Chapter 24 #2
“I just hope they find this guy before someone gets hurt. Maybe it’s just a bunch of shitty teenagers seeing what they can get away with,” she sighs, her eyes coming back to meet mine.
“Dangerous as it is, if it was just trees and brush he was going after, he might be doing them a favor by burning off dead stuff. I could handle that. It’s the thought of everything else, of them being targets… ”
When she trails off, I look over at the table full of first responders, my stomach fluttering when I meet Wyatt’s eyes. Heat races to my cheeks because his eyes are locked on me, their intensity making my knees weak.
Fear for my friends mingles with the misplaced desire flooding my system for a man I deemed off limits.
I don’t know if I was smart to put this outfit on or absolutely moronic. It was me who broke things off with him, so trying to impress him is ridiculous. Yet, I found myself wanting to when I was getting ready. Selfishly wanting his eyes on me.
With a now dry mouth, I force myself to turn my attention back to Savanna.
“They think hanging out here might lead to a suspect. If they’re being targeted, maybe the arsonist is watching them.
Apparently a lot of arsonists return to the scene of the crime, but there hasn’t been another fire in the last couple of shifts, so instead, here they are,” she explains, grabbing a couple of drinks that Martin puts on the bar.
“So, they’re making it look like a boy’s night while they actually sus out the crowd?”
Lifting her tray from the bar, she nods. “I think they feel helpless and this is their way of doing something.”
“I don’t know if this is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard, or the smartest,” I tell her truthfully.
“My thoughts exactly. But if it brings Nate’s anxiety down about things, I’ll do whatever he wants,” she says, and goes to turn away but then pauses. “Don’t say anything, okay? I’m not sure if I was supposed to tell you or not, but I figured you’d want to know. With Wyatt, and all…”
She trails off, and I blow out a breath. She isn’t as bad as Gran, but I’ve gotten a couple of texts from her over the past couple of weeks. And I know her history helping Liam and Jordan get together.
“Thanks.”
With a small nod and a smile, she takes her tray and leaves me standing there, filled with a new worry for a man I broke up with. A new layer I wasn’t prepared for.
After delivering my drinks to a table full of Thursday night regulars, I make my way over to the guys. Because of course they sat in my section, something I’m positive Liam knew when he picked the table.
Wyatt’s attention is fixed on me, and I feel my pulse quicken as I push a smile on my face. His eyes narrow when he sees it, and I force myself to look at Luke who, like Wyatt, doesn’t have a drink yet. Liam and Brody showed up first, and Nate brought them drinks when he came out from the back.
“Hey guys,” I greet them all, my eyes sweeping around the table.
Minus Wyatt, who I can feel staring at me, his eyes trailing all down my body.
Without even watching him do it, I know those green eyes, are moving over my face, down my neck, across my chest to land on my exposed stomach.
I feel him linger there, taking in the skin I’ve left on display.
Like a ghost from the night we spent on my couch, he leaves a scorching mark along my abs.
The gentle way he’d touch me. The roughness of fingertips that have seen work for years.
It sets me on fire where I’m standing, even if it’s only the product of my own imagination.
“Bryn,” Liam calls, snapping a finger beside me.
I’m standing between him and Luke, with Wyatt across the table. This was the wrong place to stand, but I thought maybe being further from him was smarter. Except it wasn’t. Because he can see me and I can see him. Though being beside him wouldn’t be any better.
Fuck.
“You good?” Luke asks, interrupting my thoughts once again.
My eyes widen, and I nod quickly, clearing my throat. “Yeah, yeah of course. Sorry. I was just trying to remember what my last table ordered.”
“Don’t you have your tablet?” Nate asks, ever the pragmatist.
“Yeah, right, I do, I just, uh…” I trail off, my excuse not working on any of them. Except maybe Nate, who looks ready to ask me whether my tablet is working or not. “I think I forgot to put in a modification. It’s fine. I’ll talk to the kitchen.”
Liam’s chuckle has me wanting to hit him.
“What can I get for you?” I ask Luke, looking directly at him. Stalling before I need to look at Wyatt again.
Damn Liam for sitting here.
“The usual on tap,” he says, grinning in Liam’s direction.
Trying to ignore both of them, I punch the order into the tablet, take a deep breath, and finally give my focus to Wyatt.
It’s the wrong thing to do.
With our gazes colliding, he pulls his hat off, pushes back from the table, and gets to his feet. It’s so reminiscent of the first night in this very bar that I suck in a breath and hold it.
“Hi,” he greets.
The first real word between us since I left him at my beloved bench.
It’s so simple. Yet it carries every emotion I’ve felt since the second I met him.
They rush through me in an instant, making me feel off kilter and dizzy.
There’s a twinkle in his eye, one that wasn’t there the last time I saw him, and it makes something in my world tilt back in the right direction.
Breathless, I can’t help the smile that makes the corner of my lips twitch. “Hi.”
“You look real pretty tonight.”
When I feel the blush creeping across my cheeks, he tilts his head down but doesn’t break our eye contact, looking almost chagrined.
“Sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t mention that, but you deserve to be told.”
“Thank you,” I murmur quietly, my voice getting lost in the din of the bar. But he hears it. The smile tells me so. “What can I get you to drink?”
“Tall glass of water,” he says, not missing a beat. “Lots of ice. It’s a bit hot in here tonight.”
Snickers of laughter from my left and right shatter the bubble that Wyatt and I were in. Now I want to hit Luke and Liam both. Or thank them.
“Anything else?” I ask Wyatt, trying to ignore dumb and dumber.
When Wyatt’s eyes trace the same path I know he took earlier, at a slightly quicker pace, burning me along the way, I know what else he would take. But he doesn’t give it voice, just shakes his head.
“Not right now,” he finally says, bringing his gaze back to mine. “Maybe in the future.”
Sucking both my top and bottom lip in between my teeth to refrain from saying anything, I ignore my hammering heart and give him a slow nod. Without giving anyone else a chance to add to the order, I turn and walk towards the bar, dazed, and heated from the inside out.
Savanna might need to take over their table, because I’m not sure I can handle that man. Not when he looks at me like that or says things that hold more than one meaning.
Regardless of who looks after them, I know one thing. It’s going to be a long night.