Page 29 of Make Me Stay

Annoyed at myself, I sat down on the grass and took a long pull on the bottle.

Cash sat beside me. “This isn’t about being home, is it?”

I sighed. “Not all of it.” I looked around at the manicured grass and kid junk lined up along the bushes. This could be my yard with Lex. Our kid junk. Or our pool full of blow-up animals and floaties. “Shit.” I flopped onto my back.

“I mean, we can’t go from working to sunbathing, jackass.”

I laughed, then sat up and finished my bottle. “I’m in love with Lexi.”

“Oh.” Cash cackled. “That’s your problem? A girl?”

“Not just any girl. She makes me want more.”

“It’s called growing up. What does Wyatt say?”

I averted my gaze.

Cash glanced over at where Wyatt was pouring cement into the posts for the deck. “Yeah, I’d fix that up and with the quickness.”

Wyatt knew me too well. As much as my brothers, if not more. “He’s going to kill me.”

“Luckily, we don’t have sisters. Not sure if I’d be cool with anyone touching her, let alone you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Cash grinned and pushed me over. “Kidding. Mostly.” He got up and held out a hand to me.

I let him pull me up and got back to work.

When four o’clock rolled around and we were cleaning up, I finally got up the nerve to talk to my best friend. If I wanted to actually make things work with Lex, I needed to go to him first. Cash glanced from me to Wyatt with a frown. I waved him off. He shrugged and I crossed the lawn to Wyatt.

He was smiling at his phone when I caught up to him.

“Hey, Wyatt, hold up.”

He glanced up, his smile fading. “You done avoiding me?”

I cracked my knuckles then shoved my hands in my pockets. “What were you smiling about?”

“Just not going to answer my question?”

I sighed. “Why I’m over here.”

He stuffed his phone in his back pocket and crossed his arms, saying nothing.

“Me and Lex are?—”

The swing came out of nowhere and put me on my ass.

Wyatt loomed over me, his hands still fisted.

“Fuck, Wy, I didn’t even say anything.”

“You’re fucking my sister.”

I rolled onto my knees and got up, holding my arm up against another swing before I could get to my feet. “Wait, wait.”

“She’s been snippy all week and you go missing. Connecting the dots is damn easy with that guilty look on your face.”

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