5. Wylder
5
WYLDER
“That was…” Tate’s sleepy voice trails off as her fingernails trail tiny circles across my chest.
I grab her hand, bringing her fingers to my mouth before putting them back down. “Yeah, princess. It was.”
I’m not sure I have words to describe the entire day, especially everything that has happened since we arrived at the Saybrook.
“Now what?”
“Now, we sleep.”
She tips her head back and opens her eyes. “I mean about getting home.”
I blow out a breath because none of the options are optimal. “We can wait here for days, we can rent a car and come back another day, or I can call my brother to bring me the part I have back at the garage to fix her.”
“Which brother?” she asks.
“The dickhead.”
Her fingers stop moving. “Thumper?”
I can hear the hesitation in her voice. She hates him, and I can’t blame her. The MC made her life a living hell, and if they had their way, she’d be another missing persons case that would eventually go cold.
I don’t even know why I brought him up. He and I have a contentious relationship at best. “We can rent a car,” I offer, not wanting her to have to make the decision.
“No. No. Do I have to be around him for long? What are we talking about here?”
“He’d drop the part and go.”
“So, technically, I wouldn’t necessarily have to see him at all?”
“Not if you didn’t want to.”
She props herself up on one elbow, staring down at me. “Have him bring the part. It makes the most sense. If he’s your brother, I’ll have to face him sometime. He’s part of your package.”
“He doesn’t have to be.” I’ve written other people off for less. The fucker should’ve been dead to me years ago, but I tried not to hold a grudge because my mother would be beside herself.
“He’s your brother, Wylder.”
“And?”
“He’ll always be part of your life.”
“He’s an asshole, Tate.”
“Well aware of that fact,” she reminds me like I forgot all the bullshit she went through with the MC.
I still don’t have the entire story, but I am going to change that. Thumper and I are going to have an in-depth conversation about Tate. So far, I’ve avoided him since we had our fight, which was the night I ended up inside Inked with my lips pressed against Tate’s.
“But,” she says softly, grazing my nipple with her fingernail, “he’s our best chance of getting out of here without having to come back until the girls are done with camp. I can stomach him for a few minutes if it gets us home sooner.”
I stare up at her, chewing the inside of my lip. I wish there were another way, but of course, we had to break down in the middle of nowhere. “I’ll make the call. I’ll have you home by late tomorrow afternoon.”
“Perfect,” she breathes and collapses back into my side. “I have to get the guest spot ready. My cousin’s coming in from Florida to do a stint at Inked. I want everything to be perfect.”
“I’m sure it will be,” I tell her as I grab my phone off the nightstand and find Thumper’s number.
The phone rings three times and then kicks over to voice mail, which is full. But before I can shoot off a text to him, Thumper’s photo flashes on my screen.
“Yo,” he says before I have a chance to say hello.
“Hey.”
“What’s up, dickhead? You never call. You dying? Ma dead?” he rattles off. “Hopefully not Ma, but the other shit…”
“What are you doing in the morning?”
“Not a goddamn thing besides turning the bitch out who currently has her lips locked around my cock.” There’s a choked moan in the background, and I cringe, glancing down at Tate, who doesn’t seem fazed in the slightest.
“Can you swing by my garage and drive a part out to me? I’m in Indiana.”
“What the fuck are you doing there?”
“Took the girls to summer camp. The truck shit out on me, and of course, there’re no parts for it anywhere near here.”
“I got you. How far?”
“Three hours.”
“I’ll be there by noon. Good?”
“I’ll text you what I need, where it is, and where I am.”
“Later,” he says, the girl squealing in the background before the line disconnects.
“You didn’t mention me.”
“I want to have the you conversation when we’re eye to eye. Not over the phone.”
“The me conversation?”
I brush my lips against her hair and close my eyes. “I’m going to lay down some ground rules.”
She flattens her palm against my chest and nuzzles deeper into my side. “I don’t want there to be trouble because of me.”
