by A. M. Myers
“Oh, hell no. I’m driving.”
“How are you going to drive to your own surprise, crazy?” I ask, propping one hand on my hip and holding out the other one, palm up. He sighs, studying me for a second before he digs his keys out of his pocket and plops them into my hand. Once we get in the truck, I reach over to the glovebox and pull out the bandana he always keeps in there before passing it to him.
“Put this on, please.”
He shakes his head. “Absolutely not.”
“Wyatt,” I whine, being extra ridiculous as I cross my arms over my chest. He may be resistant but he needs this and I am not above making a fool of myself for him. When he still doesn’t budge, I poke my bottom lip out and he rolls his eyes. Sighing, he shakes his head again and grabs the bandana before slipping it over his eyes. Once his vision is obscured, I start the truck and back out of the driveway.
“So, now that I have you where I want you,” I say as I drive down the street. “How about we talk about last night?”
He scoffs. “Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.”
“Fine,” he says. “Say what you need to say, baby.”
Sucking in a breath, I nod. “Obviously, I didn’t cheat on you and I would never do that to you.”
“I know.”
“But you throwing that in my face was fucked up, Wyatt. I understand you were mad but you can’t punish me for the lie I told ten years ago for the rest of our lives. That’s not fair.”
“I wasn’t trying to throw anything in your face, Pip. I just…”
I arch a brow. “Just what?”
“I lived with that lie for ten years, you know. It was my life and there are so many goddamn ways that I could lose you that I’m fucking terrified I won’t see the end coming.”
“Which brings me to an important question,” I whisper as my heart thunders in my chest and my heart aches. I hate that he is so certain that there is an end coming for us and I can’t help but wonder if the pain of our past is too big, too powerful for us to overcome. Sucking in a breath, I shake my head. Oh, God, I’m so nervous to ask this but it needs to be done. I just don’t know if I will like his answer. “Can you trust me?”
Silence descends over us, slamming into me like a brick wall and tears sting my eyes as I wait for his reply.
I wish he would have immediately said yes.
I wish he would have gasped and told me that of course he trusts me.
Anything other than this quiet that feels like it’s going to drown me.
My heart thuds in my ears and I glance over at him as my stomach twists. Finally, he sighs and I feel like I’m going to throw up.
“I don’t know how to answer that.”
I nod as a tear slips down my cheek and I wipe it away. “Can you explain?”
“Well, I don’t think you would ever cheat on me,” he says, running a hand through his hair. “But I’m terrified that you’re going to walk away from me again. Especially with all this shit going on, I’m terrified that I’m going to come home one day and you’re just going to be gone.”
I want to tell him that it will never happen but I can’t say that with one hundred percent certainty. Besides, I don’t think he would believe me if I did. The past hangs heavy between us, haunting our love, something I didn’t really realize until last night, and I don’t know how to fix it. Right now, even with all the crazy, I feel good but something could change so quickly and I don’t know how to reassure him that I’m here to stay.
“You can’t tell me that will never happen, can you?”
I shake my head, my bottom lip wobbling. “No. I can tell you that, right now, I feel strong and ready to face the world with you but I can’t promise it will never happen again.”
His promise to me the morning after he fucked me on the kitchen counter springs to my mind and I wipe the tears from my cheeks as I look over at him.
“What happened to ‘I signed up for forever, for better or worse’? This is worse, baby. I have to live with the night my parents died and the profound impact it had on me for the rest of my life. Nothing can change that. Is this something you can live with or is this something that is going to destroy us?”
“Can I take the goddamn blindfold off?” he asks, desperation in his voice as I pull to a stop at our destination. “I need to see your eyes.”
“Okay,” I whisper as I put the truck in park. He pulls the bandana off and his gaze meets mine as he holds his hand out. Scooting across the seat, my heart hammers, waiting for his answer and when I reach him, I melt into his arms. He presses his lips to my forehead as he releases a breath. When I look up at him, he smiles and reaches into his pocket, pulling out a ring box and my eyes widen.
Why does he have a fucking ring box?
We’re already married…
“I got this for you right after we got back from Charleston and I’ve just been waiting for the right moment to ask you.”
My eyes flick to his. “Ask me what?”
“Will you marry me again, baby?” he asks, popping the ring box open to reveal a gorgeous diamond band that matches the one he gave me when we got married the first time. “I know you can’t promise me that you’ll never stumble again but you were right. I did promise you forever, for better or worse so if you fall, I’ll be there to pick you back up and if you completely lose your shit and run, I’ll be right behind you. I love you, Piper Jayne Landry, and I want to renew our vows with this new family we’ve built and kick this new chapter in our lives off right.”
“Wyatt,” I breathe, staring at the ring as the diamond shimmers in the morning light. He cups my cheeks and directs my gaze back to his.
“But most importantly, I want you to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that nothing is coming between us ever again. Not another man. Not this threat to the club and definitely not your demons. I’ve loved you since I was ten years old and I’m gonna love you even after death rips us apart so what do you say? You wanna marry me?”
