“I have every right to speak.”
“Shut up, Gabriel,” Emma said. She didn’t want to hear her brother right about now.
“You were on a date with him?” Gabriel turned his glare to her.
“Don’t even look at her like that.”
“Enough!” This was Jacob. “I’ve had about enough of the arguing. Screaming and shouting is not going to solve anything. Right now, our brother, our baby brother, has just had his entire world turned upside down. Imagine losing our women, think about that. You know what it’s like to be with them. Abel, Damian, and Oliver, imagine your woman being run down. You remember what it was like to find them. To finally feel their love wrapped around you. Take it all away, and what are you left with? Nothing. Landon is left with nothing. His very reason for living, for being anything, is gone, and we’re bickering. Dad, go and deal with Mom. You know you want to.”
Emma watched as Maddox didn’t even question his son. He just turned on his heel and left.
“This is bad,” Oliver said. “Landon has always been … unpredictable. He’s not going to take it well.”
“I want him on suicide watch,” Jacob said.
“Don’t you think that’s a bit drastic? He’s a young boy,” Emma said. All their eyes turned toward her.
“You don’t have any idea what it’s like to find the one destined to be yours. To be in love, to feel that love with every single fiber of your being. We do. We’ve felt it. It’s not something you just switch on and off. It’s a feeling. It’s intense and scary. You wait for your woman to enter a room, and when she does, it’s like you can finally breathe because she’s part of your world. It consumes you. Drives your need to do better, to be better.”
Silence met his words, and her own little world was reeling right now.
Grabbing the tray of drinks, she made her excuses.
Gideon had told her that she was his woman.
Did he see her like that?
Did he want her like that?
He knew she wanted out of this life. She didn’t know what to do. Entering the kitchen, she saw it was empty, which she was pleased about. Bumping into Maddox and Charlotte was not high on her priority list right now.
“I figured you needed a hand,” Gideon said, entering the kitchen seconds later.
“It’s fine. I’ve got it. I can handle a few drinks.” She hated how bitchy she sounded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to sound like that.”
“I know what you meant. You don’t have to keep apologizing.”
She put the cup down and turned toward him. “Do you feel that way with me? Is that what brought you in here, to see me?” All of her life she’d felt overlooked, like no one would ever notice her, and now, here was a man who may finally see her.
“Yes. I can see you’re freaked out about all of this.”
“I don’t know what else to be right now, Gideon. I want to talk about it, but it doesn’t feel like the right time or place.”
“It’s not. I’ve got to be here for Landon.”
“Will it really be as bad as … suicide?”
“I honestly don’t know. None of us have ever faced this. We’ve always been told that as soon as we know the woman that is destined to be ours, to make sure she’s protected.”
“Poor Landon,” she said.
“Why are you annoyed with Gabriel?”
His question startled her.
“I’m not.”
“I saw the way you looked at him. You’re angry with him, why?”