“There won’t be. Lemme handle my brother. I have decades of experience with him.”
“You do, but I also have a past with him. One I’d rather not repeat.”
“I got you, princess. Leave my brother to me.”
“Oh boy,” she mutters against my skin. “This isn’t going to be good.”
I pull away, pushing her onto her side and curling my body against her. “Sleep. You let me worry about tomorrow.”
“Okay,” she says on a yawn. “He’s your brother.”
That is a fact I can’t escape, no matter how much I wish I could. He and I have never had a good relationship. It’s like he’s been gunning for me since the day I was born. If there is a way to fuck me over, he does it and seems to take pleasure in it too. I am used to his bullshit, but I’m not going to let his sourness bleed onto my girl.
Which brings up another point, something she and I are going to have to talk about soon. Our relationship has been casual. It’s been whatever it is. We haven’t had much of a discussion about anything more serious. We’ve been easing into things, but that time is over.
With the girls gone for the summer, I plan to stake my claim and make her realize exactly who she belongs to—she is meant to be mine. I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life, and nothing is going to stop me from making that a reality.
“Sweet dreams, Wylder.”
I pull her tighter against me and press my lips to the back of her shoulder. “You too, princess.”
I drift off to the possibilities of a future I didn’t think was possible until I met her.
I feel like I’m being punked as I glance around the small but full dining room. “I didn’t think this shit was real.”
Tate giggles across the table from me as she tears apart an everything bagel that has more cream cheese on it than should be legal. “Which part?”
I glance around, waving my hands in all directions. “All of it.”
Her eyes follow the movement of my hands as she lifts a chunk of bagel to her lips. “It’s nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”
“I thought it was all made up for television. I feel like I’m stuck in some creepy horror film and someone with a chainsaw is going to burst through the front door.”
“Or that everyone’s been taken over by body snatchers,” she says before shoving the bite into her mouth and licking her fingers afterward.
My gaze snags on the way her lips curl around her fingertips, her tongue swiping across the smaller bits she didn’t catch on the first pass. “Tate.”
“Yeah?” she asks, looking at me with big doe eyes, like she doesn’t know exactly what she’s doing.
“If you don’t stop that, I’m not going to be able to stop myself from bending you over this table and giving everyone a show.”
Her smile is immediate. “They’re already staring. May as well give them a good reason.”
“They’re staring?” I ask, clueless.
She nods. “I swear, you’re oblivious to so many things.”
“Why are they staring?”
She looks at me like I’m an idiot for asking such a question. “Are you serious?”
Yep. Idiot vibes. “Yeah, princess. I don’t ask questions I already know the answer to.”
She ticks her chin toward me as her eyes move across my exposed arms. “All of our decorations are causing a stir.”
“Ridiculous,” I mutter.
“Do you think anyone here has a hidden tattoo?”
I look around the room, taking in all the flannel and perfectly pressed blouses. “Nope.”
“Me either,” she whispers before shoving another hunk of bagel between her lips.
My phone buzzes on the table, and I glance down, seeing Thumper’s message. “He’s a few minutes out.”
“Great,” she mumbles, looking just as happy as I am to see my brother.
“At least we’ll be back in the city soon and away from this.” I tip my head toward the other guests. “We’re not small-town people.”
“I could never live anywhere except the city. I woke up in the middle of the night and lay there. You know what I heard?”
“What?” I ask before taking another sip of the too-weak coffee.
“Absolutely nothing. I thought for a minute that I maybe died, but then you moved and I knew I was still alive. It’s way too quiet around here. I don’t know how people sleep. They should offer white noise machines in each room.”
“Only you would think it’s too quiet.”
“Well, you started snoring, and I immediately fell back to sleep.”
“I don’t snore.”
She leans forward, touching my cheek. “Baby, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you do.”
“Liar,” I whisper, playfully nipping at her fingertips like I am going to bite them.
She giggles but doesn’t argue back as my phone pings again.
“He’s here.”