Trust In Love (A McCord Family Novel Book 2) (21 page)

"Make enough to refill our drinks. Let's get this gaming on. I can't wait to see E-man pout," Deja said, walking into the living room.

"I said I don't pout," Emmett said, firmly.

"You're pouting now," Deja and Sophie both said at the same time.

Chapter 11

The door swung open with a frenzy, his face etched with stress he had never felt in his life. "Sophie, are you alright?" Austin asked, dropping his bag by the door and walked into the living room where she sat with Emmett. She didn't appear to be in distress or nervous like he imagined she would be.

"Austin, you made it finally," Sophie said with a bright smile. She stood up walking over their makeshift bed still laid out from the sleepover and went into his arms.

Austin squeezed her so tightly he could have cut off her airflow. He knew he should loosen his grip, and almost did, until he heard her whisper in his ear, "I missed you."

He closed his eyes, kept squeezing her in the fiercest hug imaginable and whispered back, "Oh, Sophie, I missed you, too. That was the longest flight I've ever taken."

"I'd say get a room, but I'm almost done with my string of beads here. I refuse to miss my praise from Sophie. I've worked hard on this," Emmett said from the floor as he picked up another tiny bead and carefully added it to his string.

Sophie chuckled in Austin's ear, the sound bringing joy to his heart, yet surprised him. It obviously didn't take much for Emmett to gain Sophie's trust. Reluctantly, because he would have liked nothing better than to scoop her up into his arms and whisk her away to the bedroom, he let her go. She looked at him briefly, grabbed a quick kiss, too quick in his opinion, and went back on the floor by Emmett.

"I've already praised you several times, Emmett," Sophie said with a grin as she picked up her string of beads.

"Yes, but not a full-on praise. One I expect to get when I finish. It better be a good one," he said, his eyes focused on his string as he put another tiny bead on.

"What are you doing?" Austin asked, taking a seat on the couch, noticing how Emmett sat on the floor not too far from Sophie.

"Beadwork. Sophie's making a curtain or something frilly and it needs beads. She made me help. It's hard as shit," Emmett said, holding up his string of beads, the pride on his face. "It's not easy. These beads are tiny, tiny, tiny, and my fingers are big, big, big. Imagine the difficulties I've been having. Sophie's gonna be picking up these beads all day because I've dropped a lot of these damn things."

Sophie cleared her throat, glanced at Emmett with a look, and went back to her beads.

Emmett looked sheepishly at her. "Sorry, Soph. Those dam...nuzeling swear words just come out so easily."

Emmett looked up at Austin with a grin. It slowly withered away as Austin's hard glare trained on him. "What?"

"I hope you aren't flirting with my pixie angel," Austin said with a frown.

At his words, Sophie quickly looked over at him. He flashed her a bright smile, which must've soothed her rattled nerves as she went back to her beads without an issue.

Emmett started laughing. "Jealous, are we? We had the best sleepover ever."

"You think you're funny, Emmett," Austin said.

Sophie glanced up again at Austin. He couldn't seem to remove the anger from his face, but his eyes softened when they landed on her. She tentatively smiled and let out a tiny breath as she lowered her head back to her beads.

"I'm very funny, Austin. I was told that several times last night by Sophie and Deja. I'm downright hilarious, actually," he said with a wide grin, as Austin's face got harder with anger. "Lighten up, buddy. If I was after your woman I would have insisted on spin the bottle last night."

At those words, Austin almost jumped from the couch and decked him. Emmett slapped him on the knee, making him flinch. "Just testing ya, man. You passed. Good job."

"Testing me?" Austin asked confused.

"Well, now, Sophie and I bonded last night. We're like this now," Emmett said, twisting his pointer and middle finger in a gesture that they were close. "I had to make sure you truly want Sophie because I'm not gonna let anyone hurt her. I had to make sure your player ways are behind you. They are. You passed."

"She needs protecting even from me. Did I hear you right?" Austin asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"No, not anymore. I told you, you passed the test. I've never seen you get that jealous or possessive over a woman. She's special. Don't hurt her."

