Messy Love(59)

“She’s doing it!’’ Ava blurted and pointed at me. Her little face turned to Wyatt who cringed and blushed. I blinked. “She is touching her tattoo, just like you said she does when nervous or uncomfortable.’’ She dropped her hand and stared at me with questions in her eyes. She was a bottomless well of questions. “Which are you, uncomfortable or nervous?’’

“That’s enough for one day, Ava.’’ Denny stepped in, and I thanked him with my eyes for his intervention. I grabbed my phone from my purse and checked the time as Ava started to complain.

“I’m sorry, Ava, but it’s getting late. I start early tomorrow at work, and I still have a few things to do before tomorrow.’’

“Can you come back soon?’’

I looked around the room, and Ava’s parents didn’t look against the idea. I avoided Wyatt and nodded at Ava who cheered with way too much excitement. I chuckled and let her hug me, returning it with happiness I hadn’t expected to feel. It poured inside of me, filling me full to bursting.

“Your Mom and brother have my number if you want to call me, okay?’’

“I will.’’

I stood up and quickly bid my goodbyes to the others, avoiding Wyatt’s eyes at all cost and started breathing normally again once I was back in my car and on the way out of the neighborhood of Brookhaven.

***





WYATT


“Ah, damn it,’’ Dad muttered soon after Marissa left when his phone buzzed and we all knew it was from work.

“Don’t go, Daddy,’’ Ava said with a pout that had stopped being genuine years ago, but we never called her out on it, probably because it was cute as all hell.

“Sweetie pie,’’ Dad said and knelt next to Ava’s chair at the kitchen island. “You know I have to go. The bad guys never stop.’’

She nodded and hugged him before standing up. “They suck.’’

“They do,’’ he approved and ruffled her hair like I did and laughed when she started to run her fingers through her messy strands to put some order back. Dad quickly kissed Mom and then patted my shoulder before he left. Ava announced that she wanted to go to her room to watch some shit dance movie and left.

No sooner were we alone in the kitchen that my mom went where I didn’t want her to.

“So, you and Marissa are friends now?’’

“Better telling that to Ava than saying I acted up with her half-sister.’’

She nodded and kept on drying the glasses, passing them to the last for me to put them away in the cupboard. “You two didn’t look like you were fighting.’’

“We agreed on a truce.’’

“Uh, huh.’’

“What?’’ I asked through gritted teeth, feeling my walls getting back up at once.

“Nothing.’’ She sighed then and dropped her damp dishcloth on the counter. “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to be friends with her if that’s what you wanted. You don't have to keep other people at arms’ length.’’

“Let’s drop it, okay.’’ Because I can’t tell you that I know your daughter very intimately and that I want to know her even better. A. Lot. Better.

Her eyes burned into the side of my face as I went to put away the clean dishes from the machine.





WYATT


I had never chased a woman, and yet I found myself at her door, knocking and then waiting for Marissa to open, the very day after she met Ava. And I didn’t feel any shame about it, just fucking anticipation.

Was it normal to be even more eager to see her now that I knew how close she came to dying? My mom came so close to never knowing her biological daughter, and it made things seem different now. I wanted badly to convince her to let me in for one thing, even if we both knew I was bad news.

The door opened, and Marissa stared at me without a word. Her violet-blue eyes, big and soft tugged at me. With one of her looks, she could bring me to my knees. It would be so damn easy, and she didn’t know it.

I wasn’t the one with the power in all of this between us. She had all the power, and that made me more insecure than I liked to display.

Then, I took her all in, starting with her bare feet and her toes painted in black, and I made my way up the old jeans with holes at her thighs, then up to an old t-shirt that looked too big on her. And I stopped at her neck where I observed her pulsing point. Her heart beat hard and fast under her fair skin, so smooth I was sure my memory from that night wasn’t doing her justice.

“Let me in, Marissa,’’ I grunted, voice tight as my balls started to ache with the constant need I felt for her. Next stop would be a full hard on pushing against my jeans, and I’d be a goner. What the hell was I getting myself into? And her for that matter?

“You make this hard.’’

“Nah, sweet thing,’’ I said and leaned against the doorframe, closer to her until my face was lined up to hers. Just a bit more and our lips would touch. Torture. It was pure torture of the best kind, the kind that made adrenaline surge through my system, made my limbs burn and tingle at once, the kind that made my screwed up heart soar like it weighed nothing in my chest. “You make me hard, that’s what it is. And I know I make you wet.’’