Messy Love(58)

I chuckled along with the others and relaxed my grip on my purse and keys, dropping them respectively on the floor and the coffee table where a pitcher full of iced tea and tall glasses waited.

“Go on. I don’t mind.’’

“Great!’’ She stared at me and then asked me a question I couldn’t have anticipated. “Do you have a boyfriend?’’

I blinked and caught Lydia and Danny chuckling as they sorted out the glasses in front of everybody and served us. Without meaning to, I looked up and found Wyatt’s looking intensely at me. Burning up, I looked back at the little girl.

“No, hm… I don’t have a boyfriend right now.’’

“My best friend’s older sister has a boyfriend. They’ve been together fo-re-ver.’’

“Don’t tell me you already talk about boys,’’ Wyatt asked, disgust in his voice that made me laugh wholeheartedly, earning me a glare from him.

“Wyatt,’’ admonished Lydia gently and shook her head. He nodded and sighed, but not before one last cringe for his sister who giggled in return.

Her attention went back to me.

“Why do you only have tattoos of birds? My brother has many different things.’’ She grabbed one of Wyatt’s forearms, and she pointed at the different designs. He let her do her thing without saying a word. The soft smile on his face melted me.

“The birds have a signification for me,’’ I said and bit my lip at what would come next. I rarely, if ever, talked about the reason behind my tattoos, but somehow Ava’s genuine interest in me warmed my heart and made me want to bond with her. Also, in a very odd way, I wanted Wyatt to know more about me, see beyond the woman he fucked and wanted to fuck. I wanted him to see me not only as a woman who threatened his life’s order but as a woman, a person who also went through a lot. “When I was fifteen my adoptive parents and I were in a horrible car accident.’’ Lydia’s gasp caught my attention, but I didn’t linger on her stricken face or Danny’s concern. Instead, I risked a glance at Wyatt and saw him eating my words, so intent on not missing a single thing he leaned forward, his eyes calling out to me, but I didn’t let him trap me in his presence. I stared back at Ava’s innocent eyes and let them capture my softened heart. “My parents got out with a broken arm and a few bruised ribs, but I was severely hurt.’’ I pointed at the small birds tattooed inside my wrist. “These birds are for the broken wrist I got. I have a small flock on my right side over my ribs for each broken rib, another bird inside my right knee for my injured knee and one on my right ankle for my broken ankle.’’

Her mouth dropped open, and silence greeted my words, but it was soon broken by Wyatt who cleared his throat to get my attention.

Once our eyes found each other, he had me riveted. “What about the three birds behind your ear?’’

“I was in a coma for two months, and my skull was fractured. I was very lucky to wake up and be alive, but it took me months of rehab to learn back everything from walking to using my hands like I used to. The coma did a number on my body.’’

“Oh my God,’’ Lydia whispered.

I still stared at Wyatt, even when Danny muttered something or when Ava blabbered. The way he looked at me, deeply looked, did something to my very core. This time, he saw beyond the happy woman who had never had a trouble in her life as he had thought. He saw me, and that made me drop my eyes to focus on Ava again while Lydia and Danny excused themselves. Soon after, Wyatt followed them.

“Where are they?’’ Ava asked, stopping in the middle of telling me about how she stopped a bully from harassing a girl at school the other day.

“I think they’re in the kitchen. They probably want to give us time to get to know each other better.’’

“Oh, yeah. I mean yes.’’ She pushed away from her face some of her hair that kept on falling in her eyes. “I’m glad you came here to meet me.’’

“I’m glad too.’’ I smiled at her and the more I stared, the more I saw a bit of myself at her age in the shape of her face and her little nose, both things I got from Lydia too. “It must be weird for you.’’

“A little. I mean, before I thought I only had one brother, but now I know I have him and an older sister. That’s cool. And Wyatt likes you, so it means that you’re great.’’

I choked on the iced tea and put down the glass before I messed up and let drops fall on the rug. “Wyatt likes me?’’

“Yeah.’’ She nodded excitedly. “It’s obvious. That’s great if you are friends.’’

“Yeah,’’ I answered distractedly right when Wyatt walked in followed by Lydia and Danny. “That’s great.’’

“What’s great?’’ Danny asked jovially.

“That Wyatt and Marissa are friends,’’ Ava answered immediately. Wyatt’s head whipped to me, and I offered him a tight smile that made him smirk in a dark way that told me that friendship was nowhere in this realm, which reflected my thoughts perfectly.

“Friends?’’ Lydia asked nobody, a frown on her face as Danny’s eyes went back and forth between his son and me.

“Hm, well,’’ I stuttered and rubbed at the birds behind my ear.