Chapter 19
Chapter nineteen
Rory
Iwasn’t sure if Owen’s call was an annoyance or saving my ass.
Everything with Wyatt had become so intense that I didn’t know how to find my way out.
And truthfully? I didn’t want to.
He clutched onto my thighs, carrying me back down the path like I weighed nothing, and fuck, that turned me on again.
“You don’t have to go with me,” I said, even though I liked spending as much time as possible with him.
He shook his head. “I’m not bad with a car. If there’s something I can do to help, I will.”
Except if Wyatt showed up with me, Owen would definitely be able to put two and two together. My stomach flip-flopped. “You realize what you’re offering, right?”
A mere month ago, he’d believed he was straight, but already he wasn’t blanching on being seen out with me.
The only point of complication was that Harper was my friend, and this was her father.
Guilt stirred in my gut again that I’d even put us in this position in the first place. Maybe if I hadn’t flirted so hard—fuck.
Yet, then I wouldn’t have had any of these moments with him. We wouldn’t be here now.
“I’m aware,” he responded, a husky seriousness in his voice that stroked straight to my core. “That asshole in high school might’ve gotten cold feet, but I won’t, Rory.”
Damn him.
My eyes stung at once, the past colliding with the present, as if with those simple words he’d somehow begun to soften the cracks of my past. “Tell you one secret from my past, and suddenly it’s all, ‘remember that time in high school.’”
He pinched my thigh, and a moan escaped me. “Your avoidance games don’t work on me.”
“I wish they would,” I grumbled, even though that wasn’t the truth. I loved that he saw past my constant jokes, my protective measures a reflex at this point. We reached the parking lot, and he came to a stop in front of my car. He let me down, and I missed the closeness at once.
Wyatt stared at me with a seriousness amplified by the surrounding night, and he brushed a thumb under my chin. “I asked you on a date. If that alone didn’t make my intentions clear, I’m happy to explain when we get back to my place.”
“Right, so, detour back home after bailing out Owen,” I teased.
Wyatt nipped at my lower lip. “Brat. How do I not have your address yet anyway?”
I shrugged. “Maybe I like to live a life of mystique.”
“Right. I’ll follow you over to Owen’s car, and then we’ll finish our date back at my house,” he responded. His hair was all sex-rumpled, same with his clothes, and damn if that didn’t make him even hotter, especially after he’d railed me against the tree until I came.
“If you insist,” I continued, except then I lifted up to my tiptoes and pressed a feverish kiss to his lips. As much as I might run my mouth, this man did it for me more than anyone ever had. He’d somehow smashed through my evasions, saw right through me, and fuck, I was so addicted to him.
The idea that it might all crumble to dust made me sick.
Physically ill.
This was why I didn’t open my heart to anyone. Because I wasn’t the hearty bounce-back-up sort. No, I’d tried it once, the attempt had devastated me, and I’d been too much of a coward to ever try again.
Wyatt nipped my lower lip again before pulling back. “Come on. Let’s go.”
God, but for him, I wanted to be brave.
“Make sure you keep up,” I teased before hopping into my car. Before I got rolling, on impulse, I shot him a text with my address. There, he had it now. I started the engine and then pulled out of the spot, waiting until I caught the headlights of his truck behind me before I set off onto the road.
I clutched the wheel tight and tried to focus on the road, even though my mind bounced around to a million different places. Could I do this with him? If Harper wasn’t okay with us, I didn’t think we’d survive, though. And the idea of hurting my friend made my stomach curdle.
When I was with Wyatt, all I could think about was him. I was surrounded by his scent, his presence, his sturdiness. However, whenever I’d worked or talked with Harper, the guilt had begun to grow.
Yet Wyatt seemed serious about me.
As if he might actually want more.
And for the first time since I was a starry-eyed high-school dreamer, I wanted more too.
The streets of Kennett were ones I’d spent my whole life running through.
All the familiar buildings flashed by, even though certain ones had changed over the years—businesses closing, new ones opening, places getting torn down and built up.
Owen had broken down right outside town, or he would’ve hoofed it with the shop supplies.
I cast a glance in my rearview to see the headlights still following.
