27. WYATT

27

WYATT

The worst part about a string of road games used to be bad hookups and hangovers. Now, it's being away from Wren for several days in a row. It's been sleepless nights because she isn't in my arms.

I miss her like crazy. Even with text messages and video calls, it isn't the same as holding her or kissing her goodnight.

I barely made it off the bus before I was texting to let her know I was coming over. She should be home studying if she's sticking to her usual schedule.

I climb the stairs to her dorm room two at a time. I'm impatient. I'm dying to see her. After a few quick knocks, Charlie opens the door and lets me in.

"Hey, Charlie."

"Wyatt. Congrats on your wins," she says, locking the door.

"Thanks. Is she in her room?"

"Yeah. She's had a rough couple of days. She'll be glad to see you."

Wren never mentioned anything on any of our calls. She did seem more tired than usual, but I assumed she stayed up too late waiting for me to get back to my hotel or studying .

I open her door slowly. The lock clicks getting her attention. Wren throws the book she's reading on the bed and catapults herself into my arms.

"Hey, baby." I bury my face in her neck. It's like coming home every time. She might as well get a tattoo of my lips in the spot on her collarbone since I kiss her here so often.

"I missed you." She presses her lips against mine. Her hands rake over my face and into my hair, and her thighs clamp down around my waist. It's a spiritual experience having her in my arms. She makes a believer out of me.

"I missed you too." I cup her face with one hand and her ass in the other.

"Only seven more games left in the season."

It's a bittersweet reminder of what's coming. It's not something I like to think about. I want to play this game with her for keeps and I'm worried she's still playing pretend.

Having her welcome me like this leads me to believe she sees a future for us in some capacity. I know I need to man the fuck up and ask her about it, but I'm a greedy motherfucker. There's a chance I could bring it up and send her running in the other direction.

I walk us over to the bed and put Wren down. She backs up to lean against the headboard and opens her arms and legs to me. That's an invitation I can't refuse.

I kick off my shoes and crawl onto the bed to rest my head on her stomach. She runs her fingers through my hair. She's going to put me to sleep if she's not careful .

"How's your shoulder?" she asks as she moves her hands down my neck and over my back.

"It's been worse." It hurts like a bitch. I'm glad I'm not starting the next few games. If we weren't trying to win another championship, I would ask Coach to bench me.

Wren's legs jostle underneath me. "Switch places with me and take your shirt off."

"What are you doing?" I ask when she straddles my legs and sits on my thighs. I wish she was a little higher, but this is a good start. She's still within reach.

"Give me your hand." She squirts lotion into her palm.

"Can't wait to see where this is going. Looks kinky." I place my left hand in hers. She lifts an eyebrow and grins.

"When you pretended to need a tutor all those months ago, you put your hand on top of mine." She runs her palm over the top of my hand spreading the lotion around. "I couldn't believe how cracked and abused your hands were. I thought it was all from baseball. I didn't know."

Wren uses both of her hands to work the lotion into my knuckles and fingers. They do look like shit after years of baseball and farming. She adds pressure, massaging the overworked joints. After several days of pitching, this feels amazing.

She's really fucking good at this.

"I didn't know how hard you worked and everything you carried on your shoulders. I judged you. I'm sorry. I thought you were…a joke." She bites down on her lip. "I didn't think you knew how to take anything seriously, including the importance of a good moisturizer."

She adds more lotion to her hands and works her way up my forearm and to my shoulders. She finds a knot in my pitching arm and massages it with her fingers and knuckles.

"Now I know the truth. You're the hardest working person I know. You love your family. You carry the world on your shoulders." She squeezes said shoulders, then slides her hands up my neck and into my hair. "I'm sorry I was so mean to you."

"I told ya, I like you mean." I kiss her sweet lips.

Her fingers dig in my scalp and she massages my temples.

"Fuck, birdie. You're going to have to do this for me every night." I grip her ass and yank her forward. "So you can reach me better." I grin as she settles on my dick.

"Yes, this is much better." She rolls her hips.

"You weren't exactly my favorite person either," I say to let her off the hook for forming a bad opinion about me in the beginning.

"And now?"

"And now I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to walk away," I answer honestly.

It's the painful truth of it all. The more time I spend with her, the more I want to keep her with me in Alabama. I want her to make the farm her home.

I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "I told you months ago, you're a strange bird, baby," I say softly.

"That's not exactly a compliment, Wyatt." Her glasses slip and I push them up on her nose for her.

"Do you know what strange means?"

"Of course I do. It means weird."

I shrug my shoulder. "It also means unusual, extraordinary, remarkable. You've always been those things to me. Intriguing and unexpected. I've fallen in love with you, birdie. Stay with me in Alabama. Start a life with me." The words tumble out of my mouth. I didn't mean to say all of that at once but she's always made me forget how to use my filter.

Wren doesn't move. Her hands freeze on my arms. Her eyes glaze over. If it wasn't for her chest rising and falling, I would think she stopped breathing too.

"You can't love me. That's not what this was supposed to be." She attempts to move off my lap but I hold her in place.

"Maybe not, but it's what it is. That's what happened. I've fallen in love with you. I want to start a life with you. I want to build a house on the hill with you. I want a tire swing in the tree so I can push you and watch your hair blow in the breeze. And I want you."

Wren stares at my chest. She's refusing to look me in the eye.

