Wish for You (15 page)

I jump over a hurdle and land on the other side, fully upright. Raising my hands in the air, I cheer. I skate until it starts to grow dark, and then head home. Maybe now that I feel better, I can talk to Wyatt.

*** *** ***

When I walk in the door, Wyatt is on the phone, pacing the room. He looks at me and ends his call.

“
Where have you been?” he asks, striding to me. He grabs my arms, looking me over like he expects to see bruises or something.

“
Skating.”

“
Not at the track. Ella said there wasn’t practice today.”

At the mention of Ella, I shrink back a little. “You talked to Ella?”

“
I was looking for you.”

“
Why?”

He gives me a heart-stopping grin, but as I stare at him, I notice it doesn’t reach his eyes. Something’s off. “I wanted to go out tonight and thought you might want to come with me.”

“
Let me shower first. Do I need to dress up or dress casual?”

“
Dress how you want.”

That is never the answer to give a woman when you tell her you’re taking her out. Be specific. I don’t want to wear jeans to a fancy restaurant, and I don’t want to wear a pretty dress to go hiking.

“
Casual okay?”

“
This is what I’m wearing.”

I let my gaze travel over him, over the long-sleeved Henley and the dark jeans, all the way down to his boots and then back up again, lingering over the tattoos that are visible where he has the sleeves pushed up.

“
We’ll be late if you don’t go shower and change now,” he says. My gaze flies to his. He looks hungry, like he wants to eat me, and now I’m more confused than ever. He licks his lips, and my entire body gets weak and tingly.

I know what his mouth can do, what his fingers can do, and what his tongue can do. I want him to do it again, every night, and I want to return the favor. I hadn’t lied about that, not at all.

“
Lacey.
Rules
.”

That stops me cold. He’s invoking his rule, but I hadn’t been the one to stare like him. Or had I? I look away and head to my room. “I’ll be ready in twenty minutes.”

*** *** ***

I decide on jeans and a shirt that Rae had given me. It’s tighter than what I normally wear and cut low in the front, but I feel pretty in it, and I even wear my hair down instead of putting it up in a ponytail. I brush my bangs from my eyes and grin at Wyatt.

He smiles back, but like the one before, it doesn’t reach his eye. My stomach flips, like when you’re on a rollercoaster and have gone down the first drop.

We walk to the parking deck, get in his truck, and he heads away from Forrestville and toward Charlotte. Confused, I glance at him. His face is drawn tight, so I keep my questions to myself for a bit and turn my attention elsewhere.

The necklace hanging from his rearview mirror swings back and forth.
Not a necklace, dog tags
, I silently correct myself. His battle buddy’s tags. Wyatt doesn’t talk about Nathan much, just that he was a really good guy in a really bad place at a really bad time. I think there’s more to the story, but if Wyatt doesn’t want to talk about it, I’m not going to make him. I know he goes to a therapist for PTSD. Though I don’t have that, what I do live with makes me miserable enough to have a little insight into not pressuring him.

We pull into an unfamiliar private driveway, stopping beside a large house.

I turn to him, my mouth opening to ask him a question, but before I can say anything, Wyatt grabs my chin, sealing his mouth over mine. My mind reels, the blood in my veins rushing everywhere, and I freeze, then my eyes close and I give in to his kiss. To the confusion, desire, and heat.

His tongue licks at me. I open my mouth a little wider, inviting him inside with a little flick of my tongue against his. He groans and his hand moves, joining the free one to cup my shoulders and almost drag me across the cab of his truck.

I want him to drag me. I want to drag him. I reach for him, grabbing his biceps, moaning into his mouth at the feel of his muscles. My body tightens, as do my fingers when they curl. Our kiss goes on and on, my body slowly unwinding and melting into the seat, into his arms, until he pulls away.

“
Why?” I’m not just referring to the kiss, but to why he pulled away. Why he’s kissing me after pushing me away last night.

Chapter Sixteen

Lacey

“
I don’t know.” He lets go of me and wraps his fingers around the steering wheel. “Actually, I do know. I want you to remember us. I want you to remember what we had, what we could still have, and regret the hell out of what you did to me.” He punches the steering wheel in the center, making the horn go off, and I jump. “Fuck my life.” He looks at me, and we both just sit there, saying nothing while fogging up the windows.

“
Wyatt, I don’t under—”

The back passenger side door opens, and Ella climbs in. “Whoa. Turn down the heat, dude. I actually like having straight hair.”

I glance at Wyatt. Once more his face is unreadable, all the passion and the anger that had resided there is gone. I turn my attention back at Ella. “What’s going on?”

“
You didn’t tell her?” Ella shut the door and pulls out her cell phone. “We’re going on a double date.”

I swallow, stealing a glance at Wyatt. “A date?”

“
Yeah. We’re picking up your date next,” Ella chirps. “I’m texting Dylan now.”

“
My date?”

“
Yeah, I promised to hook you up, remember?” Wyatt says gruffly.

I bite my lip, forcing back the tears. I feel like I’ve just lost him again. “Yes.” I stare at my shoes, and then at my hands.

Wyatt and Ella start talking, about what I’m not sure, because I’m only half-listening, but I do pick up on the fact that Ella is the one carrying the conversation.

“
You’ll like Dylan, Lace. He’s home for the weekend, from N.C. State. He’s going for veterinarian medicine. I think the two of you have a lot in common.”

