by Blue Saffire
“Fuck off, see you when you get here,” I grumble.
I hang up on him laughing at me. Once I saw there was no need for so many people to help Nellie, I paid my brother’s to disappear and to get the girls to leave as well. Noah knows damn well that there was a good chance I would still be here.
“Hey Nellie, I’m going to head out. Duty calls,” I call to her as I stand.
She walks over to me as if she is going to hug me, but changes her mind and takes a few steps back. I respect that and don’t push. I think it is for the best. I felt the electricity that seems to flow through us every time we touch when she was in my arms earlier. I don’t know if I can hold back if I touch her again tonight.
“Thanks for everything, Wyatt,” she smiles up at me.
“Anytime Nel,” her face lights up at the nickname. I swear I want to kiss her.
For that reason, I turn and head for the door. I want Nellie for mine, If I hadn’t known before. I sure as hell know it now. I can’t afford to make a dumb move now.
Chapter Eight
Nellie
I smile as I place my purse on my desk. I have been working here at Black and Lock Investigations for four months now. Since that night Wyatt and I hung out together at my new place, without fail, every morning there is a white rose on my desk. Even when Wyatt is out of town on a case, he makes sure the rose is there.
He has asked me out numerous times since that night we spent unpacking my place. Or should I say, he has demanded we go out, but I have turned him down each time. Sure I have been flirting a little, but the fact is this is Wyatt. I try not to think of him as the heartbreaker after his words to me that night, but the things I know of him tend to play in the back of my mind.
Besides, things with Barry are still so fresh. I told Wyatt a lot of what happened, but there is still more to the story. I don’t want to drag him into my drama, and I don’t want to take my insecurities into a new relationship, but Wyatt has been relentless.
When I turn him down for a date, he takes me out for what have become our lunches. We both understand those are neutral. I get a friend during that hour. He is always on his best behavior.
Honestly, I won’t tell him, but he is breaking me down with each lunch. The more we become friends, the more I am falling for him. If I thought I had a crush on him before, ha! I have to chastise myself for smiling so damn hard when he is around.
“Hey Nellie,” Heather breaks into my thoughts as I finger the rose on my desk. “We have a meeting in five.”
“Okay,” I put my things away quickly and get what I need for the meeting.
As I rush for the meeting room, Wyatt moves to my side and hooks an arm around my waist, causing butterflies in my belly. “Good morning,” he says, with that sexy smile causing more butterflies to take flight.
“Good morning,” I smile back up at him.
“Dinner tonight at seven,” he says with that confident smile of his.
“Nope, I have some things I need to take care of,” I lie.
He presses his lips and gives me a knowing look. “Why are you so against going out with me? You know you want to,” he says narrowing his eyes as he watches me for my response.
“I am not interested in being a part of the long list of broken hearts,” I shrug. “I know my heart has had its quota of heartbreak.”
I regret the words the moment they are out. His eyes grow dark, and his face hardens. It’s a look I am beginning to know well when it comes to the word heartbreaker. “So you are keeping me from what I want because of a past I don’t want,” he says slowly.
“You don’t want me, Wyatt. I’m not even your type,” I snort and look away.
Wyatt stops us and reaches for my chin turning my face to look at him again. “You are so wrong, Baby. Those others weren’t my type, that’s why it never worked out. You are everything I want,” he says with a heated stare.
I blush and step away from him. I can’t find my words, so I turn and start for the conference room once again. I am not surprised when Wyatt just follows, wrapping his arm back around my waist. I peek up at him, and he has that playful smile back in place helping me to relax.
“Nellie, Nellie, Nellie, when are you going to let me take you out on a real date,” he leans to say closer to my ear.
“Wyatt, Wyatt, Wyatt, when are you going to stop asking,” I grin back.
“When you are mine, woman,” he growls in my ear.
I laugh and nudge him with my elbow. “Then I guess you will just have to keep asking,” I say and wink at him. This I can do, the light flirting I can handle. It is when he gets that hot sexy look on his face that I have to start running for the hills.
