“Hey. You want something to drink?” Miles asked, lifting the two empty beer bottles he was holding.
“Sure. Thank you.”
He followed Miles with his gaze as he walked toward Talon and Maddox, then caught himself glancing back toward Wilder. Kaz was waving him over, and he could see the reluctance in the set of Wilder’s lips as his gaze swung between Kaz and him, before he walked toward the others. He placed himself between Ezra and Kaz, keeping his front toward Solo and Jane, as if he didn’t want them at his back.
He couldn’t hear whatever Solo was saying to Wilder, but he sure caught Wilder’s response. His expression was completely stoic as he signed. Emmett nearly choked on his next breath when he realized what Wilder was trying to say:eat a bag of dicks.
Wilder’s execution of the signs was fast and steady, even if it didn’t make much sense to say it the way he did. He couldn’t see Solo’s reaction, but Kaz was standing with his side facing him, and considering his frown, Kaz wasn’t sure what Wilder just said. Ezra, on the other hand, burst into laughter and clapped a hand on Wilder’s shoulder before walking away.
He was starting to consider whether teaching Wilder to sign was a good idea or not. At the very least, it was sure to get them both into trouble.
He still wasn’t entirely certain what the animosity between Wilder, Solo, and Jane stemmed from. Miles had obviously told him about Solo and Jane being together, but he didn’t know what part of that was hurting Wilder, and unsurprisingly, he found that he wanted to know almost desperately. Wilder was an enigma he wanted to unravel. He wanted to know what made him tick, what made himWilder.
He watched Wilder climb the patio stairs and had to remind himself not to stare at how damned good his ass looked in those faded blue jeans. Looking at Wilder as anything other than a friend was a boundary he knew he shouldn’t cross, but it was hard not to. Wilder didn’t make it easy. He enjoyed the flirting. Hell, he even enjoyed the teasing. He knew there was a line somewhere they shouldn’t cross. He was afraid they already had.
He flinched when Miles appeared in front of him.
“Sorry,” he croaked out, taking the beer Miles was offering him with a furrowed brow.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, just spacing out.”
Miles nodded, then inclined his head toward the group.
He took a big gulp of beer before following Miles across the dewy grass, barely able to hear the crunch under their shoes with the music and loud voices filling the air around them. Miles walked straight into Kaz’s embrace, resting his head on his man’s shoulder while Kaz wrapped a possessive arm around Miles’s waist.
That painful tug in his chest was back, and he hated it even more this time around because he knew exactly what it stemmed from now: jealousy. He wanted a loving relationship. He wanted a partner who loved him just the way he was, exactly the way Travis and Emma did. Exactly the way Miles and Kaz did. He’d thought he had it once, and losing the idea of that perfect love might’ve been what truly shattered him in the end.
“It’s been months, and he’s still acting like an asshole about it,” Jane grumbled, throwing a glare in Wilder’s direction.
“Jane,” Solo said on a sigh, shaking his head. There was a resigned tone to his voice that hit Emmett straight in the chest.
Wilder was on the back porch, arms resting on the banister, a bottle of beer hanging from his fingers. He was too far away to hear Jane, but somehow his gaze still found her, and his expression changed in an instant. He’d never seen such anger and betrayal from Wilder before. It was unsettling, and he must’ve cringed or moved because the next second, he was the one caught in Wilder’s dark gaze. Green-flecked brown eyes drew him in, and his breath caught in his throat, because it was no longer anger flooding them; it was something darker, something that had his pulse jumping and his body heating up.
He didn’t want to put a word to it. He wasn’t sure he could afford to.
Wilder was… trouble. So much fucking trouble, and everything he didn’t need in his life. Except Wilder made him laugh. Made him appreciate things he’d forgotten to appreciate. Wilder was comfortable staying in the silence with him, and aside from his family, he wasn’t sure he’d ever had that with anyone before.
He was avidly aware that Wilder was starting to mean too much to him. Wilder somehow had this deep understanding of him, like they were two sides of the same coin, and he was afraid that the attraction he felt between them might ruin what could be the best friendship he’d ever had. It wasn’t a fear he’d ever felt before, and he didn’t know what to do with it. He wasn’t even sure how to talk about it, with Wilder or anyone else, so he shoved it down like he did so many things and hoped everything would turn out alright. The last thing he wanted was to lose Wilder.
Solo grabbed Jane’s hand and tugged her a few steps away from the others. She kept looking over her shoulder at Wilder. Solo cupped her face in his hands, turning her gaze onto him. He could tell that they were talking, but he couldn’t hear them. All he could do was watch as Jane’s expression changed from anger to heartache. There was nothing but raw pain in her green eyes as they welled up with unshed tears.
No. The last thing he wanted wasn’t to lose Wilder. The last thing he wanted was for Wilder to lose more friends. His jealousy needed to take a fucking seat before it drove him to ruin what he had with Wilder just for a chance at something he knew he couldn’t have.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Wilder
HE SHIFTED on the couch, laying his arm across the backrest to hold up the book he was reading. He’d finished the last of his work in the gym an hour earlier, and when he’d gone to annoy Emmett, he’d been directed to the couch and told to do anything but disturb him. He’d picked up Emmett’s fantasy book and had been drawn in immediately. It wasn’t quite enough to fully distract him from the fact that Emmett was in the room with him, but at least it kept his mouth shut and his hands busy while Emmett worked.
He tried to keep reading, but with Emmett moving around the room, clearly finishing up for the day, the words started to flow together until his gaze inevitably found Emmett again. He turned, putting the book down on the ground by Emmett’s bag.
Emmett put his things away, then disappeared into the toilet to wash his hands, returning moments later to head across the room toward Wilder.
“Thank you,”Emmett signed before dropping onto the couch with a groan, one hand running through his hair. He looked scrumptious and absolutely adorable with his hair sticking up and his skin flushed light pink.
“How did you like the book?”
