Chapter 16 #2
“Mom asked if you’d be coming by again,” Carissa said when I hadn’t responded, giving me a shaky smile that I didn’t return.
I blew out a breath, looking toward the coast. It really was pretty here, with the sparkling waves and salty air.
The sunset was going to be beautiful, the sky already washing with orange and pink.
Skye went out to the beach every day to watch the sunset. Aiden was with her most of the time, sometimes with Zephyr as well. I wondered if they were out now, and which beach they went to. I wondered briefly if I’d ever be welcome to go with them.
Either of them, really. I owed Aiden an apology as much as I did Skye. I’d been considering what I’d say to him, but with Skye as a sort of guard dog behind him, he was shaping up to be quite the little shit.
I couldn’t even blame him. I’d be acting exactly the same.
“I won’t be coming by,” I said softly. “She’s my Key, Carissa. I can’t be spending time with you, not even like this. It’s not right.”
“She rejected you,” Carissa hissed, sounding a little more menacing than she probably intended.
She looked around quickly to make sure no one watched us before she took a step closer to me, and I took a step back.
Her lip wobbled before she spoke again. “She…she doesn’t want you, Wyatt.
But…I do. Why can’t that be good enough? ”
I tried not to sigh. Our relationship had been on and off for years at this point, ever since I’d returned to the academy.
We were both students at the time, and with Rafe not around me constantly, I’d been caught up in Carissa instead.
Unfortunately, our constant on-again, off-again cycle had led us to this point, where she couldn’t let go.
I also suspected she was holding onto a misplaced sense that since she’d ‘had me first’, she should be the one to keep me.
I couldn’t tell her that she’d never had me in the first place, of course.
Rafe had told me she was bad news from the moment he’d met her, and the fact that the two of them couldn’t stand each other was a red flag on its own.
Rafe wasn’t even trying to rile her up half the time, and they’d almost come to blows more than once.
They actually had once, now that I really thought about it. I couldn’t even remember what he’d said, but Carissa had actually swung a fist at him, then drenched him with her water affinity when the shadows held her back. He’d only laughed at her like a psycho.
She hadn’t spoken to me for two weeks after that, pissed as hell that I didn’t end my friendship with Rafe.
Because that was another major issue with Carissa. It wasn’t just that she didn’t like him, it was the fact that I was closer to him than my own blood relatives. She didn’t like that I was close to anyone except her, really, and that only became obvious while I worked on my psychology degree.
Every psychology student knows the pain of learning what’s wrong with everyone they know as they go through their coursework.
Carissa was still waiting on my response, staring at me with wide eyes. Wide eyes that no longer affected me.
It was a jarring realization.
“We agreed that last visit was a mistake,” I said softly, referring to when I’d been here before first term.
We’d had yet another fight, and I’d left to cool off. I went into a little café to get some coffee…and I’d met Skye. Even wearing an apron with flour on her cheek, she was like a ray of sunshine beaming through the overcast sky.
“Right,” Carissa croaked.
I sighed, ignoring her sniffles.
“You have a Key out there somewhere, too, Cari.” I said, ignoring how her weeping intensified at my stupid use of her nickname. “Someone deserves your full attention. And it’s not me. It’s never been me.”
“She doesn’t even want you!” Carissa cried, throwing her arms out wide. “She rejected you, Wyatt. She rejected you and–”
“I rejected her first!” I snapped. Carissa froze. “I didn’t realize what I was doing, but I rejected her first. I hurt her. I pushed her away, and she finally couldn’t take it anymore. I can’t blame her. I was an idiot. I’d been so, so wrong to push her away.”
I scrubbed my hands down my face, ignoring the stinging in my eyes.
Carissa took a shaky step toward me, and I backed away quickly.
“Wyatt,” she said softly, and I hated it. I hated that tone. I hated that she always spoke to me like I was falling apart when I wasn’t, and how she ignored me when I really needed her. “She doesn’t deserve you. She’s not even–”
I cut her off, already hating myself for what I was about to say. But it needed to be said. She needed to understand somehow.
