Shattered Glass & Broken Hearts

The next two days were some of the most stressful in Emily's life, more so than the days following her waking up from her coma. But having Ronnie beside her again, giving her discreet looks and kisses when no one else was looking made her feel just a little bit better about the deterioration in the rest of her life. Max still wasn't speaking to her; her parents had asked her not to return to the hospital so that it wouldn't cause him even more stress than he was already under. Tonight was to be her last night in Las Vegas with Ronnie before the two of them headed back to Los Angeles. She didn't want to go back without fixing things between her and her brother, but she knew that Max was too stubborn to let her get near him right now. She had to wait until he was ready to talk to, even if she wanted to see him now.

"He'll come around, Em," Ronnie murmured softly to her before he touched her face with a small smile. "You know he can't stay mad at you for too long."

"This is different," she whispered, looking down at the floor. Their suitcases were already packed so that they could leave early in the morning, and there was nothing else for the two of them to do except sit around and watch movies on TV or talk until one of them fell asleep. It was how they'd spent their last two nights, and she was sure that was how tonight would go, too.

"Em," he frowned. "Don't beat yourself up. It's not your fault he's an idiot and overdosed."

Her head lifted sharply and she narrowed her eyes. "Don't call him an idiot, Ronnie," she muttered. "He's still my brother."

He just shrugged, obviously not willing to take back what he'd said about Max. He had made it crystal clear what his feelings were about Max's most recent overdose, and he was none too thrilled with how Max was keeping her at bay. Ronnie felt like Emily deserved more respect from her brother, especially given the fact that she'd been there through everything he'd ever gone through. Maybe she had been a little distant over the past few weeks - Ronnie didn't really know because until recently, he hadn't really been speaking with her much.

But he did know that no matter what she had done, there was no way in Hell that Emily deserved how Max was treating her now.

"I'm sorry," he finally told her, touching her leg gently. "I just...He's being an asshole to you and I don't like it."

Emily arched her eyebrow, but said nothing as she laid back on the mattress. She was still getting used to having Ronnie back in her life, and especially after the mind-numbing, earth-shattering kiss he'd given her. He hadn't kissed her since then and she hadn't made a move to him, either. She could tell that it was starting to make him worry, but he had agreed to take it slow and right now, she was moving at the pace of a turtle because of how conflicted she was about things. Hell, she wasn't even sure she should still be interested in pursuing anything with Ronnie. After all, he had broken her heart. He'd walked away from her when she'd needed him most. Where had he been when she'd been going through recovery after the car accident?

Where had he been when she'd faced criticism for his downward spiral into drugs? Sometimes, she wondered if he even realized that a lot of people still blamed her for his addictions. Then again, sometimes she herself put the blame on her shoulders. After all, she knew how guilty he'd felt about putting her in that coma. Was it that guilt that had fed his addictions to drugs and alcohol?

"Em?"

She looked up when she heard Ronnie say her name and she bit her bottom lip, a small smile forcing itself onto her face as she met his gaze.

"Yeah?"

He didn't say anything for a few moments before he looked down at the floor, eyes cast away from her as he touched his hand to her leg again.

"I don't think I ever truly told you how sorry I was," he whispered. If he had been any quieter, Emily wouldn't have heard him. She bit her bottom lip, sitting up again before she touched her hand to the side of his face, turning his chin so that he was looking directly into her eyes.

"I already knew it, Ronnie. You didn't need to say it," she smiled softly.

He shook his head, swallowing hard.

"No, it's not okay," he muttered. "Em, I could have killed you. I almost did, and...And I just left you," he whispered, voice cracking. "I never called your parents to see if you were okay...Fuck, I don't even know how long you were in the coma. I didn't know if you were okay...I had doubts you'd ever wake up, and that's...I just should have called. I shouldn't have left," he whispered, squeezing her thigh. "I should have made sure you were okay. I was scared, Em...So fucking scared."

She pressed her finger to his lips to cut off anything he was going to say next. This was the most they'd really talked about her accident since he'd come back into her life, and though it made her feel a little bit more reassured to finally be getting everything off of her chest, she could tell that he was about to cry and that wasn't something she was sure she was prepared for. In the entirety of the time she'd known Ronnie, she had never seen him cry. It would be strange to her; foreign, and she wasn't sure she could handle it right now with everything else that was going on.

"It's okay, Ronnie," she finally whispered. "I promise. I'm not mad at you; I don't blame you. Hell, I..." She muttered. "I probably would have done the same thing. I know you were scared, Ronnie. Fear makes people do strange things sometimes, so it's okay. Let go of it," she murmured.

Her words did nothing to reassure him that everything was truly okay and she bit her bottom lip, sliding even closer to Ronnie. She was so close to him now that she could feel his breath on her lips, and she shivered just enough for him to feel the goose bumps raise up on her flesh.

"Emily..."

She cut him off by pressing her lips gently to his. She didn't try to take it any further than just a simple kiss, her hand resting on his cheek and the other on his side. Ronnie slowly brought one of his hands to the back of her neck, hesitant to deepen the kiss but wanting to anyway. After a few moments of tenderness, he finally opened his mouth, sliding his tongue along her bottom lip, moaning at the sweetness he tasted there before she parted her own lips to allow him to explore further.

Emily's eyes closed as he slowly repositioned them so that she was lying beneath him on the mattress. His hand stayed on the back of her neck, his lips never leaving hers as he kissed her with a hunger she hadn't felt since ten years before. He showed her through the kiss that though it had been a long time, his feelings had never changed. He showed her that he still loved her; that he'd never stopped.

He showed her that he still wanted her.

She gasped as soon as she felt his lips slowly leaving hers, trailing softly down her jaw to her neckline, leaving gentle kisses in their wake. Her hands were now on his shoulders, gripping tightly through the tight material of his black t-shirt as he held her hips firmly so she couldn't squirm beneath him.

She arched against his grip, eyes closed as she felt him continue kissing down the scoop of her shirt, stopping just shy of the fabric before he pulled away altogether, looking up at her. Both of them were breathing hard, neither having expected something like that from just a simple kiss. Her hands were still on his shoulders, his still on her hips as he finally rested his head on her shoulder, letting his weight gently lay on top of her; not enough to squish her, but just enough to make her feel warm and secure.

"I'm sorry if I took it too far," he murmured quietly, pressing his lips once more to her neck in a soft kiss. "I couldn't stop myself."

She just chuckled breathlessly. "I wasn't complaining."

Neither of them said another word, instead letting the silence fill the room as they lay there with one another. This was the closest that Emily had been to a man since the last time Ronnie had held her, and fuck, did it feel good. She'd missed the way his arms felt, missed the way he could kiss her and make her melt with a single touch. She'd missed the way he could seemingly look into her soul with those beautiful brown eyes of his. Emily had missed everything about Ronnie and it was almost overwhelming to know that she finally had him back in her life once again.

She never wanted to lose him. Emily didn't care what it took to keep Ronnie, but this time, she knew that her heart couldn't handle losing him. If Ronnie walked away from her again, she'd never get over it. She'd be a broken mess, and both of them realized that. And that was what scared both of them more than anything else ever had in their entire lives.