Chapter Twelve
Staring at my phone, I keep reading Wyatt’s message over and over again. He fell for me? And told Giana, my alter ego.
Why the fuck did I tell him to go for it?
I know why. That man is perfection. And he’s dedicated to his family who isn’t on the wrong side of the law. They’ve probably never even stepped a toe over the line.
But I’m not good. I’m the problem. He could be my perfect match, able to give it as well as he takes it.
James is actually the real problem. He started out okay, but after the first slap across my cheek it all went downhill.
I don’t even know if I can trust my gut anymore.
I’ve lost trust not only in relationships, but in myself.
“Soph!” Aubrey calls from the door.
“Up here!” I call down from the lofted bedroom.
Footsteps cross my kitchen and start to clomp up the stairs. For someone so petite, she’s the loudest walker I’ve ever met. Clearly she never had to sneak around her house.
“Hey. What are you doing? I thought we were hiking?” She takes in my pajamas.
“Sorry. I had a late night. Couldn’t sleep, and I woke up pretty late.” Grabbing my shorts from the drawer next to me, I slip off my cotton pajama bottoms, getting dressed.
“Ugh. Lily wouldn’t sleep last night either. I’m so glad she started camp for the summer. I love her, but it’s so much easier when she’s in school.” Aubrey flops down onto my bed.
“Do we need to hike? We could just take a nap. Right here,” I joke as I slip Wyatt’s tee over my head. Then I freeze.
Shit.
“Why do you have a Balsam Cliffs PD shirt?”
Slipping my head through the neck, I only have one option. I can’t lie to Aubs. She’ll know in seconds.
“We went running together.”
“And you ended up with his clothes… how?” She raises an eyebrow and cocks her head, taking me in to judge if I’m lying.
“We went back to his house. And I was only wearing a sports bra from the run so he gave me a tee to wear while we made dinner.”
Her eyes bug out. “You and Wyatt? Running and making dinner together? That’s it?”
“It’s kind of become our thing. He texts me when he’s free, we run, and then either cook breakfast or dinner, depending on his shift.” I shrug, turning to go down the steps, except she follows me.
“And that’s it? Just running and cooking.” She hops off the last step and places herself between me and the bathroom.
“Yup,” I squeak.
“You’re fucking lying to me!” she screeches as I push past her to brush my teeth.
“Am not!”
“Ooooh, yes you are. Don’t try to lie to me. Not only am I a mom to a sneaky little girl who has her Cooper wrapped around her finger, I’m your best fucking friend!”
I spit out my toothpaste and take a deep breath. “Fine. You’re right. I’m lying to you.”
She rubs her hands together with a huge smile splitting her face. “Oh, this is going to make the five miles totally worth it.”
“It’s not the mileage that sucks, it’s the elevation gain.” I roll my eyes. “I fucking hate hiking.”
“This was your idea, may I remind you.” Aubrey laughs.
“I like the views. What can I say?”
“And I like the gossip.” She slaps my ass. “Let’s go. I want to know everything, right now.”
Sighing, I slip on my hiking boots and lace them up.
Grabbing my backpack and dropping in the protein bar and the sandwiches that I made last night while talking to Wyatt as Giana, I head out to meet her.
The trailhead is just at the end of the dirt road, through the trees.
Wyatt made a small path for the tenants.
“All the up at once? Or mix?” Aubrey asks.
The trail starts in the middle. So if we go counter clockwise we go up, down, up. Clockwise is down, all the up, and then down. Both suck.
“I don’t want to go up at the end of the trail. So let’s go clockwise. Get it all done.” I start the path to our left as we descend toward the beach.
“Good. Now you can tell me everything while going down and you can’t use the excuse that you’re out of breath.” She smiles smugly, proud of herself.
“Ugh. I didn’t think of that.” I clip the straw from my backpack’s bladder over my shoulder.
“Nope. You didn’t. So spill it. Have you had sex with Wyatt?”
Well, she’s wasting no time.
“Nope. I honestly can say we haven’t had sex.”
“Really?” She whips her head back, shock on her face.
“Yeah. I mean, everything but, though. He has a great dick. And tongue.”
“Sophia!”
“What? The chemistry between us is off the fucking charts. I will say he tried really hard to stay away from me. Like realllllly hard. For you. He’s a good guy. I think.”
“I need to know how the hell this happened? He’s been an asshole to everyone but you, apparently, since the accident.”
I cringe because I know more about that than even he thinks I do. “Can I tell you a secret that you can’t even tell Cooper?”
“Shit. Not even Cooper?”
“Not. Even. Cooper.” I purse my lips, glaring at her. “No one.”
“Finnneee,” she whines.
