“You’re the youngest?” I asked, somewhat surprised. All the Brody brothers looked fairly similar in age, but I had assumed, perhaps due to his size, that Wyatt was at least the middle brother.
“All my life,” he grinned with a nod. “What, did you think I was older than Ash?”
“Well, older than Reid, at least.”
“That’s just because of his bad attitude,” Wyatt chuckled. “But yeah, I’m the youngest and not a day goes by that those two let me forget it.”
I let out a wry laugh of my own. I knew exactly what he meant. “Sometimes I feel like I grew up with three mothers.”
And just like that, all the tension that either of us had felt from earlier seemed to disappear, and we spent the rest of the ride comparing sibling horror stories. I think we even spent another few minutes talking after we had stopped back at the entrance again, and it wasn’t until the ride operator cleared his throat to get our attention that we realized we had to get off.
“Geez, it’s not like there’s a line of people waiting,” Wyatt grumbled, shooting the man a glare as he aided me out of the boat. This time, though, he didn’t let go of my hand after helping me. I didn’t object.
We walked slowly away from the Tunnel of Love, quiet now, as if both of us were afraid that by speaking we’d draw attention to the fact that we were still holding hands. I’m sure my sisters, Hannah at least, would laugh at me for putting so much stock into such a simple thing. But both of them had more experience with boys than I did, even if it was fairly limited in Sarah’s case. I’d never gotten close to anyone back home. Certainly no one I had held hands with in more than a playful scenario.
It probably meant very little to Wyatt. He was English, after all. He came from a land where they build tunnels specifically for the purposes of young couples to be alone together and likely do more than hold hands. I blushed as I imagined Wyatt and myself riding again, but this time when the ride was first built. When the water was clear, and the tunnel was dark. What would we have done? Would he have tried to kiss me? Would I have let him? I could feel my cheeks continue to heat up at the thought. I came on Rumspringa to experience new things, but was I ready for something like that? Even though it was just a fantasy, I could feel my stomach tighten nervously, and hoped that Wyatt didn’t notice my palms starting to sweat.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said suddenly, relieving me with the change of subject, even if he was unaware of what I’d been thinking about. “About the fight tent. Taking you there was stupid.”
“I overreacted,” I admitted in an attempt to let him know I wasn’t still angry about it. “It was just… surprising. Why were those men fighting? And why were so many watching and not stopping it?”
“Well, they were there to watch them fight, that’s what they paid to see. It’s just a form of entertainment. Like boxing, but without the gloves and with less rules.”
“What’s boxing?”
Wyatt groaned, but he also laughed. “I have so much to explain.”
“Do you do stuff like that? Fight for… entertainment?”
Wyatt didn’t say anything for a moment, so I looked over at him. “Yeah, sometimes,” he admitted. “I guess that makes me a maniac, too.”
I kept walking, my eyes focused on the uneven dirt path ahead of me as I collected my thoughts, trying to decide my feelings on the subject.
“No,” I finally said. “I left my village because I’m used to a very specific way of life, and I know that it’s a way of life that is not shared by the majority of people in the world. So I left to learn more about the outside world. This world. Your world. I can’t do that by judging everything that’s different before giving it a chance. If I do, I might as well not have left at all.”
“I get it,” he said, giving my hand a little squeeze. I squeezed him back in response, and then smiled at doing so.
“Hey look, there’s your sister,” Wyatt said suddenly, releasing my hand to point out in the distance. “Getting onto the Ferris wheel.”
I looked in the direction he was pointing, and though I had no idea what a Ferris wheel was, it wasn’t hard to figure out. Ahead of us was a massive circular structure, like a wheel, with little metal cages hanging from it at spaced out intervals. Below, Sarah was just getting into one of the boxes with Wyatt’s brother Reid. I was at once both terrified for and proud of my sister.
“Let’s go wait for them.” Grabbing my hand again, Wyatt led me along until we were both standing at the bottom of the huge structure. Sarah and Reid were already gone, as each time people got into one of the metal boxes, the wheel began to turn, lifting them away and into the sky. I imagined Sarah must be terrified. The highest off the ground she’d ever been was when she’d climbed that tree back home and then couldn’t get herself down again.
“Do you think this is something you’d like to try?” Wyatt asked, giving my hand another little squeeze.
“It seems a bit scary,” I noted, my neck bent back as I looked up at the top, trying to figure out which one of the little boxes Sarah was in.
“Don’t you trust me to keep you safe?”
“How do you suppose you would keep me safe if we fell from the sky in one of those cages?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.
“Well, I’d let you use my body to break your fall, for starters,” he grinned.
I smiled back, until I actually imagined the idea of lying against his body and then I had to turn away to hide my latest blush. What was coming over me? It must have been because we were still holding hands, causing these forbidden thoughts and desires to pop so randomly into my head. I needed a moment to compose myself. Spying the sign for a restroom not far from where we stood, I asked Wyatt if I could go.
“You don’t need my permission,” he laughed.
Quickly I hurried away before I embarrassed myself even more.