"Say something." I duck my head to get in her line of sight. "Tell me you don't feel the same. Tell me you don't want those things too. We both know you'd be lying. I like fighting with you. If you want to go that route, we can. I was never much of a brawler until you gave me something worth fighting for."

"For the past few days I've felt like part of me was missing," she whispers. "I'd do all the things I usually do. I made my lists. I stuck to my routines. I did everything I could to find some kind of normal but nothing helped. When you aren't around, everything feels wrong. I'm miserable without you. I hate you for that." She smirks.

"I'm not sorry about that, baby."

"Didn't think you would be. I've always told myself that falling in love wasn't for me. I never wanted to do it. That's why this arrangement was perfect for me." She takes a deep breath and wipes at her cheek. I don't like where she is going with this. I grip her tighter than I should. If this is over, I need her to say it.

"I think my way of doing relationships worked because there was never a worthy opponent. No one ever challenged me or pushed me. There was never anything at stake. Not until you. You're right. I do love you. I tried not to. I really did. But it was a wasted effort because I fell in love with you anyway." Her words are so sweet my heart starts pumping honey into my veins.

"Say it again."

"I love you." I capture her lips with mine. My hands dig into her hair refusing to let go.

"Tell me you'll stay, birdie. Tell me you want to start something real with me."

"We've already started something real."

I squeeze her tighter. "You're right. We have."

"But, I can't go home with you. Not yet."

"Why?"

"I have some things I need to take care of first."

"Fiancé things? You can tell him to fuck right on off over the phone." When she looks down at her lap. "You can't be serious."

"I never lied to you about my situation. You knew going into this what I was dealing with," she fires back at me.

"I know but things change. I never thought that—" I start to say.

"That you could love me?" She tries to finish my thought but she's a terrible mind reader.

I shake my head. "No, birdie. I knew I could do that. That was the easy part."

"Oh," she whispers. "Then what?"

"I never thought you would fight so hard against loving me."

"I'm not fighting it. I…I'm having to figure it out as I go. That is not something I do. I plan everything." She gestures wildly with her hands. "But I didn't plan on you. This is all your fault."

"My fault?" I rear my head back.

"Yes. Your fault." She climbs off my lap and starts pacing the room. "You're the one who wanted my help hooking up with Charlie. I never would have come up with something so silly on my own. Then you had to be sweet and thoughtful. No one's ever treated me the way that you do. You and your stupidly handsome face with dimples. And that mustache!" She throws her hands up in the air.

I roll my lips to keep from laughing at her little fit.

"Stop. This isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing."

She takes a calming breath and turns to face the wall. Her body hiccups and she sniffles. I roll off the bed and walk over to her. I wrap my arms around her chest and bury my face in the crook of her neck. "Talk to me, baby. Tell me what's going on."

"I'm…I'm trying my best here, Wyatt. There are things going on that I have no control over." She breaks free from my hold and walks over to her dresser. After digging around in the top drawer she places a small box on top of the dresser.

"What is that?" I demand. "It looks a lot like a fucking ring box."

"It is. When I went to see my parents."

I spin her around to face me. "The least you can do is look at me when you tell me why you're picking him."

"I'm not picking him. Daniel's dad is not a nice man. He's threatening my family. I have to go home after graduation and settle things with the Abbotts once and for all. Believe me. I don't like the situation any more than you do."

"I don't fucking like it all."

"I hadn't noticed," she snarks. "I don't know how long it will take. If you still want me, I'll come to Alabama. Everything you said, I want that too. I want a life with you."

"Baby, I will always want you. There isn't any part of me that doesn't beg to be in your presence. I want to help. We can both go to Georgia. I can help you pack and stop shaking your head."

"You can't be there. Then he'll know I'm not going to marry his son. My parents will be there. They'll help me."

"But I'm your man. I should be there for you."

"Is that what you are, my man? I like the sound of that."

"Damn straight. It's going to kill me to not be there with you. I just got you and now you're going to leave."

"It won't be forever. Just long enough for me to make him hurt for ever thinking he could mess with the people I love."

I feel sorry for the man who thinks he can battle against my girl. She won't back down until she gets what she wants. I've been in her line of fire before. Wren is a straight shooter with good fucking aim.

I realize she is going to war for her family and this technically has nothing to do with me. It doesn't make it any easier to sit idly by and wait for her to come back to me.

A FEW WEEKS LATER

"Where are you off to?" Nash asks when I pass him in the den. He's lucky he doesn't have to move and do all this packing bullshit. He's staying here through the summer along with his friends that are moving in for their senior year .

Now that we've graduated and the season is over there's nothing left to do here. I'm not sad about heading home. It's the fact that I'm leaving without my road trip partner. My everything partner.

"Wren's place. I'm going to bring her all her stuff." I can't look at it anymore. For every two things of mine I packed up, there was one of hers.

How our lives melded together so quickly, I'll never understand. This box is a punch in the gut every time I look at it. It's a reminder that she isn't coming with me to Alabama and that she is still shutting me out of parts of her life. I don't know how she can tell me she loves me in one breath and keep secrets in the next.

I should be going to Georgia with her. I should be by her side until we can come home together. But she doesn't want me there. She's too independent for her own good.

"Are you breaking up with her?" he asks.

I reel my head back. "No. Why would you think that?"

"She's going to think you're removing her from your life if you bring all of that over to her."

That's impossible. There is no removing Wren from my life. She sang her way into my heart before either one of us knew it was happening.