Garrison reached to mess up Wyatt’s sweaty hair, then walked away. His words were lost on Wyatt for a long while. At first he thought Garrison was threatening him, then he thought he was just trying to make him feel like a man, included in the position his parents had agreed to take on. But as he watched Harley ride, watched her try to keep to herself at the farm, he realized that maybe, just maybe Garrison really did want Harley to feel safe and knew Wyatt was the one that could make her feel that way.
You’re safe. Those two words started their relationship as friends, a friendship that turned into more within a few weeks’ time.
Harley had been thrown by Danny Boy, a hard throw, the kind that knocked the wind out of you, would take you days not to feel. He was the one that caught Danny Boy, led him right back to Harley, the one that helped her mount again. He held her stare, seeing the fear saturate her expression. “You’re safe. He feels everything. If you feel safe, so does he.”
Those words were enough to get Harley through that ride. They also caused her to come to him as he was putting away all the tack later that day. “How can you read him so easily?” Wyatt smiled a slow, sweet smile. It was the first time she had spoken to him first. He felt like he had won a world medal at that point. The conversation never stopped from then on, and it lingered on more than just horses. He did his best to understand her world then. Even as a boy, it all seemed like bullshit to him.
Say what you mean, mean what you say. That’s all he knew how to do.
When he told Harley that she would always look away, when he demanded to know what scared her, she said her father. She said from the moment she was able to understand age, she feared losing him. Wanted to do whatever she could to be what he needed her to be while he was still here.
Before he could tell her then just to ‘be,’ a crash of thunder shook the house.
“Told you, the weatherman is on my side,” he said, moving his hands around her, then lifting her. The water was turning cold, and the flesh on their hands had begun to shrivel.
He was going to make her some warm coffee and talk about how she could just ‘be,’ what had to happen for her never to leave Willowhaven Farm.
Right as she put the towel around her, she said, “Crap. My phone. It’s by the creek.”
“I’ll get it,” he said, stopping her from picking up that dress on the floor. It was stupid, but the thought of it covering her felt like a loss to him.
By the time he made it back to the house, climbed the stairs to ask her to come down, he found her in the center of his bed wearing one of his fireman T-shirts that seemed to swallow her. He sat the phone on the nightstand, pushed out of his jeans, then climbed in next to her.
Even though she was sound asleep, she pulled him closer, laid her head on his chest. They fit perfectly side by side, their legs and arms entangled. Even their breaths were in sync as they laid in the darkness.
Wyatt drifted to sleep listening to the approaching rain that was going to give them every excuse to stay right there in that house until he had no choice but to leave for the fire department.
He thought it was his alarm, the ringing sound that woke him. But it was Harley’s phone.
She had rolled over as he sat up, buried herself deeper into the covers.
Wyatt silenced the phone as fast as he could. Rage came to him as he saw Collin’s face on the screen.
He tried not to think about it as he got up and somewhat got dressed. He’d called his mother to tell her that he was staying in. She didn’t ask if Harley was with him, he didn’t expect her to; that wasn’t his mother’s style. No doubt she had figured it out, though, or at least assumed; it was well after nine, a time that everyone would have at least gathered to figure out the plan for that day.
When he heard that phone ring again, he rushed to the bedside, silenced it again. Harley never moved; it was like the rain washing down the windows was lulling her into an endless sleep.
Wyatt fought with his mind as he grabbed that phone and made his way down the stairs, then to his front porch. He wasn’t scared to talk to this man, to tell him that he wasn’t going anywhere, that they needed to make this as easy on Harley as possible.
He asked himself if he could handle the idea of Harley loving him, of hearing this guy say he loved her.
He asked himself if this would be some southern redneck move that would cause hell in Harley’s life. All those questions jerked back and forth. He never answered a single one, and before he knew it he had tapped the call back button.
It was ringing.
When he heard the carefree voice on the other end answer, he felt his skin boil. Cocky son of a bitch, he thought to himself.
“Me and you have a problem, son.”
“Son? Wyatt?”
“You know about me.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I know everything about you,” Collin said.
“I doubt that.”
“Is everything all right? Where’s Harley?”
“Me and you are talking right now.”
“Are we?”
“Yeah, we are. Listen to me. As far as I’m concerned, Harley was never yours. She’s always been mine. I may not have your name fit just right in that world Claire Tatum keeps trying to force my Harley into, but she has always been mine. They ripped her from my arms and found some stuffed suit monkey to stand next to her and smile.”
“Wyatt, where is Harley? Are you fighting with her?”
“Not anymore. You see, it ticked me off thinking of you and her. Boiled my skin. Then, like I said, I realized she belonged to me, not you.”
“The Harley I know does not belong to anyone.”
“That’s the truth, and don’t twist my words. She’s not property; she’s a living, breathing soul that has her own dreams, a life she has imagined, and it’s not a life with ten thousand dollar dinners. I meant that I gave that girl my heart, a long time ago she gave me hers. I don’t know what she said to you, what plans the two of you have, but I’m telling you I’m not going away. If you think you are man enough to love her, you better be prepared to fight to keep her.”
