Wyatt (7 page)

“Yeah, that would be me,” I manage to get out eventually.

“How have you been?” he asks. “Morgan didn’t mention that you were coming to town.”

“Fine, just fine,” I say, trying my best to get over the shock of seeing them. “Yeah, I haven’t called her yet. Figured I’d give her a call durin’ the day. Was kind of busy movin’ in. How are you?”

“I’m great. Damn, it’s good to see you.” He smiles again. “Morgan is comin’ for dinner tomorrow night. You should join her. It will be great to catch up.”

“Uhm, yeah sure …” But, if Aiden is here? “Is it only you around here, Aiden, or the whole family?” I ask. I really need the heads up.

“No, the whole family actually. You remember,” he smirks, “we’re all cops.” He looks down the row of cars parked outside the building and I follow his eyes and sure as hell there it is, Wyatt’s Ford. “Yeah, they’re all here already, although they might be out and ‘bout, especially Wyatt. He takes to the road as soon as he comes in. I have to run in. Hope I’ll be seein’ you tomorrow, Scarlett. Welcome to town.” He greets and leaves me standing stunned at the entrance.

My eyes lock on Wyatt’s car. This is so bad. I’m fucked. I can’t believe this is happening!

I turn to open the door again when again it opens. Someone rushes out. He bumps into me and his hands clamp down on my arms. The world stops turning, hell freezes over, the stars fall from the sky – you know the apocalypse kinda happens in the form of Wyatt’s voice.

I can’t bring myself to look up and face him. I stand frozen, my eyes on his chest. I feel every drop of blood rush to who-knows-where, because it sure isn’t in my body anymore.

I feel him freeze and I can imagine his face looks pretty much the same as mine.

“Wyatt,” I finally manage to breathe his name.

My fingers are starting to feel numb. I’m going to drop the helmet.

I have to move. I have to go in and get away from this totally insane morning.

I pull free and at the same time glance up. His eyes are blazing with little sparks of anger. “It’s good to see you’re alive,” he snaps and I flinch back from the anger in his voice. “Do you have any fuckin’ idea what you’ve put me through?” His voice drops low, like real low.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper and I turn to run, again, but he takes hold of my arm holding me back. Sparks shoot up my arm and my heart clenches painfully at his touch.

“No, you’re not, Scarlett. I spent every day worryin’ my ass off whether you were dead somewhere and here you are, just
fine
,” he spits the words out. Then he smiles a sardonic smile that stabs deeper than any of his words can. “But I guess you showed me. I hope it was worth it.”

He lets go of me and stalks away without so much as a second glance.

I have to go in and face my first day of work.

I’m trembling. I want to run after him and tell him he’s wrong.

I want to drop to the floor and cry, because my heart is hurting so much for what I did to us.

I head in to the station and over to the information desk to hear where I should go. Better get this day back on track.

~*~

Chapter Nine

Wyatt~

I’ve been going insane worrying my ass off about her! I checked the hospital. I checked in with the local police station. The things that went through my mind!

But she’s fine.

She’s more than fine. She looks as hot as ever. Dressed all up for work, I almost didn’t recognize her.

Work … it means I’ll see her every damn day. I’ll be working with her.

Can this day get any worse? It feels like my insides are being put through a grinder.

Dammit! That was the last thing I expected as I’m heading out on a call. The call is for the Ryan’s at the trailer park. I’m not even back in the saddle properly and that family is going at each other again.

I always take the call for the Ryan’s. I’m hoping Jessie will get it in her head to leave Dan before he ends up killing her.

Dan is a small man. He’s one of those that suffer from what I like to call SMS, short man syndrome. Back in junior high a lot of the kids used to tease him. It might be one of the reasons he feels he has to beat on Jessie to feel like a man.

Minutes later I pull up to the trailer. Mrs. Russell is standing out front. She must’ve called it in. Again. The poor woman cares about Jessie.

I get out and walk up to her. I plaster a smile on my face. “You called it in, Mrs. R?”

“Yeah, Son, they’re at it again. Sounds like he’s tearin’ her up good in there.”

“Thank you, Mrs. R. Why don’t you go on in,” I say to get her out of the way. I start toward the Ryan’s trailer. I knock twice on the door. “Dan. It’s Wyatt.”

Cursing sounds up from the other side of the door. I start counting down from three. When I reach zero I knock again to rush him along.

“Dan, open up or I’m comin’ in,” I warn him. We come a long way. I’ve known them since kindergarten. Everybody in this town knows everybody. It’s really sad when people you know turn out this way.

The door opens and Dan rubs repeatedly over his face. He’s nervous as hell.

