The Bad Boys of Summer Anthology(33)

Closing his eyes, he fists his strong hands. “That’s not my intention.”

“If you say so, Wyatt,” I say in a detached voice. Rubbing the heel of my palm over my eyes to wipe away the remaining dampness from my face, I take a deep breath. “Your show starts soon.”

“It can wait.”

I think back to the day I asked him if he planned on leaving Your Toxic Sequel, and my vision blurs. “Did you lie about that, too? About quitting YTS?” His lowered blue eyes and silence is all the answer I need. “God, Wyatt…”

“I’m not,” he argues. He eases down onto the edge of the bed, darting his blue eyes over to where I’m still standing, clutching the wall. “Things were going shitty, okay? Lucas is a dick, and Sinjin’s always fucked-up. Cal and I were both thinking about bailing last year, but we changed our minds, okay? When Hazard Anthem called us about doing these shows, I figured we owed them one for leaving them high and dry.”

I fold my arms over my chest, giving him a tight smile. “You don’t need to explain yourself to me. I get it. It’s business.” I’m not going to argue with him anymore. There’s no point because I already know that I’ll have to leave.

“Will you be here when I get back tonight?”

His eyes are pleading, and I have difficulty speaking past the pain in the back of my throat.

“You already know that I won’t.”

“God, Kylie. Don’t do this,” he begs. “I’m sorry.”

“Have a good show, Wyatt,” I say softly, turning away from him.

I feel like weights are tied to my shoulders as I walk into the bathroom. I close the door behind me, lean my head against it, and start counting as I wait for him to leave. I hear the door to our room slam shut when I reach 150, and I press my fist to my mouth as sobs shake my entire body.



I’m packing and crying when Heidi shows up at my door an hour later. Her grin quickly fades as soon as I open the door. She doesn’t ask questions. She doesn’t try to give me advice. She simply yanks me to her, wrapping her thin arms around me.

“Is that ride back home still on the table?” I whisper.

She nods against my shoulder. “For you, babe, anything.”





Chapter Seventeen

I’m back in L.A. before the sun even rises the next morning, and I spend the rest of my weekend alone, leaving my apartment only once to go to the market around the corner. It’s not as if I’m in a catatonic state because I’m a seasoned pro at dealing with this type of bullshit, but the last thing I want is to bring someone else’s mood down with my moping around.

Later that night, I make plans with Heidi to take me to the DMV office first thing tomorrow morning.



When my doorbell rings at seven thirty in the morning on the dot, I’m already dressed. After brushing the tangles out of my black-and-blue hair, I fling open the door, and I’m shocked when I see my brother standing on the other side, holding a box from my favorite bakery.

“I didn’t realize you knew where I lived,” I greet him sarcastically, ignoring the way my stomach growls as I step backward to let him inside.

Ducking his head because he’s so damn tall, he comes through the doorway and makes a face at me. “Don’t look so fucking happy to see me next time.” He follows me into my den. “Brought you your favorite,” he says as he slams down into the chair at my computer desk, setting the box beside my laptop.

“Heidi’s taking me to the DMV to get a new license in a little bit, so can you make this quick?”

He grabs my phone from the desk and then rolls the chair forward until he stops right in front of me. “Call her and cancel.”

I take the phone, but instead of making the call, I cross my arms over my chest. “Lucas, I take my job very, very seriously, but it’s impossible for me to drive your ass around if I don’t have a license.”

“Cute,” he says, dragging his lips up into a strained smile. “But I’m here to take you to the DMV myself.”

I’m momentarily stunned. Being up so early is typical for my brother—he works out for a couple hours every morning—but for some reason, he’s taken it upon himself to visit me. And now, he’s offering to help me complete a tedious task that I don’t even want to do myself. Cocking my head to the side, I pull my eyebrows together. “Dude, you’re scaring the shit out of me. Is everything alright?”

His smile suddenly becomes more forced, and he leans forward, supporting his arms on his thighs. “Abso-fucking-lutely not, Kylie. I’ve made a mess of things.”

