“Probably,” Clay said grudgingly. “But I can’t even get a family to keep me for more than two months. You think I’m gonna find a girl to put up with me? Wrestling works off frustration.”

“That ain’t a lie,” Wyatt had to reluctantly agree. “No wonder I’m always stuck at the rec center with you. I’m way better at this sport than I wanna be.”

“Try out for the wrestling team.”

“Won’t have time for wrestling. The season’s gonna bleed into football for sure.”

“You don’t know that. They sucked last year. That season ended pretty fucking fast.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t on the team last year. I’m gonna make damn sure we go to the championships if I have to take down every quarterback in this state.”

Clay snorted. “That’s probably true.”

Wyatt turned his head and gave Clay a cocky grin. “You wait and see. I’m gonna annihilate the other teams. It’s gonna be bloody.”

“What makes you think I’m gonna spend my Friday nights watching you strut round that football field?”

“What the heck else have you got to do?”

“Sit in my room jerking off.”

Wyatt let out a loud bark of laughter. “That’s the reason you can’t get a family to keep ya more than five minutes. You just say whatever rude shit comes to mind.”

“Yeah, like you’re better.”

“At least I know how to say please and thank you at the dinner table.”

Clay’s amusement turned to obvious annoyance as he scowled. “Get off my back, Wyatt.”

“I’m trying to help you. Maybe if you were more polite—”

“Fuck off.”

“Look, buddy, you’re six-three and growing. You tip the scales at two-ten. You can’t be built like that and scowling at anyone who looks in your direction. Trust me, I know what I’m talking ’bout here. Guys built like us got to know how to smile a little. It puts people at ease.”

“You be a clown. I ain’t playing.”

Wyatt covered his eyes and groaned. This shouldn’t be that hard for Clay to understand, but it was. “Why can’t you listen to me and play along? We’re running out of families in Garnet willing to take ya.”

“So fuck Garnet.”

Wyatt’s chest constricted with fear. Clay wasn’t just his friend. He’d become something close to a brother. After living with Jules for the first fourteen years of his life, Wyatt didn’t think he could recover from losing Clay to another town just because he didn’t know how to smile.

“We gotta teach you how to be polite,” Wyatt told him desperately. “You’re my best friend and—”

Clay rolled away from him and made a move to stand. “I ain’t listening to this shit again.”

“And Jules would lose her fucking mind if they yanked you out of Garnet,” Wyatt went on pleadingly. Playing the Jules card was easier than admitting his own feelings. “You know how irrational she gets every time moving you comes up. Can you imagine the drama I’d have to put up with? She loves you like a brother. Heck, between the two of us, she’d probably pick to keep you over me, and I’m her twin.”

“I’m leaving now.”

Wyatt just lay there sullenly as Clay walked out of the gym without another word. He blinked at the ceiling, wondering what the hell he was going to do about Clay’s bad attitude. He and Jules tried hanging out at whatever foster home he was living, nudging him to interact a little with the family, but it never worked out. Even having the sheriff’s kids as best friends didn’t change the fact that a grouchy monster of a teenager who’d grown up on the bad side of town wasn’t a top pick in the foster system. Everyone was waiting for him to turn to drugs and crime like his mother.

If only they knew what Wyatt did, that Clay wouldn’t touch that stuff with a ten-foot pole. He’d broken his foot last year in jujitsu, and they couldn’t get him to take a pain pill to save their lives. He barely took ibuprofen. He was totally misjudged, and the injustice of it burned Wyatt to his core.

Clay wasn’t a bad guy—he just acted like one.

Bastard.

Wyatt drummed his fingers against his bare chest, knowing he was long due to get home. He had homework despite it being the first week of school, which seemed like bullshit. Didn’t they know fellas had football practice and karate and a best friend who insisted on extra training time for wrestling before tryouts?

Wyatt got very little sleep the past few days, but it didn’t feel too bad because Jules and Clay were getting up with him at five to finish the last of the work they couldn’t get done the night before. He liked those quiet mornings at the kitchen table with his sister and best friend. It was going to suck when they yanked Clay out of the house again.

It would suck even worse if they planted him halfway across the state.

“What’s wrong with Clay? I ran into him in the hallway, and he was growly over something.”

Wyatt craned his neck, looking to the door, spying Tabitha standing there with her book bag over her shoulder. He smiled. Seeing her had him forgetting his melancholy.

“Hey, pretty girl, come keep me company.”

Even from a distance, Wyatt could see Tabitha roll her eyes. “Almost everyone’s gone home but you two. It’s almost nine. Is your daddy picking you up?”

“Nah, he works late tonight. We rode our bikes. How you getting home?”

“Same.”

“Ain’t really safe to be riding that far this late, Tab.”

“Safer than being at home.”

“What’s that?” Wyatt scowled, hoping he heard her wrong.

Tabitha shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Okay.” Wyatt sighed in defeat because he was already fighting with Clay. He didn’t want to start something with Tabitha too. “So where have you been tonight? I haven’t seen you since the pizza Coach Jasper ordered at five.”

Tabitha stood at the edge of the mat, looking down at him with that hot look in her eyes that always made the back of Wyatt’s neck feel warm and his stomach jolt.

Her voice was soft as she said, “I was just in the teen lounge finishing things up. Might as well make good use of it since they let me hang out here for free.”

“You can come closer. I don’t bite.” Wyatt crossed his hands behind his head, still looking at Tabitha expectantly. He waggled his eyebrows. “Unless you want me to.”

“You’re so silly sometimes.” Tabitha walked over to him despite the teasing. She tossed her bag onto the mat and sat cross-legged next to him. “So what’re you hiding from tonight?”