“You wanna step on out, Dan?” I ask nicely. We’re back to doing things nice and easy. I step back so he can move.

“You know how it is,” he starts. “I’m gonna be late for work. All I want is the damn shirt pressed but she won’t get her lazy ass up. I work hard. All I ask is that she does her part.”

“Dan, I’m gonna ask you to keep quiet.” I let him walk by me and then call out, “Jessie.” There’s no answer so I call again, “Jessie.” Still no answer. I look at Dan. “Turn around, you know the drill.” He does and I cuff him so he won’t be a problem while I check on Jessie.

I move in slowly. The place is a dump. Seriously, it looks like a bomb went off inside. Jessie groans behind the couch and I walk over to her.

“Ahh … Jessie,” I groan. She’s a mess. He’s really done one over on her.

She’s not the smallest of women I’ve seen, maybe a head taller than Scarlett. I frown. I really don’t want to be thinking about Scarlett right now. Jessie’s face is a mess and when she tries to move her arm gives way and she goes back down.

“He didn’t mean it,” she mumbles, her words thick with pain. I hunch down beside her.

“Just like before,” I say, “he never means it. When is it going to be enough, Jess?” Her body jerks as she starts to cry and I steel myself.

I call in for an ambulance and wait with her. I never touch Jessie. I’ve told her where she can go for help. I’ve tried to get her to leave him. She just won’t listen. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna be the one to offer her any compassion when she won’t listen to me.

“I’m sorry, Wyatt,” she mumbles through the tears. “It’s just so hard. He’s all I have. It’s easy for you. You have people.”

I just look at her. I don’t understand how that can make it any different. I’d leave him in a heartbeat because it would be so easy to disappear if I was alone, but that’s just me and my take on things.

I hear the siren and reach for her. “Come on, they’re here. I guess you won’t be pressing charges?” I ask anyway.

She shakes her head while I help her over to the couch. She stumbles and falls into me face first. With her good arm she takes hold of me and she starts to cry. I stand rooted to the ground. My heart is breaking for this woman, but there is only so much I can do for her.

Stella finally comes in, saving my ass and I go to take the cuffs off Dan. I leave and head back to the station for a fresh uniform. This one now has Jessie’s blood all over it.

~*~

The second I walk into the station Thelma waves me closer. I really want to get into clean clothes. She finishes her call and smiles brightly at me.

“Old Bertha is looking for your blood. You better head on up fast. She told me to catch you the second you showed your face,” she says. I force a smile and I head to the stairs.

Old Bertha is a sweetheart. I must’ve forgotten to sign something.

I walk into her office and freeze. Old Bertha is scowling at Scarlett, who is holding a piece of paper out to her.

“You need to put someone down, darlin’. You can’t go leavin’ it blank. Everyone has someone,” Old Bertha says all riled up. It takes a lot to get her worked up.

“I can’t put a name down if there’s no name to put down,” Scarlett argues. They seem to have been going at this for a while.

I clear my throat and step closer. Scarlett’s eyes go huge when she sees me, just like they did earlier. Old Bertha smiles warmly.

“Wyatt, darlin’,” she melts over the words, “you need to sign a new form with you comin’ back early to work and all.”

“Sure,” I say and I walk over to her desk.

“Son,” Old Bertha’s voice pitches, “you got blood all over you!”

“I meant to get cleaned up. Thelma gave me the third degree about coming by you first,” I explain. “The form?”

I sign and glance over to Scarlett. Her eyes are glued to my chest. I drop my eyes to the form they were arguing over. Personal information, next of kin. When I look up again she’s looking right at me.

“Thank you kindly, darlin’,” Old Bertha says and then she remembers what she was busy with before I came with, “now Scarlett, what if somethin’ happens … huh? Who they gonna call?”

She shrugs at Old Bertha.

I wonder why she doesn’t just put down Morgan’s name. “Put down my name,” I hear myself saying and Scarlett’s eyes dart surprised to mine. I kinda surprised myself there. She opens her mouth to say something but snaps it back closed.

“You know each other?” Old Bertha asks.

I smile, “Yeah, way back.” I turn around and head out to get cleaned up.

I don’t want to think why I just did that.

“Wyatt,” I hear Scarlett behind me and I stop on the stairs to look back at her, “I’ll take your name off as soon as she’s not lookin’,” she says.

I walk back over to her so I don’t go making a scene in front of the people I work with.

“Leave it on, because for some reason you don’t want to put down Morgan’s, and I don’t want to know what that reason is. If your ass goes droppin’ down they’ll need to phone someone. I might be angry as hell with you right now but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. Unlike you, I actually do have a heart,” I snap. I don’t wait for her to respond.

