Page 119 of Interference

“I don’t want to see you get traded or waived because we can’t work out a stupid argument,” he’d said, voice full of concern. “We can get through this, Anthony. We’ll be fine. And our careers won’t suffer. Especially yours.”

What a dick.

More and more, I understood that my relationship with Simon was a big part of why I was so concerned about the power imbalance with Wyatt. I was terrified of making him feel the way Simon had made me feel: trapped and powerless.

Clearing the air with Wyatt left me a lot less anxious about things. Knowing he had family and a support network helped, too; he didn’t want to be a burden to them while his father was sick, but at least he had people. If we split up, I’d make sure he had what he needed to get to Portland and stay on his feet, and he’d be close to people who loved him and cared about him.

Now that we had all that out of the way… holy shit, being with Wyatt was amazing. In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we fell into a perfect groove. We watched hockey together. We cooked together. We even started working out together in my home gym on those days when it was too shitty out to take the animals for a long walk.

I’d let him borrow an old laptop so he could apply for jobs, and that also meant we could Skype or Zoom while I was on the road. Or, well, we tried to, anyway; rooming with Simon made that a challenge, but we snagged every chance we could. When Simon was still in the room, we’d instant message or email back and forth.

I loved coming home to my cats excitedly greeting me, but I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed coming home to a person who was happy to see me too. Maybe it was just the honeymoon phase, but there was something to be said for walking in the door and seeing Wyatt’s eyes light up instead of giving me a cursory “oh, it’s you” glance.

The first time Wyatt had a night terror while we were in the same bed, he’d been mortified.

“I’m so sorry,” he’d whispered, still shaking as I held him against me. “I wish I could tell you this doesn’t happen often, but…”

“It’s nothing to be sorry about.” I’d held him closer and kissed the top of his head. “It’s trauma. Not a character flaw.”

He’d sighed heavily and hadn’t said a word. I could read between the lines. He understood it was beyond his control, but he was afraid it would scare me away, or that I’d get tired of it. The next morning, when I’d been bleary-eyed and sucking down coffee, his worry and regret had been written all over his face.

“Wyatt.” I’d wrapped my arms around him and kissed him softly. “I’d much rather lose that sleep than have you going through that alone.”

“I’m not alone.” He’d gestured at Lily, who was sitting beside him.

I’d smiled down at Lily before kissing Wyatt again. “I’m glad you have her. But you have both of us now. I’m not going anywhere because you have nightmares.”

I meant it, too. In fact, I worried about him whenever I was on the road now. He did, however, have Lily, and I reminded myself that she was great about waking him up and cuddling with him until the shaking stopped.

With or without his nightmares, I wouldn’t have traded sleeping next to him for the world. I didn’t know what I felt for him yet. Where this was going. How much staying power it had.

But day after day, night after night, I was happily drawn to him. I couldn’t get enough of the sex. Of the closeness. Of the easy conversations and comfortable vibe.

It was way too soon to call this thing love.

But day after day, night after night…

I fell just a little harder for Wyatt.

Chapter 34

Wyatt

December flew by, and before I knew it, Anthony was off for Christmas. Which meant the kitties had a babysitter and we were off to Oregon to see my family.

The drive to Portland wasn’t bad. It was about three hours—closer to four in traffic—but it was fairly scenic in places, especially in that long stretch between Olympia and the state line.

Riding beside Anthony in his Land Rover definitely wasn’t a chore. He had on a pair of wraparound sunglasses, and he was relaxed in the driver seat even when traffic slowed to a grind. For as hot-tempered as he could be on the ice, he was chill as could be on the road, sipping a giant coffee and shooting the shit with me while we crawled down I-5.

As we inched through gridlock in Tacoma, he gestured over his shoulder. “Let me know if she needs to stop. There are some rest areas after we get past Olympia, but I can find a place if she needs it.”

“She’ll be fine.” I glanced back at Lily, who was lying across the backseat, relaxed but alert. “Must be nice having a ton of space back there, huh, baby?”

Her tail thumped on the seat.

Anthony laughed. “Yeah, it probably gets a little crowded when she’s sharing it with the boys.”

“Only because you have two enormous cats.”

---