Kele Moon - Crossing the line

“It ain’t that easy. I have looked. Probably closer than you have. I’ve been with a few girls.”

Wyatt raised his eyebrows. “Been with?”

“Yeah, been with.”

“Wow, if I’d been with a girl, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be dating Terry Dower.”

“You ain’t never—” Hal arched an eyebrow at him.

Wyatt shook his head.

“Really?” Hal frowned. “I figured you’d been doing it since middle school. Any girl with a pulse likes you.”

“Yeah, but I only got one girl in mind.” Wyatt looked back to the house longingly. “I love her so dang much sometimes I feel like I can’t even breathe without her around.”

“I sorta caught that.” Hal sent him a hesitant look. “You know, Conner, her home life ain’t great.”

Wyatt nodded miserably. “I know.”

“Terry said Vaughn Davis attacked her last night.”

“Attacked her?” Wyatt repeated as his entire body stiffened.

“Calm down. He didn’t rape her; I asked. They just scared her,” Hal said quickly and threw one big arm out to stop Wyatt when he pushed away from the car. “Now don’t be barging in there like a bull and scaring her worse. Stop. Take a breath and listen to me for five minutes.”

Wyatt wasn’t listening. He shoved past Hal, intent on getting to Tabitha and finding out exactly what happened last night. He was cursing himself for not listening to his instincts and stopping her from going home. He was halfway across the yard when Hal downed him with a tackle that was impressive. Thank God for grass. He’d have lost a tooth for sure, and his father would kill him if he needed another one capped.

It only took him a second to recover despite being crushed under Hal’s weight. He threw his elbow back into Hal’s chest hard enough to knock the air out of him. Then he rolled out from him easily and got to his feet. Hal grabbed his ankle, but Wyatt was in full offense mode and broke out of the hold. He stomped on his hand for good measure. Hanging out with Clay all the time was bad for his sportsmanship.

Hal shouted in shock and then rolled over, grabbing at Wyatt’s ankle again with his other hand. He was quick for a linebacker, almost as quick as Wyatt, but not quite.

“This ain’t a football field,” Wyatt warned Hal in a low voice because he really didn’t want to fight him. “You keep attacking me, and I’m gonna start swinging. Trust me, Parker, you don’t want that. I got more than one black belt that says I can end you.”

“You cannot go in there and start barking at that girl. She is fragile, and you’re just gonna make things worse for her. Remember when you said you stop thinking. This is one of those moments for you. You’re gonna fuck up. Now I’m helping you. So I suggest you stop and appreciate it before someone calls the cops. How do you think that’s gonna turn out, seeing how class started twenty minutes ago?”

That was enough to give Wyatt pause. He looked around, glancing at the windows of Terry’s neighbors. Hal got to his feet with a groan, holding his injured hand.

“Hell, Conner, I think you broke it.”

If the threat of his father showing up didn’t jerk Wyatt back to reality, that sure did. He looked at Hal’s hand in concern. “Are you fucking with me?”

“Yeah, I think I’m fucking with you.” Hal flexed his fingers and then shook his hand experimentally. “It should be fine. Christ, you’re a hazard. Is this what you and Powers do at the rec center all the time?”

“He’s trying out for varsity wrestling,” Wyatt mumbled, still watching as Hal flexed his fingers.

“Feel sorry for the guys on varsity then. Holy shit. Fighting you is like trying to battle a hurricane.”

“Thanks.”

Hal looked up. “That wasn’t a compliment.”

“Then I hate to tell you, that wasn’t fighting.” Wyatt winced. “You can’t tackle me off the field. It messes with my sensors. I’m from a cop family. I’m all offense.”

“No kidding,” Hal said sarcastically and shook his hand once more before he looked up. “You got to cool off for a minute before you go in there.”

Wyatt took a deep breath and nodded, deciding Hal could have a point. “W-what’d she say to you? What do you know?”

“She told Terry the whole story. I just got the finer points of it.” Hal shrugged, giving Wyatt a long look. “But from what I gathered, her brother and Vaughn caught y’all doing something inappropriate and—”

“It wasn’t that inappropriate.” Wyatt interrupted him.

“Well, I guess it was enough to set them off. They cornered her in the bathroom, and I think Vaughn threatened to do some pretty nasty things to her.”

“Why?” Wyatt’s blood was pumping in his ears, but he fought past the haze to sort out details like Jules would in this situation. “There’s something missing here. Why would they just go after her like that?”

“Well, she ain’t bad-looking.” Hal shrugged. “Which I’m sure you noticed.”

“But you said they cornered her. Brett’s got a different motivation than Vaughn.” Wyatt pressed as he frowned at Hal. “Is there something you ain’t telling me?”

Hal shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I got it all secondhand.”

“I’m going to talk to her.” Wyatt started toward the house but was stopped when Hal grabbed the back of his shirt. He turned back around, glaring at Hal. “What now?”

“She’s had to tell the story once. Why not just let her rest? Girls ain’t as solution oriented as fellas are. Sometimes they just want someone to be there for them.”

“Are you giving me advice on girls?” Wyatt couldn’t help the laugh of disbelief that slipped out of him. “Really?”

“I do have more experience with them.” A smile quirked at the corner of Hal’s lips. “A lot more.”

Wyatt had to shrug in agreement. “I guess that’s true. But you forget, I have a twin who’s a girl, and she’s solution oriented. Her life sorta revolves around it, actually.”

“Your sister ain’t a normal girl. But that one in there is, and I think you ought to let it go for a little while. There’s nothing you can do ’bout any of it right now anyway. Terry will tell you what happened later.”

