Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(86)
They hadn’t talked about it, but Wyatt had already moved sections of time around at both the fire department and the farm to get her home at least once a month to see her dad for a weekend. He planned to travel with her then, assumed after she told her dad about them that that would be the respectable thing to do.
More than anything, what was burning him about this trip was how nervous she was, how jittery she had been. No one should ever fear their family that much in his mind. He wanted to protect her, stand at her side, but clearly she wanted to face this alone.
He was going to meet Collin, kiss his woman goodbye in front of God and everyone, and then figure out how to stay busy as hell until she came back. He’d stalled a few chores around the barn to fill up that first day. The days after, he would be with his boys at the fire hall; they’d keep his mind off it. Even with his mental pep talks and all his well-laid plans, he was still on edge and having a hard time hiding that from Harley.
Wyatt walked over to Harley and pulled her to him. He was going to love her so intensely, with so much passion, that it would make it impossible to forget him while she was gone. He needed her to love him the same, give him enough to bridge that gap—and he did. They did. No sleep came the night before Harley left, at least not for more than a few lingering minutes.
She had to rush to finish packing. Wyatt only half-heartedly helped her do so, all the while trying to ask her if she would always have two lives, two worlds so far apart. He knew it would lead to a fight, though, and he didn’t want to fight, not even one of the silent fights they had as kids.
When they drove up the main barn that morning, there was a Lincoln Town Car out front. Wyatt stepped out of his truck, grabbed Harley’s bag, and handed it to the driver.
Collin walked out of the barn a moment later, wearing one of his characteristic power suits. “Wyatt, Collin. Good to meet you,” Collin said with his effortless smile and tone.
Wyatt took his hand, looked over him like he was from a foreign land, then raised his chin a bit, offered a wry smile. “How did you make it out of that barn without any dirt on you?”
“Carefully. I just wanted to get a glimpse of Danny Boy.”
“A glimpse?” Wyatt said. “He’s so eager to get out of that stall, he nearly charges whoever comes near him—especially in the A.M. when his breakfast is served.”
“Not for me, stayed in the back of his stall. Must think I want to take him somewhere,” Collin said with a smirk. That was just his personality, pointing out obvious dispositions.
Danny Boy had never been a huge fan of anyone beyond Harley as long as Collin had known him, but he’d tolerated Collin, at least let him pet him. Just before, Danny Boy had pinned his ears back, kicked the panels in his stall, huffed a breath out and all but grunted as he stared Collin down. All Collin did was smile and say, ‘You’re home boy, take care of our girl.’ Danny Boy unpinned his ears and bothered to turn his neck to face Collin but that was as far as he went. Which amused Collin, more than he could say.
Wyatt’s smile left that instant. He glanced to the barn entrance, seeing his mother and father lingering near there, acting as if they were doing anything but watching this man in a suit.
“I told him I liked his home, that was about it,” Collin said with a laugh. He reached to hug Harley, but kept it brief. “God, you look good.”
Collin’s phone in his breast pocket started to ring. “Quinn,” he said as he looked at it. “I’ll let you say goodbye so we can get on with this fake breakup and live happily every after. Good to meet you, Wyatt,” Collin said as he reached to shake Wyatt’s hand once more before answering his phone and climbing in the car behind the driver.
“What did he mean by that? They still think you’re with him?” Wyatt asked with a hard gaze down at Harley.
She looked up from the bag she was double-checking to make sure it had all of her IDs and money inside. Even though they never spoke about this deal with Collin, she assumed he knew what was going on, how intertwined and complicated this social scene they were in was. Granted, he didn’t know that Collin was supposed to propose at this deal, but she thought for sure he knew they were announcing that they were separated. That was the lie she had told herself at least. She knew he didn’t, and right now she felt like she was going to vomit.
Her skin blushed, her heart thundered in her chest.
“We’re going to break up at this party.”
Wyatt was seeing red. His body was ridged. He felt like a fool. Like he had been played. Like some toy Harley had just put down. She wasn’t going home to tell her father face to face about them, she was going home to end this masquerade or so she said. He didn’t know what to believe at that moment. Rational thought was hopeless.
“You’re flying to your father’s birthday party, with Collin, to break up with Collin in front of him?” he stated coldly.
He got that she and Collin had led family and friends to believe they were a couple, had almost convinced himself that the act had kept Harley safe, but he thought it was over. He thought surely her father had figured out he and Harley were a couple. Now nothing was adding up, except for the fact that he now knew why he was not invited.
She wasn’t going home to tell her father she was with him. No, she was going home to end her little deal with Mr. Suit in the Lincoln Town Car—and what did that make Wyatt? Some rebound? Some boy that she hooked up with on the side? He seriously doubted she thought of him or them that way, but the fact that she was going to lead people that didn’t even matter to believe that infuriated him.