“Wyatt…I think you have misunderstood something, somewhere—”
Wyatt cut him off. “No, I haven’t. I have never been more sure of anything in my life.”
“All right, Wyatt, listen, before you lose your cool that your tone tells me is already long gone. You’ve misunderstood, and I don’t know why Harley has not set you right yet, but I’m going to—”
“I will be damned -” Wyatt began.
“I’m engaged to someone else,” Collin said over him.
“What?”
“Ready to listen now?”
Wyatt checked the phone screen just to make sure he was cussing out the right guy. “What kind of game are you playing?”
“Not me; us, and we’ve been playing it ever since you charged into that elevator.”
Collin hesitated, trying to figure out if Wyatt was still on the line.
“Listening,” Wyatt grated as he paced his front porch.
“I have known Claire Tatum my entire life, watched my mother slander her, then pull her into a hug and call her her best friend the second she is in her presence. I’ve always known Harley, too, the girl that seemed lost, broken, almost an outcast for as long as I could remember. Our parents have been plotting our wedding from the moment they figured out Harley was a girl.”
“Funny you didn’t show up until after us,” Wyatt said just because he wanted Collin to know he was tracking this conversation and he was no fool.
“Right, well, we were at every occasion there was together, including her birthday. That second you charged in that elevator, I saw her for the first time. That hope in her eyes, that wild freedom. I had no idea who you were, but I saw the lethal glare her mother gave her, saw how she grasped Harley.
“I went to her room, knowing that if there was not some distraction from someone that her mother was going to rip her apart, break he
r down. Long story short, I got her mom away from her and then I booked her a flight to your farm, a car, everything. I had even found a way to give her a day’s lead just to see you, long enough for the pair of you to figure out where to run. One phone call saying her dad was sick again stopped that.”
“She told me her dad was sick.”
“I’m sure she didn’t tell you how sick because she can’t talk about it without her words stealing her voice. His heart, it’s beyond repair; hell, some doctors have no idea how he has made it as long as he has. Claire Tatum has been planning the man’s funeral since the moment she said, ‘I do,’ but over the last few years those plans have started to become more concrete.”
None of this was making sense to Wyatt. He was expecting an ass. He had dealt with asses before at all those banquets he’d had to attend with his family across the years, the kind that smile like they are your best friend, even give to whatever you are trying to raise funds for, but not because they care, but rather because they either want the attention or the tax write off. “So what, she dates you to protect his heart? And you cheated on her?”
Collin almost laughed, but didn’t. “Yeah, sort of. We tried, Wyatt. Tried to make the friendship we had more, but it didn’t work.”
All the ways this guy could have tried were slamming into Wyatt; he kept seeing him touching his Harley. Whatever trust Collin was trying to build with Wyatt was hitting that major roadblock.
“…Wyatt, that girl has never stopped loving you. She tosses and turns at night, mumbling your name. Cries for no reason.”
“And you were right there, weren’t you?”
“As a friend, yes. Playing this role, her living with me—”
“She lives with you?” Wyatt said over him.
“Yes. Listen. It’s a fallacy, one that kept her mother at bay, everything at bay. Gave her time to heal.”
“And what did you get out of it?” Wyatt grated wondering what kind of benefits came with this friendship.
“The same, space. A best friend.”
“You don’t love her?”
“I didn’t say that. I do love her, but not how you think.”
“Because you’re engaged?”
“That’s a new development. I was calling to tell Harley about it.”
“How is this going to play in this fallacy of yours?”
“Well, obviously it is going to make it where you and her can start over, but it appears you are already having a communication complication as it is.”
Fuck you, Wyatt thought. They didn’t have a communication problem; they had a listening problem. Harley never told him she was with Collin, and Wyatt was too busy hating his situation to notice. He used to notice everything, every breath, every glance. The only reason he hadn’t over the last few days was that looking at her burned his chest. “We communicate just fine.”
“How many days has she been at your farm? And you don’t know any of this? She thought you had moved on long ago, and she still found the nerve to go to your place. She may have said it was because it was best for Danny Boy, but that wasn’t it; she wanted to see you, she thought if she did, she could move past it.”
“I never moved on.”
“And from what I hear, your mother and sister have argued that point.”
Do what? What did they have to do with this? What did this guy know about his family? “And what did you say about me?”
“Something like you were angry, take it slow. You have to realize - if you don’t already - she shuts down with anger. Her mother has said some of the most hateful things in existence over her daughter, threatened her to no end—anger causes Harley to put on a cool expression, might even cause her to say a few harsh words, but all in all she shuts down. On the outside, it looks like she could care less; on the inside, it’s a living hell.”
“What threats?”