My day gets worse and worse. It’s one of those days where the whole universe is conspiring against me.

By the time I head out to my car I’m ready to crawl under it instead of drive home.

Between being called out for dumbass crap and having Scarlett on my mind the rest of the time, my brain feels drained. It really bothers me that she doesn’t want to put Morgan down as her next of kin. Did they have a fight?

~*~

The next day I head over to Aiden’s. I need big brother wisdom. He will be able to tell me what to do. There’s a bike and car I don’t know parked out front. I can’t place where I’ve seen the bike. It looks familiar. A real beauty, all smoky black shades. It must be hell on wheels.

I knock and when Emma opens, I smile at her. “Hey ya little sista, Aiden home yet?” I ask.

“Hey,” I give her my trademark bear hug, lifting her off the floor. She loves it. “Yeah, he’s out back. You want me to bring you some coffee?” she asks as I start to head in the direction of the den.

“I’ll grab some later, thanks,” I call back to her.

When I get to the den I spot Laurie in Aiden’s arms. I walk over to him and crouch down so I can kiss her forehead. Damn, she’s growing so fast! “Hey, how’s my favorite girl?”

“She’s doing just fine,” Aiden beams, clearly a proud dad.

I turn to take a seat and I freeze in my tracks. “You’re here?” I ask and it comes out a little harsher than I meant it too. This is the one place I was hoping not to run into her!

Scarlett jumps up, looking a little stunned. Okay, maybe more than a little.

“I didn’t know you would be here,” she says as if she’s apologizing for being here.

“I didn’t know myself,” I try to explain.

“I’ll go,” she says real fast and she shoots by me.

“Scarlett!” It’s only when Morgan calls out to her sister that I notice her. I blink a few times. How did I not recognize Morgan sooner? She’s a kindergarten teacher. I’ve seen her around town so many times, but it never clicked into place. We’ve even spoken a few times.

Normally my reflexes are way faster than this. I spin around and go after Scarlett but I only catch up with her when she’s already out the front door. Emma looks like she’s gonna cry for us both. I hate seeing that look on Emma’s face.

When I see Scarlett head for the bike, chills go down my spine.

“That death trap is yours?” I ask and again I might be doing this all too harshly. I need to revert to nice and easy.

She swings around and there’s fire in her eyes. “Death trap?” she asks real slowly. She comes at me and stops an inch short of my chest. “Don’t insult my bike, Holden!” she snaps. “I understand you’re hurt and I’m sorry that I’m the one that hurt you!” She takes a trembling breath. “I’m really sorry but I did warn you …” she shakes her head and then goes on, her voice laced with anger and hurt, “in all fairness I did warn you. I told you to go for someone else but you didn’t listen to me.”

She spins back around and it’s only when she’s getting onto her bike that I dart forward.

I take the helmet out of her hands and put my hand over the ignition so she can’t start the damn thing.

“Yes, you did warn me,” I snap back. I need to get this out of my system or it will eat me alive. “But, the way you just left? After the attack and you having the seizure, you didn’t think I might worry?” I ask.

“I panicked,” she admits. “It happened and I was scared of what would follow.”

She looks miserable admitting this to me.

“What do you mean scared of what would follow?” I need her to explain it a bit more so I can be on the same page.

“It’s nothin’. It happened. I screwed up. It’s over,” she says and she reaches for the helmet. I move it out of her reach and when she leans to get to it she brushes against me. Electric pulses sizzles over my body just from her brushing against me.

It’s so not over.

I drop the damn helmet to the ground and take hold of her hips, lifting her off the bike. The moment I crush my mouth against hers, her hands move into my hair. She gasps for a breath of air and I sweep my tongue into her mouth, relishing in the taste of her. I have to keep myself from devouring her right here where everyone can see.

She’s shaking in my hands and I pull back so I can see her eyes. They look sad.

“Don’t do this. Let me in. Let me be there for you.”

She shakes her head and steps away from me. I watch her pick up the helmet.

“No, Wyatt. Memories can’t be taken but people can. I don’t want you. Once I have you it means I can lose you. You’re safer not being mine.” Her words stun me.

“Scar?” I hear Morgan behind me. “What attack? What seizure? What are you both talkin’ about?” I can hear the worry in Morgan’s voice and then I see total hopelessness wash over Scarlett’s face.

She looks past me to her sister and her voice is hoarse when she whispers, “It’s nothin’ for you to worry about. I have it all taken care off. Go inside and enjoy the dinner, Sis. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”

We all watch her get back on the bike and drive off.

I get a weird feeling that I just let her down.

~*~