“Shit.”
“Yeah. I don’t know what this will do to him.”
“All you can do is be there for him,” Wade said as he took my hand, and I grabbed my bag off the table. “But if you want, we can go to his place and check on him.”
That was so darn sweet.
Smiling up at him, I shook my head. “He’s just left and said he didn’t need company. I’ll leave it for tonight but then call him tomorrow.” We walked outside hand in hand, and I couldn’t help but stare down at his palm in mine.
He was holding my hand in public.
Like we’d been doing it forever.
“How are you so comfortable to hold my hand?”
When we stopped at a car, he pressed my back into it and loomed over me. “Because it’s you. I’m findin’ I don’t give a fuck what people think when it comes to this because it feels natural. I still wanna keep things between us for a while. Is that cool?”
“Yeah, it is.” Anything he said right then I would be cool with it. Having Wade “Wreck” Williams stare down at me like I was the only thing in his world was everything I could have wished for.
Never had I thought my lust-filled fantasy would come true. This straight man was telling me he wanted me. Was barricading me in his arms as I leaned against the car and grinned like a maniac up at him.
Maybe I would buy a lotto ticket because it seemed my luck was changing.
“What are you thinkin’?” he asked, his voice low and rough.
“How lucky I am,” I blurted without thinking and then thought I sounded like such a fool.
He smiled but shook his head. “I’m the lucky one.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Wade pulled back and said, “Check it. Could be Saint sayin’ he’s not workin’ but comin’ home.”
True, but I hoped it wasn’t. Wade pulled keys out, and the car behind me unlocked. I turned, looking at it. “I thought you had your bike.”
He opened the door for me. “Know you’re not a fan yet. Thought you’d prefer a lift home in this instead of you walking and me following you on the bike.”
My heart melted into a gooey pile inside me.
“That’s, um, very nice,” I said softly as I slid into my seat.
He leaned in and kissed me quickly before straightening and walking around the car to the driver side. Of course, I watched the show in front of me, until my phone sounded again, notifying me I had an unread message.
Mom: Hello, my sweeties, just to let you know your aunt’s procedure is getting delayed a month. Looks like we won’t be back this weekend (crying emoji). I’m blaming your father. He did this somehow. I miss both of my boys so much.
When Wade was seated and had started the car, I told him, “It’s Mom. They were supposed to come home this weekend for a while to help an aunt out, but it’s been delayed,” I explained, then snorted at Zion’s comment in the group chat, which I told Wade as well.
Zion: But you miss me more than Lucas, right?
Mom: I don’t have favorites. Well, except if our little Muffy was still alive, then she would be my favorite.
Zion: Seriously, Mom, you would pick a mutt called Muffy over your own sons?
Mom: Yes (smiley winky face)
Zion: Do you know what muff stands for, Mom?
Dad: She found out when I said I wanted to eat hers (laughing emoji). She got scared I meant the dog.
Me: DAD TMI!!!!
Zion: Dad, no, just no.
Mom: Gerry, you’re sleeping on the couch tonight!
Dad: Come on, Lucy, it’s not like they haven’t done it…. Well, except maybe Lucas. Son, have you ever been with a woman?
I gasped. “Holy heck.”
“What?” Wade asked. Thankfully I’d stopped reading the comments after Mom’s one about the dog. This was just embarrassing.
Me: OMG I am NOT talking about this or anything sexual related to either of my parents. Anyway, I’ve got studying to do, miss you, talk soon, but never about this again.
Mom: See, Gerry you’ve scared him off now.
I closed the group message down and groaned. Sometimes my parents just went too far. It was lucky I loved them, because I knew they meant well in the end.
“Lucas, you’re bright red. What’s going on?” he asked, trying not to smile.
Sighing, I placed a hand over my eyes and told him what Dad asked. I didn’t have to wait. As soon as I spoke, Wade chuckled. It was when he quickly sobered, I removed my hand to see his tight grip on the wheel.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothin,” he replied, his voice a little tight.
“Wade, tell me.”
He glanced at me then back at the road just before he slowed and pulled up out the front of Zion’s house. “I just don’t like the thought of you being with anyone.”
Oh, wow. He was jealous.
I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I sucked up my nerves and reached out with a shaky hand to place it on his thigh. “I’ve had one experience, and it wasn’t the best.” He went to open his mouth, but I got there first with “You’re older. I know you’ve been with many women, and numbers don’t matter to me because I know you’re here with me, and that’s all that matters.”
His jaw clenched as he flung his door open and got out.
Had I said something wrong?
Chapter Sixteen
Wreck
Fuck me. Fuck me. My chest felt thick, like my heart had swelled so damn big. I took a gulp of cool night air and rubbed a hand over my face.
I know you’re here with me, and that’s all that matters.
His words were the most perfect thing I’d ever heard. It meant he didn’t give a shit about my past and the number of women I’d fucked. He wasn’t scared I was playing him, and those words proved it. He knew I was where I wanted to be.
Walking around the
