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 was nothing more than a wolf in my pack and that was exactly how I was going to treat him.
My anger lasted long enough for me to get to the garage and start loading my sample racks into Wes’ Suburban. By the time Wyatt got downstairs, I had finished packing the truck full of my stuff and was slouched down in the passenger seat.
Wyatt climbed in quietly and started the engine.
“Callie, listen, about the other day…”
“What other day?”
He reached up and scratched the back of his neck as he navigated down the steep drive to the road. “The morning after the full moon.”
“What about it?”
He blew out a deep breath and glanced my way, but my eyes were fixed straight ahead. “I think I need to apologize for the way I acted.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I kinda ran off.”
“Did you?”
He looked at me once more, but my stance hadn’t changed. Under no circumstances would I look him in the eyes again. I didn’t need those kinds of feelings clouding my thoughts when I was trying so hard to remain unbothered by him.
“Yeah, I did. I’m sorry, there’s just so much–”
“Wyatt,” I interrupted. “It’s fine. I haven’t even thought about it.”
At least not in the past thirty seconds.
“Really?” His voice squeaked a little on the last syllable, and if I wasn’t so mad at him, I might have thought it was cute. But I was, so I didn’t.
I shrugged and turned to look out my window. “Sure, Wyatt. Why would you even worry about that?”
He was quiet for a while as I threaded my fingers together in my lap and squeezed them tight.
“I dunno. I guess I thought we had a moment or something. I dunno,” he said again.
“A moment? What moment?”
The leather creaked beneath him as he shifted in his seat and a small grin tugged at the corners of my lips. I thought it was only fair that he squirm a little after leaving me hanging for so long. I’d spent almost a whole month, using up valuable real estate in my head worrying about Wyatt and his reaction that morning. Now it was time for a little payback.
“I… uh…” he trailed off before blowing out a loud breath. “The thing is, Callie, there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I just thought I was doing the right thing.”
“You thought the right thing was spending the night with me and then almost literally running away as soon as the sun was up?”
“See? You are mad!”
I sat up straight and whipped my head around to stare at him through narrowed eyes. “Of course I’m mad!”
“Then why didn’t you just say that?!”
I looked away again as we turned onto the street the lab was on. “Because I’m done with this whole situation.”
“So, I’m a situation now?”
“You were,” I snapped back.
He pulled into the lot behind the lab, and before he’d even brought the truck to a full stop, I’d jumped out. I stomped around to the trunk and whipped it open, the hinge groaning with my excessive force.
Wyatt appeared around the other side of the truck, but I did my best to ignore him. “So, what? I’m just nothing now?”
“Yep. Sounds about right.”
I yanked a towering pile of sample racks into my arms and spun around to leave.
“Callie, give me some of those.” He reached for the stack, but I pulled them closer to my chest.
“I got it.”
“I’m serious, just give me a few.” This time he got his giant hands around one side and tugged.
“I said I got it.”
“You’re going to look suspicious carrying that much. Just let me help you inside.”
I tried to pull the racks out of his hands, but he was too strong, which made me even more irritated. “Wyatt! Just… let… go,” I grunted as I wrenched the samples my way.
He finally released them just as I lost my grip and the whole pile went crashing to the ground. The clanging metal and shattering glass filled up the little parking lot, but when they were gone, it left an eerie silence. Wyatt’s heart thundered in his chest almost as fast and loud as my own as we both stood there looking at the mess at our feet.