Once I was inside and safely away from his eyes, I stood in front of the mirror for a few moments, staring at myself. You came for adventure, I reminded the image of the scared looking girl staring back at me. Stop acting like a silly little school girl! You’re in the English world now, not back home. You’re allowed to think those things about Wyatt, if you want to. You can even do more than think about them!
I tried my best to force away the blush that I felt start to rise, shaking my head in an effort to push my embarrassment back to a place far enough away that it would finally stay there. If I really wanted to experience everything I could from my time outside the village, it was time I grew up and allowed myself to take a few more chances.
6
Wyatt
The cutest thing about Beth was how easily she became flustered. Seemed like every time I so much as brushed against her or said something even half-way teasing, she blushed. It’s adorable. I’m surprised she didn’t literally die of embarrassment when I actually kept holding her hand on the walk over here. I was worried she would pull away, that it was too much for her. But she didn’t. That made me happy.
It looks like I hadn’t completely fucked things up taking her to the fight tent after all. Maybe I still had a chance with her. That thought alone made me feel almost irrationally happy. There was just something about this girl that made me want to try extra hard not to fuck things up. I was now more sure than ever that I’d never meet someone like her again, and considering that my time with her might be short—she did say “when” she goes back home—I was determined to make the most of it.
The car at the bottom of the Ferris wheel opened up and Sarah and Reid emerged, finally. Both of them seemed pretty happy, and Sarah was clutching onto a little stuffed penguin that Reid must have won for her. It seemed like they had been on that ride an abnormally long time, and I wondered if Reid had set that up somehow as a way to get some time alone with Sarah. Looking at her face, she was wearing the same expression I saw on Beth every time we touched, and a wave of jealously spiked through me. Stupid bet or not, there’s no way my idiot hothead of a brother should
be doing better with a girl than me. The idea of that made me unreasonably angry, especially because he was only really doing it because of the bet. I actually liked Beth for who she was.
Reid noticed me just as I started to walk toward them. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Beth?” Did I detect a hint of accusation in his voice? Like I had abandoned my date or something? It just pissed me off more.
“Saw you guys get in here and we came by to wait for you, but didn’t know you’d be up there so long. What’d you do, bribe the guy to stop you at the top?” The flash of surprise in Reid’s eyes told me I guessed right. He was up there trying to get some alone time with Sarah. “Anyway, Beth had to go to the ladies’ room; couldn’t very well follow her in there.” I suddenly felt the urge to fuck up his date a bit. I knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn’t help myself. Sometimes my anger got away from me and I did stupid things. “Besides, I wanted to know if the game was still afoot, or if we had a winner.”
“Game?” Sarah asked, turning to look at Reid. “What game?” Bullseye.
I could see the anger boil behind Reid’s dark gaze and his hands ball into fists. Good, let him be angry. I couldn’t have cared less if the whole idea of the bet came out and we got all into the open. After spending an hour experiencing Beth’s complete honesty, I hated having that secret hanging over my head with her. But Reid just covered it up with a lie. “It’s nothing,” he said, jaw clenched as he glared at me, veins in his neck bulging. I really got under his skin. “Wyatt’s just talking about the shooting game I played earlier. Aren’t you, Wyatt?”
I wasn’t quite ready to let him off the hook, though. Pissing him off was far too much fun, and was doing wonders at improving my own mood. “Nah,” I said, giving Sarah a glance before turning my gaze back to Reid. I hoped he could see the amusement in my eyes. “I’m talking about this other game. One we’ve all been playing. Wanna hear the rules?”
I might have gone a bit too far with that one, but honestly, I really didn’t care.
“She does not,” Reid answered quickly, but Sarah wasn’t happy about that.
“I can speak for myself,” she snapped.
And just like that, I’d sowed the seed of discontent between them and watched happily as Reid tried to talk his way out of the mess I’d created for him, arguing that it was all just an inside joke and then changing the subject by suggesting they get some candy. I almost laughed out loud at how pathetic he was, desperately trying to avoid just being honest.
I would have felt something close to guilt if it weren’t for the shared history of sibling rivalry between us. He’d done plenty of far worse shit than this to me in the past. He’d get over this, too. Still, even though the idea of the “game” I had brought up seemed to be forgotten now, they were still arguing and I was beginning to see that Sarah was feeling almost as overwhelmed by everything as her sister had been earlier. And that actually did make me feel guilty. I’d meant to upset Reid, not Sarah.
“I say stupid shit sometimes. It wasn’t meant to hurt you–“, Reid was saying, although I hadn’t been listening closely enough to know just what stupid thing he was referring to—Reid was even better at talking before thinking than I was.
Sarah looked uncomfortable and was fidgeting with her skirts, not really looking at either of us now. “It’s not just that. It’s everything. It’s the lights and the sounds, and the smells and the people. It’s these unfamiliar surroundings, and everyone is a stranger to me in more than one way. It’s the man who grabbed me, and… yes, our kiss, but… you aren’t the only reason I need time to breathe, Reid. It’s so much more than that. And I hope you can respect that, because if you can’t, I imagine this will be our last time out together.”
That was a lot to take in, and I was definitely feeling bad now about what I started, but I was distracted by one thing in particular. “Wait, someone grabbed you?” I asked.
