“Jacob thought he was better than me. Every man I’ve been with has thought they were better than me. The second my confidence grew even an inch, they broke up with me. Just wait, he’ll do it too, they all do. They want to be your whole world. They want to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. If you even attempt to grow and they can’t hold you back, they’ll leave you.”
“That’s a really shitty way to view relationships,” I whisper.
I don’t deny that she’s probably right though. Where I’ve shied away from relationships because of my past, Emily has been in too many for her young age.
“Emily,” Robby’s voice rumbles.
She releases my hand, taking a step to the side, her eyes still focused on mine. “Leave Gallup, I don’t care where you go, but just get out. As long as our fathers are here, our demons will continue to take over our minds and bodies. MawMaw will understand.”
Emily doesn’t say anything else, she walks past me, her small suitcase in hand and I watch as she makes her way up to Sheriff Robby. He slips his hand against her lower back and guides her to the front seat of his patrol car.
I watch my cousin leave me. For the first time in my life, I won’t be able to call her when I need her or vice-versa. I won’t be able to enable her, or her me. I feel something hollow in my chest at the thought of her leaving town, and never coming back.
I know that I’ll be able to see her soon enough and visit whenever I can, but this is the end of something and that thought makes me sad, it makes me feel grievously alone.
Chapter Eight
WYATT
Married.
Channing and Rylan are getting married in just a few days. I can’t deny that I felt a bit of relief that their wedding is going to be Friday instead of Saturday. How selfish of me that I didn’t want to cancel my first official date with Exeter for their wedding.
I’m a fucking dick.
YOU UP? I text her.
Fuck, it sounds like a booty call. I laugh at the thought, the absurdity.
EXETER: JUST WATCHING NETFLIX. I snort to myself.
Typing out, then erasing. Wanna chill? I’m such a fucking tool.
YOU EAT DINNER?
EXETER: DOES A PINT OF BLUE BELL COUNT?
I chuckle. No, a pint of ice cream does not count as fucking dinner. I should stay my ass at home, but I grab my keys on my way out of the front door.
TEXT ME YOUR ADDRESS. I demand.
To my surprise, she does, without hesitation. I frown at the address on my phone. She lives in my town, mine, and I’d never seen her before. I would have remembered her, but the first time I laid eyes on her was the bar. I shake my head completely unbelieving that I had no clue she existed until just a few weeks ago.
Quickly, I swing through the Dairy Queen, the only fast food place in town. I order us a couple of burgers, fries, and remembering what she said about ice cream, I take a chance and order her a Butterfinger Blizzard.
It only takes me about five minutes to get to her place. She lives in a small trailer on the edge of town. In fact, it’s a trailer park that I frequented often as a kid, since Rylan’s parents lived in this same park.
Pulling up her small driveway, I’m not surprised to see that hers is the cleanest in the park. Her yard is tidy, she even has flowers beneath her kitchen window and along the other side that faces the street.
The blue glow of the television spills from the living room, and my eyes follow it to see her sitting on the sofa. Her legs are crossed, and she’s chewing on her thumbnail, though I doubt she’s focused on the television show itself, she’s probably working her defenses up for me.
Chuckling, I open the truck door and jump down, the bags of food in my hand, along with the Blizzard. Climbing the steps, I lift my hand to knock on the door, but it flies open. She’s standing there, wearing a pair of short shorts and an oversized hoodie. She’s not wearing makeup and her dark hair is pulled up into a messy bun. I lick my lips at the sight of her. Goddamn, she gets prettier every fucking time I see her.
“Come on in,” she says with a nod, and steps to the side. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“For?” I ask, turning around to face her.
“The fact that I live in a trailer. Maybe we should just go to your house,” she rambles.
I stand in front of her, a bit shocked. Then, I turn and place the food down on the side table next to the sofa. Closing the distance between us, I take her cheeks in my hands and lower my face to hers.
“You shouldn’t ever be sorry about where you live. It’s a nice place,” I murmur. Brushing my lips across hers, need the taste of her before I continue, only then do I whisper. “You should be sorry for not kissing me when I walk through the door though.”
Her lips twitch in a smile and she lets out a sigh. “I just, I don’t have a nice place to live, I never really have. Not a real house, anyway. You live in a great place, and I’m just embarrassed,” she mutters, shifting her gaze to the side.
“Look at me, sugar,” I demand.
Her eyes slide back to me. I lift my head slightly, looking down into her gorgeous blue gaze. “You could live in a cardboard box and it’d be fine with me. That shit doesn’t matter to me, Exeter. Besides, Rylan grew up just a few rows over. I spent some time here as a kid.” I shrug as I release her face. “Now, let’s eat.”
She blinks, her eyes wide as she watches me sit down on her sofa. “You wanna eat here, or the table?” I ask.
Exeter shakes her head once, as if to shake herself from standing in the middle of the room and staring at me. “What’s Rylan’s last name? I guess I never asked,” she says as she sits down next to me.
I hand her a bag of food, then the Blizzard. “Lindsay,” I state as I grab a handful of fries and shove them in my mouth.
“You bought me a Blizzard after I told you that I ate a whole pint of Blue Bell?” she asks, sounding more in awe, then shock.
“Yeah,” I say with a mouthful of fries.
She looks away from me, opening the bag and I watch from the corner of my eye as she pulls out the burger.
“What’s wrong?” I ask when she just holds it in her hand and doesn’t make a move to eat it.
“Don’t you think I’ll get fatter? You know, if I eat all this?”
I turn my head to look directly into her eyes, a slow smile spreading on my lips. “Sugar, I’ll work off most of that in just a few minutes. The rest, you need, because fuck me, I love the way you look and I never want you to lose even a goddamn ounce.”
She licks her lips, her mouth parted slightly and if I ever wanted to go to bed hungry, it would be this moment right here. “Wyatt,” she breathes.
“Eat,” I grunt.
Then she does as I’ve asked. She turns her focus back to her food, and from the corner of my eye, I watch her eat every single fucking bite. Except the ice cream, that she shares with me, and by the time we get to the bottom of the cup, I’m ready to tear her goddamn clothes off.
EXETER