Wish for You (16 page)

Dylan laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind… maybe for our second date?”

I take another look at Wyatt and Ella. Her hand is on his arm, and he’s not pushing her away. They stand, heading to the bar and leaving us behind.

He’s leaving me, truly leaving me behind. I should be happy for him. I should be happy that he made it possible for me to meet a nice guy like Dylan. My heart pinches, then sinks, and sinks.

Turning my attention back to Dylan, I gaze into his green eyes. They’re friendly, open, and not filled with the anguish and pain Wyatt’s always seem to hold. Maybe this is what my mom meant by being brave and strong. Maybe I needed to be brave and strong enough to take a chance on another guy.

“
Only if you bring your skates, and we go to the park in Centerville tomorrow.”

His eyes gleam, like he’s really excited, and I feel all out of sorts. Maybe I’d taken things too far by flirting back. “Pick you up at three?”

“
It’s a date.”

“
She lives with me, so you’ll have to come to
our
place to pick her up,” Wyatt says, and I start. “Not sure if I can let you in the door though. To be honest, I find you a little sketchy.”

“
You don’t know me.”

Wyatt shrugs. “Don’t have to know you.”

Dylan steps up to Wyatt, so that they’re toe to toe. The air seems to crackle around them. “What’s your problem?” he asks. “Ella invited me on a double date. You’re
her
date, not Lacey’s.”

I let my head fall against the wall. As if I need a reminder.

“
Thanks for clearing all that up. Did she also tell you that I feel very protective of Lacey?”

Dylan smirks. “Did she look like she needed protection? Then again, protection should be saved for the bedroom.”

My eyes widen. Was Dylan serious?

“
Keep your fucking hands and your dick to yourself,” Wyatt practically growls, shoving at Dylan’s chest.

My face flames. I want to say something, but I don’t know what to say. I’ve never been in this situation before in my life. “Please don’t,” I say, but my voice is all croaky, and they’re not paying me any attention.

Dylan shoves him back. “Keep your hands to yourself, bro.”

“
Afraid I’ll break them?”

He’s completely serious. I have to do something. “Wyatt!”

“
Yeah?” He barely slices me a glance.

“
You sound like Cole. Stop it.”

“
Maybe Cole has the right idea.”

The only idea Cole ever has is to hit first and ask questions later. He’s a really good guy but, most of the time, he scares the crud out of me. It’s like there’s something lurking right under the surface, but Rae loves him and he’s always been nice to me, always looked after me while Wyatt was gone. So I deal with it.

But I don’t want to have to deal with a Wyatt turned Cole. I want the old Wyatt, the one with the easy smile and friendly attitude. The one that everyone liked because he went out of his way to make people feel good and comfortable.

“
The old Wyatt is dead. The one you see standing before you is the one you’ll have to deal with from now on, buddy.”

I hate that I keep thinking of that, and I hate that he ever said it.

Ella steps between them, grabbing the pager from me and waving it. The lights are blinking and it’s vibrating, but I hadn’t noticed at all. “Table’s ready. Pissing contest has been called on account of that Lacey and I want to eat.”

That seems to snap both of them out of their death-match stare. I twist my hair around my fingers and Wyatt grabs my elbow, letting Dylan and Ella go first.

“
You okay? Do you need to go somewhere more private?”

I stop twisting my hair to stare at him in bewilderment. “I’m not the one about to hurt another person over a date.”

Wyatt’s gaze turns fierce, and he lets me go. “Sweetheart, you’ve been killing me for months. So don’t give me some bullshit about hurting David.”

“
His name is
Dylan
.” I lift my chin. “You were the one to set this up. You were the one to kiss me and make me think about last night, about…” I get a hold of my emotions. “So you’re going to have to live with the consequences.”

“
I’m dead inside, except when you’re around,” he whispers, and I suck in a breath.

“
Don’t say that. Don’t put that on me,” I whisper back, my gaze darting around. Dylan and Ella are sitting at a booth, in the far corner, each holding a menu. “It’s not fair.”

“
Come with me.”

“
No.”

“
Yes
.”

“
We’re on dates with other people.”

“
Like I give a good damn.”

Instead of arguing, Wyatt grabs me by the arm, practically dragging me outside and around the building. My back hits the brick façade, and he places a hand on either side of my head. I’m not afraid of him. I’ve never been afraid of him. I’m still not afraid of him, but I’m nervous. This Wyatt makes me nervous and skittish.

“
Let’s talk about fair, okay?”

“
Okay.”

“
Is it fair to change the rules, without warning, on someone once they’ve been established?”

I shake my head, misery making my stupid heart rise into my chest and pound against it.

“
Is it fair to make me watch some guy sniffing around you, especially after last night?”

“
No, it hurts,” I say.

“
Damn right it hurts.”

I sag against the brick. He has no idea I was referring to myself. He has absolutely no clue it hurts to see him with Ella, with someone so perfect for him that it makes me sick to my stomach.

He grabs my chin, forcing my gaze to his. “I don’t want to push the issue, or hurt you like you’ve hurt me, but you have to be honest with me. Why?”

