Page 42 of Concealed

I enjoy flirting with him – well, trying to – and being desired by him. Anything intimate between us would be on a highway to nowhere, but maybe that’s exactly the vehicle to jump inside for a while.

Sometimes, you just need to get lost in an unfamiliar destination.

I don’t want to be defined by Matt or my past. I don’t want to be the girl Matt transformed me into anymore, or the shell of a person I was in his presence.

And Wyatt makes me believe that I can break free from the mental chains for good.

Wyatt seesme, not a victim.

When my phone dings, I expect it to be the man dominating my thoughts since he’s the only one who talks to me.

But when I stop in the middle of grating cheese to read the message, it’s an email from my Vegas best friend.

Rebecca,

I haven’t heard from you in way too long. I’ve called and texted so many times, but now I’m getting a message that your phone is disconnected. Please write back to me and let me know that you’re safe.

I understand what’s going on – at least I think I do – and I am so proud of you for leaving that asshole. But… Where are you? Are you okay? I’m thinking about you and miss you like crazy.

Alex

Emotion burns my throat, and I’m desperate to reach out to the only friend I have left. But I can’t. Matt knows about our friendship. Keeping my whereabouts a secret from Alex means that she can’t get tripped up on a lie.

She truly has no clue about my new life.

Matt has taken so much from me, and I have no idea when it will be safe to reach out to people from my past. In six months? A year? Or maybe when Matt gets a new girlfriend?

Now that I’m back in my home state, I want nothing more than to visit my family, but I can’t put a neon target on them. Matt could easily find the house I grew up in if he was so inclined, and it would be a bad scene that I wouldn’t want them to witness if he found me there.

Gabe is warning my family that Matt could show up, and he’s advising them how to handle it if he does. But Gabe is also under strict orders to keep my new location a secret, even from the people I love the most in the world.

I’m invisible.

To everyone except Wyatt.

Today is the first day that my bruises aren’t visible. My body is almost healed, but my mental health still has a long way to go.

Every decision I make, I’m still considering Matt. But this time, I’m not trying to make him happy. That’s a lost cause. I’m just trying to stay alive and, most importantly, hidden.

When the now-familiar sound of Wyatt’s key hits the lock, excitement swells in my chest like the first drop on a rollercoaster.

He walks inside and gives me his slow, sexy grin that makes my insides turn to mush. I’ve missed him like crazy, and when his grin gets bigger, I realize that I’ve said it out loud.

Smooth.

Very smooth.

Well, might as well go for broke now.

“Do you want to watch The Bachelor with me?” I ask. “I made nachos, and you’ll get to eat them hot.”

“I’d love to. That sounds like a perfect evening, minus The Bachelor part.”

I giggle. “You can choose something else if you want.”

His back is so broad, and watching him is becoming one of my greatest joys. He’s headed toward the gun safe, and I keep my gaze on him as he goes through his coming home ritual. His muscles bunch with every movement and, damn, he looks sexy in that uniform.

So sexy that my knees actually wobble.

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