“I don’t think your boy Terry likes me all that much,” Wyatt couldn’t help but point out. “He might leave out things on purpose.”

“I’ll make sure he tells you. I know it’s important,” Hal assured him.

Wyatt stood there contemplating everything. He didn’t want to make Tabitha upset. He didn’t think there was anything worse in the world than seeing his girl crying, and he sure didn’t want to be the cause of it.

He already felt guilty about kissing her out in the open. He couldn’t believe one kiss could cause this many issues. He rubbed at the back of his neck as he took another cooling breath. He suddenly needed to be with Tabitha, to know for himself that she was fine.

“Yeah, okay, you’re right.” Wyatt turned and walked to the house, not really sure if he meant the words or not, but he was willing to say anything to get into that house.

He could deal with Vaughn and Brett later.

* * *

Terry’s bed was really soft, with an expensive mattress and nice sheets to boot. It was big too, overall much nicer than her beaten-up twin-size at home. She snuggled under the covers, which smelled like men’s cologne. It sort of reminded her of Wyatt. She noticed he’d been wearing that stuff lately, and she’d be lying to say she didn’t like it.

“Are you hungry, darlin’?” Terry asked in concern. “I can have Hal make you something when he comes in. That fella can cook like you wouldn’t believe.”

Tabitha smiled. The romantic in her enjoyed the unabashed adoration that sounded in Terry’s voice when he said Hal’s name. “No, I’m good. Thank you.”

“You sure?”

“Mmm,” she hummed in agreement. She was hungry, but she was more tired. “I’m just gonna take a quick nap.”

She pulled the sheets up higher around her and snuggled against his pillow. Terry stayed in the room with her, sitting in a chair in the corner as Tabitha closed her eyes, but she couldn’t fall asleep. She kept thinking about what happened in the bathroom the day before.

How was she ever going to be able to live in that house and feel safe? But she didn’t want to turn to Wyatt’s father either. Her mama would be so upset, and there was a bizarre side of Tabitha that needed to protect her mother. Lord knew she wasn’t capable of protecting herself.

And her mama was getting better. She had a job now.

If Tabitha could just find a way to endure her brother and his friends long enough, her mother would stop drinking, and everything would be okay. She wanted to believe it. Maybe if she had, she could have found some peace in her dreams, but she was awake instead.

She was still fighting the battle for rest when Wyatt came to the room.

“Get out, Conner.” Terry’s voice was low and defensive. “I already said you ain’t welcome.”

Tabitha blinked and rolled over, looking to the open bedroom door. Wyatt was leaning against the frame, holding onto the top of it with both hands as he stared down at her. His wide shoulders and impressive height filled up the whole doorway. Sometimes her mind had a hard time accepting this was the same boy who used to give her cookies every morning on the benches outside the school.

His blond hair was disheveled, his light eyes even more startling when they were rimmed with dark circles. He looked so stressed out and tired, it hurt Tabitha’s heart to see it.

“Do you wanna lay down with me?” she whispered.

Terry grunted. “Tab—”

“No, it’s good,” she interrupted him. “He’s sorry ’bout Hal. I know he is. Tell him, Wy.”

Sometimes Wyatt said dumb things, but his heart was always in the right place. She knew her hero. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt someone with no reason. He’d never tell the other guys on the football team about Terry and Hal, just like he never told his father about her family. She trusted Wyatt completely.

“I am sorry,” Wyatt said softly as his gaze darted from Tabitha to Terry in the chair behind her. “I won’t say anything, Dower. I promise.”

Tabitha held up the blanket to him, and Wyatt pushed away from the door. He toed off his sneakers at the edge of the bed and then crawled under the sheets with her. Tabitha took a shuddering breath when he wrapped those big strong arms around her, nearly smothering her with his weight, but it was okay.

For that moment, everything was right with Tabitha’s world.

Wyatt ran one socked foot up her calf and leaned over to press a kiss against the bandage that hid the cut on her forehead.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a low, concerned voice against her ear.

She smiled. “I am now.”

He squeezed her tighter and then buried his face in the curve of her neck. “I love you.”

She reached for his hand in response, feeling his rough palm against her smooth one when she intertwined their fingers.

“I was so scared.” His voice cracked in emotion.

She blinked to fight the tears. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be sorry. It was my fault.” He pressed his lips against her neck. “I just wanna keep you here forever. In my arms. Safe.”

“I want that too.”

“I’m gonna fix it for you, okay?”

If she wasn’t quite so tired, she might have asked him what he meant by that, but instead all she did was whisper “Okay,” and started drifting off to sleep instead.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt the tension leave Wyatt’s body with her soft agreement.

Neither of them heard Terry leave.

It took Wyatt three full days to find Vaughn and Brett alone.

In any other circumstance, the wait would’ve been good for them, but instead it just let the fury build to the point that Wyatt’s entire being was wound up and desperate for a fight. Now he was well rested and antsy as he leaned against the side of the old trailer Clay used to call home and watched Vaughn sell drugs to Jason Wiltkins, who’d dropped out of school last year.

“Wait till Wiltkins leaves,” Clay whispered in his ear. “We wanted them alone. That was the plan.”

Wyatt grunted. He wasn’t sure he could just keep standing there after waiting this long.

“Wyatt—”

Wyatt shoved Clay’s hand off his shoulder, realizing he’d taken a determined step forward. Having his best friend along wasn’t part of Wyatt’s plan, but Clay was so damn hardheaded Wyatt finally gave up the fight. Tabitha was Clay’s friend too. He could understand Clay wanting to take a piece out of Vaughn and Brett, but the situation wasn’t ideal.