Loud: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Male Romance) (16 page)

Her laughter rang across the rooftop. “And, I thought
you were about to give me a talk on astronomy. Come on, Emerson, you're letting
me down here!”

“Hey! I didn't say I was an expert. I just know where
a f-few constellations are.”

“Show me another one then.”

I moved a little closer to her and pointed again.
“Well, there's the Big Dipper. See it?”

She followed my finger and smiled with delight as she
caught sight of where I was aiming.

“Yes! Right there. Awesome! What others do you know?”
she asked eagerly.

“That one right there is Draco, the Dragon.”

“Ohhhhh, do you think Daenerys is up there riding
him?”

“Back to our
Game of Thrones
references, are
we?” I joked.

She smiled, and turned her head toward me to say
something at the exact same time I turned toward her to say something. For a
few electrically-charged moments our lips were merely inches apart and our eyes
met in an intense gaze. Every fiber of my being was screaming out for me to
lean in just a little closer, and press my mouth against hers. But before I
could, she stood abruptly, breaking the moment.

“I-I need to get back inside,” she stuttered, her tone
flustered. “Thank you very much for the astronomy lesson. It was nice. Enjoy
the stars. Have a good night, Emerson.”

With that, she folded her deck chair and turned to
walk off. I watched her go, and, despite the missed opportunity, I smiled and
looked back up at the starry sky. Friday had been a good day.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Brooke

Friday had been a really strange day. Who would have
thought it would have closed looking at the stars with Emerson on the roof? It
had been one rollercoaster ride for sure — riding on a motorcycle for the first
time, running into Ben at dinner, having Emerson there to serve up some
delicious revenge to Andrew, and then chatting with Emerson on the roof under a
beautiful, starry sky in a moment that could have ended with…

A kiss.

Heat gushed through my body at the mere thought of how
close I had come to Emerson's lips pressed to mine. They’d been inches away,
and the look that passed between us had been indescribably intense.

But I couldn't…I just
couldn't
do it.

I mean, he was drunk for one thing. But even if he'd
been sober, I don't think I could have done it.

Or…
maybe I could have.
 

I climbed into bed with nothing but thoughts of
Emerson’s warm mouth spilling over mine.

***

With a cup of hot coffee steaming on the desk next to
me, I logged into my email to check if there was anything from my parents about
the upcoming family barbecue in honor of my dad's fiftieth birthday.

There wasn't, but there was an email from the
college’s activities director. It was about the RAG Society — an acronym for
Remember And Give. They were a group involved in a number of fundraisers on
campus that raised money for local charities. They were looking for new members
to sign up. I'd wanted to join last semester, but my class schedule had
conflicted with their weekly meetings. However, it looked like I'd be able to
make the meetings with my new schedule. I'd been involved with various charity
work throughout my life, and last semester it had been something I had sorely
missed. I was looking forward to the opportunity to get back into it.

I immediately sent off the email signing up.

I was surprised to get a reply just a few minutes
later saying there'd be a get-together that afternoon for new members to get to
know the leaders and current members. I responded that I'd be there before I
got out my chemistry notes to start a day of studying.

***

I left my first RAG meeting feeling fantastic. The
society was operated by very efficient and motivated people, and I got a sense
they really were in it to help those who were less fortunate rather than merely
being involved for the sake of having something attractive to put on their CV.
What was even better, we'd already been given our first project to raise money
for a local children's charity. We’d sell potted plants donated by a local
garden center so whatever they sold for would be all profit. Several of us had
each been given a basket with ten small potted plants to sell. If we could get
a couple of dollars for each plant, we'd easily be able to raise a few hundred,
or even a thousand dollars for the children's charity.

The first thing I did, of course, was buy one for
myself — a beautiful little daisy. I popped ten dollars into the donation box
and put the daisy on the balcony with the rest of our plants as soon as I got
home. I'd kind of counted on Leslie buying one, as well, but she wasn’t home. I
figured I wouldn't actually have to venture very far from my apartment building
to sell the plants.

