Page 82 of Saving Wyatt

“You don’t have to tell me I screwed up. I know it very well,” I said.

“Do you, though?” Teddy asked.

Parker glanced at him. Slade dropped his head and sighed, Azrael closed his eyes and mumbled something under his breath, probably a prayer. I wasn’t one for faith, but a little miracle right about now wouldn’t hurt.

“What do you think?” I told Teddy.

There was no anger in my tone, but he flinched anyway, and how could I blame him? He’d brought a kid here under my instruction, and ever since there hadn’t been a moment of peace and quiet in our lives. He had every right to be mad at me. They all had. And I didn’t know what to do with myself because of it.

“I think you’ve lost your goddamn mind somewhere along the line and you brought us down with you,” Teddy snapped before King appeared from the hallway and grimaced.

“You guys, stop that! This wasn’t Wyatt’s fault. It was my stupid brother’s. And mine for trusting he’d be able to deal with it on his own,” he said and stood almost in between Teddy and me.

“But Wyatt should know better,” Teddy insisted.

“Or at the very least tell us so we could be there to prevent this shit show,” Dare said.

“Yeah. Maybe if we had been there, none of this would have happened,” Parker added.

I closed my eyes but for a moment and took a deep breath. If only the ground could open up and swallow me right about now.

I couldn’t handle this. Not anymore. I couldn’t handle this guilt, this shame, this…disaster I’d caused.

When I opened them again, Ari was there, standing in the hallway like King had a few moments ago and staring deep down into my eyes. So many mistakes. I’d made so many mistakes, yet he wasn’t one of them. That much I knew.

“What you did has put us into even more danger. Can’t you see that?”

“Trust me, Teddy.” I turned to him. “If I could change everything, I would. In a heartbeat.”

“I wouldn’t,” Slade said and opened his arms to receive King.

“How can you say that?” Teddy asked him.

“Because, then we wouldn’t have reunited,” Slade said and King nodded.

“Oh, come on!” Teddy exclaimed.

“Are you seriously wishing Wyatt hadn’t invited you all here?”

I looked around the guys, trying to find who had spoken, but it was none other than the man who had stolen my mind and heart, one kiss at a time.

Everyone turned to look at Ari.

“Do you seriously wish that? You’d have never met Wesley. And you, you wouldn’t have Hwan and a kid waiting for you at home,” he said, glancing at Parker. “And you wouldn’t have Zach,” he told Dare. “How can you put so much blame on Wyatt when his very invitation brought you all here and helped you find your special someone?”

“Ari, I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t understand—” Teddy started to say, but Ari didn’t back down.

I held my breath the whole time he spoke.

“Oh, I understand. You’re all happy with your lives, you just wish you weren’t in danger, and instead of throwing the blame at the person responsible, you’re casting blame on the wrong guy. Has he made mistakes? Sure. Show me one of you who hasn’t. Wyatt clearly underestimated who and what you were up against. But that’s his only sin. So instead of bitching about the man who brought you all together, how about you focus on the guy who has made your lives and those of the people on this island a misery?”

Everyone stared at him but no one piped up. No one argued with him.

“Something terrible happened tonight. Three guys lost their lives and King’s brother almost died, and none of this is Wyatt’s fault. It’s Wilson’s. And we need to bring that man down.”

“It’s not that easy,” Parker said, but Ari pursed his lips and glared at him.

“I never said it was, but we can only deal with this threat if we all put our minds together and figure this shit out. Not if we’re attacking one another, “Ari replied. “You know, there’s a phrase in Greek. We’re on the dance floor, now we have to dance. So let’s fucking dance. Let’s make sure that motherfucker doesn’t hurt any one of you or your families.”