Wyatt
The party was in full swing. Well, Wyatt wouldn’t technically have called it a party, it was more of a quiet get-together that Hawk, A.K.A Ramon Delgado, and his mate, Saffy, had thrown for all of Hawk’s SWAT teammates. As Wyatt was the team leader, he had naturally been invited to the shindig, but truth be known, he would have preferred to have given the party a miss. Still, duty called: he was fairly sure his team mates already thought he was gruff and lacking a sense of humor—he didn’t want them to think he was anti-social to boot. Even if he was.
He rolled his eyes at the ridiculous thought. Who was he trying to kid? He and his teammates had known each other for years now. They worked closely together every day and one or the other of them was always hosting a party like this one. They were all well aware of how anti-social Wyatt could be. It wasn’t as if they’d be surprised if he cut and run. He’d done it before. More than once.
It hadn’t always been that way, of course. In his youth, Wyatt had always been up for a laugh—he and his friend Axel used to get into trouble, which had been hilarious for them, but hell for their parents, but all that had changed one night fifty years ago.
…but that wasn’t something he liked to dwell on.
He forced his mouth into a smile as he caught Liam looking his way. The ex-con was the love of his teammate Eve’s life—even if they’d gotten off to a rocky start. SWAT team star and enforcer for the notorious Vipers? It was hardly a likely match. But as she reached up to whisper something in his ear, it was painfully clear just how in love they were.
Regardless, Wyatt knew his stoic presence intimidated the man, and he was trying to take it easy on him. Scowling into empty space in the middle of a party probably wasn’t the way to do that.
Besides, it didn’t do to dwell. He’d had a long time to come to terms with what had happened that night, to find some way of accepting it, though time did little to quell the pain. He thought about it less and less as the years wore on—a conscious effort on his part, or he would have driven himself crazy rehashing every last detail and wishing he could go back to do things differently.
Plus, thinking about that night always made him angry, and it could be dangerous to everyone around him when someone of his species got enraged. Wyatt had become adept at controlling his emotions, but he didn’t want to add fuel to the fire, so to speak.
“Flint, you want another beer?” Hawk called over to him as the man headed into the kitchen.
“No, I’m good!” he called back, though ‘good’ was probably a poor choice of word.
He looked around and wondered if he could duck out without being noticed. Probably not. With a resigned sigh, he headed to the corner of the room to where Saffy was chatting with the other mates. He touched her elbow to get her attention and watched her turn then crane her neck to look up into his face.
“Hey,” he said, plastering a fake smile on his lips.
It was nothing personal, he liked Saffy, but all his smiles were fake these days. In fact, he’d carried out the action so often, it had become as involuntary to him as breathing.
“Oh, hey Flint,” she said, her eyes widening ever so slightly.
He was used to that reaction, too, although he wasn’t sure if it was his enormous size that she was reacting to or the fact that he was addressing her personally. Was he really that bad? He glanced at the other mates, also looking at him in silence, and the answer was as clear as the unease in their eyes. Yes, yes he was. He resolved to make more of an effort to get to know all of his team’s mates.
“Thank you for a lovely party,” he said smoothly, “But I need to be getting on my way.”
She frowned and a small sigh slipped from her lips. “Oh. Are you sure you can’t stay a little while longer?”
He blinked and tried to hide his surprise that she would care if he stayed or left. He was not, after all, the life and soul of the party.
“I’m sure,” he said. “But thank you.”
He was just about to turn and head on out when Hawk arrived at their side brandishing two bottles of beer.
“Flint?” Hawk questioned, looking between him and Saffy. “Everything okay?”
He handed one of the bottles to Saffy then leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips. It was an innocent gesture, probably as unconscious as the fake smile that still graced Wyatt’s lips, but something about the intimacy of it caused a tug in Wyatt’s gut. Even though Hawk didn’t linger on the kiss, Wyatt jerked his head away quickly and the smile on his lips died.
“I, uh, I was just telling Saffy that I need to be getting on my way,” he mumbled.
“Why?”
Wyatt turned back to Hawk then blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“I asked you why?” Hawk repeated, holding Wyatt’s gaze.
Why indeed?
Wyatt hadn’t expected to be called out on his early departure and wished he had a plausible excuse for why he didn’t want to be in his teammates’ company anymore.
There wasn’t one.