“You’re killing me, Baby,” he says pulling my chair at the conference table. I sit and burst out laughing when Toby jumps in the seat right next to me that Wyatt was going to take.
“Too slow Bro,” Toby croons.
Wyatt rolls his eyes and looks at Johnathan sitting on my other side. Johnathan lifts a brow and folds his arms over his broad chest. “Bro, I just dragged my ass into this chair. I am not moving until this meeting is over or the room stop spinning, whichever happens first,” Johnathan grumbles.
Wyatt flips both his brothers off and rounds the table to sit right across from me. I try to busy myself with my tablet while Wyatt sits across from me staring a hole right through me.
“Damn Wyatt, did you forget to eat breakfast,” Braxton’s voice booms through the room. “Someone get him a menu or something before he gobbles Nellie up.”
“Do you ever think about what comes out of that mouth of yours,” Wyatt growls at Braxton.
“Nope, but I can tell you all about what goes in it,” Braxton replies while giving Heather a heated stare.
I honestly think I see Heather shiver before she rolls her eyes and turns away from him. Interesting. Chuckles and snickers fill the room just as Rob and Joe enter to start the meeting. Joe gets things started, and I am busy taking notes while ignoring Wyatt’s eyes on me, when he really should be paying attention to his father.
I chance a glance up, and his lips pull into a panty-melting smile. I squirm in my chair and of course, my traitorous lips turn up into a smile as well. My phone starts to buzz next to my hand, pulling my eyes from Wyatt.
The moment I see the name on the caller ID I freeze. I can feel all the blood drain from my face. My hand shakes as I reach to hit the ignore button. I just stare at the phone in shock. I am vaguely aware of the fact that Wyatt has started to call my name despite Joe being in the middle of talking.
I just can’t pull my eyes from the phone to acknowledge him. When my phone starts to ring again, I lose it. I can’t breathe. It has been over four months. I know I should have changed my number, but Barry stopped calling the first week after the incident, so I didn’t bother. I didn’t want to change the number because of Mom.
I guess it was wishful thinking that he would just leave me alone. I can feel my skin becoming clammy while sweat breaks out on my upper lip and my back. I go to ignore the call once again, but as my shaking hand reaches for the phone, a larger hand snatches the offending object from in front of me.
My eyes follow the phone as if they are being pulled by a string, as Wyatt looks at the screen and frowns. He answers the call and puts the phone on speaker. It is then that I quickly look around to find nine scowling men with their eyes trained on my phone. Heather is looking on too like she is ready to kick someone’s ass.
I don’t have the faculties to be embarrassed just yet. I can’t stop shaking. I feel like I am floating above my body watching this all unfold. I am snapped back into my body when I hear Barry’s voice ring through the room after Wyatt says hello.
“Who the fuck is this,” Barry growls. “Where is Nellie?”
“Where Nellie is, is none of your business. Why are you calling her?” Wyatt growls back.
“I don’t owe you shit. I want to talk to Nellie, now,” Barry barks back.
“
I don’t share, so unless you are a brother of hers that she hasn’t told me about, which you and I know you are not, you will not be talking to my woman,” Wyatt snaps. My eyes go wide, and I cover my mouth. I can’t believe Wyatt just said that. He is making this so much worse by the minute.
I can hear Barry snort. “Oh really, well you give my girl a message for me. I never let her go. Therefore, I will be coming for her. If I were you, I would make sure you’re nowhere around when I find her,” Barry says smugly.
“Come on, motherfucker. I’ll be waiting,” Wyatt yells into the phone as his chest heaves.
I finally snap out of my trance and jump up to grab the phone and cut the call before Wyatt says something to speed up the nightmare I have been afraid is coming for me. He should never have answered in the first place. He gave Barry too much time to trace the call and find me.
I have taken precautions to prevent Barry from tracking me, but he has resources that are still too prime for my good. What I didn’t tell Wyatt is that Barry used to be a cop. I hadn’t known when we started dating that he was kicked off the force.