I stare down at the ring, my heart beating like crazy and butterflies fluttering around in my tummy. How the hell, after all these years, does this man still make me feel like a thirteen-year-old girl getting her first kiss? I turn and look up into his hazel eyes, feeling the strength of his love as a smile stretches across my face and I nod.
“Wyatt… I’d marry you a million times and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
He grins. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” I whisper, nodding and I giggle as he grabs my left hand and slips the ring on my finger with the other two. Once it’s on, he tosses the empty box onto the seat and pulls me closer, slamming his lips over mine and I’m transported again to the place were our love is the only thing that matters. In this one perfect moment, there is no drama and pain from our past and there is no threat looming over our lives. There is just us, as we were meant to be before life threw a couple of wrenches into our path.
“So,” he whispers in between kisses. “What is this surprise you brought me to?”
I grin as he starts kissing down my cheek to my neck. “Take a look for yourself.”
He pulls away and we both turn as the front door opens and his parents step out onto the front porch. My stomach flips. I haven’t seen August or Gretchen in years and I have no idea how they will react to the news that Wyatt and I are back together but in this instance, my feelings didn’t matter. This is what Wyatt needed so even if it’s terrible, I will deal with it for him. Glancing over at me, he smiles.
“You brought me home?”
I nod. “I figured if you were going to feel safe anywhere, it would be here.”
“Are you nervous?” he asks, brushing my hair out of my face as he studies me and I nod. He smiles. “Don’t be, baby. My parents love you.”
“I broke their son’s heart and ran away for ten years… Fuck. They think I cheated on you.”
“Come on,” he replies, his grin growing as he opens his door. “Let’s go tell them the good news.”<
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“Did you not hear me?” I hiss, the realization of just how bad this is going to be crashing down on me. Why the hell didn’t I think this all the way through? He jumps out of the truck, holding his hand out to me, and I release a nervous breath as I scoot to the end of the seat and step down, mentally hyping myself up. Okay, so it’s going to be awful and uncomfortable and they may never forgive me but for Wyatt, I would walk through fire.
When we turn toward the house, Gretchen and August are walking toward us and Gretchen has tears in her eyes, her gaze locked on me. Before I can say anything or even start to explain, she pulls me into her arms and hugs me so tight that I can barely breathe.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper to her and she shakes her head, pulling back to look at me.
“Sweet girl, you have nothing to be sorry for and just between us girls, I always knew you’d be back. The two of you were made for each other.”
A sob bubbles out of me as I hug her back, an intense relief that can only come with being home washing over me. “I missed y’all so much.”
“We missed you, too, honey,” she says as she releases me. Wyatt grins as he pulls me back into his arms with a shrug.
“Oh, yeah… I guess I already told them everything. Oops.”
“You son of a bitch,” I growl, smacking his stomach with the back of my hand as relief rushes through me and a smile stretches across my face. August and Gretchen are the closest thing I have to parents now and I don’t know what I would have done if they had hated me for what I did to Wyatt. August wraps his arms around my shoulders, sandwiching me between him and Wyatt as we all start walking back to the house and another little piece of home and family slides into place for me. It’s not the same as having my own parents back but my heart still mends a little bit all the same.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Wyatt
Walking into the house, I toss my keys on the dining room table and turn toward the kitchen to grab a beer as my mind drifts to last night at my parents’ house and how nervous Piper was to see them again after all these years. Grinning, I take a beer out of the fridge and pop the top off. Right after we got back from Charleston and Piper agreed to give this relationship a shot again, I called them and told them the whole story. My mother was not pleased, at first, but after she found out the truth, her heart hurt for Piper just as much as mine did and Dad felt guilty that he didn’t look for her after he went to North Carolina and found the house empty. Both echoed the sentiment that they should have known better. Piper has been a part of their lives for so long and they know what kind of person she is but more importantly, what kind of person she isn’t. What we have is special and there is no way in hell she would intentionally do anything to damage it.
Releasing a breath, I smile at the sense of calm I feel today compared to the storm of turmoil I’ve been walking around in for the last week. I don’t think I realized just how bad it had gotten until I woke up this morning in my childhood bedroom and it didn’t feel like there was a dark cloud hanging over me. Last night was exactly what I needed to clear my head and stop losing my shit at every turn and I’m so fucking grateful that Piper knew what to do to help me. I was so close to cracking up and I hate to think what could happen to her if I am not on top of my game with this maniac running around. I need to be focused no matter how nice it was to just relax yesterday.
We spent all day with my parents, sharing memories and laughing before Mom made a huge dinner to celebrate Piper and I renewing our vows. She also pestered us about when we would be giving her a grandchild but Piper doesn’t want to tell anyone until she actually gets pregnant so all we could say is that it will happen when it happens as we shared a secret smile. After dessert, Piper took me out to the woods behind the house where I kissed her for the first time and we made out like a couple of teenagers before going to sleep in my old room. The full-sized mattress wasn’t the greatest but it did mean I got to hold Piper all night long. When I dropped her off at the studio this morning, we both had smiles on our faces and it feels like I can breathe for the first time in a week.
