Chapter 25

"So instead of beating around the bush, I'm just gonna come out and say it. Jon and I are moving in together. And we're moving to Vegas!"

Of all the things Annalise might've expected to hear pop out of Emery's mouth or for her to say or announce, this wasn't it. She sat on the edge of the couch, staring intently at Emery, waiting for her friend to deliver the punchline to the joke or something. When it became apparent that Emery was not facetious, Annalise's rather stiff smile lapsed into a full-fledged frown.

"You're not serious?" Emery was; she was freaking staid! "Why Vegas? What the hell is in Vegas?"

Of all the places to move, why would Emery pick a place across the country? Well no, Annalise got that. Being in Florida still wasn't getting any easier and she would always be dubbed the murderess of Tampa Bay.

"And with Jon? You two haven't been dating all that long, honey. Are you sure moving across the country with him is a good idea?"

"Anna, I'm tired of hiding and not living my life. Is this smart? No. Is it probably a mistake? Yes. I'm aware of the risk I'm taking with Jon. This could all blow up in my face and I'm prepared for the consequences. But at least I'll be LIVING again, sissy." Emery took Annalise's hands in hers, squeezing them gently with desperation in her aqua eyes. "I'm falling in love with him. And it's not Stockholm syndrome and it's not anything bad. I'm finally moving on with my life from Colby Lopez and it's the best feeling in the world. My heart is finally trusting enough to love again and so is my brain. They are both telling me to take this chance with Jon, to have a fresh start in my life away from all this murder bullshit. I'm done letting it run my life. It's time I live because I only have one life and it's too damn short to be worrying about who killed that abusive rapist anyway."

Annalise could only sit there and stare with her mouth hanging open. Emery seemed to be the only person on earth with the ability to render her mouth speechless and send her mind going faster than the speed of light. She understood Emery was, or thought she was, in love with Jon, but to just pack up and move across the country, to a strange place, with a guy who she had only been dating for a blink of the eye... it all seemed wrong. Never mind the fact Annalise was planning on moving in with Joe soon. However, none of these thoughts and worries came out because she loved Emery and wanted to support her friend. She knew it would register that way if she did voice concerns and, more than likely, sound hypocritical.

"I'll miss you." Annalise managed a small sad smile. "You'll be... hundreds of miles away."

"I know…" Emery frowned, trying not to cry, but it was hard because Annalise had been her rock since Colby's murder. "I just don't know if there's any place in Florida I'll feel safe at and Jon refuses to ask Joe to move because of how much he loves it here. Unless there's some kind of compromise that can be made…" Annalise shook her head, explaining they already had an apartment picked out in Pensacola, so she too was moving away from Tampa. "There's always the phone and I'm sure Jon and Joe will end up flying back and forth to see each other. They're closer than brothers."

It was scary to move away from her only support in the world, but if Emery wanted a true fresh start, she had to go someplace as far away from Tampa, Florida as possible. Vegas was perfect, or close to it. Annalise nodded, knowing Emery was right. Jon and Joe were close enough to raise eyebrows from people who didn't know them. Of course, she personally thought their relatively abnormal closeness may have been influenced a bit by the death, or murder, of their other best friend. Joe talked to her a few times about Colby – the Colby he knew and she had always felt bad for her man. The Samoan had no idea what a sick twisted son of a bitch Colby had been and it had broken something in him to discover it.

"Maybe we'll do vacation swapping or something. Come visit, gamble..." She proposed, swiping her palm across her eyes just in case there were tears appearing. "I do get why you want to leave and go as far away as you can Emery, I really do. It'll be a fresh start for you where nobody knows who you are. A clean break."

"Thank you, Anna." Emery whispered, leaning forward to hug the woman tightly around the neck, silent tears sliding down her cheeks the same time Annalise's fell. "I'll never be able to repay you for what you did for me. For standing by my side through the trial and everything. I'll do my best to make you proud and pay you back in time. And no matter how many miles part us, you'll always be my best friend and sister." She pulled back, wiping her tears away and cleared her throat when the front door to the apartment opened, both Joe and Jon stepping inside. "Speak of the devils…"

"I'm going to assume their talking about us and…are you two crying?" Joe frowned apprehensively at his girlfriend, immediately going to check on her and squatted down to take her hand in his. "What's wrong?"

"I just broke the news to her." Emery explained, standing from the couch so Joe could sit beside Annalise and joined Jon's side, leaning against him sniffling. "Didn't think it would hit us both this hard…"

"What news?"

