Page 99 of Saving Wyatt

I finished my beer and leaned back on the chair, closed my eyes, and tried to get some shut-eye. Yet as soon as I closed my eyes, my heart started pounding in my chest. So did my temples. My entire body pulsed, making me sweat.

I wouldn’t be able to rest. Not until Wilson was toast. I would never be at peace as long as he was at large.

As expected, sleeping proved impossible, and even the times I drifted off—an after-effect of the pain and the pain meds—it was only for a few minutes at a time, and every time I woke up, I felt worse than the last, until it was finally time to get up and act.

After breakfast was served, with the help of Joey, Dare, and Hwan, we went through the plan again and split up into teams before heading out.

By the time I came out of the house, the driveway in front of Duke’s sanctuary was empty, save for Warren’s car.

“Are you ready?” he asked and put his arm around my shoulders.

“Ready for this to be over, yeah.” I looked behind me, but the door was closed and no one else came out. “Where is your friend?”

Warren raised an eyebrow. “You mean Ari?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Him,” I muttered, and I felt like an idiot.

“I sent your boyfriend with Hwan,” he said. My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “I thought the fewer distractions you have right now, the better.”

I opened my mouth to deny him, to deny the title he’d given Ari, but I didn’t have the heart to. I couldn’t reject him like that. Besides, it would be pointless to, considering Warren knew about me.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“What for?”

I shrugged. “I’m just sorry.”

Warren squeezed my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “You don’t have to be sorry, you know? There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“It feels like there is. I can’t even talk about it, even though I know you know. I’m just going to disappoint him. And you. And everyone.”

“Why? How?” He let go and stood opposite me now, and I almost felt like I was being interrogated.

“Because…I’m just constantly scared. Scared of screwing it up, scared of coming out, scared of what people might say. It’s bound to happen. That he’ll realize I’m not good for him and I’m only making his life worse.”

“Did you love Dare?” he asked, and I sucked in a big breath. I never talked about my past with anyone. It felt…strange. Terrifying.

“Of course.”

“And what happened?”

“I lost him.”

“No,” he said. “You couldn’t commit. You let your fear rule you. If you don’t want to ruin things with Ari, you just have to commit. Is that so hard?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

“Look. I can’t pretend to know or understand how you feel or how this whole thing feels for someone like you. But if it were me, the only thing that would matter was whether I can imagine my life without that person. Can you? Can you stand to lose another person because you are afraid of what some strangers that are neither paying your bills, nor are relevant to your life might say?”

I breathed in and shook my head. Warren patted my shoulder again and moved toward his car.

It was easier said than done, but he was right. I couldn’t imagine losing Ari too. Not over something so…trivial. Trivial when there was the very real threat of Wilson over our heads.

“You coming?” he asked before he got into the driver’s seat, and I sprang into motion again.

The ride to the town center was long, and at some point, we had to ditch the cars and continue on foot. People had come to Mayberry in droves for Winterfest, just an old excuse to bring the tourists back after the Christmas period. It was nowhere near as busy as it had been in December, but with most of the roads leading to town closed off for the stalls and booths set up, it felt busy.

This was either going to be to our benefit or our detriment. We met the others, the Alpha team, though we didn’t have earpieces or weapons on us—well, none visible, anyway—and we got into position near the stage where a crowd had already started to gather.