Page 21 of Dare (Fighting Fate)

Waving him off, I nodded. “Of course not. I’ll wait,” I said, happy to have the time to get my thoughts in order. I still didn’t know what I was going to say.

As he disappeared into the bathroom, I started slowly pacing the length of his room. I wasn’t sure if I should just come right out and ask him why Zac had been at my apartment or not. I didn’t want to put myself at a disadvantage. I wanted to do this the smart way.

Frustrated by my inability to make a decision, I sank down on the side of Wyatt’s bed. What it came down to, was whether I trusted Wyatt or not. Maybe Zac had simply been there to give Wyatt some news. Maybe that’s why he’d left a few minutes later. It was entirely possible for there to be a very logical explanation for the whole thing.

Internally, I groaned. That still didn’t explain why I’d been so out of it. I didn’t care how potent those two drinks had been, they couldn’t have been so bad they knocked me into a coma-like state for eight hours. Alcohol couldn’t have done that on its own.

So, what did I ask him? And what did I do if he blatantly lied to my face? Okay, first, I just needed to calm the fuck down. There was no point in thinking about a multitude of scenarios and planning any course of action until I heard what he had to say. I could do this.

Shaking my hands out, I squealed when I accidentally knocked a pile of poker chips off the table. “Shit.”

Dropping onto my hands and knees, I started gathering them all up and dumping them back where they were. Tension was building so high inside me, it was almost suffocating me. Ducking my head, I reached for a few coins that had rolled under the bed, my movements pausing when my gaze caught something weird.

Sitting back on my haunches, I pulled the magazines out from their hiding place and gaped at the images on the cover. I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, but none of it seemed to reconcile with what my brain knew to be fact. Shifting the top magazine aside, I scanned the cover of the next, finding the same kind of compromising pictures on its cover as well. Then the next, and the next.

Confusion blurred everything I believed in. But at the same time, it seemed to make so much sense. The type of magazine wasn’t a surprise. Not even by a long shot. Every guy I knew had immersed themselves in some kind of porn at least once in their life. But no one I knew—no heterosexual guy I knew—was into gay porn.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped at the sound of Wyatt’s voice. Crap. I gazed up at him from my position on the floor, my mouth opening and closing with no clue of what to say. Glancing down at the magazines still clutched in my hands, I tried to think, but the anger that was molding his face made me mute.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, his tone bordering on livid.

“I’m sorry,” was all my brain could come up with. “I knocked your wallet off the table. I wasn’t snooping.”

Snatching the magazines from me, he shuffled through them, his jaw tightening. “These aren’t mine,” he bit out, with what sounded a lot like hatred in his voice. “Why would I have gay porn, Jess?”

I stumbled to my feet. “I don’t know,” I said, trying to think. “I mean, it doesn’t matter—”

He strode across the room and dumped them in the trash. “Of course it matters! That shit is disgusting. I don’t know who the fuck put them under my bed, but if I find out, I’m going to beat the shit out of them.”

I frowned as I watched him rant. I couldn’t help but think he was overreacting. In a major way. It was only porn, for crying out loud. Who cared if it was guys or girls, or any other combination? I certainly didn’t.

“Wyatt,” I started. There were so many things that seemed to be wrong right now. “Why was Zac at my apartment last night?”

Wyatt’s face instantly went blank. That was when I knew. From this moment on, it didn’t matter what came out his mouth. I knew I wouldn’t be getting the truth.

He searched my face with such an intensity, I was almost scared. “I thought you were asleep?” he said quietly.

Instincts told me to lie—to tell him I’d been partially awake, but it wasn’t in my nature. “I was. Someone mentioned seeing him leave this morning,” I said, watching his every reaction. “Why was he there?”

Relief flashed in his eyes. It was quick—almost too fast to catch—but I saw it. His whole body relaxed as he gave me an easy smile. “He’d been trying to call me to tell me his brother was in the hospital, and when I didn’t answer, he decided to come find me.”

I blinked. “Oh, are you close to him? Is he all right?”

Wyatt sighed. “Yeah, he’s okay. He was in a minor car accident. Zac was worried. That’s why he came to see me.”

Sympathy and understanding started spreading through me, but I held it at arm’s length. Something still wasn’t sitting right. He’d seemed so worried when he thought I’d been awake when Zac had come. There was definitely more to what he was telling me.

As I searched his gaze for the answers to all my confusion, I found the beginning of a thread of sense. Straightening my shirt, I drew in a slow, steadying breath. Mentally, I took a step back, away from the center of the problem, and as I did, I realized those weren’t the questions that mattered. The only question I needed to worry myself with, was whether I wanted to continue on this path with Wyatt. And I didn’t have to search for long before I had my answer.

“Wyatt,” I said, clasping my hands together in front of me, “you’re a nice guy, and I know you’re going to be a success with everything you do, but your goals—the plans you have for your future—they’re not me. They’re not the kind of goals I have for myself. It’s just not the kind of life I want.” The confusion on his face grew with every word I spoke. I sighed. Th

is sucked. “I think it would be for the best if we didn’t see each other anymore.”

Disdain fell over his features. “Is it the magazines, Jess? Because I told you they weren’t mine.”

“What? No, of course not,” I said, confused with his rationalization. “I don’t care about the magazines, Wyatt. We’re just too different. You have these dreams of becoming this big-time lawyer, living this extravagant life amongst people of great importance. It’s just not the vision I have for myself. I’m happy with my quiet little life. I just want to settle down, go to work, hang out with my friends on the weekends, and snuggle on the couch watching a movie at night.”

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