At least I’ll have something to talk about with Dylan, while I watch Wyatt and Ella date right in front of me. “That’s good.”

“
It’s great. Finally, someone to talk shop with that understands everything you’re talking about,” Wyatt says, and my head snaps up. I look at him closely. Is he making fun of me?

“
I didn’t realize our conversations about my classes were boring.”

“
Never said they were,” he points out.

“
Maybe not out loud,” I snap, and then want to cover my mouth.

“
Maybe you’re reading too much into what I said.”

“
Guys,” Ella shouts. “Could we stop the old married couple bickering?”

I glare at Wyatt and cross my arms over my chest, refusing to say another word, but not because Ella is bothered by it.

A few minutes later, we arrive at Dylan’s house. Ella goes inside to get him. They come out, arm in arm. She’s talking to him, and he’s smiling. They get in, sitting in the back.

“
Everyone, this is Dylan Fisher. That’s Lacey Evans, my teammate and your date.” I give Dylan a little wave, and he flashes a smile as Ella continues, patting Wyatt on the shoulder, “This Marine, as well as our driver for tonight, is Wyatt Tanaka, my… date.”

Wyatt’s head comes up sharply, his mouth flattening. “Nice to meet you, David .”

“
It’s Dylan.”

“
Whatever,” Wyatt mutters, backing the truck out of the driveway.

Ella and Dylan talk the entire way to the beltway. We don’t go back to Forrestville. Instead, we head back into Charlotte, parking at a restaurant I’ve never been before… not that it bothers me to go somewhere new. What bothers me is I feel set up. I feel deceived, but instead of getting all out of breath and panicking, I’m confused and mad.

“
I picked the place tonight,” Ella says as we all get out of the truck.

We walk inside, and Ella gives our name to the hostess. The hostess hands me the pager, saying, “Give us about fifteen minutes.”

“
That’s fine,” I say, wishing Wyatt would look at me. Forget looking at me. I wish he would acknowledge I still exist. But he only has eyes for Ella, and she leads him to a corner where they sit and lean into one another.

My stomach feels as though it’s full of butterflies, birds, and bats, all crashing together.

Dylan comes to stand beside me, giving me a chance to study him. He’s cute, with sandy blond hair and green eyes. He has an easy smile and a nice body, but no tattoos. I make myself not frown. I prefer tattoos on a guy. I prefer dark hair and even darker eyes, faces with high cheekbones, and lean bodies that have muscles in all the right places.

Actually, I don’t prefer anything. I’ve just set my ideal of what a man should look like to be what Wyatt looks like. Dylan doesn’t have a chance.

“
Ella said you’re going to Mecklenburg Tech to be a vet’s assistant,” Dylan says with a friendly smile. He’s wearing dark jeans, a long-sleeved thermal tee shirt, and brown boots—something I find hot. Wyatt wears stuff like that, except when he dresses up and goes with me to church. I love it when he dresses up, in a button-down shirt and pants that make me think not-so-very pure thoughts while he sits beside me.

“
Yes. I’m almost done.”

“
Nice. I have three more years.”

“
Will you open a practice here, join with another one, or stay in Raleigh?” I ask, trying in vain not to stare at Wyatt and Ella. She laughs at something he says, and all those birds, bats, and butterflies disappear, replaced by a thousand rocks.

“
Haven’t decided. Raleigh is a great place, lots of opportunity.” He exhales. “Only Charlotte’s home, you know? All my family is here, but other than great friends like Ella, there’s nothing really to come back to. So who knows what will happen… or
who
I’ll meet to make me change my mind.”

“
Sounds like you have a difficult decision to make,” I say lamely.

Dylan keeps smiling that friendly smile of his, and I feel all conflicted. I should pay attention to him and not Wyatt. Hadn’t I been the one to set all of this in motion? Hadn’t I been the one to push and push until Wyatt finally stopped pushing back?

But I hadn’t been the one to initiate that kiss in his truck. I hadn’t been the one to pull away first or even fuss at Wyatt. I had wanted more, like last night.

“
I’m the coach for one of the local roller derby teams in Raleigh.”

That gets my attention. “You are? Which one?”

“
The Rambo-Brights.”

“
You guys seriously kicked our butts at Nationals.”

“
Not by much, I watched you skate during the game. Damn girl, you were fearless, taking a hit like that and getting right back up.”

“
Thanks.” I can’t help but smile at the compliment.

“
The Rambo-Brights are serious competitors and a little underhanded. You really have to watch out for Pepperspray Patti.”

Soon our conversation turns comfortably familiar as we talk about tracks, strategies, and the worst bruises we’d ever seen, or in my case, ever had.

“
On my hip, five inches in diameter of purple, black, red, and green.” I point to the spot. “It was very festive.”

“
Ouch.” He winces. “One of my girls scraped her arm from wrist to shoulder. It was vicious looking, but she kept going after we taped it up. We started calling her Mummy Dearest. So now she goes by it.”

I laugh, and it feels so good that everything inside of me lightens. I haven’t laughed like this in a long time, not since… I swallow, glancing down at my shoes and then back at him. “Maybe if you’d worn your gear tonight, I would have recognized you.” I’d remembered that he’d worn a helmet and guards for his elbows and knees, along with a t-shirt that had stretched nicely over his chest. When he turned around, a tattoo peeking from the collar of his shirt had been visible.