Of course, I had to go to the clubhouse and temporarily ruin it. Even with all of us digging into these cases now, we’re not finding anything new and I'm beginning to echo Streak’s sentiment when we found the photos on the wall.
This guy is good.
But after the craziness, whoever is doing this has only made the club’s bond stronger. Where we were bickering and arguing before, we are united and ready to face down whoever this is. We won't let him win and while we can't find any evidence to go on, we have come up with a plan of attack for the next time this guy strikes and each of our women are thoroughly protected. Blaze tasked Storm and Chance with calling all of the women we’ve helped in the past three years also to warn them of the threat and remind them that they could reach out to us at anytime so hopefully, we won’t have a new death to look into anytime soon. But it feels naive to have so much hope when we have nothing to go on.
Walking back out to the dining room, I sigh and take a sip of my beer before setting it down on the table. I turn to sit down but before I can, the phone rings on the wall behind me. I turn and pick it up.
“Hello?”
“Hi. This is Diane at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington. I’m looking for Piper Landry.”
I scowl as I turn around. “I’m sorry. Where?”
“The Hyatt Regency in Seattle, sir. May I speak to Miss Landry, please?”
Why in the hell would a hotel in Seattle be calling Piper?
“She’s not here right now but this is her husband. Can I help you?”
“Oh, yes! We received your reservation this morning but there was a problem with the credit card your wife provided so we just need an updated payment method.”
“What?” I ask, my thoughts screeching to a halt as I run my fingers through my hair. “What reservation?”
“Um… it says here that you will be getting in tomorrow night and staying for six days… oh, wait… I guess it is just your wife on the reservation… were you planning on joining her? I can add your name here in the system.”
I shake my head and stumble to the table before sinking into a chair. My chest feels tight as I run my hand through my hair again. “And you said that reservation was made this morning?”
“Yes, sir.”
My knee bounces. “What time?”
“Um… looks like ten-twenty-six a.m.”
No.
No.
No.
This can’t be right…
That was just after I dropped Piper off at work for her first session so why would she be making hotel reservations? And why all the way in Seattle? Everyone we know is here in Baton Rouge and if we’re taking some kind of vacation, I have other places at the top of my list. I release a heavy sigh and drop my face into my hand as I shake my head, trying to make sense of all this. My heart feels like it’s going to explode and I can’t stop my damn leg from shaking.
What is happening?
Why the hell would Piper be going to Seattle?
“Sir?” the woman says on the other end of the phone and I glance up like I can somehow find the answers I need somewhere in this house. My gaze lands on our wedding picture and I shake my head again like I can somehow shake some damn answers into my head. Piper just put that photo up on the wall the other day along with a bunch of others. She said it made our house a real home.
“Yeah.”
“Do you have another credit card you would like to use or is there a better number I could reach your wife on?”
I shake my head. “No. Just cancel it.”
“Cancel the reservation?” she asks like I’m speaking fucking French over here and I nod, my heart hammering so hard, it’s a wonder one of my ribs hasn’t cracked.
“Yes. Cancel the reservation.”
Silence greets me for a moment. “Are you sure? We only have a couple of rooms left and if I cancel this now, I’m not sure you’ll be able to
make another reservation.”
“Just cancel it!” I yell, my stomach twisting as the possibilities start ticking through my mind.
Is Piper leaving me?
Did I scare her last night?
Push her too far by asking her to renew our vows?
Is the fear getting to her?
Making her see things again?
She seemed so happy all day yesterday and in the truck, cuddled up by my side this morning but maybe once she got to work, the panic started to set in and she felt like she needed to run. Maybe she is slipping away from me. The time in my life that I spent without Piper flickers through my brain and I shudder as the memory of that hollow ache in my chest haunts me. My mind drifts to that little fucker James and the shit he said the other night as I hear the woman on the other end of the line start typing.
I’ll only stay away if Piper wants me to…
Is she with him? Has this all just been one big joke since the start?
I shake my head again.
No.
There is no way she is with that little piece of shit.
Right?
“No,” I whisper, pulling the phone away from my ear as I shake my head and try to reassure myself that Piper wouldn’t do this to me. “No, no, no. She wouldn’t…”
She just told me yesterday that she would never cheat on me. Could she really lie right to my face? Is she so cold that she would string me along and agree to marry me again when all along she was planning to run away with her ex?
I press the phone to my ear again as my stomach flips.
“Okay, sir. The reservation has been canceled,” Diane says, her tone guarded. It is fucking rude but I don’t even care. Doesn’t she realize that my whole life is falling apart right now?
“Thanks.”
I hang up without waiting for her reply and toss the phone across the table before dropping my head into my hands as my vision blurs.
Fuck.
What the hell is going on? I go over the last two days in excruciating detail, looking for any sign that Piper was freaking out about anything but nothing stands out. Have I been so lost in my own shit that I just missed it? Is she fed up with me and thought it would be easier to run than confront me? God, I wouldn’t fucking blame her with all this drama in our lives right now. What kind of crazy person would hang around with such a blatant threat to their lives?
