Chapter 17
seventeen
Walking around Wyatt’s room, I take it all in.
His bed is made with the corners tucked in.
I walk over to the corner of his room, where he has a few picture frames nailed into the wall.
Two of the images are of mountains, one is of him and I’m assuming his parents based on how old he looks in the photos, and the three other ones are of him with friends that I recognize.
Kellan is in the picture, but it’s the other guys I am drawn to. Clayton James, Beckett Hayes, and Brett Woods. Three friends who he used to live and play with.
I haven’t officially met them yet, but I know they are still close. He talks about them often. With the way the group chat with their women is always popping off, I am not surprised. This is a tight-knit group.
“Sorry I took so long,” he mutters as he walks back into his room.
Turning, I take him in. He’s changed into a pair of black sweatpants with a matching hoodie. His hair is still damp from his shower. It’s a sexy look. One that has me wishing I could entice him to stay here instead of being social.
That’s not the complete truth, though. I am looking forward to my slice of normalcy.
“I didn’t mind. I hope it’s okay that I looked around,” I tell him.
Even though we have been in his room many times, I have always been focused on him. This is the first time he has really left me alone long enough for me to take in the small details.
“Of course it is.” He walks over and nods toward the frames in front of me. “That’s my favorite photo,” he says, pointing to one of him and the guys on the ice.
“It looks like it was taken right after a game,” I murmur.
“That was right after we won the championship my sophomore year. Grace snapped a photo since she knew it would be the last time we all played together. In college, at least. I have a couple with Calvin too, but he was new that year. This is the core group. The one that started the brotherhood that is surpassing anything we ever expected.”
“Why isn’t Brett suited up in it?” I ask, running my hand over his image.
Something I can’t name flashes through his eyes. “He was hurt and had to take the year off. Coach pretty much made him an assistant coach that year to make him feel like part of the team. The school was able to redshirt him so he could play again.”
“And did he play?” I ask.
He nods. “Last year. It took a lot of convincing, mostly from Emery, but he finally got his head back on his shoulders. He could have gone pro, but he didn’t want that. When he and Emery had Alissa, he decided he wanted a family more.”
“That is so sweet. I love that you have them in your life. You guys have a once-in-a-lifetime friendship. Time and distance doesn’t change anything for you. That’s amazing.”
“You can have that too. The girls love you. No matter what happens between me and you, they will have your back,” he reminds me.
I frown. “When they find out we lied to them about everything? How could they trust me?”
He steps closer, cupping my cheek. “They will understand. Each one of them has their own convoluted story about how they ended up with their men. They won’t fault you for yours.”
I want to believe him. I’m desperate to, actually. The guilt is weighing on me, though. Every time we take a step forward, I am reminded that this all is temporary. That we started as fake. How can we go from that to something real?
The song downstairs changes to something with heavy bass.
“Jesus. Should we take these down?” I mutter as the frames start to shake.
Wyatt laughs. “Nah, they will be fine. Come on, we better head down there. Unless you want to stay up here and watch a movie or something?”
I love that he asks that. I’m tempted to tell him yes, but I don’t. I finally have a night off where I am not worrying. I am able to put the thoughts in a cabinet and have fun. I am going to capitalize on that.
“Maybe later? I promised Cora I would have at least one drink with her.”
Wyatt smiles. “Then we better not let you break your promise. Come on.”
He takes my hand and pulls me out of his room. We pause outside his door so he can lock it before we head down the stairs.
“This place filled up fast,” I yell as I take in the crowd.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” He smirks over his shoulder.
As I follow him through the crowd, I can’t help but shake my head. I thought the last party we had here was busy, but apparently I was wrong. I guess it really does make a difference between one being spur-of-the-moment and the other being planned ahead of time.
“You made it!” Cora yells after she tosses a ping-pong ball into a cup. “Drink up, sucker!”
Kellan shakes his head. “I swear you are so vicious sometimes, I don’t know where it came from.”
“You love it.” She smirks before blowing him a kiss.
Her opponent throws the ball and misses the cup a mile wide.
