Page 25 of A Little Bit Reckless
His jaw moved. “Yeah, it’s me.”
I had no idea what was going on here, but his acknowledgement of her name for him caused her to waver on the ledge again. I saw thatsomethingflash on Wells’s chiseled features again, and my heart felt too big for my chest with its rapid beat. I physically squeezed my fists not to run, grab. If I spooked her, and she fell…
That same conflict Wells was obviously feeling as well, because his fists also tightened. It was like he was doing everything he could to stay in place. He wet his lips. “It is me, and I need you to come down from there,” he said, then eyed me. “I need you to let the kid help you.”
I was closer.
All my friends called me the kid. It was a nickname my brother, Ares, gave me, but Wells stopped acknowledging me at all when things started happening between us.
He stopped being my friend.
A lot had changed between us recently, but, when it counted, we had each other’s backs, and the asshole and I needed each other right now. We needed to get Bow down, and she apparently needed Wells’s words.
I knew that because she let me help her off the edge.
Bow allowed me to come closer, nodding at me, and I didn’t hesitate before approaching and taking her hand. Bow squatted in her pleated skirt and tights, and I slid my arms beneath her. I took her off that ledge damsel-style and didn’t return her to the ground. I didn’t trust she’d stay there on her own, but, also, I was selfish.
It was Bow’s heat, and her remarkable ability to smell like an entire bakery. I brought my best friend’s sister close, and, when I passed Wells, I studied him. He didn’t say another word before pivoting and leading us all out of the room, then out of the party. I didn’t put Bow down, even after we all left.
I guess I couldn’t.
CHAPTER
TEN
Bru
My phone was blowing up by the time we got back to the house I shared with my friends. Wells’s and Bow’s phones were, too.
Our friends had seen the video.
Wells, Bow, and I got the video from completely different sources. Then, the three of us started hearing from our actual friends. I heard from my sister, Sloane, my brother, Ares, and the other guys. Thatcher was furious. The only reason he hadn’t come to the party was because I texted him that Wells and I were on our way to Legacy House with Bow.
Everyone was there.
Dorian, Sloane, Ares, and Fawn all sat on the couch. Thatcher was in an easy chair, but he leapt from it the moment Wells, Bow, and I entered the house. It was all I could do to convince Bow to come home with us. She shouldn’t be alone right now, and she was achingly quiet in the backseat of my Audi. Wells and I hadn’t bothered her, and I wouldn’t have let Wells, even if he wanted to give her a hard time. Bow looked miserable and defeated as she stared drearily out the window, her head against the glass.
“The hell were you thinking, Bow?” Thatcher barked at her. The rest of the gang was right behind him, but he’d gotten to the front door first. His face blazed in color. “Have you lost your mind? You could have killed yourself.”
“Thatcher, back off.” If Sloane hadn’t said that, I would have. It wasn’t helping the situation, and I was sure Bow already felt like shit. Both physically and emotionally. She wouldn’t look at Wells or me in the car.
“I don’t want you here…”
Bow’s voice played in my head still. She hadn’t wanted me there, and I’d be a fool if I didn’t think her drunk moment had anything to do with me.
She drank tonight, and she mentioned people not liking her. Had she meant me? She might have. She had to have.
As if she knew my thoughts, Bow finally made eye contact with me. She winced, the contact brief, and I felt like I was going to throw up. This was my fault, and I opened my mouth to say that to the group that was now surrounding her. Our friends (as helpful as they were trying to be) crowded her, and I entered the circle. I got in front of Bow and held a hand out toward our friends. “Actually, guys, what happened tonight was?—”
“Completely my fault.”
I turned around, and the group’s attention drifted away from Bow.Bow’sattention drifted away from Bow, and she blinked in Wells’s direction.
I did too, confused, and not for the first time. Truth be told, Wells Ambrose was more than a head fuck. He was confusing as shit and often sent mixed signals. It was just something I was starting to pick up on about him, but his latest head trip had involved Bow tonight. He’d gotten her to get off that banister. He’d gotten herto come to me, and that hadn’t made sense.
Wells slid his hands into his pockets, and, though the attention was all on him, he kept his sight on Thatcher. He approached Thatch. “Tonight was on me, bro.”
“What do you mean?” Thatcher asked him. He tucked his thick hands under his armpits, confusion lacing his wrinkled brow.
