Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(27)

“I’m in enough shit without stealing beers from Dad’s fridge.”

Wyatt walked the line when Harley was in town, usually a few weeks before she was due to arrive as well, but when she wasn’t he and Easton got into enough trouble. They would take off to see a band in a nearby town, skip a class now and again just because school was too constricting to them. All small stuff here and there. So this was almost normal, except it was a good two weeks early.

“Who do you think gave them to me?” Easton said, popping his top and taking a long swig.

Wyatt shot him a disbelieving glance.

“He took my keys, though. Hell, he took the keys to everything, even the tractor. You wouldn’t try and drive a tractor to New York, now would you?” Easton said with a sly grin.

Wyatt popped the top on his long neck and took a long drink. He would, but of course he would have thought to drive it to the bus station first, maybe the airport.

“I guess he read you right then,” Easton said under his breath. “What the hell happened?”

“I’m sure you know more than I do.”

Wyatt was still trying to figure out why her parents were here. He had heard his mother cussing about trainers they wanted her to meet here and there, but normally before any visit Garrison Tatum made to the barn Camille tightened the reins on everyone, the barn that was always held to professional standards was polished a bit more. He could only assume it was a surprise to all of them.

“Nothing beyond it took three of them to hold you back, and you still got away from them,” Easton said with a smirk. “Did they catch you together?”

Wyatt just held his stare.

“Like, together together?” Easton pressed, sitting forward a bit, halfway wondering how Wyatt was still alive. He had heard stories about Harley’s mother, met her father.

“No, but it was pretty obvious what we had been up to.”

“Is that why Truman is convinced you’re going to be thrown in jail?”

“That’s bullshit. I’m not eighteen. Even if I was, she’s close enough.”

“Not when you have big-time lawyers.”

Wyatt cursed under his breath.

“Just slow your roll, let this die down. We’ll figure it out one way or the other,” Easton swore.

The next few weeks were hard. No one really said much. Wyatt did his regular rides, worked on his father’s side of the barn. His mother didn’t say a word to him, didn’t even really look him in the eye.

He knew he’d hurt her, in more ways than one. Camille never said it, but Wyatt knew that Harley was one of her favorite students, that she saw herself in her. And everyone knew that Camille was in love with Danny Boy. He carried a lot of sentimental value for her, took her back to when she was Wyatt’s age, when she had a horse from that same line, with the same stubborn tendencies.

All of that hurt her, but in some way he knew what hurt her most was that he had kept this deal from her. He was close with his dad, but he and his mom, they were tight. Wyatt regretted it in some way. Thought if he had told her, she would have helped him figure it out. Even if she hadn’t, she would have had sense enough to make sure he and Harley were separated when that phone call came that her parents were on their way. Instead, she trusted Harley to be in her room, Wyatt to be in his.

It wasn’t until his birthday that she said a word. She handed him the keys to his truck. “You’re a man now,” she’d said. “Think like one. If you love her like you said you did, then it will not matter how long you’re apart. You go after her now, and you’ll lose her forever.”

Wyatt could only halfway listen to that advice. All he wanted was to hear Harley’s voice, for Harley to tell him she was all right, to tell him anything.

He had tried everything to call her. All the numbers from Willowhaven Farms were blocked. He and Easton had gone to everyone they knew in town, even the hospital, to try and call. Every once in a while, they would get past the butler Donald that answered the phone at the Tatum residence, but once the call was put on hold Claire Tatum always came on the line to ask who was calling.

They tried to work around that, too, had Ava, even some of her friends, to call. One night, Easton and Wyatt drove a hundred miles just to call from a different state, thinking that would help; it never did.

It was killing Wyatt, breaking him apart from the inside out. Day by day, he and Easton became just a little wilder. Wyatt picked harder rides, broke a rib here and there. Easton and him, they drank, they smoked. Even when school started, they barely went.

Camille took everything she could away from Wyatt. When that didn’t work, she tried giving him things to stir his interest. Asked Easton to move into the apartment. She knew Easton could be just as wild as Wyatt, but the thing was that Easton knew when to put the brakes on.

She sold and traded a horse just to get him a ride he’d been wanting. His dad, along with a buddy of his, Memphis’ dad, worked on his truck with him.

That notion of being constantly around Memphis and Easton, his dad, working on the motor in his truck seemed to at least to keep Wyatt focused enough to stay in school. He still skipped, but his grades were too high for there to be any threat of him not graduating. Getting kicked out, that was another issue altogether. Most times, Camille was able to reason with the school, wave Wyatt’s GPA in their face—he was one of only a handful of students that were already taking college credits.