Wyatt Carter.
I hadn’t seen him since the morning after the full moon, and believe me, I’d been looking. Every pack cookout, every lunch in the lodge, every dinner. I’d scour the crowd looking for a set of brown eyes that felt like home, but he was nowhere to be found.
To make matters worse, now there was something wrong with me. I hadn’t been sleeping, I’d barely been eating, and I was so sluggish I needed a whole carafe of coffee just to make it through the day.
When you combined all that, you got a testy Callie, and it seemed my moodiness had not gone unnoticed.
I looked away again. “Nothing’s going on, Evey.” It was easier to lie to my sister when I didn’t have to look her in the eyes as I did it. “And even if it was, I wouldn’t have time to talk to you about it now. I need to leave for the lab in a couple minutes which means I have to go pry Abey away from his desk to drive me there.”
I heard Evey stand from my bed and cautiously threw a glance her way. When I found her eyes narrowed, I knew I’d made a mistake.
“Callista McCoy I know somethin’ is goin’ on and the more you try to deny it, the more sure I am. You can tell me about it now, or I can figure it out on my own, but either way, I’m gonna find out.”
A small chill ran down my spine at her threat. I had no doubt my sister would eventually find out what was going on, but I hoped it would be a non-issue by then because I had a plan.
If Wyatt was so set on wanting nothing to do with me, then I was just going to have to do the same. I promised myself when I woke up that day that I’d stop thinking about him, stop looking for him, and most importantly, stop pining over him.
Sure, the image of all his golden skin was burned into my brain, but I had so much going on up there, it shouldn’t be too hard to forget. I’d just fill my head with as much knowledge as I could and force thoughts of Wyatt out.
I figured it had to be easy to get over a guy you were barely under. Besides, it was clear Wyatt wanted nothing to do with me. That should make it doubly easy.
“Evey, listen. I’m late and I don’t have time for this. I’m sorry I’ve been snippy lately, but I just have a ton going on. I’ll try to tone down the attitude going forward.”
Her eyes were still narrowed, and it was like I could feel them delving beneath my surface and uncovering my secrets. I stood stock still, like I was facing down a predator and not my sister.
Finally, she sighed and shook her head. “Fine. We can do this the hard way.”
That sounded ominous, but I had no time to worry about it. I walked to my bedroom door and held it open for Evey to exit in front of me.
“This conversation isn’t over,” she warned.
I closed my door and shrugged. “As long as it’s over for now, I really don’t care.”
Evey growled softly under her breath before spinning away and storming down the hall to her room. It sounded like she was muttering something about me treating my textbooks with more respect than my family, but I ignored her. I knew that meant I’d have to deal with her later, but I figured that was a problem for another time.
I hustled down the hall to Abey’s wing and gave his door a quick knock before letting myself in. “Abey, I need to leave like five minutes ago if I’m going to get there on time.”
The second the words were out of my mouth, it dried up like a desert during a drought.
Abraham was sitting behind his desk, head down, looking at some papers. “I’m busy today so I’m having Wyatt take you.”
I turned slowly to face the man who’d stopped me dead in my tracks the moment I’d entered the room. Wyatt was standing there in his typical plain t-shirt and jeans, looking just as happy about the situation as I was.
When the room remained quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time, Abraham finally picked his head up and looked around. When his questioning eyes met mine, I did my best to look unaffected. “Is that okay?”
I shrugged. “Sure. It doesn’t matter.”
Oh, but it mattered so much.
How was I supposed to put thoughts of Wyatt aside when I had to endure a twenty-minute ride downtown with him?
How was I supposed to get over someone who smelled so amazing and looked even better?
This was not good. Not good at all. But it seemed like I had no choice. I either had to accept a ride from Wyatt or make a scene, and I was not willing to do that.
So, I straightened my shoulders, tipped my chin up, and said, “I’m ready now. I’ll see you downstairs.”
Without waiting for an answer, I backed out of the room and stormed down the hall toward the stairs. As I made my way to the ground floor, I used that time to fortify my defenses against Wyatt’s charms.
I did not need a complication like him in my life.
I did not need the butterflies that filled my stomach or the sweat on my palms when he was near.
And I most certainly didn’t need to lust after someone who so easily walked away from me the first chance he got.
He
