Page 72 of Interference

He nudged me with his elbow. “So what about you? Have you contributed to the collective delinquency of the team’s kids?”

Before I could even try to defend myself, Kelsey, Monica, Chip, and Wilks started talking over each other to regale Wyatt with tales of me being a bad influence.

I exhaled, letting my shoulders fall. “I hate you guys.”

“No you don’t.” Monica grinned. “You love us.”

I flipped her off, which had everyone laughing.

Including Simon, though when I glanced at him, his amusement was obviously—at least to me—forced.

My own amusement fell away, and I focused on eating my dinner. Christ, this was exhausting. I missed being relaxed around him. I missed being me around him.

I missed when being me was enough to make him happy.

Ugh. Is it time to go home yet?

Chapter 18

Wyatt

Nothing would ever compare to the way I’d felt the first time I saw Anthony’s enormous house. That relief and the realization that I really had a place to sleep that night—yeah, nothing beat that.

Still, after Thanksgiving, that house sure was a sight for sore eyes.

Don’t get me wrong—the day had been a blast. I’d loved hanging out with the Bobcats. I’d eaten some amazing food. It had reminded me a lot of holiday celebrations with my Army buddies and their families in my old life.

But I was still relieved it was over, and not for my benefit.

The breath Anthony released as he pulled the Land Rover into the garage spoke of bone-deep exhaustion and relief. Simon side-eyed him from the passenger seat, but he didn’t say anything, and Anthony either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Simon was out of the car before Anthony had even shut off the engine. By the time Lily and I stepped out, the engine of Simon’s SUV was already roaring to life. He didn’t say a word, didn’t give either of us a second look—just backed out and left.

I watched Anthony as Simon drove away, and the fatigue and relief were both coming off him in waves now. As if the self-preservation and stubbornness that had been holding him up all day were finally starting to give. His team wasn’t around anymore, so he didn’t have to pretend he and Simon were okay. Simon wasn’t around, so Anthony didn’t have to keep things civil. That second thing had seemed like a struggle the whole way home; they’d both been dead silent, same as they had this morning, except the silence had been even chillier. In fact, they’d both been a little pricklier around each other ever since they’d gone out to the car to bring in some cases of soda.

I’d spent time pretending I wasn’t screwing someone because neither of us wanted to get in trouble at work. The Army could be weird about those things. But holy shit, I’d never had to pretend I was with someone in order to keep my career on the rails. I didn’t know how he did it, but given the way he was barely holding himself up right now, it clearly wasn’t easy.

“You all right?” I asked.

“I’m good.” He blew out a breath. “Just glad to be…” He gestured toward the empty space where his ex’s car had been.

Yeah, he didn’t need to spell that out. I was glad Simon was gone, too, and I wasn’t the one who had to pretend to like him.

He turned to me. “Did you have a good time?”

“I did.” I smiled, hoping my own fatigue didn’t show. “It was a lot of people, but your teammates and their families are nice.” I chuckled. “And shooting hockey pucks was fun.”

That got a faint laugh out of him, and as he pocketed his keys and hit the button to shut the garage doors, he said, “Yeah, there’s never a dull moment when you get all of us together. Especially if there are sticks and pucks involved.” His smile faded a bit. “It’s a lot more fun when…” He made another gesture toward Simon’s parking space.

“I bet” was all I said.

Anthony exhaled as we started up the steps to the kitchen door. “It is so good to be home.”

I didn’t blame him at all for being this worn down. Even when the conversations had been light, especially over dinner, Anthony had seemed on edge. As much as he’d clearly been trying to convince everyone he was relaxed and happy today, the cracks had shown from the moment Simon had arrived this morning. Throughout the day, they’d been more obvious. I couldn’t tell if he’d been getting more frustrated, or if he’d just been struggling harder to keep the mask in place. Now that he was home and Simon was gone, he seemed to be able to breathe.

He pushed open the kitchen door, and he was immediately greeted by chirping and purring. Bear and Moose both stood on the nearer kitchen island, tails up and backs arched as they kneaded the tile and talked over each other.

In an instant, the tension and fatigue in Anthony melted away. While I busied myself taking off Lily’s vest, he smiled and scratched both of his boys behind their ears. “Hey, guys. Did you miss me?” More purring. More chirping. Moose walked in a circle, almost knocking Bear off the counter. For his part, Bear decided to throw himself down on his side, but he misjudged where he was in relation to the sink. Despite a valiant effort to catch himself, he tumbled into the sink, where he promptly sat down and looked around as if to say, “I meant to do that.”

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