Tabitha stared hard at him, the crease in her forehead telling him she was really considering the question before she finally nodded and whispered softly, “Yeah, I have.”
“That someone better be me,” he growled, unable to help the flare of jealousy. “’Cause I could take down Terry Dower.”
“You are so stupid.” Tabitha surprised him by laughing. “I don’t like Terry. Not like that. So don’t be thinking of putting him in the hospital. I don’t think his head is as hard as Clay’s.”
“
No one’s
head is as hard as Clay’s.” Wyatt crawled up and rested his head on Tabitha’s knee for comfort at the reminder. “Christ, he’s a stubborn bastard.”
Tabitha started stroking his sweaty hair, pushing it away from his forehead. His entire world clicked into place in that one moment, and he closed his eyes in lazy exhaustion.
“Go out with me,” he said when Tabitha’s touch lured him into a false sense of security.
“No.”
“Kiss me.”
“No.”
“At least admit you love me.”
“Definitely no. My mama’s been doing good. She’s got a job and everything, but she’s so dang paranoid ’bout the state grabbing us, especially since Brett’s been getting into trouble. If I started going out with a Conner, she’d turn back to the bottle for sure.”
Wyatt blinked up at Tabitha, seeing the crease was back in her forehead as she looked down at him. “I’ll be a famous boxer instead of a sheriff. How ’bout that?”
She gave him a sad smile and whispered, “No.”
“You’re worse than Clay.” He let his eyes drift close again because he was very happy where he was even if Tabitha was being difficult. “Your mama knows we’re friends. So what’s the difference?”
“No, she doesn’t.” Tabitha laughed in disbelief.
“She’s gotta know you’ve been hanging round me for years. What does she think you’re doing at the rec center every day after school?”
“My homework.”
“Well, I suppose that ain’t a lie.” He rolled on his side and pressed his lips against the curve of her knee that was exposed where her skirt had ridden up. “I can think of some homework you can work on.”
Tabitha shoved his head in response, and he landed on the mat with a grunt. He would have complained if it didn’t make Tabitha giggle. He started laughing with her.
“You’re bad on my delicate male ego.”
Tabitha laughed harder. “You got the biggest ego in this whole dang town.”
“Take that back, little girl.” Wyatt grabbed her foot when she moved to stand up. She screeched and shook her leg, but he wasn’t letting go. He jerked her toward him, forcing her skirt to ride up, and then used his weight to pin her to the mat. “Say sorry, or I’m gonna turn into the big, bad wolf.”
“As if.” Tabitha was still laughing hysterically and didn’t even fight his hold on her wrists as he held her down. “You’re not bad wolf material.”
“Who lied to you?” Wyatt snorted as he studied her cheeks, flushed pink with her mirth, and the way the strawberry lip gloss she always used made her lips look very kissable. “You make me feel
very
bad. Kiss me.”
“No.”
Wyatt leaned down despite the rejection, and Tabitha turned her head petulantly, still giggling.
He growled in genuine disappointment. “One of these days I’m gonna do it, and I ain’t even gonna give you the courtesy of asking first.”
“Let me up, Wy. You’re getting yourself into trouble again.” Tabitha pulled halfheartedly at his hold on her wrists. “I have to get home.”
Wyatt huffed and rolled off her because he
was
getting himself into trouble. Tabitha got to her feet and brushed out her skirt that was long and had little pink flowers on it. Her white blouse was conservative, but Wyatt could still see the outline of her bra under it as she worked on straightening it.
He laced his hands behind his head once more as he watched her. “You really are hard on my ego.”
“You’re okay.” Tabitha gave him a shy smile. “You can follow me halfway home if you want.”
“All right then.” Wyatt was pleased to hear it, because he hated the idea of her riding all that way alone in the dark. He rolled back and sprang to his feet. “That sounds like a fair deal.”
Tabitha laughed again.
Wyatt frowned. “What?”
She shook her head, still smiling in that warm way she did when something pleased her so much she couldn’t hide it. “Nothing.”
“No, tell me,” he prodded, because he loved those particular smiles from Tabitha, and he wanted to know what he did to cause it.