“At first that she was going to put you in jail, then she was going to sue your family to the point of bankruptcy. All of that kept Harley locked down until her eighteenth birthday. At that point, the only thing she had to hang over her was that the stress Harley caused by being with you caused her father’s heart to fail…past that point, when Harley found the nerve…well, she thought you had moved on. Nowadays, her mother is all smiles, but then again, I never let Harley near her alone…the woman is evil, though; she’s going to fight Harley for her inheritance, at least hold it back as long as she can.”
“Do you people not wait ‘til someone dies before you start to divvy up their stuff?” Wyatt said, as if Collin had lost his mind.
Collin laughed out loud. “Look, man, Harley doesn’t care; she’d live in a stall if she had to. I cared, though. Everything Garrison Tatum has to his name should go to the only woman who has loved him because of who he was, not what he was…I don’t think Harley and I thought this charade would last this long.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to make it right, though. It might be best it’s happening like this. Maybe Garrison can protect Harley with his will; I plan to tell him, that is my fear.”
“You and her dad are best buds,” Wyatt said, his tone still unforgiving. Harley had been in a hell. He thought he’d been in one, getting in trouble, feeling the pain, but his girl had been in hell and this rich boy with a manicure was the one that defended her. He was furious with himself.
“I wouldn’t say that…but I still plan to tell the man that if he wants anything to go to Harley, then he needs to find a way to protect her, because the second he leaves this world…Harley is going to fly, she is going to leave this socialite world and never look back. She won’t even try to fight, not because she’s weak, but because she finds wealth in moments, not things.”
“Stolen moments,” Wyatt said under his breath as his gaze moved out across the field to the creek side.
“Right…”
“I didn’t mean to come at you hard, man.”
“I would have expected nothing less…then again, I kinda thought Harley would have given you a heads up.”
“That’s our business. Not yours. I’m all good with you putting that bitch Claire in her place, but make no mistake, I’m a jealous son of a bitch, there is nothing I would not do for Harley—me and you are legit right now, don’t jack that up, let me find out that you have other intentions.”
“Not an issue. All right, man… tell her to call me so I can tell her about Quinn.”
Wyatt may have said okay; he couldn’t remember or care as he took the stairs two at a time to his room.
Chapter Fifteen
Harley was still lying under the covers in the center of his bed. He crawled up the edge of the bed, pulled the covers back, pulled her legs apart, and moved his body over hers. She smiled before she opened her eyes, as she felt his breath caress her face.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the haunted emotions in his stare, felt her heart pick up a notch or two. She had just had the best night of sleep in her entire life and feared something tragic had happened.
“I’m an ass,” he said softly to her. “I assumed. I never asked.”
Harley furrowed her brow.
“You’re not with Collin.”
She pulled herself up, wondering how he knew that. She’d tried to stop him last night and tell him that, but then everything else happened. Then after, Collin was the furthest thing on her mind; she was in a world all alone with him.
“I was…a long time ago…but that sick feeling you told me about…it was the same…maybe worse.”
He stopped her by brushing his lips against hers. “I’m an ass,” he said again. “Everything I read, everything I saw, even the stuff in your truck…I thought it was now. I thought it always had been.”
She shook her head.
“I heard you on the phone with him, telling him how cold it was here, telling him not to come…all of that. I should have had the nerve to say something then.” His stare rushed over her image.
Harley’s stare grew wide. She was sick of them slipping by
each other, thinking the other meant something they didn’t. That meant that night they both were in misery, thinking the other had moved on. “You heard me on the phone?”
He didn’t answer, just went on. “I should have never stopped trying to get to you. When you landed back here, I should have told you how I felt when I picked you up…I think we all thought that slow was better, that rushing you would push you away, but you and me have been taking things slow for too long.”
He looked away as she sat up next to him. “I answered your phone this morning. I was prepared to tell Collin he was going to have to fight me to get you…”
“You did what?” she gasped as she moved her hand through her hair, trying to ground herself. She knew them both well; they were both fierce by their own rights—they just had different methods. She had to wonder what daggers were thrown while she slept this morning.
“He told me, he told me all of it.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Mad that you survived the best you could?”
That was the last thing she expected. She assumed when he figured out her mother was plotting for her to marry Collin, he would come unglued, never see the point. Maybe even think she and Collin did have something going on.
Her eyes rushed over him. “I could have fought harder. I was weak, didn’t use my voice.”
“Harley, you have never been weak, you just care…even if that woman had put me in jail, I would have gotten out. She could have sued the hell out of my family, we would have survived…you were trying to protect me.”
What in the hell did Collin say to him that made Wyatt this calm about this? “I was a coward later. I was even a coward here. I thought you were sleeping with that blonde. I didn’t ask, just assumed. ”
Wyatt’s eyes went wide in shock. Harley raised her hand to halt whatever he was going to say. “If I was half as bold as you, we would have been here long ago.”
“This is where you want to be?” he asked with a trace of disbelief.
“Wyatt, I’ve never wanted to be anywhere else…I love you so much, it hurts.”