“Come on, Bev, even my blind grandma has better aim than that!” she taunts.
I lean into Wyatt. “Does she really have a blind grandma?”
“No, or if she does, I’ve never met her, and for the record, I’ve spent holidays with her family because of Clay,” he murmurs into my ear.
“She always seems so sweet. I never would have seen this coming,” I hiss at him.
“It’s the James’ competitiveness. It runs in the family. Now come on, let’s go find you a drink.”
We fight our way into the kitchen, where we see Jason. His eyes light up when he sees us.
“Hey, you guys! What can I get you to drink?” he asks.
“Can I get one of those vodka drinks in a can that Cora drinks, please?” I ask.
Jason nods. “I’ll grab you a High Noon. Is there a specific flavor you want?”
“You can pick whatever.”
He looks over at Wyatt. “Do you want a beer?”
Wyatt shakes his head. “Not tonight. I need to make sure this one gets home in time.”
Jason nods. “Ah, the dreaded curfew. Understood.”
He’s not entirely wrong. What he doesn’t know, though, is the curfew is self-inflicted. He doesn’t know my situation at home or that on any other night, I wouldn’t be here.
Tonight though, I’m lucky because it’s the night the respite worker comes to relieve me. It has been a couple weeks of her coming, and Dad loves her. It makes it easier and easier for me to step away for the six hours she is there.
“Thank you,” I tell Jason as he hands me my drink.
“No problem. I’ll see you guys later,” he says before moving to help someone else out.
“Will he be working all night?” I ask Wyatt.
Wyatt shakes his head. “Nah, we have the freshmen broken into groups. They take turns bartending for an hour.”
“Oh, that’s not bad.”
“Do you want to dance?” he asks, changing the subject.
“Sure.”
He leads me back toward the living room and pulls me into his arms. Bodies bump up against us as we begin to move. The place is crowded and a sensory overload, but I don’t mind. Something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention and I turn my head.
Kyle stands on the edge of the room, arms crossed, glaring daggers at us.
It’s so different than when I came here after our breakup. He was the one dancing with someone else while I ran off upset. Tonight, he hadn’t even crossed my mind until I saw him.
Wyatt shifts us and brings his head down, his lips brushing over the shell of my ear. “You okay?”
“Never better.”
I pull my eyes away, focusing back on Wyatt. Kyle is my past, and no matter what happens with Wyatt, there is no future with Kyle. I could let Kyle’s dirty looks get to me, I could be upset that he’s here, but at this point, I genuinely don’t care about him.
All I care about right now is Wyatt. I’m going to soak up every minute I have with him as long as I can, and no one is going to stop me.
Tonight has been great. Better than I could have imagined. Lyla has been able to relax and have a good time. It’s like she knows her dad is safe, so she doesn’t have to rush back to him.
I thought for sure when she saw Kyle was at the party that she would try and dip out early, feigning having to get home, but she didn’t. She didn’t let him being here and glaring at us from across the room stop her from enjoying herself.
Thank fuck, because if she had, I probably would have lost my mind.
The bathroom door opens, and I look up from where I sit on the edge of my bed. Lyla walks out of the bathroom, her lip pinned between her teeth as she looks at her phone screen.
“Everything okay?” I can’t help but ask.
Lyla sighs. “Yeah, I just realized how late it is. I actually need to head home to let the respite worker head home.”
“Okay, let’s go,” I say as I stand.
She looks up at me in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘let’s go’?”
“Well, I don’t know if you’ve looked outside recently, but not only is it late, it’s dark out. I’m going to give you a ride.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t need a ride, it would be a waste of gas. Seriously, I’ll be fine. I’ve walked home in the dark a thousand times. Besides, you can’t leave. You have a house full of people waiting for you downstairs.”
I walk over to her and place my hands on her shoulders. “Lyla, I’m nothing like Kyle. I am not a dick who’s going to make you walk home alone in the middle of the night. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Lyla sighs. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”
“No.” I smirk. “I legit would not be able to enjoy myself not knowing if you were walking home safely or if someone grabbed and kidnapped you. I mean, we watch true crime together. You see how it always happens. It’s the person who thinks it won’t be them that always gets snatched.”