I looked her right in the eye. “Even when I wasn’t sure if I wanted her…I knew I didn’t want you.”
Her lips parted in shock before her jaw clenched.
“Fuck you, Wyatt,” she whispered. “I would have done anything you asked.”
I almost groaned in relief as she turned on her heel to leave.
I knew she’d do anything I asked.
And that was exactly why things had never worked between us.
I had exactly ten seconds of soul-crushing silence before a twig snapped nearby.
My head jerked up, the branches on the tree vibrating behind me as I prepared to defend myself.
Unfortunately for me, though, it wasn’t a threat against my life that stared at me from the tree line. It was something much worse.
“Aiden?” I croaked.
Aiden’s warm brown eyes were wide as he whipped his head back and forth almost comically, from me to where Carissa had disappeared.
“Hey, Wy,” he said slowly. “What the fuck was that?”
There was no use even telling him it wasn’t what it looked like. Especially because it was, in fact, exactly what it looked like. I was meeting up with another woman after having thrown a tantrum over my actual fated match rejecting and avoiding me.
“I ran into Carissa,” I started and Aiden laughed, sharp and sudden.
“You’re unbelievable,” he said in disbelief. “You know, I reassured her you wouldn’t do anything stupid, and here you are, being stupid. Now you’re making me look stupid. You do that a lot.”
My heart-rate spiked. “Aiden,” I tried as he typed something on his phone. “She tracked me on our phones–”
Aiden laughed again. “Why did she still have your location, Wyatt?”
“Because I’m an idiot,” I whispered.
Aiden snorted. “Well, you’re finally right about something.” His fingers tapped away on his phone. “There’s no keeping this a secret, Wyatt. And besides, Skye and I have an agreement. We don’t lie to each other.”
I couldn’t even be mad at that.
That’s exactly what Aiden needed from a partner.
Aiden slipped his phone back into his pocket, and in a blink, Skye was at Aiden’s side, having teleported.
She was wearing a pair of sinfully tiny jean shorts, with a sheer black swimsuit cover that did nothing to hide the tiny, pale blue bikini top she wore underneath.
Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, exposing the smooth column of her neck, marred by fucking hickies.
Fucking. Rafe.
Skye’s eyebrows shot up when she saw me, and she moved closed to Aiden’s side, like he needed protection from me. Fucking hell, I was nearing my bullshit limit for today.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Hey, baby.” Aiden said warmly, acting as if I wasn’t right here watching them. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side, then nuzzled his face into her neck. My gaze dropped to another hickey on her shoulder.
Skye’s eyes stayed on me while she frowned, before she nudged at Aiden to release her.
“You two are hanging out, now?” she asked.
“No, I was just about to call you to come get me when I caught Wyatt talking to Carissa.” Aiden said brightly, clearly happy to be an insufferable tattle-tale.
I scowled at him, even if part of me could appreciate how opportunistic the little asshole could be.
“There’s that name again,” Skye muttered. “Show her to me.”
Aiden blinked as his eyes went faraway, like they usually did when he spoke to Skye telepathically. He hadn’t yet learned how to keep his face animated.
“Oh, it’s the bun bitch!” Skye said, then laughed. “Whatever.”
“Whatever?” Aiden asked, nearly pouting. “She’s like, evil, Skye.”
I bit my tongue to keep from saying that no, she was not evil, just…the mean type of bitchy. But Skye shrugged, tossing me a quick glance that was meant to look nonchalant, but I saw the hurt. I opened my mouth to say something, but Skye spoke first, taking Aiden’s hand in hers.
“If that’s his type, I get why he doesn’t want me.”
She’s not my type, I tried screaming telepathically, knowing she would hear me even if she chose to ignore me. She looked at me for just a moment before shrugging again. She took Aiden’s arm and the two disappeared in an instant, like they’d never been there at all.