Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Wyatt sighed again, stepping back. “Well, I suppose she’s locked herself in the room. I’ll find a tray or something.”
“She’s promised to come out to dinner.”
A brow rose over Wyatt’s blue eyes. “She did?”
“We talked after you left. We’ve agreed I’m an asshole.” It wasn’t the only thing he’d agreed to. “And apparently I’m not supposed to call her sweetheart.”
Wyatt went still, staring at him like he was working through some problem in his head. “You called her sweetheart?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, maybe we should go over a couple of things,” Wyatt began. “Why were you such a massive ass to her? I’ve never seen you be so rude to a woman who wasn’t drunk off her ass and trying to cop a feel.”
It happened way too often at Hell on Wheels.
Wyatt waited for him to say something.
See, this was why he didn’t do friends. Or roommates. They expected a guy to talk way too much. Wyatt had been pretty easy in the beginning. They’d communicated mostly through grunts and the occasional want a beer? They’d talked about how Wyatt could help with the bar and eventually the businesses Sawyer had inherited, but then the therapy had started. Freaking therapy. “Look, I saw her and things got weird and I didn’t like it.”
“You saw her and things got weird. Weird, how?” Wyatt’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit. You love at first sighted.”
Sawyer pointed a finger his way. “Abso-fucking-lutely not. I do not do the love crap. I saw her and thought ‘hey, there’s a gorgeous woman I’d like to spend some time with. In bed.’ If I’d seen her at Hell on Wheels, I’d probably have done exactly that. I would have brought her up here and had a hot night and sent her on her way. But we weren’t in my world. We were in Bliss, and I don’t belong there.”
Wyatt’s head shook. “Why do you think you don’t belong there? I don’t get it. Everyone’s so nice.”
“They’re nice, but at some point they’ll figure out what we did in the past and then it won’t be so nice,” Sawyer explained.
“They know. I mean the sheriff talked to me. He told me I should let him know if my brother ever shows up,” Wyatt replied.
For a man with Wyatt’s rap sheet, he was awfully naïve. “He was warning you. He was telling you he’ll be watching you. Like he watches me.”
Wyatt thought for a moment. “I don’t think that’s what he meant. I know cops, man. I’ve been around all kinds of cops, and Sheriff Wright was simply letting me know he’s here. He spent time undercover in an MC. He knows what it’s like. And he knows there’s not always an easy way out. Especially if you’re born into one. He’s the one who told me to go see Alexei.”
It bothered Sawyer. “And it’s why I told you it’s a bad idea. Alexei is probably telling the sheriff everything.”
“He wouldn’t. Alexei knows where we’ve been. He wouldn’t betray me, and I don’t think the sheriff would ask.” Wyatt turned back to his stew. “Anywhere I go, my past will follow me. Do you really think we don’t belong here?”
He didn’t understand what he was trying to say. “No, we don’t belong down the mountain. Here is exactly where we belong.”
“Do you think I scare them when I go into town? Is that why you usually drive all the way to Alamosa for supplies?” Wyatt asked quietly.
Sawyer leaned against the sink, hating the fact he’d put a look of sorrow on his friend’s face, but they had to acknowledge the truth. “No. I don’t think you scare them. But I also think we’re not getting invites to dinner or town parties. Look, Wyatt, I’m not saying they’re going to show up with torches and pitchforks.”
Wyatt frowned, and his eyes narrowed. “Holy shit. They’re not afraid of us. You’re afraid of them.”
What the hell? “I am not.”
Wyatt’s head nodded as though he was confirming some long-held belief. “The way you were afraid of her. You said it yourself. You felt weird. What if weird means emotional? What if your version of weird is an emotional connection to a woman you’ve never felt before? You’re afraid of being rejected so you reject people first.”
He should never have taken him into town. He definitely should never have let him see Alexei Markov. “I am not afraid of rejection. I don’t care about anything. Now we have to talk about how we’re going to handle our guest for the next few days. You like her.”
Wyatt looked like he didn’t want to change the subject, but he went with it. “Yeah. I like her a lot.”
“You don’t know her.”
Wyatt shrugged, obviously not bothered. “I know enough to know she’s kind and funny, and she’s good with pretty much everyone she meets. She’s excited about being here in Bliss, and she wants to go ice skating but she obviously needs someone to help her get through her first winter here. She doesn’t even have a real coat. I’m surprised her sister hasn’t taken her shopping, but then she’s been super-busy with the school. She stays late most nights.”