She rolls her eyes, but there’s a smile there. “Fine, you can walk me home, but then you will need to turn around and come right back. It would be rude if the host ditched mid-party.”
I bite my tongue to stop myself from telling her I’m not the host and that Kellan is.
While I might be popular by name, I’m not in person.
I’m not the type who hangs out in big crowds and makes friends with strangers, and frankly, talking to someone I don’t know sounds worse than getting a root canal.
We leave my room, locking the door behind us, and head down the stairs. It takes us five minutes to weave through the party and say our goodbyes to the ones who matter.
“I didn’t realize how hot the house was,” she says as we take off down the street.
“Are you cold?” I ask as I put my arm around her shoulders.
She shakes her head. “I’m good.”
“Did you have a good time tonight?” I ask, changing the subject.
“I did. I’m glad I came.”
“Me too. I’m glad things seem to be working out with the help you guys have now.” I press a kiss to the side of her head.
“Janice is a godsend. I know it’s only for one night a week, for me at least, but it’s amazing. Will seems to appreciate it too.”
Pride rushes through me the more she talks. Even if things never work out between us, I’m glad that I could set this up for her. She deserves the help. Not that I will ever let her know I was behind it.
When we get to her house, I follow her inside and shut the door behind me.
“Hi, Janice,” she says softly.
The older woman, who would probably be about my mother’s age if she were still alive, looks up from her sewing project and smiles. “Good evening, Lyla. Did you have a good time?”
“I did. How was dad tonight?” Lyla asks as she wrings her hands together.
Janice’s eyes soften. “Your dad was fine, and he’s already asleep. I checked on him about twenty minutes ago, and he was out like a light.”
“And he didn’t try to run you off?” Lyla asks.
That’s been her main worry. That her dad would forget who Janice is and try to run her from the house.
Janice shakes her head. “No dear. Honestly, he was no trouble at all.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Lyla sighs as she relaxes. She turns her gaze toward me. “I’m going to go check on him.”
“Sounds good.” I smile.
Once she disappears down the hall, I turn back to Janice.
“Good kids like them shouldn’t have to go through things like this. It’s unfair,” she says as she puts her project into her bag before picking it up.
“I agree.”
Janice walks over to me and rests her hand on my shoulder. “You’re a good boy for helping them. She is lucky to have a man like you at her side.”
“Thank you,” I tell her quietly.
“I’ll slip out while she’s busy. Tell her I will see her next week.” Janice heads toward the door.
“Night.”
I watch as she leaves.
“Hey, where did Janice go?” Lyla asks as she comes back into the room as I lock the front door.
“She had to go,” I tell her.
“Oh, well, then I guess it’s time for you to head back too, huh?” she asks, the loneliness already seeping into her voice.
“Actually, I was hoping I could hang out here for a while. Maybe we could watch some TV or put on a movie or something.” I shrug.
Lyla sighs. “Wyatt, the people at your place…”
“Will be fine without me. The only person I care about spending time with right now is right in front of me. If you want me to go, I will, but if you want me to stay and hang out with you, I would rather do that.”
“Are you sure Kellan and the other guys won’t mind?” she asks after a beat.
“Trust me, they don’t. Besides, if I go home now, I’ll just head up to my room and spend the rest of the night texting you.”
“Well, we can’t have that,” she says as her cheeks turn pink.
“So, what do you say, movie night?”
“Fine. Twist my arm.”
I walk into her living room and sit down on the couch and pat the spot next to me.
Rolling her eyes, Lyla walks over to me and grabs the remote as she sits down.
As she gets comfortable next to me, she flips through the channels until she lands on something I don’t recognize.
Twenty minutes later, thanks to me playing with her hair and the movie, she’s out like a light, and I can’t help but smile.
Scooting down, I tip my head back and shut my eyes. I’d much prefer to take her to bed, but the last thing I want to do is wake her. Especially not when I already have her where I want her most. I think as I start to fade.