“It’s just—” she started, looking at him under her lashes when she lowered her eyes shyly. “You’re one of the good guys. I don’t see how you can deny it.”
“Great.” Wyatt rolled his shoulders that were sore from wrestling. “Girls only like the bad guys.”
“Not all girls.” Tabitha gave him another smile. “Thank God you won’t kiss me without permission. We’d both be in big trouble if you did.”
Wyatt could only gape at her.
Tabitha turned to leave without another word, sort of like Clay usually did.
“I need to get my stuff out of the locker room,” he said distantly.
“I’ll wait for you.”
Wyatt nodded as he followed her down the hallway. His mind was still on what Tabitha had admitted, probably without realizing she’d done it. Her cheeks were still flushed, and it was obvious their little wrestling session had left her as flustered as he felt.
He left her standing outside the men’s locker room and quickly went to his locker. Clay was getting dressed in front of the locker next to it, and he frowned when Wyatt tugged his shirt on despite being sweaty.
“You ain’t taking a shower first?”
“No, I’m riding back with Tabitha since it’s dark.” Wyatt sat on the bench and worked on putting on his socks and shoes. “I’ll take a shower at home.”
“I’ll ride with ya.”
Wyatt shook his head and lifted his head to give Clay a pointed look. “Nah, I got this. I’m gonna make it my year. Watch me.”
“Whatever, Conner.” Clay rolled his eyes and turned back to his locker. “I don’t see how you’re gonna manage that when she’s been shooting you down since seventh grade.”
“No, I got a plan,” Wyatt told him confidently.
“What’s that?”
He lifted his head and gave his best friend a dark smile. “I’m gonna be the big bad wolf.”
“Yeah, right.” Clay laughed at the notion, clearly unconcerned for Tabitha’s virtue. “Lemme know how that works out for you. Make sure to say please and thank you first.”
* * * *
Tabitha would never tell him, but she liked when Wyatt followed her home. She enjoyed his company, and it never stopped being a novelty how safe he made her feel. Being with him was like a reprieve from real life, where she was forced to be on guard all the time.
Becoming a teenager made everything about her life so much more complicated. She wished she could go back to being hungry. It was preferable over the nervous feeling that settled in her stomach every time she was home. Brett’s friends said the most awful things to her, and her mother’s friends weren’t much better. There were always people at her house, drinking and partying. Her mother was doing better now that she had a job, but the weekends were always a weakness for her.
This Friday was payday at John’s butcher shop, where her mom had been working for the past five months.
Tabitha wasn’t looking forward to it. Her uncles would come over with their friends and make a bad situation worse. None of them seemed to mind partying with Brett’s friends even though Brett was only sixteen. They would all drink and do God knew what else until they passed out in the early-morning hours. The house was always loud and smoky, and all Tabitha could do to avoid it was lock herself in her room and wait for all of them to pass out. The next morning she would trip over the sleeping bodies trying to get out the door and to the rec center, where Wyatt was waiting to make her feel safe again, even if he didn’t realize he was doing it.
Against her better judgment, Tabitha had started believing in heroes again.
“Here is good.” Tabitha hopped off her bike at the intersection between the main road and the one that led down the street to her house. “I’ll just ride the rest of the way by myself.”
“I don’t care what your house looks like, Tab,” Wyatt said as he rode up next to her and put his foot down. He leaned his arms against his handlebars. “I remember when we first drove out to the trailer park to get Clay’s stuff. He wouldn’t even let me go in and help him gather it all up. Like it mattered to me. Best buddies don’t give a shit ’bout things like that.”
Tabitha laughed and let her bike fall into the dirt. She pulled her backpack off and dropped it on top of it because she wanted a few more minutes with him. “I know. It’s not that. I promise.”
“It’s still a pretty long ride back to your house.” Wyatt gave her a stern look. “Lemme go with you.”
She shook her head and gave him a smile. “Nope.”
Wyatt stepped off his bike and let it fall next to hers despite the fact that it was new and had a perfectly good kickstand. Then he stepped into her personal space, making her feel even shorter than usual, because he was so very tall now. She instinctively rubbed her scarred palm, because being so near him made her feel breathless.