She looked at me as if just remembering I was standing there, and then seemed embarrassed again as she stammered, “It was nothing. A misunderstanding.”
A few things were running through my head as I looked between Sarah and Reid. For one, I finally zeroed in on her other big admission—that they kissed. There was some jealousy there, sure, but more than that I felt even worse now about fucking with Reid and causing this argument. If Sarah had kissed him, then maybe she actually liked my brother. Maybe he even liked her. Maybe this was turning into more than a bet for him, too. I shouldn’t be getting in the way of that. Certainly not just because I enjoyed fucking with Reid.
I was also thinking about someone grabbing Sarah, and wondering what the story was there. Since Reid hadn’t said anything more about it, maybe it was just a misunderstanding. The carnival attracted a lot of weirdos and drunks, and I’d had my own close call with one earlier. But on a closer inspection of my brother, I could see a welt forming beneath his beard. So whatever happened, at least one punch had been thrown…
Suddenly, I was worried about Beth and letting her wander off alone.
“Well, you heard the lady,” Reid finally said after a few moments of everyone being silent. “Looks like we’re calling it a night.” Then he and Sarah left to go and get something to eat, and I rushed over to the restrooms to find Beth.
She was just coming out as I walked up, and relief flooded through me.
“Beth.” I was happier to see her than I had any right to be, but part of that may have been guilt over the fight I just started between our siblings. If Reid had done something to fuck things up between Beth and I, I’d be furious. Besides, I seemed to be doing a good enough job of that on my own. “Sorry if I embarrassed you earlier,” I said.
She just stopped and looked up at me, and then stepped forward and raised herself up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on my cheek. I think I was in shock.
“You’ve done nothing wrong, Wyatt Brody,” she said. “I’ve just been overly sensitive since we got here and it’s time I stopped. I came for adventure and to experience new things, and that’s exactly what you’ve been giving me. So let’s keep going.” And then she grabbed my hand, giving it a firm squeeze followed by a little tug to get my legs moving again.
As we walked away, I felt a tingly feeling in my chest, a sort of warm and fuzzy glow that spread outwards. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel very manly and I was almost embarrassed by it, but at the same time, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything at that moment. I squeezed Beth’s hand back, and we continued to walk—me with a big stupid grin on my face that I couldn’t have wiped away if I tried. My cheek still burned with the memory of her kiss.
From there, we headed over to the midway while I filled Beth in on what I’d learned from Wyatt and Sarah, leaving out the part about how I caused them to fight and even about the fact that they kissed. I guess all I really told her was how someone tried to grab Sarah, which made Beth’s eyes widen.
“Who would do such a thing?”
“Probably some drunk asshole,” I shrugged. “Sometimes a little booze can convince a guy that every woman finds them irresistible. Anyway, she’s fine, although I think Reid took a punch. But it’s over now, nothing more came of it. Just stick close to me, though. You can’t always trust people. Especially in a crowd.” So maybe there was an ulterior motive to me telling her about that particular incident, but that didn’t make it any less true—crowds could be dangerous and the closer she stuck to me, the safer she’d be.
Once we got to the midway, I tried in vain to impress Beth by winning her a useless stuffed toy from one of the rigged games they had running. There was no way I couldn’t ring that stupid fucking bell after smashing the lever with a hammer as hard as I did, yet it never seemed to make it to the top. Normally I would have gotten irritated at the crooked carny that was running the thing, but Beth only laughed good-naturedly with each of my attempts, one time even rubbing my biceps for good luck, and I couldn’t stay angry.
We continued to walk through the crowds as I explained each
game to Beth, and how it was fixed to keep most people from winning it. I also described each brightly colored treat that we passed. I couldn’t believe how sheltered she was.
“How can you never have had a fried Snickers bar,” I asked, shaking my head like I was profoundly disappointed in her upbringing.
“I don’t even know what a Snickers bar is,” she protested. “Does frying them make them taste better?”
“Frying makes everything taste better,” I said, nodding. We were nearing the end of the midway and approaching the area of the park that had walk-through rides like haunted houses and the hall of mirrors. I was debating whether taking her into a haunted house was a good idea, after my misstep with the fight tent. “It’s a chocolate bar that they dip in batter and then drop into boiling oil. When it comes out, it’s coated like a corn dog but it tastes ten times as good.”
“What’s a corn dog?”
I slapped my head and let out a big sigh. “Wow, do I have a lot to teach you.” Then I spied bags of pink and blue, and I turned excitedly to her. “What about cotton candy? That was always my favorite.” She shook her head. “That’s where we have to start then. If you try nothing else, you have to try that. It’s basically spun sugar and just melts in your mouth. You’ll love it.”
Suddenly, an alarm blared nearby and we both turned. In the distance, we saw Hannah and Ash burst through the emergency exit of a funhouse. What was more surprising was that Hannah seemed to be dragging another woman by the hair and then throwing her into the dirt. The two women were yelling at each other, drawing attention from everyone around, but from our distance we couldn’t make out what they were saying. From the looks of it, Ash was trying his best to intervene before they tried to claw each other’s eyes out.
The Brody Bunch Collection: Bad Boy Romance Page 44