Wyatt seemed like the kind of guy who’d stay with you.
A type of dependable I’d never been but sorely craved.
Up ahead, Owen’s familiar Pontiac appeared in view, and I began to slow down and pull to the side of the road.
The light was on inside the car, which surprised me, because normally Owen was a DIY kind of guy.
I stopped behind his car, and Wyatt took a spot behind me.
My heart thumped a little harder. This wasn’t bringing Wyatt to a Brannon family brunch sort of nerves, but with how much I’d found a home for myself at Alchemy Ink, it came close.
Hell, I wasn’t even introducing Wyatt as anything, but for sure Owen would catch what was going on. Fuck, I hoped I didn’t piss him off too for sleeping with Harper’s dad. Clearly, at this rate, the entire world would be pissed because Harper’s dad was a DILF I couldn’t resist.
Before I could overthink anything else, I hopped out of my car. The brisk breeze iced my cheeks, hitting me a little stronger.
“He’s got a good taste in cars,” Wyatt said from behind me.
“I’d say a better taste in cars would involve one not on the side of the road.”
We walked up to Owen’s car, and both the driver’s and passenger’s doors opened.
Owen hopped out of the driver’s side.
And Harper from the passenger’s.
Oh, fuck.
I froze in place. There wasn’t anywhere to bolt. Wyatt bumped to a stop behind me, the reminder that I’d arrived with him, and Harper was here. She was fucking here, and I didn’t have any believable excuse as to why her dad had arrived with me. Ice rushed through me.
“Hey, thanks,” Owen said as he glanced between me and Wyatt. “Shit, sorry. Did I interrupt a date?”
Yes, he had. Which was wild, because I, Rory Patrick Brannon, did not do dates.
Harper stared between me and her dad, and her brows drew together.
I blurted out the first thought that leapt into my head. “I was just checking his piercing!”
Owen clapped a hand over his mouth, trying and failing to hide a grin with the way his eyes crinkled.
Harper crossed her arms. “I’m well aware of what the piercing is thanks to your big mouth.
” Her gaze sharpened, and the terse note in her voice rang my warning bells.
Shit, we’d fucked up. We’d upset Harper, and there’d be no salvaging our friendship, and then Owen would hate me and I’d be out of a job too.
On top of all that, Wyatt would never want to see me again.
I’d be jobless, friendless, and I’d have lost my one shot at the guy of my dreams.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Heat burned at my eyes, and my breaths started to come faster. This was why I never put my heart on the line.
Emotions were for the birds.
“What’s going on, Dad?” Harper asked, a sharp note still in her voice.
“Wait, you’re her dad?” Owen asked, glancing between us. He shook his head and let out a low whistle. “Well, one of the reasons I called you out, Rory, was to give Harper a ride back to her car at the shop, while I wait for the tow. But if her dad is here, that resolves that.”
Right. If I’d had that information from the outset, we wouldn’t have shown up together.
I couldn’t bear to look behind me, to see the resignation on Wyatt’s face, the reality that this had been our one and only date.
Because hell, if I had to pick anyone, it wouldn’t be me either.
“Come on, Harps,” Wyatt said. “We need to talk.”
“Yeah we do.” She walked past me, not even looking my way, and fuck, that hurt.
My heart lodged in my throat, and I couldn’t bear to turn around. Wyatt was going to end this. We were over before we’d begun.
“Come on,” Wyatt said, and their footsteps echoed like gunshots as the two of them walked away.
He hadn’t even said goodbye.
My chest spasmed, and I scrubbed at my face. Shit, shit, shit. I was definitely going to cry.
A warm hand landed on my shoulder, but it wasn’t Wyatt.
Owen stood beside me. “He’s not just a fling, is he?”
Apparently I was that transparent. Wyatt’s car started up, and goddamn, he was leaving, and this was it.
My body trembled with the rush of adrenaline, as if I could rush after him, beg him to stop, try to convince him I was worth it.
But hell, I’d realized long ago no one would ever find me worthwhile.
I sucked in a shaky breath. “You know me, Owen. They’re always just flings in the end.”
For those brief, incandescent moments, I’d hoped.
But all those dreams had just crumbled to dust.