“Why are you always doing that?” Wyatt reached down and grabbed her hand like he had in the gym. “Whenever I get close, you start rubbing your hands, and I noticed you don’t do it when Clay or others are next to you. Is there something ’bout these scars that make you think of me?”
Tabitha looked away rather than pull her hand out of his as she internally cursed his cop breeding that had him noticing everything. Very little slipped past Wyatt, and she didn’t know if it was genetic or something the Conners were trained with since birth. He could break down walls and sniff out weaknesses better than anyone she’d ever met.
He rubbed his thumb against her palm, making her shiver in response. He was quiet for a long moment before he asked, “Are they somehow my fault? I know you got them the same time as my fight with Clay and—”
“They’re not your fault,” she assured him before he could finish the thought, because she didn’t want to think about that fight. “Y’all are friends now, and I’m happy for it.”
“I had to bully Clay into being my friend,” Wyatt reminded her, giving her a long, hard look as he squeezed her hand. “And even now he forgets half the time, but I ain’t gonna give up on him, even on the days when he wants me to.”
“Yeah, well, it’s hard for Clay to trust people. He’s always waiting for them to betray him.”
“Sort of like someone else I know.” Wyatt used his hold on her hand to pull her closer. “I’m not going away, Tabitha, and I’m not giving up.”
“Wyatt—” she started, wanting to tell him all the reasons why he shouldn’t be wasting his time on her. Then he laced his other hand through the hair at her nape and her breath caught with the collision of nerves and excitement. “Don’t—”
“Tell me you don’t like me.” Wyatt lips were a breath away from hers, his light eyes bright in the moonlight as he studied her intently. “Look me in the face and tell me you don’t think ’bout me at night.”
Tabitha opened her mouth, but the words were trapped in her throat. She did think about him, all the time, and lying to that extreme was going to be one of the hardest things she’d ever done. She was still fighting the horrible war with herself when Wyatt used the hold he had on her neck to pull her closer. Then he kissed her, with her mouth still parted in an attempt to tell a lie that was so far opposed to what both her heart and soul were crying out for that it felt like a betrayal to even think about saying it.
The feel of his lips against hers was electric. The jolt of it reminded her of the time she shocked herself trying to plug the vacuum cleaner into the broken socket in her mother’s bedroom. She actually shuddered from the sensation. It was so startling, her hands went to Wyatt’s shoulders for support, but he misunderstood the action as one of trying to shove him away. Usually that would’ve had him backing up, but this time he just tightened his hold on her neck.
He pushed his tongue past her lips without permission, but Tabitha didn’t complain.
In that moment it felt like nothing in the world existed but the two of them. It was as if time came to a standstill, and the world stopped spinning, and all she had was Wyatt. His lips were hot on hers, and his tongue was brushing against her tongue, and she wanted so much more of all it she stood on her toes to get closer. She put her arms around his neck and opened her mouth farther in invitation because it felt so amazingly good she had to ask for more.
It wasn’t until she swallowed Wyatt’s low groan and felt his hand sneak around her back that Tabitha realized she was kissing him back. She didn’t have time to stop and wonder if she was doing it right, or if he was doing it right, because he forced her body tightly against his, and it shut down her brain completely. She was wrapped up in him, warm and safe and burning up from the strange buzz a simple kiss was able to create. Her fingers were in his hair, and she held on for fear he would pull away and rob her of the amazing sensations she was willingly drowning herself in.
Her heart was thumping so hard she could hear it echoing in her ears. Her breathing was sharp and erratic when they parted for one brief second, only to come together harder and needier when Wyatt pushed his lips against hers again as if he needed it as desperately as she did.
She was just having the thought of pulling him down onto the dirt right there on the edge of the street, because her legs didn’t want to hold her up, and every second they kissed had her strangely hungry to feel more of him.
Then the loud, jarring sound of a horn blaring had both of them jumping from the shock of falling back into reality without warning.
“Slut!”
Wyatt stiffened at the same time Tabitha’s stomach dropped with the icy surge of fear that spiraled through her system. The abrupt change from joy to fear was so startling she nearly blacked out from it.
She turned around, looking at Vaughn leaning out his window. His eyes were narrowed in malicious fury. “Now you’re giving it up when you’ve been locking your door on me for the past year?”