Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“Where’s Wells?” I asked, causing him to snap his eyes off my legs and return to my face. I bit back the grin tugging at my lips.
“Not here,” he replied, then nodded his head toward the door. “Put on your seat belt.”
I reached back and grabbed it, then slipped it over me to buckle it at my side. “I can see he isn’t here. But where is he? Not that I am complaining,” I added the last part with a flirty smile.
Wilder turned to look straight ahead. His hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. Was he angry? Had he not wanted to come get me? The thought that I was a burden felt like a lead weight in my stomach. I had lived most of my life feeling like a burden to my father and stepmother. Unwanted yet there. I didn’t think I could handle it if Wilder felt that way about me too.
“Why do you stay with him?” he asked me. His voice sounded odd. Strained almost.
That was not something I’d expected him to ask me, but then I had gone out of my way to try and get Wilder’s attention for months. A few times, we’d had a moment. At least, I liked to think so. The kind where you believed things would change, but they never did. Did he think I flirted with all guys? Or that I was cheating on Wells?
“Why?” I replied. “Why ask me that?”
Wilder didn’t put the truck in drive, but slowly looked back at me. As if he’d rather be anywhere else. That stung. The intense, burning kind that left a painful memory. As if I didn’t have enough of those already.
“How long have you been waiting on him?” Wilder asked me.
I frowned. “Uh, a little over thirty minutes.”
Wilder scowled then, and a darkness in his expression scared and excited me at the same time. “It’s almost dark.”
I nodded. I was aware of that.
“Did you not have someone else to call?”
The accusatory snarl in his voice snapped me out of my Wilder haze, and my back stiffened. If he hadn’t wanted to come get me, then why had he? I could have walked.
Reaching for the buckle on my seat belt, I released it. I would rather walk than be a hardship for Wilder Jones.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting out. I didn’t ask you to come get me. I’m sorry to have caused you any trouble or put a strain on your plans. I can get home myself.”
I didn’t look at him, for fear I would burst into tears. Having no one to depend on was something I should be accustomed to, but unfortunately, that was a woe that never went away. No matter how immune I should be by now.
“Oakley, wait.” Wilder’s hand wrapped around my upper arm. “I didn’t ask you because I hadn’t wanted to come get you.”
A small twinge of hope stirred in me even though I knew better than to let that happen.
I glanced back at him. “It sure sounded like it,” I pointed out.
He sighed. “Yeah, it did. That came out wrong. I’m just … I got here, and it’s almost fucking dark, and you were all alone, sitting there. It’s not safe. If I hadn’t seen Wells’s missed text messages, you’d still be here. It pisses me off that no one thought to come get you.”
Oh. That was … nice. He had been worried about me. My chest felt warm. Was this what having someone care about you felt like? If so, I had been missing out on more than I’d realized.
“If I hadn’t come, what would you have done?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “Walk.”
His frown deepened. “How far away is that? Like, ten miles?”
“Seven.”
His grip on my arm tightened. “Have you had to walk that before?”
I nodded my head. More times than I wanted to admit.
“Fuck,” he swore, still holding on to me as if I was about to bolt from his truck, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
I might climb up into his lap, but that would be the only move I’d make.
“Wells didn’t send you to get me?” I asked him, wanting to clarify what I thought he was saying about seeing my texts to Wells.
A fierceness darkened his face. “No. He was busy.”
I didn’t reply because, honestly, I didn’t care. Wilder was here. This was better than anything else.
“Oakley, you’re too good for him. I know he’s my cousin, but … he’s not faithful to you.”
I’d already known this. I had heard the rumors, and a few of the cheerleaders had made sure I overheard them talking. The one time I had brought it up to Wells, he had denied it, but the truth had been there in his eyes. He was a terrible liar.
“I know. People talk,” I told him.