“Pinky promise?” I hold my pinky over her shoulder and wait for her to hook it with hers.
She hesitates, but finally caves. “Pinky promise.”
“I met Wyatt on the dating app. But he doesn’t know it’s me. He thinks I’m Giana.”
“No!” She slaps her hand to her mouth. “How did that happen?”
“Remember when Emma accidentally sent him that super star?”
She nods.
“Well, before I could delete my account, he messaged me. And when I got home, I’d had a little too many margaritas. I thought it might be fun to play with him. But then it turned into… I don’t know. Friendship? We talk everyday as Giana and Wyatt. It’s easier. We tell each other stuff.”
“Stuff like what?” Her eyes grow wide. “He doesn’t talk to anyone about anything. He won’t even go see the therapist that the chief wants him to see.”
“Yeah. I know about it all. He’s told me everything. And I’ve told him nothing. I’m a terrible person. I honestly think he just needs someone to talk to who doesn’t need him for anything. And if I tell him who I am, that goes away for him.”
“Oh, Soph. This is a mess. You need to tell him. Especially if you’re hooking up.”
“I know I do. And I will. I promise. I just don’t know how to yet.”
“I love you, but keeping this from him is a terrible idea. I know he seems like just the goofy playboy, but I think deep down, that’s not him.
He’s the brother who cares too deeply. He doesn’t want to bother anyone with his own life, so he just helps everyone else in theirs.
”Aubs gives me a weak smile as we start our ascent.
“I got that vibe for sure. But you know what a good judge of character I am.” I shrug, because I’m terrible.
“I don’t want either of you to get hurt,” she admits quietly.
Nodding my head, I agree with her. “I don’t either.”
With a quiet side hug, we hit the steepest part of the hike.
“I do still need the tea on what he’s like in bed. There are a lot of rumors. And I need to know if they’re true, but if I didn’t have Cooper… damn.” She laughs.
“Ugh. I bet the rumors don’t even touch what he’s like, and I haven’t even gotten his dick in me yet. He made me count how many times it would take him to get me off with his tongue. Each lick I had to count, sprawled out naked across his kitchen counter.”
“Oh my God! That’s amazing, and I love that for you. But is his cock as big as they all say?”
“Brought literal tears to my eyes, Aubs.”
The two of us break into a fit of giggles as we slowly lose our ability to breathe one mile into the hike.
And then there’s silence as we complete the ascent to the top for our picnic.
Coming down isn’t any better. Both of us are so focused on not tripping on the rocks or roots going down that we don’t talk.
“That was a lot fucking harder than I thought,” Aubrey says as we exit the trailhead. “Now, I really need a nap.”
“Yeah, we probably should have listened to Wyatt and done the trail along the cliffs with barely any gain. But I wanted to prove him wrong.” I roll my shoulders and stretch out my back from looking down for an entire mile.
“Is that why I had to suffer? Because you’re too stubborn to listen to Wyatt?” She steps through the trees onto the dirt road.
“No. You had to suffer because I wanted to see the view.” I laugh. “And maybe because I was told I couldn’t do it.”
“Is that why you two started? Because he told you no?”
Why does she know me so well?
“Yes. But that’s not why it’s continuing.
I pursued him in the first place because he’s hot as sin, and I wanted to know what that was like.
He looks like a man that could really take care of you, not to mention all the rumors swirling.
But the more he talks to me as Giana, the more I think I really actually like him. ”
A car comes down the driveway to Wyatt’s house. “Speak of the devil,” Aubrey says, waving like a crazed woman to get his attention.
Parking his cruiser, he hops out and heads over to meet us at the edge of the paved driveway and dirt road. “Good afternoon, ladies. Have a good hike?”
“It was great. Had no problem,” I say, smirking.
“She’s fucking lying. That sucked. Stop telling her she can’t do shit.” Aubrey hits his shoulder.
My eye is drawn to his cheek; the skin has lessened to more of a pink instead of the angry red it was when we first met.
“Is that all I have to do? Challenge you to do something?” He winks.
“Oh, God. You two need to fuck and get it over with. I’m going home to nap before I have a rowdy kid home from camp. Byeeee!” She waves over her shoulder.
Wyatt’s face is pale when I look back to him.
“Does she know?”
“Know what?” I ask innocently.
“That we”—he leans in close—“hooked up?”
“Are you afraid for her to find out? A big bad cop is afraid of Aubrey?”
“Hell yeah, I am! She’ll tell Coop. Coop will try to kick my ass, then I’ll have to defend myself, then he’ll get hurt, then Mom will come looking for me, and I’ll be in trouble for defiling you and hurting Coop!
Then she won’t feed me for a minute,” he says animatedly, throwing his hands in the air.