Now Emery was looking up at a guilt-ridden Jon, blinking. "You didn't tell him yet?"

"What's going on, bro?"

Jon hadn't told Joe because, while they had submitted their information for a few apartments, they hadn't heard back yet, so nothing was 100% written in stone. Sure, they were going soon, but he wanted to make sure it was definite. That and Joe was his brother, blood practically and, after everything they had been through over the past year with Colby's murder, it wouldn't be easy to tell the Samoan he was moving across the country with Emery.

"Um... Joe... I-"

The small part of Annalise, that still did not trust Jon, was seriously amused. Though she did feel bad for her boyfriend.

"Emery and I are moving in together."

"About time." Joe knew that couldn't be all of it and just waited for the bomb to drop.

Jon flashed the most obstinate smile ever.

"In Vegas." Emery finished when Jon hesitated, taking his hand and looked up into her boyfriend's eyes, cracking a small smile. "We want to get out of this hellhole full of unhappy memories and start new ones. Have a new start with our lives."

It took Joe exactly 3 seconds before the next set of words came out of his mouth. "And you think you're moving without me – I mean us?" He quickly corrected, wrapping an arm around Annalise and kissed the top of her head. "No way, not happening. You better give us some ads 'cause you're not going alone."

"But Joe, what about the apartment we have set up already in Pensacola?" Annalise stared at her boyfriend wide-eyed, blinking.

Joe shrugged, not worried about it. "We haven't moved in yet and until we do, fuck it. We're going to Vegas, baby girl!"

Annalise managed a smile, but on the inside she was screaming due to the fact he still didn't know about her job as a stripper. "O-Okay…"

Now it was Emery's turn to feel bad for her best friend.

Now this was very awkward and Jon didn't know whether to be a total girl and just jump for joy at his best friend tagging along or feel like a world class dick because even he could see Annalise was not overly happy with this. He went for the ice breaker. Jon grabbed Joe's hands and began jumping up and down, doing his best Valley Girl scream.

"Oh mah gawd, Vegas!"

Joe was torn between smacking this idiot or laughing, settling for a feeble swat upside Jon's curly head and laughing at the same time. "It's not like we signed the lease, Lise; it'll be fine. Hell, finding jobs in Vegas will be a lot easier than here."

Jon agreed wholeheartedly. "Casinos, bro, all about the Benjamin's."

Emery took Annalise's hands, jumping up and down with her, the biggest smile on her face. "Maybe we can get that duplex idea and they can have one side and us the other!" She squealed excitedly, aqua glowing practically. "Oh my god, we have to start looking immediately!"

Taking her friend's hand, the girls rushed down the hallway to Emery's bedroom while Joe and Jon stayed in the living room. Emery flipped the laptop open and started looking up duplexes, not realizing or seeing Annalise was on the verge of having a panic attack. She was too excited to move across the country with her best friend and made a mental note to give the Samoan a huge hug for this incredible idea.

"Seriously bro, what the fuck? You can't just invite your big fat Samoan ass along with me and my woman. We need space and-" Jon tried not to grin at the offended look on Joe's face. "Just kidding." He had to duck when a swing came towards him though. "The hell?!"

"You weren't going to tell me?"

"I was!"

"When, jackass?" Jon was not the most reliable guy and forgot things, important things, on a daily basis, such as rent.

"Probably after I was gone, but still... I would've."

Meanwhile, Annalise was on the verge of having an anxiety attack. "Emery, what the HELL am I going to do in Vegas? Be a stripper on the damn strip?!"

"You'll figure it out and, besides, why would you need to work? Joe will take care of you and you can pop him out some beautiful Samoan babies!" Emery had the whole situation planned out perfectly in her head, typing like a madwoman on the laptop. "And if you DO wanna work, go to one of the strip clubs. Joe won't find out. And if he does, so what? He loves you and he's not gonna leave you over a job. Hell, you should've told him about what you were doing when you started stripping. But that's water under the bridge. Come on Anna, we won't be split apart this way!"

"I didn't tell him because we hadn't been seeing each other all that long and I didn't want him to be jealous. He's a man and men can be idiots!"

Annalise was going to strangle Emery. The woman was insanely happy and she could not be typing properly, not with as fast as her fingers were going. When Emery just began laughing, she sighed and opened the door.

"I'VE BEEN STRIPPING FOR CASH!" She bellowed before shutting it again.

"Wait... is your woman... a-" That actually made a lot of sense all things considered. Also, it explained why Emery had been considering entering that line of work. "Wow..."

"Well... um..."

