Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(68)

“Wyatt, where is Harley? Are you fighting with her?”

“Not anymore. You see, it ticked me off thinking of you and her. Boiled my skin. Then, like I said, I realized she belonged to me, not you.”

“The Harley I know does not belong to anyone.”

“That’s the truth, and don’t twist my words. She’s not property; she’s a living, breathing soul that has her own dreams, a life she has imagined, and it’s not a life with ten thousand dollar dinners. I meant that I gave that girl my heart, and a long time ago she gave me hers. I don’t know what she said to you, what plans the two of you have, but I’m telling you I’m not going away. If you think you are man enough to love her, you better be prepared to fight to keep her.”

“Wyatt…I think you have misunderstood something, somewhere—”

Wyatt cut him off. “No, I haven’t. I have never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“All right, Wyatt, listen, before you lose your cool that your tone tells me is already long gone. You’ve misunderstood, and I don’t know why Harley has not set you right yet, but I’m going to—”

“I will be damned—” Wyatt began.

“I’m engaged to someone else,” Collin said over him.

“What?”

“Ready to listen now?”

Wyatt checked the phone screen just to make sure he was cussing out the right guy. “What kind of game are you playing?”

“Not me, us, and we’ve been playing it ever since you charged into that elevator.”

Collin hesitated, trying to figure out if Wyatt was still on the line.

“Listening,” Wyatt grated as he paced his front porch.

“I have known Claire Tatum my entire life, watched my mother slander her, then pull her into a hug and proclaim her to be her best friend the second she is in her presence. I’ve always known Harley, too, the girl that seemed lost, broken, almost an outcast for as long as I could remember. Our parents have been plotting our wedding from the moment they figured out Harley was a girl.”

“Funny you didn’t show up until after us,” Wyatt said just because he wanted Collin to know he was tracking this conversation and he was no fool.

“Right, well, we were at every occasion there was together, including her birthday. That second you charged in that elevator, I saw her for the first time. That hope in her eyes, that wild freedom. I had no idea who you were, but I saw the lethal glare her mother gave her, saw how she grasped Harley.

“I went to her room, knowing that if there was not some distraction from someone that her mother was going to rip her apart, break her down. Long story short, I got her mom away from her and then I booked her a flight to your farm, a car, everything. I had even found a way to give her a day’s lead just to see you, long enough for the pair of you to figure out where to run.” Collin cleared his throat. “One phone call saying her dad was sick again stopped that.”

“She told me her dad was sick.”

“I’m sure she didn’t tell you how sick because she can’t talk about it without the words stealing her voice. His heart, it’s beyond repair. Hell, some doctors have no idea how he has made it as long as he has. Claire Tatum has been planning the man’s funeral since the moment she said, ‘I do,’ but over the last few years those plans have started to become more concrete.”

None of this was making sense to Wyatt. He was expecting an ass. He had dealt with asses before at all those banquets he’d had to attend with his family across the years, the kind that smile like they’re your best friend, even give to whatever you are trying to raise funds for, but not because they care, but rather because they either want the attention or the tax write off. “So what, she dates you to protect his heart? And you cheated on her?”

Collin almost laughed, but didn’t. “Yeah, sort of. We tried, Wyatt. Tried to make the friendship we had more, but it didn’t work.”

All the ways this guy could have tried were slamming into Wyatt; he kept seeing him touching his Harley. Whatever trust Collin was trying to build with Wyatt was hitting that major roadblock.

“Wyatt, that girl has never stopped loving you. She tosses and turns at night, mumbling your name. Cries for no reason.”

“And you were right there, weren’t you?”

“As a friend, yes. Playing this role, her living with me—”

“She lives with you?” Wyatt said over him.

“Yes. Listen. It’s a fallacy, one that kept her mother at bay, everything at bay. Gave her time to heal.”

“And what did you get out of it?” Wyatt grated wondering what kind of benefits came with this friendship.

“The same, space. A best friend.”

“You don’t love her?”

“I didn’t say that. I do love her, but not how you think.”

“Because you’re engaged?”

“That’s a new development. I was calling to tell Harley about it.”

“How is this going to play in this fallacy of yours?”

“Well, obviously it is going to make it where you and her can start over, but it appears you are already having a communication complication as it is.”

Fuck you, Wyatt thought. They didn’t have a communication problem; they had a listening problem. Harley never told him she was with Collin, and Wyatt was too busy hating his situation to notice. He used to notice everything, every breath, every glance. The only reason he hadn’t over the last few days was that looking at her burned his chest. “We communicate just fine.”