His father pulled strings to cover it all up, and Steve was only able to uncover the truth when things got bad. I haven’t asked, but I think Uncle Rob was the one that found the truth of it all. From the look on his face right now I know we are going to have the talk I have been avoiding for some time now.
I flop back into my chair and cover my face as the embarrassment takes hold of me. I feel Toby place his large hand on my back to comfort me. This is bad. I can’t stay here. This is the real reason why I didn’t want to stay with Heather or Bean. I was afraid I would bring this to their doors. I was afraid I would have to run.
Barry may not still be on the force, but he still has friends and connections. His father is an asshole. He indulges everything Barry wants, even as a grown man his father babies him. I have some money put away. I can’t let him bring this drama here.
~B~
Wyatt
When I tell you I am boiling mad I am so pissed I can feel the vein throbbing in my temple. I wanted to handle this motherfucker the same weekend she told me why she was returning home. A bounty came up that I needed to cover.
When I tried to get out of it, my father and Rob pulled out of me what I planned to do that weekend. My father can smell bullshit from a mile away. He wasn’t buying what I was selling at first, so I had to come clean.
While Rob would have loved nothing more than to unleash me on that son of a bitch, he asked me to hold off. He knew what was going on with Nellie, but the situation was more delicate than Nellie was letting on or even knew.
I agreed to back off, but that is over. I turn to Rob and my dad and see they are both seething. “I am going to handle this. His time just ran out,” I bark.
Nellie’s head snaps up, and I swear the look on her face has me ready to stomp a hole through this guy when I find him. Her lips are trembling, and her hands haven’t stopped shaking since her phone first went off.
I quickly make my way around the table and kneel in front of her. I place my hands on her thighs and drag her forward in her seat before wrapping my arms around her waist. I watch her watching me with large eyes behind her glasses as her eyes water.
Before I can say a word, panic pours from her trembling lips. “Why would you do that Wyatt,” she demands. “You should never have picked up his call. You stayed on the line too long. Why would you say those things to goad him? You have no idea what you have done. I cannot stay here.”
I cup her face in my hands as the first of her tears start to fall. “Look at me Nellie,” I say gently. “Do I look like I would let anyone hurt you? Do you honestly think anyone in this room will let anything happen to you? He will never get close to you ever again.”
Nellie starts to shake her head. “I never should have come here. I don’t want to drag you all into this. I just need to disappear. You just don’t understand.”
“No Nellie, you are the one that’s not understanding. You are right where you should be and where you are going to stay. You are safest here,” I tell her.
My eyes drop to her soft trembling lips. I want nothing more than to claim her lips to calm her. I resist and run my thumb across her bottom lip instead. I press my forehead to hers and look her in the eyes once again. “I’m going to make you feel safe again, Sweetheart. Trust me. Can you do that?”
Nellie closes her eyes and nods. “Okay,” she whispers.
I kiss her cheek because right now I need the contact. Nellie can fight it all she wants, but she is mine and has been for some time now. I won’t let anything hurt her. When I stand and look around the room, I can see that my brothers are on the same page as me. Barry Coleman has just signed a check his ass can’t cash. He will be sorry if he steps foot in Cali.
Chapter Nine
Wyatt
I can tell by the way Nellie reacted to the call from her ex this morning that I really need to take my time with her. She wasn’t herself for the rest of the day. It bothered me more than I would like to admit. Everything in me screams for me to protect her.
It’s not like with Heather and Bean. They are like sisters it is a given that I will protect them if and when needed. With Nellie, it is like I live and breathe to make sure she is happy and safe. When she isn’t happy it makes my skin crawl, and I have this need to make it better.
After the day I walked in on Heather talking shit about me, I have done everything I can to show Nellie that I am interested in her and that I am worth taking a chance on. It burns me up that apart of the reason she won’t date me is because of my past and a lame reputation that I made for myself when I was young, dumb, and reckless.
