Page 48 of Untamed

I take one of the four-wheelers over to Rhett’s place since I have tools and shit to haul over, and it really doesn’t take but a few minutes to get there. But the entire way over, I’m just thinking about how I’ve left River in my bed. Took all my strength to not blow off workin’ today just to crawl back in bed with her.

She sat up and looked at me, surprise in her eyes like she didn’t quite expect to be in my room still. Her black hair was sticking up everywhere, and I couldn’t stop looking at the way the shadows around the room played on her body.

And when she asked me if I was having second thoughts… I could’ve handled that better. But I couldn’t help but laugh at the suggestion. Me. Have second thoughts. About River fucking Larson. Never in a million years.

I may be a man who makes some rash decisions in life, but she is not one of them. I’ve had twelve years to get my shit together, think about what I did, and realize that River isn’t someone I can lose a second time. Not only can I not lose her friendship, but I can’t lose her love.

So that means there’s no way in hell I would second-guess the decision to be with her. From the second I decided to walk into that restaurant and she turned her angry eyes on me, I knew this was the right thing to do. May not have been the best way to go about things, but got me to where I wanted to be in the end.

But I do realize my laughter and playful nature in that moment probably wasn’t the best move. I’ll have to make sure I properly quell her anxieties later. I shouldn’t have laughed or made a joke out of it, and I’ll make that right when she comes over to Rhett’s.

“So…” Wells trails off as he takes a break from hammering boards.

“So?” I ask, looking in his direction. “What can I help you with, little brother?”

“Didn’t see you at dinner yesterday evenin’.” Rhett’s gruff voice cuts into Wells’ procrastinating. Very much like Rhett to just cut to the chase. “Or River at the bar last night.”

“Heard about a little public display of affection…” Wells is fighting back a grin.

“Yeah, I may have momentarily lost my goddamn mind yesterday.”

That gets both Rhett and Wells laughing.

“Your woman will do that to ya,” Rhett says, his rare smile lingering on his face. Didn’t used to be rare. Back when we were growin’ up, I feel like he was smiling and laughing more than any of us, always cracking jokes and goofing off. I guess Dean and Addie really put a damper on all that.

“I’m guessin’ you took her straight back to your house, then? Seeing as you also weren’t at the bar.”

I look over to Wells and nod, a stupid grin flooding my face.“You’ve no idea how happy it makes me to say she’s in my bed right now.” My goofy grin keeps getting bigger.

“She see all those pictures of herself in your house?” Rhett asks.

“There’s literally, like, two. You make it sound as if I have a shrine in my closet like Helga from Hey Arnold!”

I get an amused grunt in response.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy.” Wells comes up next to me and gives me a hard squeeze on the shoulder. “Don’t fuck it up.”

“You work through your shit with her?” Wells and I both look over at Rhett. He’s watching me closely, his eyes narrowed like he means business.

“We did,” I tell him. Because we have. “For the most part anyway.”

I don’t know why I say it out loud. This has not been something that’s played on my mind every minute of every day. It’s not an issue. Not a really big one anyway. It’s just something that’s been lurking in the back of my mind since she came back to town, since we started looking each other’s way again.

“For the most part?” Wells turns to me with a confused look.

“Look, it’s not that big of a deal. I don’t know why I even said anything. Forget it.” I wipe the sweat from my brow and try to get back to work.

I should’ve known by calling it not that big of a deal that Rhett and Wells would immediately make it a big deal.

“If you’re mentioning it, then it means something,” Wells says.

“And by not talking about it, it just becomes a very large elephant in a very small room,” Rhett adds. He sits down on one of the folding chairs next to the skeleton of a deck. “So spill, little brother.”

“He’s the littlest.” I point at Wells.

“And you’re littler than me. That makes you little. Stop deflecting.”

I roll my eyes.

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