“Nothing. Just practicing. Clay’s gonna make a go for the wrestling team. I set a bad example with football. He thinks any freshman can just walk on to varsity.”

“Is that it?” Tabitha asked dubiously.

“Yeah, he’s jealous.”

“Sure, he is.” Tabitha let out a little laugh. “So what’d you say to piss him off this time?”

“Something along the lines of needing him to learn to smile so I don’t lose my best friend. What am I gonna do if they send him away? No best friend and no girl.” Wyatt looked up at her pointedly. “That’s no way to start high school.”

“You could get a girl, Wy.” Tabitha’s gaze drifted to his bare chest, the dreamy sound to her voice taking on a sad note as she said, “You could probably get a whole collection of ’em.”

“Not the one I want.”

Wyatt studied Tabitha, who’d braided her hair into one thick red rope away from her face. Her freckles were more pronounced from summer, her brown eyes soft and soulful as she continued to look down at him thoughtfully after his confession that wasn’t anything usual. He’d stopped being casual about his feelings for her a long time ago.

“You look sad. Tell Wyatt what’s wrong.”

She shook her head.

He rolled onto his side and grabbed her hand. Feeling bold, he kissed her open palm, letting his lips linger on the scars there because he noticed she was always rubbing them. “Do your hands hurt you?”

“No.” Tabitha tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but he held on. Finally she just huffed and left it where it was. “Why do you like me so much, Wyatt?”

“’Cause you’re awesome.”

“I think you’ve hit your head one too many times. How many concussions have you had again? You and Clay trade ’em like baseball cards.”

He laughed. “I liked you before the concussions.”

“Terry says you’re gonna have girls crawling all over you this year. What’d you think about that?”

“I think I don’t like that you’ve been hanging on Terry this whole week. What’s he got that I don’t?”

“Common sense?” Tabitha supplied helpfully. “Why the heck would you wanna go out with me when you can date real girls? Pretty girls.”

“I think you’re pretty, Tabitha,” he told her softly and then kissed her scarred palm once more to prove his point. “If you knew how pretty I thought you were, you wouldn’t be sitting next to me right now. You make me think naughty things.”

Tabitha finally jerked her hand out of his. “Really, Wy, I wanna know why you like me. ’Cause it don’t make a lick of sense.”

“I dunno.” He gave her an incredulous look because he thought it was a given that they were supposed to be together. “It’s an instinct. I’m happier when I’m around you. Haven’t you ever looked at someone and just known they were made for you?”

Tabitha stared hard at him, the crease in her forehead telling him she was really considering the question before she finally nodded and whispered softly, “Yeah, I have.”

“That someone better be me,” he growled, unable to help the flare of jealousy. “’Cause I could take down Terry Dower.”

“You are so stupid.” Tabitha surprised him by laughing. “I don’t like Terry. Not like that. So don’t be thinking of putting him in the hospital. I don’t think his head is as hard as Clay’s.”

“No one’s head is as hard as Clay’s.” Wyatt crawled up and rested his head on Tabitha’s knee for comfort at the reminder. “Christ, he’s a stubborn bastard.”

Tabitha started stroking his sweaty hair, pushing it away from his forehead. His entire world clicked into place in that one moment, and he closed his eyes in lazy exhaustion.

“Go out with me,” he said when Tabitha’s touch lured him into a false sense of security.

“No.”

“Kiss me.”

“No.”

“At least admit you love me.”

“Definitely no. My mama’s been doing good. She’s got a job and everything, but she’s so dang paranoid ’bout the state grabbing us, especially since Brett’s been getting into trouble. If I started going out with a Conner, she’d turn back to the bottle for sure.”

Wyatt blinked up at Tabitha, seeing the crease was back in her forehead as she looked down at him. “I’ll be a famous boxer instead of a sheriff. How ’bout that?”

She gave him a sad smile and whispered, “No.”

“You’re worse than Clay.” He let his eyes drift close again because he was very happy where he was even if Tabitha was being difficult. “Your mama knows we’re friends. So what’s the difference?”

“No, she doesn’t.” Tabitha laughed in disbelief.

“She’s gotta know you’ve been hanging round me for years. What does she think you’re doing at the rec center every day after school?”

“My homework.”

“Well, I suppose that ain’t a lie.” He rolled on his side and pressed his lips against the curve of her knee that was exposed where her skirt had ridden up. “I can think of some homework you can work on.”

Tabitha shoved his head in response, and he landed on the mat with a grunt. He would have complained if it didn’t make Tabitha giggle. He started laughing with her.

“You’re bad on my delicate male ego.”

Tabitha laughed harder. “You got the biggest ego in this whole dang town.”

“Take that back, little girl.” Wyatt grabbed her foot when she moved to stand up. She screeched and shook her leg, but he wasn’t letting go. He jerked her toward him, forcing her skirt to ride up, and then used his weight to pin her to the mat. “Say sorry, or I’m gonna turn into the big, bad wolf.”

“As if.” Tabitha was still laughing hysterically and didn’t even fight his hold on her wrists as he held her down. “You’re not bad wolf material.”

“Who lied to you?” Wyatt snorted as he studied her cheeks, flushed pink with her mirth, and the way the strawberry lip gloss she always used made her lips look very kissable. “You make me feel very bad. Kiss me.”

“No.”

Wyatt leaned down despite the rejection, and Tabitha turned her head petulantly, still giggling.

He growled in genuine disappointment. “One of these days I’m gonna do it, and I ain’t even gonna give you the courtesy of asking first.”