Fi. Since day one, this guy has been mentally tormenting you for the past two months. He deserves it." Emily tried to justify her actions.

James was going to retaliate, but Mason interfered in the middle. "All right, guys, just stop it. There is no end to this conversation, so let us end this on the note that Fiona is safe and Emily loves torturing people."

Emily was about to punch Mason in his gut when suddenly, all the lights went out.