Bless the Broken Road.

Chapter Fifteen

His eyes were closed. He exhaled softly then he snapped them open. Emmett was leaning by his father's old truck as he was helping the foreman fix it. He was going to get married in just eight days. He was trying to repair it so he could sell it. It was taking forever due to the hiccups with the wedding. The foreman told Emmett that he was going into Willows, the next town, to buy parts of engine. Emmett nodded and continued to work on the vehicle. He was wearing a mucky and dusty white-ish T-shirt and dark jeans. He finished on his part on the engine and then lay flat on his back and scrambled underneath the car to take a look at the axel and battery. He started to tinker with the axel when he heard footsteps. Back crawling to view the person who was walking by, he bumped his head. Hard. "Jesus!" He muttered loudly as he put a hand to the side of his head. The person who was walking by was Chris and he looked angry. He kicked over a bucket noisily. "Hey! What the hell is your problem?!" Emmett shouted as he slowly stood up. Chris turned at once on his heel and cursed at him. Chris shouted, "I'm not in the mood Emmett. Go back to your toy!" Emmett was confused at this outburst but thought nothing of it. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed, he thought. He finished tinkering with the truck and went inside the house to get changed as he was going out to dinner to rehearse for the wedding.

Once inside, he heard his mother talking in the kitchen with Frances. Eight more days. He climbed the stairs and walked slowly up them. He was exhausted. The house seemed very quiet. "Mom?" Emmett called out. Ms Gilbert came out of the kitchen and looked up the stairs to her son. She smiled and waited for him to continue. "Have you seen Taylor?" he continued. His mother furrowed her eyebrows and said quietly, "Yes, please would check on her. As you were out helping Bill, I heard her arguing with that Chris boy. Then he stormed out her room." Emmett's eyes widened as he stood there. So that's why Chris was in a foul mood. He walked up the stairs and towards Taylor's room. The door was ajar. He knocked once. No response. He pushed open the door and found Taylor still in bed. She was staring into space but she had fresh tears in her eyes and her eyes were red and she was still crying. Emmett crouched down and put a hand to her cheek to attempt at calming her down. "Hey, Taylor, what's wrong?" he whispered. Taylor batted her eyelids rapidly and then sat up. She refused to say but she kept crying. Emmett felt helpless. He continued to ask and look at Taylor. But that's when he saw his answer. Taylor must've caught on and rushed to cover up. On her upper arm, there were four noticeable finger-like bruises. "Taylor? Did Chris do this?" Emmett seethed through clenched teeth. Taylor dropped her head and wept. Emmett was fuming. He knew what he needed to do. He exhaled calmly and pulled in a weeping Taylor. They sat there, in each other's arms, and time seemed to stop for a moment. Emmett calmed down and stroked Taylor's back as she wept. This Chris guy is gonna get what he deserves thought Emmett. Taylor pulled away, said her thank you and lay down and went back to sleep. Emmett exhaled loudly and left. He was on a mission now. To confront Chris.