Emery gaped at her best friend, not believing Annalise just did that! She just blindsided her poor boyfriend by shouting her secret out of a door! Had Annalise lost her mind? Instead of yelling, she started laughing hysterically and laid back on the bed, holding her stomach.

"You're insane! You're absolutely insane! Get your ass out there and talk to him before his Samoan head explodes or he jumps out a window!"

"Oh no, I'm going to sit back here and let him fucking stew on it. He just decided we were moving to Vegas. He can take one for the team or whatever..." Annalise dropped down on the edge of the bed, glaring at the door, basically waiting for Joe to come bursting in. What she did not expect was to hear the men laughing out in the living room.

"I'm not asking... I don't want to know..."

"Hey man, if I had tits, I'd be all over that man candy." Jon had started humming some cheesy stripper music and Joe began wiggling his hips in exaggerated lewd circles. They were dicks. "Seriously bro, you chill with her... uh..."

"I know what bed she's in at the end of the night..." Joe wasn't insecure about his woman. "Hell, explains her damn fine muscular legs..."

"I got 10 bucks in ones; get stripping."

Both Emery and Annalise raised eyebrows at each other while hearing the cheesy humming coming from Jon, followed by low whistling. "Okay, what the hell are they doing out there?" She demanded, looking over at Annalise, who had the same questionable look in her eyes. "I figured Joe would end up exploding and we'd have to clean up Samoan brains for the next couple days."

Annalise shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "Okay – alright come on!" She groaned, yanking Emery by the hand out the door and they both stopped at the sight of Joe, with his pants down, gyrating his boxer brief covered junk in front of Jon. "WHAT THE FUCK?"

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

In Joe's defense, his junk was sort of contained in his boxer briefs, which were great because unlike traditional boxers, they were damn good at keeping anything from popping out the slit for easy access when pissing. However, there really wasn't any explaining of this situation. So... he merely kept dancing, hands folded behind his head, hips circling in some pretty wide exaggerated swings.

"Come on, you cheapskate!"

The look on the girls' faces was priceless... and the remaining 6 bucks in Jon's hand almost fell to the floor, but he clenched his fingers around the loose bills, trying not to split a rib. "I don't know, you're a pretty piss poor dancer... and the goods, eh..."

Annalise's jaw hit the floor when Joe simply turned and began clenching his butt cheeks in time to the music Jon began humming again. "Oh my God... this is... this is wrong, on so many levels."

Emery was on her knees by now, laughing so hard tears streamed down her face and somehow managed to record some of the moment on her cell phone. There was no way she would miss out on this memory and would make sure to forward it to Annalise. "And to think," She paused, slowly getting to her feet again and kept giggling, shaking her head. "We actually have sex with these goofs."

"And we're moving out of state with them."

"In a side-by-side duplex."

"Where we'll all be either really happy or really miserable."

"Here's a bright side: There will never be a dull moment in our lives again with these two."

"Point taken." Annalise tossed Joe's pants at him and they smacked him in the face, making her laugh all over again. "Get dressed, we've got work to do since we're moving to Vegas now."

"Man, they always ruin our fun!" Joe grumbled good-naturedly, pulling his pants on and heaved Annalise into his arms, softly kissing her lips. "Admit it, you enjoyed the show."

"No because I'd much rather have your junk in my face, not Jon's."

"You want my junk in your face?" Jon quipped, then frowned, rethinking that. "No, wait. Strike that. You don't want Joe's junk in my face."

"Shut up, Jon. You're not helping the whole 'these guys are goofs' thing." Joe reached down and pulled out the 4 dollars from the waist of his boxer briefs. "You're a cheap customer, bro."

"Next time, show off the goods and you'll get the full 10." Jon shook his head when Joe offered him back the money. "Nah, keep it. I don't need your ball sweat."

"Is he this slow all the time?" Annalise looked up at the Samoan and snuggled against his side, relieved he wasn't angry at her about keeping her stripping job from him.

"Mostly."

"Hey! I resent that! He's smart with certain things." Emery tried defending her man, smiling up at him and wondered what it would take to get him to strip for her privately.

"Right and how long have you known him?" Joe shot back, sliding his hand down Annalise's back to squeeze her backside, grey eyes slowly turning darker at the thought of his girlfriend's strong legs and thighs he'd mentioned earlier. They would definitely be using her stripping techniques in the bedroom.

"I said certain things."

"On that note, we'll take our leave and keep you updated on what's going on. Start looking for duplexes."

Annalise dragged Joe out the door and closed it behind her before World War III commenced.