Chapter Seventeen
My palms sweat bullets as I sit at the booth in Rebels that Wyatt reserved for us. I think Roman questioned why I’m sitting here and not some random girl, but maybe that’s just my paranoia speaking.
“Hey, girl!”
I spin around in the booth to see Emma walking toward me with her daughter Olivia.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” I try to ask her calmly, but inside I’m dying. She needs to go away.
“Just stopped by to see Daddy for lunch.” She tickles under Olivia’s chin, and the little girl giggles.
“Unt Wy!” Olivia points at the door.
“That is Uncle Wy!” She joins, waving at him, and I feel like my stomach is going to fall out of my butt.
“Hey, pretty girls! What are you doing here?” He kisses Emma’s cheek and takes Olivia into his arms.
If I wasn’t so nervous about my whole world imploding right now, I’d be swooning at the sight. Especially because he’s in uniform. That uniform always gets me.
“Hey, Soph. What are you—” He stops, and realization dawns on him. “I knew it.”
“Uh. I don’t know what we’re missing, but I get the feeling that Livvy and I should go back and see Rome. We’ll see you later!” She takes her daughter back and hightails it to the kitchen.
“Wyatt, I’m—”
He cuts me off. “I knew it was you. I had this crazy intuition because you seemed to know about Jack. You didn’t ask enough questions. And the background with the ex, it was too similar.”
“I’m so sorry, Wyatt. I don’t even have an excuse. I just… I don’t know. I needed you as a friend, and this was the way it happened.” He still hasn’t taken his seat. “I’ll go. I’m sorry I wasted your time.”
He holds his hand out to stop me as I slide out of the booth. “Don’t think you’re getting off this easy, Goddess.”
Slipping into the booth next to me, he waves the waitress over and places an order for two cheeseburgers with fries. “Now, tell me how we got here. Why didn’t you tell me who you were? You obviously knew who I was.”
“I was afraid. I joined the dating app when we had girls night. Well, technically Emma joined. And sent you a star by accident when she tried to snoop on you. After that, we had margaritas, and it seemed like a good idea to respond. You didn’t want me, so I thought maybe you’d want Giana. ” I hang my head in shame.
“This is fucking awesome.” His grin spreads across his face. Even the side that doesn’t quite fully reach his eyes is a little higher than usual.
“I don’t understand.”
He reaches across the table, taking my hands in his. “I was so worried that I was leading Giana on that I had to come clean about you.” Then his face falls and his mouth snaps shut. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Well. I told Giana that I was falling for you.” Now he looks down at the table.
“If you recall, Giana told you to go for it. She must have known that the girl you fell for was falling for you too.” I squeeze his hand, and his head snaps up.
“You are?”
Chuckling, I turn my head from embarrassment. “Is that so hard to believe? You’re a catch, Officer. You’re funny, kind, you give shit as well as you take it, and you give a mean orgasm.”
“Okay, that’s something I didn’t need to hear.
” Roman places our food on the table. “I’m not going to tell anyone because you were the first one to congratulate me with Emma.
But… Cooper is going to murder you. Just forewarning.
He was already in here last night, raising hell with Liam about how you don’t fucking listen. ”
“Noted. Thanks, Rome.” Wyatt reaches out to grab the drinks from our waitress.
When our table is clear of people we know, we continue our conversation. “I shouldn’t fall for you. And you shouldn’t want me. I’m not good enough.”
“And I’m the playboy. Do you really think we need to feed into these roles that people have given us? I don’t know about you, but I hate being the damn playboy. I’m tired of being the fuck up. And I don’t want anyone else but you.”
“God, if it were only that easy. I’m so tired of being the mob boss’s dutiful daughter. The one that mothers pull their children away from because god forbid I might steal their children.” I rest my head on the back of the booth.
If I could escape who I was forever, I would absolutely do it. I never want to be a Chiave again.
“So, we don’t. Let’s just be together. Me and you.”
“What about Cooper?”
“That’s up to you. If you want to keep this quiet for now, I’m with you. If you want me to buy a billboard, I will. I’ll do whatever you want.” He smiles that lopsided grin that got me in the first place.
“Can we just keep it me and you for a minute? At least until I know I’m safe from Hugh and James.”
“You got it. Oh! That reminds me.” He reaches down into his pocket and pulls out a familiar phone. A Hugh Chiave signature burner phone.
“What the fuck are you doing with that?” I push back into the booth like the phone might burn me.
“Your brother sent it to me. It had a note with it that we can only use this phone with the one number programmed into it.”
“Tell me you didn’t use it.” I snatch the phone off the table and instantly turn it off.
“What’s wrong?” He’s staring at me like I’ve lost it. And maybe I have.
Pulling out my own phone, I dial Aubrey’s number.
“Aubs.” I call out her name as soon as she answers. “He found me.”
Hanging up immediately, I turn off my phone and grab both of them, running out of the restaurant without explaining anything to Wyatt.
“Sophia!” Wyatt jogs to catch up to me as I place both phones under my tires. “What are you doing? What’s going on?”
“That wasn’t Ryder! Ryder told me he’d only talk to Aubrey. He wouldn’t have sent a phone. How did you get this?” I’m frantic now, trying to keep my emotions in check and figure out just how fucked I am.
“It was brought to the station by one of Ryder’s guys. Big guy. Bald.” He pulls open his phone, showing me a photo that has my blood running cold.
“That’s Hugh’s right-hand man. This could have nothing to do with me. What did he say?”
“Nothing. Just that I have everything I need, and that the package was from Damon.”
I don’t answer him. I get in my car and run over the phones, crushing them as I roll back and forth with my car.
“Don’t accept anything from them. Hugh knows you’ve been talking to Ryder. You’re in more danger than I am. Call Aubs right now.”
He doesn’t ask any questions, just calls her and puts her on speaker. “Wyatt! What the fuck is going on?”
“Aubs, it’s me. Hugh might not know I’m here. But he knows that Wyatt is the reason he was put in prison.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. So I need you to call Ryder with the emergency code word. I smashed both phones, so I’ve got no way to communicate with anyone,” I tell her.
“I talked to Ryder, then Damon called me. I didn’t talk to Hugh, and right after that the phone showed up. Are you sure it came from him?”
Poor Wyatt. He’s so naive to my father’s underhanded ways.
“Burner flip? Or burner iPhone?” Aubs asks.
“Flip,” Wyatt and I answer at the same time.
“Fuck. Calling Ryder now.” She hangs up, and Wyatt stands beside my car, staring at me.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“My father wants you dead, Wyatt. Dead like me.” I stare at him as the words sink in.