Page 28 of The Other Side of Wild
I ran through the day's events, smiling as I recounted our walk to the lighthouse and lunch. Shame coats me as I get to the stupid decision I made. “I couldn’t figure out why I was getting the death stare from his brother all day, so when he was alone, I asked him why...”
Rolling the shot glass back and forth in my hands, I look up at Abby, who looks like she wants to shove a stake through a vampire at the moment. Her jaw is clenched, and her fingers are tensed against her legs, which are crossed at the ankles. This woman would start a war for me, and that means more to me than most things.
“He told me he didn’t want to know me, that I wasn’t good enough for his brother. He said that he didn’t know what my end game was, but he’d figure it out. But I get it, I mean.” I sigh as I squeeze the bun on top of my head. “Greyson’s ex was a nutcase. But the complete dismissal, assuming I’m not enough. God, Abby. It was like sitting in front of my father all over again.” Her jaw cracks with the pressure she’s putting on it.
“What a colossal jacka—” A knock on the front door has both our heads snapping in that direction. My eyes must be the size of the moon; my breathing is choppy at best as I start to panic.
“I’m not here.” I cry as I pull a blanket over my head.
“What do you mean you’re ‘not here?’” She whisper shouts at me, pulling the blanket off of me.
“I may have run out the side gate without saying anything while he and his brother were arguing.” I fly back under the blanket and hold it tight.
“Hannah freakin’ Lowery! You did not!” The knock turns into a bang this time. Followed by a deep voice.
“Hannah, open the door.” It’s not Greyson; it’s Tatum.
Abby, in all her defensive Mama Bear glory, perks up at the realization. “Oh heck yes!! Mama’s got you, little one.” She chuckles; it’s dark and devious. My favorite beast is pissed off Abby when you hurt someone she cares about.
She leaves my door crackedenough that I can hear but closed enough that you can’t see I’m here. “What do you want?” Abby deadpans.
There’s an exasperated sigh. “Can you get your roommate, please?”
“Nope.” It’s blunt, to the point, and no-nonsense.
“I’m assuming you’ve talked to her, considering you were not this pissy when I was here earlier.” His growing annoyance makes me smile. While yes, I understand the hesitation. What I don’t understand is writing someone you don’t know off as having an ulterior motive. I like to think I have a working moral compass.
“Correct.” She takes his normal demeanor and throws it right back at him.
“Damn it, Abby. I need to talk to her; Greyson’s flipping out.”
“Sounds like a personal problem. You know, the oneyoucreated. I don’t know what your issue is, but I’ll be the first to tell you Hannah’s dealt with enough bullies in her life. She’s not going to put up with you too. She’ll just remove herself from the situation, which, news flash, is exactly what she did. So maybe, grow some balls and tell your brother why she ran off instead of feeding him whatever excuse you did to buy yourself enough time to come here looking for her.” With that, she slammed the door, locking it behind her.
She skips back into my room, cracking up when she takes in my shocked face. I launch myself at her, wrapping my arms around her neck. “You’re my hero, Abs.”
Chapter 15 – Greyson
It’s been a full day since Hannah took off like a bat out of Hell from my parents’ house. I don’t have answers, but I have theories. Number one, things got too heavy, too real, too fast. Number two, she’s way more attracted to me than she lets on and doesn’t know what to do with it. But it’s door number three I’m leaning more towards, and that has to do with my brother. He should have been chomping at the bit to tell me he told me so that she was just another attention seeker and was using me for my name, blah blah blah.
Instead, he’s been oddly silent, which speaks volumes. When Tatum James Wilder is right, he gloats hard. So I do what every loving brother would do: I ambush him at practice.
“Hey, broseph.” I sing as I skip towards where he and Zeke are sitting on the end of the bench. His eyes bug out, and his lips pull into a frown.
“What are you doing here?” His voice is as tight as the shorts he’s rocking.
“Can’t I come see my baby bro?” I jaunt, causing Zeke’s eyebrows to shoot up.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go. I don’t need to be in the middle of a Wilder smackdown.” He yells over his shoulder as he walks away.
“Walk and talk, yeah?” I raised an eyebrow, daring him to challenge me. He huffs, throwing his towel down on the bench and getting to his feet. “You know why she left, don’t you?”
“Clearly, you already know, so why ask?” Ding ding ding, Greyson, we have a winner. It is, indeed, door number three!
“I don’t know becauseshe won’t talk to me. She told me we needed to keep our relationship professional and that she couldn’t give me the attention I needed. And since then, I’ve been met with silence. What led me here, though, wasyoursilence. I thought you’d be blowing up my phone about how right you were. So how about you start talking.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother nervous, but right now, with the way his hand is rubbing the back of his neck and his refusal to look at me screams, “I messed up, and you’re going to hate me,” kind of nerves.
“I might have had something to do with it. I tried to fix it last night, and her terrifying pixie of a roommate ripped me a new one. I didn’t know she’d bolt. But better now than later, though, right?” My hand meets the back of his head with a hard smack. The thud is loud in the part of the field we're standing in.