"No," she whispered, and I heard real fear creep into her voice.
The car pulled into the yard too confidently, too deliberately, and even before the engine cut, I knew this wasn't going to be good.
Twenty-Nine
Tessa
Iwas standing too close to Wyatt when I heard the gravel shift in the drive, and I couldn’t ignore how the heat of him pressed against me or how the tension from our kiss hadn’t burned off yet.
A car rolled into the yard without hesitation and stopped near the barn. The engine hadn’t cut like whoever was driving already decided they weren’t leaving.
My stomach dropped hard with recognition, and I hadn’t needed to see his face to know who it was.
“Tess,” Colin called, and his voice hit me like cold water I hadn’t braced for.
Every nerve in my body went tight at once, and fear and anger and something far worse tangled together in my chest until I couldn’t separate them.
I stayed still and silent, not trusting what would come out if I spoke.
Wyatt moved first, only one step, a smooth, controlled step, but still enough to put himself directly between me and the open space of the yard without making it obvious.
My hand lifted without permission and caught the frontof Wyatt’s jacket because I needed the solidness of him to stay upright, even if I wouldn’t admit that out loud.
The second I realized what I was doing, I dropped my hand like it burned.
Colin saw it anyway, and I knew it by the way his eyes tracked the movement and by the way something cold and sharp slid into place behind the smile he wore as he walked closer.
He dressed cleanly, and he moved easily, and he still looked like a man who thought he had the right to show up wherever he wanted.
“Well,” he said lightly, “this answers a few questions,” and I didn’t miss the satisfaction curled under his tone.
Wyatt’s attention stayed locked on Colin like nothing else in the world existed at that moment.
“You should leave,” Wyatt said, and his voice calm in a way that made my skin prickle with warning.
Colin laughed quietly, and I heard the disbelief layered under it.
“That’s not your call,” Colin said, and I hated how familiar his challenge sounded.
“It is right now,” Wyatt replied, and not even a flicker of doubt in him.
I found my voice through the tightness in my throat because I couldn’t stand being silent anymore.
“Colin, you need to go.” My voice shook, and I hated that it did.
He didn’t look at me at first because he’d been too busy studying Wyatt. Like he was measuring a threat.
Then he slid his gaze to me, slow and deliberate, and took in my posture. My nearness to Wyatt and the way our bodies didn’t quite separate.
“You look occupied,” he said, and I’d heard the nasty edge curling under the words.
“Busy even,” he added, and my face heated despite myself.
Wyatt hadn’t moved, but I felt the tension in him shift and tighten like a cable taught before snapping.
“I came to check on you,” Colin continued, “you didn’t answer your phone, which isn’t like you.”
“That’s because I didn’t want to talk to you,” I said, and my honesty raw and unfiltered.