This is my chance, my chance to make things right with him and to make him mine again. “When I broke things off with you, I… we… It’s not that I don’t… you and I…” I search for the right words, for the words that won’t make me sound stupid or childish, or like a freak. But that’s what I am on the inside. A freak.

“
Hey, guys.” Ella appears beside us. “Dylan and I are getting bored. We’re tweeting to each other
at the table
. I think we’re opening a Tumblr account about it.”

“
Be there in a minute.”

“
Guy minute or girl minute?”

“
Two people trying to get to the bottom of something minute,” he says.

“
Gotcha. See you in thirty, then,” Ella says with a little laugh and then walks away. My gaze bounces between him and Ella’s retreating form. Again, I’m reminded of the fact that he’s on a date, too. He has
no
right to demand anything of me.

Wyatt raises his brows. “Still waiting for all that honesty to come out.”

“
What’s done is done.” I force myself to keep my face expressionless, force myself
not
to tell him the entire truth. What’s done is done, at least for us. “Ella’s waiting for you.”

Letting go of me, he shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, tilting his head in that way guys do when they get all pissy- arrogant. “Guess I have my answer.”

“
We’re still friends, right?”
Please
say
yes.

His face turns dark, and my heart speeds up, banging against my chest. He rakes his hand through his hair. “What do you think?”

Chapter Seventeen

Wyatt

I walk away from Lacey, from those pretty brown eyes, and that lying little mouth. If I stay any longer, I’ll either kiss her again or say something nasty. Because I want to make her hurt, especially after watching her with Dylan. The two of them had been standing so close together that I doubt a sheet of paper could have fit between them. God, I had wanted to hit him, or him to hit me, so I could claim self-defense and knock the hell out of him.

Glancing over my shoulder as I round the building, I make sure Lacey’s right behind me. She’s there, her auburn hair sliding forward, thick bangs practically hanging in her eyes as she shuffles along. The instinct to protect her is as strong as ever, and I’m a hundred percent sure that if she hadn’t followed, I would have waited for her or dragged her back inside.

Ella’s waiting by the door. She’s on her phone, pacing as she listens. She waves us in. “Go order something. We’re starving.”

I’m not. I’m never hungry anymore, not since I’ve moved to the hard stuff—to Dan’s special stuff. It’s not just coke, but a little of this and that mixed in.

“
Family recipe,” he said with a laugh. “If I tell you, then you’d start making money. Can’t have that, Wy-chan. Someone has to be respectable.”

Lacey rushes past me, the lingering scent of her shampoo driving me insane.

Dylan’s face lights up as soon as he sees Lacey. I can’t blame him, but I can hate him. I can wish him death, bad karma, and for his dick to drop off if he so much as points it in Lacey’s direction.

“
I ordered you a girly drink,” Dylan says as we sit, me on one side and Lacey on the other with him. He pushes the bright yellow slush towards her. There’s an umbrella in it, and a line of fruit skewered by a plastic sword. “Hope you like it.”

“
She’s underage,” I say flatly, pushing it back.

He moves it right back to her. “It’s a virgin.”

“
So is she,” I snap for no reason, except that I’m irritated he bothered to get her something she could drink, because Lacey doesn’t have a fake ID. She’d never carry one anyway.

Lacey turns as red as her hair. Her eyes get bright, and she sucks in her bottom lip.

Shit.
“I’m sorry,” I say.

“
Your apologies suck, Wyatt, because they mean nothing.” Lacey scrambles out of the booth, marching to the front of the restaurant.

Automatically, I go after her, but Ella walks inside, sighs, and stops me. “Let me talk to her.”

I watch as Ella joins her. She hands Lacey her phone and a second later, my girl is talking to someone. Who—I have no idea. Maybe another one of her teammates. Lacey gives Ella back her phone, and Ella pats her on the back. Lacey shakes her head. With a shrug, Ella heads back to our table.

“
Way to go, lover boy,” she says, and I grunt.

“
I’m not ready for her to date.”

“
But you’re not willing to date her.” Ella rolls her eyes. “Seems like you’re being a selfish asshole, and if I didn’t think it didn’t tear you up inside, I’d knee you in the groin for messing with Lacey.”

“
Before this is all over, you might have to.”

Ella shakes her head and crowds into the booth with Dylan, who is still quiet. I’m hoping that he think Lacey and I are so messed up that he’ll conveniently remember he has something to do tomorrow and can’t go on a date with Lacey.

Standing there, I wait for my moment, wait for those pretty eyes to search me out, but it never happens. Instead, Lacey turns her back to me and wraps her arms around her middle.

“
Fine,” I mumble. “If that’s how you want to play it…” I head to the bar, order another beer, and then spend the next ten minutes nursing it and watching Lacey. Ella and Dylan are eating. They’re probably wishing they’d never hooked up with Lacey or me.

Beau comes inside, with his maybe baby wrapped up in one of those baby slings. He has on sunglasses, even though it’s dark, because… NASCAR celebrities do that, I guess. He keeps tugging on his lip ring as he and Lacey talk.

What. The. Hell?

Of all the people in the world for Lacey to call, she calls Beau?

He hands her some keys, and then saunters over to me. How he manages to have swagger while holding a baby is beyond me. With a lingering glance, Lacey leaves the restaurant. I push away from the bar to follow her.