I have watched her face light up in the mornings when she walks in to find that single rose on her desk. White roses signify a fresh start, and I want to be hers. In a way, she will be the same for me. For the first time, I want to explore a relationship, and I want that with Nellie.
However, I know she is not ready, so I have resigned myself to being the friend she needs, for now. Yeah, well that was the plan until Nellie walked into this bar tonight. This place is more like a bar and lounge. They have a dance floor and DJ that comes in after twelve on the weekends. There is also an additional upstairs lounge where they serve drinks and have karaoke all night.
This is not our usual hang out. My brothers and I had planned to go out for our usual Friday night drinks, but Heather talked us into coming here. She thought Nellie needed to go out and loosen up. Knowing Nellie would feel safer with us guys with her we all agreed to change our plans.
Bean doesn’t work far from this place, so she has come to meet up with the girls. They all look fantastic. Even Heather threw me for a loop when she showed up in a dress and heels. In the last few months, she has started to let the top of her hair grow out. Now that I think of it, since Nellie has been around Heather has even been wearing makeup.
If I thought I was thrown for a loop with Heather, my breath was taken away when my eyes landed on Nellie. She isn’t wearing her glasses tonight. Now I will be the first to tell you that she has starred in a number of my fantasies as a dirty librarian with those cute little glasses of hers.
However, the moment my eyes landed on Nellie I lost my shit. Those eyes of hers are amazing when she is wearing just her contacts. Without the glasses on her face, you can really see all of her beauty. From her bright eyes to the way, her well-arched brows complement her eyes and her cute little nose, to how that cute nose sits perfectly above those beautiful lips.
It is taking everything, and I mean everything in me not to just grab her and take her back to my place. I don’t know who dressed her, but I want to strangle them and every guy in this bar that has been drooling over her. I have had a hard on since she walked in the place.
It’s not just the outfit it is the hair as well. She usually wears it in its wild natural curls that frame around her face. Right now it is straight and cut into a sexy as fuck bob that cups her
face and sweeps over her right eye. It is on the longer side in the front and stops just short of her nape in the back.
I know Nellie has her own style, and it can be edgy, but this has Heather written all over it. From the outfit to the hair and the red lip gloss, Nellie looks more like one of Nellie’s pretend playthings than my Nellie, but it looks hot on her. I haven’t been able to take my eyes off her.
“You really think this is a good idea,” my brother leans to whisper in my ear as I watch Nellie hungrily.
“Dude, I know it’s not. Rob is probably going to kick my ass, but I don’t care anymore. After that call, I know I’m not letting her out of my sight,” I shrug as I turn and look at Noah quickly then turn back as my eyes find my target once again.
“So what’s your plan? Because this is still Nellie and I won’t be letting you fuck her over,” Noah says with warning in his voice.
“I don’t plan to fuck her over. I haven’t been with anyone or been out on a date since she came to town. She is the only one I want,” I grumble.
Noah throws his head back and laughs. “You know you sound crazy. You have known her for a few months. Are you really saying you are giving up all other pussy to have Nellie,” he says between his laughter.
“Yeah well, crazy or not she is mine,” I say looking him in the eye. “Unlike some people, when I want something I go after it.”
I turn back to watch Nellie, but she is gone. I spot Heather and Lucy, the girl everyone thinks Heather has been seeing off and on for a while now. I scan their surroundings to see if I see the other parties from their group and see that Bean is also missing.
When I notice Bean is gone, I look over to Noah to see where his eyes are. Just as I thought, Noah has his eyes locked on the direction Bean and Nellie went in. I sigh in relief as I see that they have gone to the bathroom together. I think I would have blown a gasket if Nellie was on the dance floor in the arms of another man.
“So what are you going to do about Bean,” I ask my brother as we both take a pull of our beers.
Noah chokes on his and looks at me with wide eyes. I am getting tired of watching these two dance around each other like they don’t have deeper feelings. Noah needs to stop acting like a pussy. He is never like this with any other woman. Although I know Bean is not just any other woman.
