Hatred With Benefits novel Chapter 48

EVA.

"Let me take a look now?" I try persuading Emerson about the pictures he took of me again, and he hums in objection as he opens the car compartment and throws the camera inside.

"You're such a pussy. " I cuss when he turns back to me and his famous signature look masks his face as he says, "Yeah, right. Your pussy. Want me to check on my pussy to see if it's doing alright down here? Possibly need some attention?" He lifts a teasing brow as he bends over the divider to my thighs and I shift back, pressing my body into the car's door as I push at Emerson's shoulder.

"Stop!" I say through a giggle and Emerson lifts his head with a satisfied smile gracing his lips before he nods behind me. "Come on, we should eat. "

He waits for me to get out of the car before he follows behind me and we make our way inside the place.

"I come here often; a woman here is a friend of my mom but she isn't around today. " Emerson explains as he leads me to take a seat in the same restaurant he brought me to last time.

"You must have been close with her. " I tell him as he takes the seat across from me, and he responds with a sad smile on his face, "Probably would have been the closest if she had enough time for me. "

"She did. You know a lot about her. " I assure him and he says, "I don't. I know those things because I trailed after her every time she was around; not because she spent enough time with me. "

"Emerson—" I start to say, but he cut me off before I could finish the rest of my words. "I should get us something. What do you want?"

"A coke is fine by me. " I tell him and a frown pulls to his lips as he says, "A coke? That isn't food. "

"I don't feel hungry. " I proclaim with a gentle smile and Emerson snorts out a laugh, "After how you were back there? I don't think so. I'll get you some fries. With more ketchup, right?"

"How do you know I enjoy my fries with enough ketchup?" I question in amazement and Emerson's lips remain parted for a while before he says, "I just guessed. "

I narrow my eyes at him, letting him know I don't believe a word from those.

"Everyone loves their fries with enough ketchup, Carson. Stop overthinking it. " He says in one breath before he's out of his seat without waiting for my reaction and a cackle leaves my lips as I watch him make his way to the front counter.

After a few minutes of standing at the counter, Emerson comes back with the fries and places them in front of me as he says, "There you go. "

"This is part of you trying to get on my good side, isn't it?" I drop my gaze on him and he smiles as he takes his previous seat, "It might be, and it might not. Maybe I'm turning out to be a natural gentleman. "

"I'll believe everything, but that, Ford. " I tell him before I look down to my fries to try one. With a nod of my head to the taste of one of my favourite fast foods, I take another fry and dip it in the ketchup, about to throw it in my mouth when I hear the sound of a click and I lift my head to see Emerson holding his phone in hand.

"Did you just take a picture of me?" I ask him, looking down at his phone and Emerson turns the screen to the table before he responds, "You think so of yourself so highly, Carson. I was taking a picture of that cute girl behind you. "

"Let me see. " I request and he trembles his head, "No. Finish your fries. "

"Emerson—"

"No, Carson. "

"Emerson. "

"Emerson. "

The sound of my voice and another's blend to the call of his name and I angle my head to the side in the direction of the sound. A girl in a mini skirt and a cropped tank stand a few steps away from us with her gaze on Emerson.

"Oh, fuck. Not her. " I turn my attention back to Emerson at the whine from him. "Do you know her?"

"Yeah. We used to fuck; took a while for me to get her off my back. " He grimaces at the sight behind me before he looks back at me with a pleading look on his face.

"It's your mess, and you should deal with it. I'm not helping you with shit, Ford. " I ignore the convincing look on his face and turn back to my fries just as the tall girl appears in front of us with a wide smile on her face.

"Oh my God, Emerson! It's you! I can't believe I'm seeing you again. " She paces to him and I watch as he slides further to the side while she takes the previous seat.

She locks arms with him and pushes her red lips forward as she says, "Why didn't you pick up any of my calls? Or respond to any of my messages? You have no idea how much I've missed having you inside me. " I scrunch my nose at the way she voiced that out, not caring about the fact that there's a third presence in the room.

"I told you I was done with you, Maya. Why's it so hard to accept that?" Emerson finally speaks in a harsh tone and you would think that's enough to keep Maya off, but it isn't. It doesn't even come as close as the girl opens her mouth again, "And I told you I love it when they play hard to get. I know you miss me more than you're willing to admit. You've probably missed these two—" my eyes widen as she snatches his hand to take to her chest and I clear my throat, interrupting her movement and catching her attention.

"Don't you think it's disrespectful to do that to him in front of me?" I lift my brows and Maya looks to Emerson before she looks back to me and says, "Do I know you?"

"No fucking chance. " I grit out and Emerson lets out a chuckle as he turns to his fries, "I'll have you doing that by the end of the day, Eva. " It isn't just a word; it's a promise. It's a declaration.

~

"Want me to stop here or drive you into your house?" Emerson jokes as he stops the car at the usual spot and I unfasten my seatbelt to turn to him before I say, "You wouldn't do that if you were smart. "

He removes his hand from the steering wheel to twist his head to me and a sincere smile touches his lips as he says, "Do you want me to thank you for showing up, Carson?"

"No, " I say as I shift in my seat. "I want you to know that I had fun, Emerson. " Emerson's smile drops and the look on his face tells me those weren't the ones he was expecting.

"I'm not always ungrateful, Ford. " I say playfully to cut through the tension that swirls around us and he shakes his head before he says, "It'd be a lie to say I'm not surprised. " Then he adds, "But I'm glad you had fun. Because I did too. "

He keeps his eyes fixed on me before I drop my gaze from his to the front of his pants and when I look back to Emerson, he's looking down to where my gaze was previously at before he lifts his head to me. "Want to give me a parting gift, Eva?"

"Not exactly. " I say and we stay silent before I move over the divider to climb onto his lap. Emerson presses a button by the side of his seat to incline it, giving me more room.

I lift my hand to his face and caress the skin, before I begin to rock against the bulge protruding through his pants and Emerson's grunt floats in the air as he drops his hand to my hips to fasten my movement.

I remove my eyes from his and drop my mouth to the side, trailing kissing down his neck as satisfying sounds fall from his mouth while he controls my movements on his clad cock.

"You will have me come in my boxers, Eva. " He mumbles as I drop my mouth down his face to press my lips to his jaw. "Fuck, do that again. " He demands when I make a circular movement and I give him what he wants, earning another starved sound from him.

"We should stop. " He whispers as he attempts to still the movement of my hips. "Before I lose it and risk everything by fucking you in here, Eva. Before I have you scream your way down home. I won't stop once I begin; I promise you. " I don't listen to him. I give another roll of my hips, and another, and another till I feel him grow painfully hard against my wet panties, threatening to tear a hole through the thin soaked material so he could slam his way inside my throbbing core to have me clenched around him. Emerson's grunts turn painful and his hold on my sides gets tighter– his fingers digging through the dress before I stop the movement with a swipe of my tongue across his earlobe.

When I pull back to look into his eyes, the brown orbs reveal that it's taking everything in him to hold back and I throw him an innocuous smile as I move from his lap back to my seat.

"I'll see you around, Emerson. " I say to a silent Emerson, whose thick breathing takes the entire space of the car as I grab my bag from the side and climb out of the car.

And just before I shut the door, he calls back to say, "Keep your windows open tonight, Eva. " It isn't a request. It's a damn order. A fucking finality that leaves no room for assertions and one that holds vows of what's coming to me tonight; of what Emerson Ford will bring to me and how he'll take me with my parents down the hall.