"I would never hurt her, you dumba...can you cover your ears, Sophie, so I can swear?" Austin asked with a small smile.

"No," she said, picking up another bead as a huge smile emerged. Her eyes slowly lifted to his.

No nervousness. No fear. No worry. He may have displayed his anger with clipped words and the fury etched on his face, but she knew he'd never act out. Thank goodness she knew. He had her trust. That was the most precious thing in the world.

"You know what you are, Emmett, so I don't need to verbalize it," Austin said with force.

"A handsome, charming, dashing, sweep you off your feet kinda guy. That's what I am. Thanks for reminding me," Emmett said with a chuckle.

"You're a moron is what you are. You're lucky no spin the bottle was played. Only I get to play that with Sophie," Austin said almost in a whine.

"I never noticed before, but you pout, too. It must be a family trait. Does Zane do it as well?" Sophie asked.

"I'm not pouting," Austin said.

"That's the same thing Emmett said all night last night every time we pointed it out. He had that same pouty face you have right now," Sophie replied with a grin.

Austin glanced at Emmett. "I don't have a pouty face on, do I? I call this a grin." Austin raised the left side of his lip.

"I see no pout. I see a little of Elvis, but no pout. We McCord's do not pout. I've told her this. She doesn't listen," Emmett said, grabbing another bead.

"I told him if he just admitted it, I'd make him a pie. He refuses to admit it," Sophie said, glancing at Emmett.

"I don't pout," Emmett said.

"Oh, that's the face." Austin pointed to Emmett. "Okay, I pout. When do I get my pie?" Austin said with a deep smile.

"I never said you would get one by admitting it," Sophie said. His smile started to waver, when she added, "But I'll make you one anyway."

"That's because I do the pouting the right way," Austin said.

"No, she's just a sucker for you. Do you smell that?" Emmett said, sniffing in the air.

"Emmett," Sophie exclaimed.

Austin sniffed his nose, his eyes bulging in surprise. "You tricked me. You're already making pie. How did I miss that?"

"I have no idea. Let me go check on it. You boys behave," Sophie said with a stern look.

Sophie walked away, her steps steady and unwavering. They watched her walk away.

"She's putting on the bravest front I've ever seen. That's the first time she walked out of this room without shaky feet. It's gotta be because you're home. I've tried and tried to keep her happy and her mind off that bastard and what he's up to, but it's been hard. And that pie is for you. I refuse to admit I pout. I don't pout." Emmett nodded, confirming to himself that he didn't pout.

"I'm gonna gloss over the pouting bit for now, since we all know you do pout. Why is she even making me a pie? How did the night actually go?" Austin asked concerned.

"She was fidgety as all hell, then suddenly she was like...I gotta make Austin a pie. He'll like that. So I let her. Once she got done doing that, she went back to being fidgety. I couldn't take it anymore. I saw her crafty crap in the corner and suggested we work on that. She pulled these beads out and here we are. I'm going insane doing these beads just to make her happy and get her mind off everything. Surprisingly, the night went well. We had fun and stayed up real late. The minute Deja left, her nervousness increased. I don't think it's because she was alone with me like you would think. Deja just has this way with her. They definitely are kindred spirits or some shit like that," Emmett said, waving his hand in the air at his last statement.

He looked over at Austin, who couldn't manage to keep the concern or worry hidden. "Trust me, Austin. The night was good. We played cards, and damn! Don't play with Deja. She'll take all your money. Pretending like she doesn't know what she's doing and then wham! She's taking your money. Or potato chips, because that's what we bet with. We sang karaoke, told ghost stories, and laughed about nothing. I didn't lie...best sleepover ever. Sophie didn't start to worry again until this morning. She got anxious waiting for you to get home."

"Thanks for watching out for her, Emmett. And making it a good night. I knew I could count on you. I never expected any of this. I figured down the road she would finally share what happened. I never thought I would find out about him like I did. You should've seen him, the sleaze ball. He thinks he's untouchable. He's about to get a rude awakening if he attempts to contact Sophie."