Taking the bakery box off the desk, I go to the other side of the small room and sit down on my couch. Half a dozen glazed doughnuts are in the box, and I sigh, inhaling their sweet scent. I eat two before I ask him about Sienna. “Have you talked to her?”

He squeezes his hazel eyes closed and shakes his head, dragging one of his hands through his shaggy dark hair. “You know better than I do that she’s already changed her number.”

I nod my head in acknowledgment and swallow hard, nearly choking on a piece of my doughnut. “Did you try to call her before she changed her number?”

“No. What the fuck would I say?”

“Sorry is a good start.”

He snorts. “Sorry doesn’t even begin to cover what I did to her, Kylie.” Sitting upright, he checks his watch before giving me a pointed look. “DMV opens in twenty minutes. Let’s not bullshit, so we don’t have to stick around there all day.”

“I didn’t ask you to take me,” I say in a heated voice as I pull up Heidi’s number on my iPhone.

She answers drowsily on the third ring. “Ah, shit.” She yawns, and I hear her roll over in her bed. “I worked late and forgot to set my alarm.”

“It’s okay! Lucas is here to take me to get my new license, but I’ll stop by your place tonight or something.”

My best friend is quiet for several seconds, and I imagine she’s just as stunned as I am about my brother showing up at my apartment. “Um, okay. Let me know how that one goes.”

I glimpse over at Lucas as he’s rubbing the pads of his thumbs against his temples in frustration. “It should be interesting.” After I promise Heidi that I’ll call her the moment I’m done taking care of my personal business today, I end the call.

Lucas stands up, taking his car key out of his pocket. “You done?” His voice is sardonic.

I hold back a sharp reply as I nod and close the doughnut box. “I’m ready.” As he heads to the front door, I grab my folder of paperwork from my desk and start to join him, but then I stop. I glance down at my ring finger, which has started to scab. There’s no point in me going to the DMV just to get another license that says Kylie Martin. “Hey, Lucas?” I call out.

“Yeah?”

“How long does it take to do a name change on your social security card? Is it right away?”

Even from the other room, I can hear him make a frustrated noise. “Google is your friend. Look it up yourself.” Even though he can’t see me, I glare daggers in his general direction, literally biting my tongue, as I sit behind the desk and open my laptop.

After a few minutes of research, I discover that getting a new social security card will take several days. Since I obviously can’t wait for a new license, I make myself a note, so I’ll remember to take care of the name change another day. The sooner, the better.



Instead of using the parking garage, Lucas has left his car on the curb, and I lift an eyebrow as we walk down the steps toward the brand new Audi. This is the first time I’ve seen it. I didn’t even realize he had bought a new car.

“Sam get you a gift with your money?” I ask.

He narrows his hazel eyes into dangerous slits. “Kylie, I swear to God—”

I climb into my seat, cutting off his threat by slamming my door. As I wait for him to get inside the car, I turn toward the driver’s seat. He’s still glaring at me when he closes his door and presses his fingertip on the push start.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” he growls, but I shake my head. The more I think about it, Lucas randomly picking me up is a very good thing.

“No, this talk has been a long time coming. I can’t believe I waited so long before saying something, but I am now.”

In typical Lucas fashion, he automatically gets defensive. “You want to talk about Wyatt then? Since we’re sharing our feelings.”

I press my lips into a thin line. Of course, I don’t want to talk about Wyatt. It hurts like hell to even think about that man, but I know it’s something that I’ll eventually have to acknowledge. Just because he lied to me doesn’t change the fact that I still love him. Just because I walked away from him doesn’t change the fact that I’ll have to see him again when I’m working.

“Ask away,” I tell my brother, squaring my shoulders.

He pulls the Audi into traffic. “Alright. What happened?”

“Why would you assume something did?”

He gives me a hard stare. “Because he called me and wanted to know if you were okay. Apparently, I’m the go-to guy on all things Kylie Wolfe.”