Page 17 of Saving Wyatt

"Make sure you give him a good talking-to when he shows his face," Wyatt said, and I chuckled.

"Oh, don't worry. He'll get a Greek lecture that will have his tail between his legs for years to come."

Wyatt laughed. "I'd love to see that. And I'm pretty sure if our parents were alive, they wouldn't want to miss it either. He was always a wild child, Warren was."

I hadn't really witnessed that in my years as his friend, but I tucked the information away for later use—and probably bigger worries next time he pulled this stunt, if ever.

"I'll try and record it. Candid Camera style," I said.

"Oh God. Now that's a blast from the past. And I can't believe you even know what it was. What are you? Twenty-five?"

I gasped and put my arms on my hips.

"Excuse me? I go into all this effort to look my age—thirty-eight, by the way—and you have the cheek to compare me to a twenty-five-year-old?"

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. "It was a compliment. Or meant to be, anyway."

He sounded a little too wounded by my innocent joke, so I rushed to backtrack.

"Nah, I'm kidding. Thank you for the compliment. In all honesty, I hurl at the thought of twenty-five-year-old me. I was so dumb and yet I thought I knew everything."

"Well, you were studying medicine, so no one can blame you."

I shrugged with a chuckle. "I still roll my eyes at past-me."

Wyatt pressed his lips together, and his gaze moved down to my own lips for a moment so fleeting it could have been missed if I wasn't so keen on the guy and his every gesture.

"I dunno. There doesn't seem to be anything about you worthy of eye rolling," he said, a little quieter this time.

My cheeks went hot. Even hotter still when his gaze lingered on mine for a couple moments longer than socially acceptable, and a thought crossed my mind. A thought I hadn't even allowed to marinate in my head for fear of explosion.

Was Wyatt...queer?

Because the way he looked at me was on par with the way I surely looked at him.

As if he was able to read my mind, he took a step back, cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head.

"Th-thanks," I said to cover up the silence that had settled between us. "I'm sure a couple of photos from those years will change your mind."

"Maybe. Maybe." He chuckled and looked away at the passersby.

"What brings you by? Did you need a check-up? You can come on in." I pointed to the door.

Wyatt put his hands up then tucked them in his pockets with a warm smile that I could stare at for days on end. "I was actually on my way to the station," he said.

I snapped out of whatever haze had taken over me and stood a little straighter—and more professionally. "Is there an update? What's going on with that? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "No. No update. They wanted to question me further." He mumbled the last part as if he was embarrassed.

As if he thought saying so would make me believe he'd done the crime they were accusing him of.

"I'm sure they're just fishing. Where is your lawyer? Don't go anywhere near that place without her."

Wyatt pursed his lips and nodded. "She's meeting me there."

He lowered his gaze for a second, then when he noticed movement, he looked at the line that had started to form outside the van.

"I shouldn't be keeping you," he said and took another step back, making my whole body seize at the thought of leaving him when he was feeling so vulnerable.