Messy Love(77)

At least, they were all safe when he would come back.

At least, he wouldn’t hurt anybody but me.

At least, even if my actions didn’t speak highly of me, I knew that it was the price to finally be a good guy and protect the people I cared about… And the woman I loved with all my fucked up heart in spite of everything.





WYATT


I hiked my gym bag higher on my slouched shoulder and pushed away a few damp strands of hair that kept on sticking to my forehead. After today’s work, I took a quick shower and left without another word for my boss. It’s been the fifth week since he cut my hours short and I was getting more pissed when I saw that I was the only one with my hours cut by half. As if everything wasn’t already gone to shits in my life.

I sighed and pushed away thoughts of her or my family or Ralph. Since my fight with my best friend two days ago, I hadn’t heard anything from him, and I was thankful. It gave me enough room to breathe because I was tired of driving people away. That’s something I had done almost my whole life, but this went too far, even for me. And I fucking missed my girl.

Sleeping in my bed was out of the question. Instead, I would catch an hour here and there on my couch, and my dreams never failed to show me, Marissa. Sometimes moments we had shared, at times moments that we could have shared, other times, and these were the worst, I’d have a nightmare of her with another guy, a man worthy of her.

I was stuck in Purgatory, and it was from my own doing, pushed by a man I despised with all my might. But what did it say about me if I shared his blood?

I snorted at my thoughts and looked up from the uneven pavement.

“I can’t catch a fucking break,’’ I mumbled darkly to myself as I squared my shoulders and stopped near an obnoxiously white SUV. I watched the two men walking toward me, but only one had my full attention. He was a lot skinnier than his friend, but the mean look on his face didn’t offer any doubt as to how this would end.

I hadn’t seen him in months, not since that party where Marissa joined me. I had been spared his filth and junkie shit, but it wasn’t surprising that he was here now. After all, the whole damn universe was on my back.

“Wyatt. Fancy meeting you here,’’ he said, his voice a grumbling mess as if his vocal chords were damaged. I squinted at him, ignoring the sun that blinded me and noticed that he looked worse than the last time. But this time around his clothes didn’t seem like they belonged in the garbage. That was the only improvement because if anybody had asked me, I’d have said that he aged ten years in the span of a few short months.

“You don’t hang out around here. What do you want?’’

He bared his teeth in what was probably supposed to be a smile, only looked like a nasty grimace. I looked away from his yellowed teeth, his chapped lips and the way his skin seemed ready to tear in two. Instead, I stared at the big fella that accompanied him. The bulge under his shirt at the waist made me wonder if he was packing.

My heart sped up a bit.

“Don’t push me, Wyatt,’’ Tim bit out and fidgeted. One quick glance at his hands told me he was in need of a new fix. That didn’t speak well for me. Shit. Fuck. “Damn it. You’re a piece of work. Alright,’’ he went on and came close. I got a whiff of cigarette smell coming from him. His buddy wasn’t looking at us but surveyed the street as if he was used to spotting during some deal of shady stuff. “I was just wondering how’s your family.’’

“My family?’’ I pursed my lips and shook my head. “What the fuck are you talking about my family? You don’t even know them.’’ And if he hinted at anything regarding their safety, he was going to get what had been coming for him.

“I’m not talking about your precious Burtons. Come on, you’re their charity project. I’m talking about blood here.’’

Coldness sipped through me again, rendering me a mess of chills I hid by locking every muscle in my body. I was a wall, a brick wall, on the outside, but inside? Inside, I was a mess of emotions swirling through, with one predominant. Fear.

“Why do you ask? And why did you wait for me after work to catch me on my way back to my place, huh? What do you want from me?’’ I fired the questions in succession, not waiting for him to answer me because I knew he would weasel his way out, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look him in the eye to catch something in there, anything through the fog of drugs and puddle-deep depth he showcased.

“Nothing better to do?’’ He arched a thin eyebrow, so thin I barely made out the dirty blond hairs. He tsked then. “Not all of us are gym rats like you.’’

“Yeah, and not everybody is a junkie like you.’’

He laughed then, the kind of roar that appeared crazy even to people who didn’t know the guy. It also sounded cavernous as if the man barely breathed. “Funny.’’ He fidgeted again and then glared at something behind me. If I had to guess, it was probably people coming our way, people that would put an end soon to his fucked up visit. But I didn’t check. I didn’t want to let him out of my sight, not when the guy was a basket case and was accompanied by someone who packed. “Careful of what you say, Wyatt. You have no idea who I know. I bet I’ve got ties with someone you’d rather not see again.’’

I blinked at his words and stared at him as he went to pass by me, but just as his skinny shoulder bumped into me, making him sway sideways when I didn’t move an inch, his words registered, or rather the underlying meaning of his words.