Page 51

Gen said the bathroom was out of order to keep me from coming inside.

“You were…you and…” I pause as it sinks in that he was hooking up with someone else and that he makes it sound like Theo knew he was with…with Genevieve. “What’s wrong with you? She’s a child!” I exclaim.

“She’s not a child. She’s twenty-five,” he responds. “Barely three years younger than you.”

“No. That doesn’t seem right,” I reply in confusion. “She’s so shy and innocent.”

“Not anymore.”

My palm comes up and slaps him in the face without a second thought.

He doesn’t flinch but his light blue eyes narrow at me. “Am I supposed to remain celibate the rest of my life while you’re off screwing the man you wanted the whole time you were with me?”

“That’s not…”

“I’ve spent months missing you, then you show up with him here, moving on so fucking fast.”

I shake my head and find myself admitting, “We’re not. Not really. We were pretending to be a couple, but we didn’t actually…the night we got arrested was the first time we were ever together. I’m moving out when we get home.”

I don’t know why I spill all of this to him.

Wyatt stares at me silently for several long moments after my blurted confession. “You wanted to make me jealous.”

“I wanted to stay away from you. To not go running back to you just because…”

“Because what?” he asks.

“Because you offered me something he never will.”

“And what’s that? The best sex of your life?”

I scoff and shake my head. “No. Marriage. Did you even mean it that night?”

“Yes, I meant it,” Wyatt says. “The only way I could ever be with you knowing you’re in love with him is if I made you mine. My wife.”

I nod since I thought he was serious.

It was another reason why I ran.

“Sometimes I wish I could stop loving him,” I admit. “But it’s not that easy. I can’t…”

“I know that,” he says. “But I also know that he’s all wrong for you. If he loved you back the way he should, the way you deserve, then he would be begging you to marry him.”

We stand there staring at each other and a tear races down my cheek. Wyatt reaches for my face but I hold up my hand to stop him. “Don’t.”

He drops his hand to his side and licks his lips. Licks them like…like he’s tasting her on them.

Gen looked wrecked when she left him.

“You’re going to hurt her.”

“No. It’s over now. It has to be,” He says as he reaches up and swipes his thumb over his lips.

I know Wyatt better than probably anyone but Monty, and I can hear the regret in his voice. He wants more with his best friend’s little sister.

Oddly enough, hearing about her and him together doesn’t feel like I’m being ripped open. There’s barely even a tiny paper cut of discomfort, which is a relief in a way.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him honestly. “About her and about… Theo.”