Since Leslie wasn't around, I thought I might see if
Emerson was up for buying a plant. I hadn't noticed any green in his apartment
the one time I'd been there, so I figured it would be a nice addition to the
place.

I headed out and knocked on the door – which was
promptly opened by Chris, who leered at me before staring at my chest
 
in my kind of low-cut top. I instantly
regretted
that
choice, and spoke quickly to bring his attention back up
to my face.

“Hi, Chris, how's it going?”

“Hey. I'm alright. Pretty hungover, but surviving, yo.
What's going on?”

I had forgotten that he lived here, as well. I had
really hoped that it would have been Emerson who would have opened the door.

“Well, I'm volunteering for RAG at college. Have you
heard of them?”

“Not interested,” said Chris flatly.

Well, that was pretty downright rude.

“Hang on a second, I haven't even-”

“I've got no spare cash right now, okay? Sorry.”

His tone said it all. There was no way he was gonna
buy one of the plants. I sighed and turned away.

“Alright, no worries,” I said in a resigned tone.
“Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Later,” he said, before closing the door in my face.

What a jerk. I couldn't believe Emerson was friends
with that guy. As I turned around to walk down the hall though, I saw a
familiar silhouette rounding the corner, coming out of the stairwell.

“Emerson!”

“Hey, Brooke, how's it going? Were you just coming out
of my place?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I was trying to see if you guys were
interested in buying a plant or two for charity, but your roommate wasn't, uh,
wasn't very receptive.”

“Oh, sorry about that. I guess he's feeling pretty
hungover from last night.”

“And you? You were looking a few sheets to the wind
when I saw you on the roof last night.”

He chuckled self-effacingly. “Yeah, I was a bit, but
trust me, I wasn't blasted. I actually feel alright. I stayed out on the roof
for a while after you went in and then drank a ton of water and ate something
before bed. I got a decent amount of sleep, so I felt okay when I woke up.”

“That's good to know. Anyways, I gotta get going and
sell some of these plants.”

“Well, hold up a sec, I'll take a couple of 'em. How
much are they?”

“Awesome, thanks! Pretty much however much you wanna
donate.”

“So, will you take like, ten cents for one of those
bad boys?” he said with a wink.

I fired a fierce mock-glare at him.

“I'd rather eat it than sell it to you for ten cents,
Emerson.”

“I'm kidding, I'm kidding,” he said with a chuckle.
“What charity is it for, anyway?”

“It's for the Johnson Children's Home. It's a charity
downtown.”

“You know, I've actually heard of that. They do a lot
of good things for inner city kids. They get 'em motivated and inspired and
give them opportunities to better themselves and learn new skills. Yeah, I'm
totally down to support an initiative like that. And, good on you for
volunteering to do something like this. You never cease to amaze me.”

My cheeks heated as I tried to avoid making direct eye
contact. I didn’t want anything else heating up, too. “Aw, thanks, Emerson!
I've always had a soft spot for helping others. I've been doing charity work
since I was a kid. Started out tagging along with my mom when she went. It's
something I think everyone should do at least once in a while.”

“Ya know, you’re right. Not that I've done much
myself, but yeah, more people should get involved. It really would make the
world a better place.”

“It certainly would.”

“Alright, I've got twenty bucks on me. Is that enough
for two of those plants?”

“Yeah, that's perfect. Thanks! Which ones do you
want?”

He peered down into the basket. “Um, I don't know much
about plants. Which ones will be least likely to die in my place?” he said with
a laugh.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Jeez, you guys!
Alright, well, take the cactus, it should be pretty damn tough. And this one,
it's a succulent that doesn't need much water. It'll also be able to survive
the um, harsh conditions of your apartment.”

“Awesome,” he said as he took the plants out of my
basket. “I'll do my best not to kill them.”

“Yeah, let me know how that goes. Well, I gotta head
out now. Otherwise, I’m buying a bunch of plants for myself. Thank you for the
donation!”

“No problem. Good luck getting rid of the rest of
them. I hope you get some decent offers on 'em.”

“Thanks, Emerson. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon.”