"Let me know when you need me and I'm here. Gabe's covering at the farm this morning instead of me. No sign of the car since last night. She said some things last night, Austin, that...that was disturbing," Emmett said, dropping the bead he almost had on the string. His hands started to shake as he looked around for the lost bead.

"Yeah, the chief called and relayed what she said. He wasn't too happy hearing about it and swore he'd find any sort of reason to have that bastard arrested. Peter's working on investigating what officers responded to the call she mentioned."

"How's he gonna do that without more info from her?"

"He's got his top people on it. Looking up what calls, any sort of call, that came out of Dittmore's residence. He's going to question every officer about the call and what it entailed. He'll weed out the bad ones. Dittmore had to pay them to look the other way. How could any reasonable man think that beautiful woman in the kitchen could harm herself? He's trying to do it without involving Sophie. I asked him to. I don't want her reliving it if she doesn't want to. She never asked for any of this. Last night, when I told her I knew, she thought I actively sought out to find her secrets. I'd never do that. I just want her happy and fear free," Austin said, picking up a bead from the blanket. "Damn. These are tiny as shit."

"I know. Do you feel my pain?" Emmett said, holding out his hand for the bead. "Well, those cops need to be found. If they look the other way on Sophie, they'll likely do it again on another poor victim. Not that Sophie's a victim. She's a survivor. One of the strongest, bravest women I know. You have no idea how lucky you are, Austin. She truly is special," Emmett said, glancing at him.

"Trust me, I know. That's why I'm finally taking the plunge with love and a relationship. She is special. She's got you wrapped around her finger, too. Stringing beads," Austin said, laughing, picking up another bead.

Emmett held out his hand for the bead. "Watch it, she's gonna have you doing this in no time."

"Gladly. Anything for my Sophie," Austin said. He sniffed again. "Man, I hope that pie's done soon. My mouth's watering just by the smell. You can go home now. I'm here."

Emmett glared at him. "I ain't leaving until I get a piece of pie, buddy. Don't try kicking me out. I'm not done with my strand of beads either."

"She made the pie for me, not you," Austin said firmly.

"What? You don't know how to share," Emmett exclaimed.

"Really? You boys are still arguing about the pie. Is that what you've been doing since I walked out of here?" Sophie said, a hand on her hip, looking cute and delectable in a shirt and sweats. Austin smiled. He sure liked her when she acted stern. She tried to get that fierce stern look down, but it only made him smile.

"Pie is serious business, Sophie. I don't have to share, do I?" Austin asked with his goofy grin he liked to give her. He stood up and walked over to her. "You made it for me."

"I did...but you have to share," Sophie said.

"Ha! Who's her favorite now?" Emmett said in a singsong voice.

"It's really just because I don't want to hear him pout. He's a big pouter. You understand, right, Austin," Sophie said, letting him pull her into his embrace.

"Oh, I understand. He is a big pouter," Austin said, kissing her on the lips.

"I don't pout," Emmett shouted.

Austin felt her move in his arms, positioning herself in just the right spot. If Emmett wasn't in the house, he would've made good use of that bed on the floor. Suddenly he wanted Emmett gone. He heard Sophie moan delightfully, knowing then, he needed to slow it down. He pulled his tongue away, getting an angry moan from her sweet lips, and whispered against her mouth, "I can't wait for bedtime."

"Bedtime?"

"Mmm...bedtime. I've missed holding you, Sophie. I'm never going on a trip without you again. Bedtime is my favorite time. I need to explore this beautiful body again. I need to kiss you everywhere," he whispered, still holding his mouth close to hers, peppering small kisses around her mouth as he spoke.

"Oh, yes, bedtime. I like bedtime, too," she whispered back.

"Oh, Sophie, my beautiful pixie. Is that pie done yet? I need Emmett to eat his piece and then get the hell out of this house. It's bedtime."

Sophie chuckled. "Not quite. Another fifteen minutes or so. It's almost lunch time, not bedtime."

"No, it's definitely bedtime," Austin said, grabbing another kiss before she could argue with him.