Page 86 of Finding Their Place

“Honest to God, I thought I was doing the right thing for both of you—that’s why I left last night after you fell asleep.”

Garrett finally gave me his eyes for longer than the span of a heartbeat, and the pain in their depths hit my chest like a goddamn fist. “If you had been there this morning rather than rushing out like a know-it-all, things probably would have gone differently.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“I looked for you within seconds of waking. Haley even pulled away from me to check when I said you’d taken off.”

His words swirled through my brain, but I couldn’t make sense of them. “You both finally had each other where you wanted the other and you worried over my absence?”

“Yeah, you stupid fuck.” Garrett’s focus returned to the TV while I stared at him.

Fucking hell.

Haley had kicked him out of their home, leaving Garrett desolate—how much more would she do to me for having caused their breakup, never mind taking off without a word. She would see it as abandonment—the woman had to hate me.

I cleared my throat, but it didn’t ease the tightness trying to stop my lungs from inflating. “Want a beer?”

“Yeah, sure,” he muttered.

I grabbed two cold ones from the fridge, unsure and feeling utterly helpless.

My fingers brushed against Garrett’s when I handed him his beer, and both of us lifted our gazes to each other’s eyes. Sexual energy zapped between us, a magnetic draw, regardless of the heaviness on our minds and hearts.

I looked away first and settled on the other end of the couch again.

We watched the game in silence, as though of the same mind—wanting to escape our hurt.

Eventually, we fell into typical fandom headspace, complaining about bullshit calls and high-fiving when Garcia hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead.

“So did you learn anything about your real parents?” Garrett asked when the game went to commercial break.

On my third beer, I felt a shit ton more relaxed, wondering at my lack of anger over the reminder.

I told Garrett about my getting in touch with and hiring Higgins and my call to my adoptive parents the day before, everything that had led up to me heading to their apartment.

“You okay?” he asked quietly, those dark eyes of his on my face and full of empathy.

Blowing out a heavy breath, I nodded. “I just really need answers, you know? Maybe then I won’t feel unwanted and misplaced. Fucking betrayed.”

He scrubbed a hand down over his face and stubble, and I inwardly cringed, hating that I caused him more pain by not thinking my word choice through.

“From what Haley told me, it sounds like Tina and Lionel definitely love you,” he said rather than focusing on the lies that had torn him and Haley apart. “They wanted you, Wyatt. And from what you’ve told me about their texts, they still do.”

I nodded again, reluctantly, my heart and thoughts torn in two—same as they were for him and Haley. “It just…doesn’t feel the same as when I was an ignorant kid.”

“I know what you mean.”

Our gazes held for a few seconds, far from uncomfortable, the heat from earlier on the back burner as that connection I’d felt with him on our first meeting fixed firmly into place once more between us.

“Even though the results of last night’s little…affair sucked,” Garrett finally said, “I’m glad I’m here. With you. Not driving my miserable ass back to grandparents who took on the burden of raising me.”

I wanted to haul him into my arms but held out my bottle instead. “Me too.”

We clinked the glass necks together and sat back to watch the rest of the game.

Garrett went into the office to sleep before I hauled my ass up off the couch, and I listened as he settled in for the night.

Having accepted his presence in my home, the attraction and want I still had for him, and the fact he started working for me bright and early the next morning, I decided to reach out to Haley.

---