He smiled, took the plants, and headed into his
apartment. I watched him go with a smile on my face. There was definitely more
to Emerson than met the eye, I knew that much.

***

I arrived back home around seven o'clock with one
plant left — one I'd kept especially for Leslie. It hadn't taken much effort on
my part to sell the plants; I'd just walked around the neighborhood and knocked
on people's doors who had a lot of flowers and plants adorning their patios or
porches. Most were receptive and had donated pretty generously. I had raised
over a hundred dollars, which wasn't bad for two hours of charity work.

I walked in and saw Leslie in the kitchen, whipping up
dinner.

“Hey, girl!” she called out as I walked in.

“Hey, Les, how was your Saturday?”

“It's been good! I had rehearsals with my amateur
troupe most of the day. Remember, I told you we're doing Hamlet in a couple of
weeks?”

“Oh, yeah, how's that going?”

“Great! The guy who's playing Hamlet is
so
talented.
I'm learning a lot from him. I feel like I'm gonna improve by leaps and bounds
this semester. How has your day been?”

“It's been nice. I joined RAG and went to my first
meeting today.”

She giggled a little. “Their name still cracks me up.
I remember you wanted to join up last semester, but your schedule was too
crazy. So how was it?”

“The people there are great. They're really dedicated
and they take it seriously. And, I felt like they were all genuinely
compassionate people who really care about making a difference.”

“That's just the sort of people who need to be running
something like that.”

“Yeah. And, they gave us our first task to complete.”

“Oh yeah, what was that?”

I held up the basket and took out the last remaining
plant, holding it up with a triumphant smile for Leslie.

“Ta-daa! A local garden center donated a ton of these
for us to use to raise money for the Johnson Children's Home downtown. I saved
this one for you.”

“Aw, it's lovely! How much?”

“However much you'd like to donate, really. No
pressure, I've made over a hundred bucks already, which will make for a great
donation when combined with everyone else's.”

“Cool, so how does five dollars sound for that little
one?”

“Sounds good to me. Just drop it in the box and we can
get it out onto the balcony.”

“Here you go,” she said as she paused with making dinner
and dug in her purse for some change.

I took the money and popped it into the donation box
then took the plant out to join the others. I stayed out there for a few
moments, rearranging the plants.

As I walked back inside, I saw Leslie standing in the middle
of the living room, her hands on her hips, with an expression of pure fury
across her face. At the same time, I heard it — the powerful thumping of bass
rattling everything in our apartment.

Chris.

“This time, I'm calling the cops,” Leslie hissed.
“I've had it; I've totally had it with those two assholes! This just keeps on
happening! Jesus, I can hardly even hear myself over that racket!”

“Hold up, hold up. Don't call the cops, Les, just wait
a sec. I'll go over and get them to turn it down, alright?”

“No, Brooke, no. They need to be taught a lesson. You
going over there and asking them nicely just means they'll keep doing this
again and again because they know the consequences are gonna be nothing. Nope.
They must know that when they act like complete, inconsiderate, selfish jerks
who wreck everyone else's peace and quiet, that there are gonna be
consequences!”

“Please, Les, come on. It's just gonna cause so much
friction, and we don't need that with the neighbors. Look, I'll go over there
with my best angry face on. I'll give them hell this time. No more Miss Nice
Brooke; I'll be mean! They won't do it again.”

“Brooke, girl, I love you, but you couldn't scare
those two if your life depended on it. I'm sorry, but this is the last straw.
We have a right to peace and quiet here, and that's an impossibility with those
two jerks next door pulling this kind of shit all the time. I'm making the
call.”

She strode into the kitchen where she’d left her
phone. My heart started pounding madly in my chest. I could feel my breath
quickening. I had to stop this somehow, I had to, but I had no idea what to do;
I felt totally paralyzed.

But then, as Leslie was about to dial the cops, the
music stopped. She stood, staring at the wall with fury in her eyes and her
fingers on the phone, just waiting for the music to start again. I waited with
bated breath, but the silence remained.

I let out a sigh of relief, and Leslie shook her head,
muttered under her breath, and put the phone back in her pocket.