Page 18 of Saving Wyatt

"How are you feeling? Do you need..." I started, and he stopped to look back at me, "someone to talk to? What you're going through can't be easy."

His lips parted ever so slightly as he considered my offer then closed with a determined clench and a huff.

"Thank you, but I'm okay. You've got people that genuinely need your help." He pointed at my patients. "You're doing a great thing for Mayberry Holm. These people really need you and what you're offering."

What about him? Did he need me too?

"I'm here if you change your mind. I might work with needles but I'm a great listener too."

He offered me a trace of a smile, one that didn't quite reach his stoic gaze, and backed away with a single, firm wave. "I'm sure you are," he said and left me all alone to tend to the people in need of my help, yet the only one I wanted to help in that moment was the man with the haunted smile and bright blue eyes.

"Shit. So sorry, Ari," I heard Warren behind me, and I shook my head.

What was I doing thinking this way? I was a married man, for crying out loud. A widower, sure, but…that hadn’t mattered all these years. Why would that technicality matter now? I was a devoted man. Besides, Wyatt was Warren's brother, and the last thing I needed was to do something irrational and so unlike me and fuck our friendship. Or fuck up their relationship.

Every which way I looked at it, it would be a disaster.

I bit my lip, tucking away every sinful thought of Wyatt with rage. Rage that pulsed inside me. And with said rage, I turned to face my best friend, forgetting his brother, if only for a moment.

SEVEN

WYATT

My mind had been so on edge all morning after receiving the call from Dakota Mitchell that I hadn't been able to eat or drink anything. I hadn't been able to sit or breathe or…

Bumping into Ari were the only moments that gave me some relief.

The man was a thing of beauty. A work of art. And his work was even more beautiful. It was impossible to worry about anything else when he was standing right in front of me, all sexy and masculine. But I had to be careful. It was easy to forget myself around him, especially when he'd been possessing my every waking thought since I met him.

I had to be careful. I couldn't forget myself with everything going on on the island, and I especially couldn’t forget myself with Ari. He was my brother's friend. That was dangerous territory that could unleash all my secrets if I wasn't careful.

That didn't mean I couldn't think of him, though. It had become clear to me since I met him that even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop.

His beautiful smile, the bright, chocolate eyes, and his sexy face were a welcome distraction on my way to the station. Yet the farther I got from him and the closer to the station, the less I could focus on him and not the situation I’d gotten myself into.

I had no idea what they had on me, if anything. And no idea if Salieri had worked his influence on those people to put me behind bars with fake evidence.

And who knew what kind of shit he'd unleash on me next.

Whatever it was, I deserved it.

I hung back outside the station, waiting for Camille to arrive, when I noticed someone watching me. I tensed and stared harder at the figure trying—and failing—to hide behind a tree.

Great. Now he had people following me?

I started walking in his direction when he peeked at me from his hideout, and I stopped in my tracks.

"Elliot?"

I watched as the young boy came out of hiding, and I approached him. His head shrunk further and further between his shoulders the closer I got.

"What are you doing here? Why are you following me?"

I put my hand on him, and he flinched but looked up at me with his big, innocent eyes.

"I...I heard your call. I...I wanted to come with you."

I blinked. "What? Why?"