With A Twist(68)

We resume our walk and the laughter dies down. Then Wyatt says something that makes my heart melt just a little bit more for him.

“Seriously though… if you need to explore this with him, you should. I wouldn’t hold you back from that.”

I turn to look at him. “I don’t want to.”

He rewards me with a bright grin and loops his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in so our hips bump as we walk along the shore. “Good. I don’t want you to either, but I thought I’d be a gentleman.”

And that right there sort of sealed my fate where Wyatt Banks was concerned.





Chapter 21





Wyatt





I pull into the parking lot of the Last Call and see Hunter’s car. Figured he’d be here and he’s just the person I need to rant to. There are three other cars in the lot, but it’s too early for any of his employees to be here so I’m assuming those were from patrons of last night’s crowd too drunk to drive home.

Still bristling with anger, I shut the car off and get out. I stalk up to the entrance door and pull on it, but it’s locked. That’s easily fixed by a swift banging on the tinted, Plexiglas door and in less than fifteen seconds, Hunter’s there opening up to me.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Hunter asks with surprise as I stomp past him.

“I’m here because of your annoying and completely frustrating fiancée. Dude, you have to get her under control,” I grit out.

Hunter starts chuckling and walks past me. I follow him back to his office. “She must have done something really annoying then. I seem to recall you warning each and every one of us before you left the bar Saturday night that you would rain—what were the words—hellfire and destruction down on any of us if we disturbed you and Andrea for the next four days. The fact you’d leave your woman to come here to complain to me about Gabby means that she’s really on your shit list.”

He walks around his desk and sits down, leaning back in his chair. I flop down in a chair opposite his desk and kick my legs out. “Yeah… I didn’t leave my woman to come complain about Gabby. Gabby stole my woman out of my house this morning.”

“What?” Hunter asks, trying desperately to hide the amusement on his face.

“That brat showed up half an hour ago, banging on my door again. I wouldn’t let her in, of course, but she stood on my porch and demanded that Andrea had to come out to breakfast with her.”

“Wait?” Hunter exclaims, sitting up straight in his chair. “You mean she invited Andrea to the exclusive girls’ club breakfast every Monday at The Sand Shark?”

I nod… painfully.

“You mean… that hallowed establishment that has seen Gabby, Casey, and Alyssa meet exclusively for breakfast every Monday morning for like a millennium?”

“They did let Savannah into the club,” I mutter.

“Yeah… but like only because she had to sign some sort of blood pact or something,” Hunter says, shaking his head in amazement. “This is huge, dude. You know that right?”

“Fuck yeah, it’s huge,” I agree and sit forward angrily. “I now have to figure out how to rain hellfire and destruction down on your fiancée without ruining our friendship.”

Hunter laughs and leans back in his chair again. “Seriously, Wyatt… this is huge in another way. She’s been accepted.”

“To breakfast,” I add on.

“No… she’s been accepted into our circle. No woman you’ve ever dated before has been afforded that. That means they’re keeping her. I suggest you figure out a way to do the same.”

And that is the source of my true frustration.

Not only have I decided that Andrea needs to remain a fixture in my life, but my friends have equally done so. This is big… a huge endorsement, and on the one hand, it helps to validate that my feelings for her are strong and true. They would never accept her so easily if they didn’t think she was the right one for me.

I think she is… the right one, that is.

And now, apparently, the girls do too, and of course, the men will follow right along, because fuck… every one of my bros are heart whipped.

The frustration comes from knowing that Andrea is leaving on Saturday morning, and I don’t need Gabby kidnapping her from my house to know that there is something special going on between us.

I have no clue what it means for the long haul, but I do know that it won’t be over when she gets on that plane to fly back to Pittsburgh.

“Listen, man,” Hunter says confidently. “Long-distance relationships suck, but they are workable. Y’all will find your groove.”