Chapter 9 #2
“Sure. You deserve some time to yourself, Wyatt,” Paige says, and I envy how comfortable she is with him. How she offers to watch his child, and he doesn’t shut her down. “I don’t mind helping out with Dottie. You know I adore her.”
“Deal.” They shake hands on it.
“I’ll make it right with you,” I say to Wyatt as Becky hands him the receipt, and he signs it with a flourish, giving it back to the server before shoving his credit card back into his wallet. “This is so embarrassing.”
“It’s cool,” he reassures me, and all I can do is watch him, feeling helpless.
Feeling dumb.
“Maybe you can get the Uber for us,” Paige suggests, and when I try, that particular credit card isn’t working with the app either.
I feel like I’ve been cut off. And that’s, like, my worst nightmare. I’m going to have to reach out to my father tomorrow. An even bigger nightmare.
Looks like my good time in a small town is about to come to an end.
But why should it?
My gaze goes to the two men standing beside each other outside of the bar, Nate laughing at something Wyatt said.
God, are they laughing about me? I’ve become paranoid after the Edmund-and-Cocksbury incident.
This isn’t good. I need to remember who I am.
Or more like who I used to be. Carefree and daring.
Scarlett was always the reserved one in our friendship, and I was the one who pushed her to her limits, along with myself.
I need to do that. Tonight.
“Go along with what I’m about to say,” I tell Paige, who frowns at me in confusion. “Okay?”
“Sure.” She nods, and this is why I like her so much. She doesn’t argue or question me. Trusts me enough that she takes me at my word.
“Hey, Nate.” He glances over at me, a smile on his face. He looks a lot like his brother, but he does nothing for me. “You should ride in the Uber with Paige, don’t you think?”
Nate frowns. “Why?”
“So you can get her alone for a little bit.” I am grinning. Buzzing and alive with all the beer I consumed, turning any logical thoughts I might have into mush. “And that way I can get Wyatt alone for a little bit.”
Nate chuckles, the sound vaguely dirty, and he slaps his brother in the chest, catching Wyatt’s attention. “Little Miss Hottie here wants to get you alone in the back seat of an Uber.”
Wyatt lifts his gaze to mine, and unlike my zero reaction when Nate looked at me, now everything inside of me is fluttering. Especially the spot between my thighs. “For real?”
I keep the exasperated breath that wants to escape me inside.
I’m baffled by this man. Has no one tried to hit on him lately?
After the credit card debacle, I’ve come to the conclusion that I have nothing to lose.
This man is smokin’ hot. I’m attracted to him, and from the looks he was giving me earlier in the bar, I think he might feel the same.
Most likely I’ll be leaving tomorrow, so why not have a little fun with the hot firefighter? Oops, I mean captain. I wonder if he has a special hat he wears that indicates he’s a captain, and I wonder if he’d let me wear it while I ride him like a horse and fuck him to oblivion?
Okay, my thoughts are wilddddd. I need to calm down.
“Yes, for real. Let’s trade besties, hmm?” I flutter my eyelashes at the boys while Paige slaps my arm. Hard.
“You’re being so obvious,” she whisper-hisses out of the side of her mouth.
“Nothing is going to happen if we operate in subtlety, clearly.” I turn toward her, hating how anxious she looks. “It’s going to be okay, Paige. I just thought I’d have a little fun with this swap.”
Paige wrings her hands in front of her, her gaze going to Nate and Wyatt while my back is to them. Panic flares inside of me, but I tamp it down. This is going to work. And if it doesn’t? I can take my humiliated self and get out of here. I’ll never have to see any of these people again.
But Paige will have to see them—specifically Nate. I’m being an awful friend, I know I am.
“This is probably a terrible idea,” Paige whispers just as I hear footsteps approach. I straighten my spine, about to turn around, when whoever walked over to us speaks.
“You riding home with me, Paigey?” It’s Nate.
Breaking out into a full-blown grin, I turn, grabbing hold of Paige’s arm and dragging her over to Nate. “She’s all yours.”
“Sounds promising.” Nate’s drawl is pretty good, I must admit, while Paige makes a squealing sound like she can’t form words.
A car pulls up, and Paige checks her phone. “That’s my car.”
Within seconds, she’s climbing into the back seat of the Uber, Nate following after her and slamming the door shut. The window rolls down, and Nate thrusts his head through it. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
The window goes back up, and the car pulls away from the curb, leaving me behind with Wyatt. All alone.
The silence between us is deafening, and I glance over at him to find he’s already watching me. “I didn’t call an Uber.”
“You didn’t?” I frown, wondering how I’m going to get home since my credit card has most likely been canceled. Don’t have my debit card with me either—I didn’t bring it with me on this trip, which was stupid. But when you don’t have a lot of money in your bank account, what’s the point?
I could crash out in the rental car, I guess. Take a little nap, sober up, and drive back to Paige’s in a few hours. Not that I have any way of getting inside the condo if she’s still off with Nate or fast asleep.
Hmm. I didn’t plan this out enough, which is typical. My lack of foresight is probably why I get in so much trouble.
“Is that your car?” Wyatt inclines his head toward one of the last remaining vehicles in the parking lot.
I nod. “It’s my rental, yep.”
“Got the keys?”
I lift my Chanel Kelly bag by its handle. It’s tiny and can’t fit much. A lip gloss, a card holder substituting as a wallet, and the rental car key, which is big and bulky and ugly. “I do. In here.”
“Hand them over.”
Without thought I pull the keys out of my bag at his command, pausing just as I’m about to throw them at Wyatt. “You’re drunk too.”
“I don’t plan on driving the car.” He holds his hand out, palm up. “Throw them to me.”
I do, tossing the keys at him like a weapon, and I want to do damage. He catches them with ease and starts walking. “Follow me.”
Annoyed, I chase after him, my heels loud as they clip-clop on the asphalt. Wyatt heads toward my car as if he owns it, and that’s so typically male of him.
And also kind of hot. I can’t lie.