The Unseen Enemy Series

Chapter 13

They nodded, trying to think of something to say.

“Have you called your parents?” Jenny said.

“Yeah. They’re pretty upset.”

“They’re coming back?”

Emma shook her head. “They can’t, at least not right now. They’re dealing with a serious outbreak of Marburg fever in Angola right now, so they can’t leave the hospital. And frankly, my immune system is shot at the moment, so I can’t risk being exposed to anything they might carry back to me.”

“That sucks, Em,” Kat said. “I wish your parents could be here.”

“I know. But this is the deal – humanitarian doctors are a unique breed. They can’t always drop everything and come.”

“Speaking of dropping everything and coming to you,” Liv said. “Where the hell were you last night? I called about ten times. Were you hiding out here drinking wine? You shouldn’t have been alone to deal with all this, Em.”

“Uh,” she said. “Well. I wasn’t actually alone.”

All three of them set down their cups of coffee, their eyes bright and sharp.

Oh, boy. Here we go.

“Not alone?” Kat said. “So who, pray tell, were you with?”

“Ummm. A guy.”

They blinked.

“Which guy?” Jenny said. “You don’t have a guy.”

“Yeah, well. I still don’t. He was just a – a casual thing.”

“Holy Christ,” Liv said. “You finally had a one-night-stand.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You went to Shooter’s, didn’t you?” Kat said. “I know you did!”

“I did,” Emma admitted. “And we went back to his place and spent the night.”

“Emma, that was dangerous,” Jenny reproved in a gentle voice. “Why did you go and get into bed with some stranger instead of calling us?”

“Duh,” Liv said. “Hot man and mindless wild s*x, versus three distraught women asking loads of hard questions and gushing sympathy? No contest, Jenny. I’d have done the same thing.”

“It wasn’t a healthy response,” Emma said. “I totally know that, and I knew that even when I decided to do it. But it was what I needed, you know? That – that kind of touch.”

“Who was he?” Jenny said.

She shrugged. “Dean.”

“OK, good start. Dean who?”

“Not a clue.”

Jenny blinked. “What does Dean do?”

Emma brightened. “Oh, I know the answer to this one. He owns a tattoo parlour.”

“Oh, my God,” Liv said. “A tattooed man?”

“A tall, muscled tattooed man who has extensive and intensive military training,” Emma corrected her. “Sexy as all get-out, let me assure you.”

They stared at her with a combination of fascination and disbelief.

“Holy crap,” Kat said. “When you decide to go for it, you go for broke, huh?”

“And?” Liv said.

“And what?”

“Jesus Christ, Em! How was it?”

She thought about Dean’s mouth on her p***y and her body’s helpless response to him being inside of her, and she smiled. Her friends saw the look on her face and they grinned back, unable to help themselves.

“It was amazing,” she said. “I mean, amazing. The man has skills, ladies.”

“Uh-huh,” Jenny said, kind of dying to ask for more details but holding herself back. Briefly, she thought about bringing up Michael, but decided against it. “So, you going to see him again?”

“Nope. I don’t have any way to contact him. It really was just one night. An escape, you know?”

“Perfect,” Liv said. “Just what you needed.”

“Yep. He was a welcome distraction from reality, but now I’ve got to get on with things.” She sighed, a wave of sadness passing over her as she realized that the time had come to just go on and pick up the weight of what she had to do. She had to carry it somehow, so she might as well start now. “I can’t avoid it anymore, guys… I’m in for one hell of a fight.”