HERO: An Unfit Hero Novel

by Faiman, Hayley

  Shaking my head, I reach for her hands and take them in mine. “Emily is her own person. I knew something wasn’t right. She’s getting the help she needs now. That’s all I care about. You didn’t make her do anything, she did everything that day of her own free will.”

  The sound of heavy boot falls interrupt our conversation and we each take a couple steps away from one another when Wyatt and Rylan walk through the doorway. They are both carrying some meat with Louis and Ford on their heels.

  “We’re going to get these on the grill,” Rylan announces, his smile widening, then softening when his eyes meet his wife’s.

  My heart flutters at the sight of them. They really are beautiful together. Rylan and his colorful body, his seemingly hardened exterior that completely melts away when he’s anywhere near Channing. And Channing, she looks exactly like a good, sweet, girl and doesn’t seem like the type that would be with a man like him. But they work, wholeheartedly.

  WYATT

  One hand wraps around my waist from behind, the other does the same except it’s holding a beer. Taking the bottle from Exeter’s hand, I lift my free one to hers on my waist and give it a squeeze.

  My eyes scan the backyard for a moment. The food has been eaten, Rylan is starting a fire with the help of Ford, and Louis is sitting down laughing at them. Channing is sitting as well, her hand resting on her rounded stomach.

  “You okay, sugar?” I ask before taking a sip of the cool liquid.

  She hums, and I take that moment to turn around in her arms. She tips her head back, her gaze finding mine and I grin down at her. “You didn’t tell me,” she murmurs.

  “Didn’t tell you what?” I ask.

  “That you were such a nice guy.” Lifting a brow, I wait for her to explain, to expand. “You left this place furnished for them, including the televisions, didn’t you?”

  Lifting my eyes from hers, I look over her head to Rylan and then to Channing. They are smiling at one another, their obvious happiness and love almost too much for one person to witness. I think about just a few weeks ago when they didn’t know where they were going to live, when nobody in town would rent to them because of Rylan’s prison sentence.

  Lowering my gaze back down to hers, I smile, a sense of peace and pride filling me. “I did. They needed it more than me.”

  “God, you make it easy to fall deep, you know that?”

  I dip my chin, my lips hovering above her own. “You fallin’, sugar?”

  She sighs and I swallow as I wait for her to confirm what I already know. “You know I have, Wyatt. Completely,” she rasps.

  Only then do I slant my head and I take her in a long, deep, hard kiss. When I break the kiss, it’s to the sound of cat-calls surrounding us. Exeter’s face turns bright red, but I only lift my hand and flip off my friends.

  Turning toward them, I wrap my hand in hers and tug her toward the fire. Without giving her an option, I find a seat and plant my ass, pulling her ass down on my thigh. Wrapping my arms around her, I shift her closer toward me, needing to feel her body against my own.

  I need to tell her the truth.

  I need to tell her everything, including the fact that I love her.

  Fuck. I do too. I love her. Every goddamn part of her. I need her in my life, in my bed, at my side—for eternity. I’m fucking gone, lost to her, lost in her.

  The rest of the evening we spend talking with our friends. I keep a close eye on Louis. He seems better than he did last night. He seems almost at peace, maybe even happy. I think about last night, about his confession.

  He’s lonely.

  He wants more, but he doesn’t think he can find it, doesn’t think he can find someone like Channing, like Exeter. He and Ford are more alike than not, both ready for more in life, both unsure if they’ll ever find it, and both trying not to get their hopes up.

  My phone rings in my pocket, and I am forced to stand. Excusing myself, I frown at the sight of the caller ID. Lowering my head, I brush my lips across the top of Exeter’s head. “I’ll be back in a few, gotta take this,” I murmur.

  Holding the phone up to my ear, I answer it as I quickly walk away. “Wyatt,” my father’s voice growls.

  “Tell me,” I command.

  “Went and checked on Mrs. Harvey tonight,” he begins. “She’s shaken up, but she’s okay.”

  “What happened?” I demand.

  He clears his throat, then tells me that Exeter’s dad came around, threatened her, and threatened to come back and do more if she didn’t tell him where she was. Then smashed up some shit in her house looking for her cash.

  “I got Robby here taking a report, and Mrs. Harvey is comin’ up to the house for a few nights.”

  “Fuck,” I hiss.

  “Figured that’d be your reaction.”

  I snort. My father knows me so well, because I’m cut from the same cloth as him, like father, like son. “We’ll be by the house once she’s settled in. Exeter would kill me if I kept this from her.”

  “We’re fixin’ to head out in about thirty minutes probably. She’s just finishing up the report, then needs to pack her things. Your mama is helpin’ her.”

  I thank my dad, then close my eyes. “Fuck,” I growl.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on?” Louis asks from behind me.

  Turning to him, I let out a sigh. “Remember all that shit I told you about? The problems we’ve been havin’ with Exeter’s dad?”

  He nods, his eyes narrowing and darkening slightly, knowing without a doubt that he’s not going to like what I’m going to say next. “He went around and harassed Exeter’s MawMaw tonight. Scared her and tore up her house. My dad’s down there with the sheriff, and he’s takin’ her over to his house tonight.”

  “She can’t stay there alone anymore,” he announces.

  “I know,” I agree.

  “She can come out to my guest house, no old lady deserves to be harassed.”

  Lifting my hand, I wrap my fingers around his shoulder and give him a slight shake. “Thanks, brother, we might take you up on that. Gotta talk to Exeter about this, fuck, I do not want to tell her any of this shit.”

  My eyes find Exeter. She’s turning slightly so that I can only see the profile of her face. She’s smiling toward Channing. They’re chatting and they both laugh. She’s so fucking beautiful. How on earth the man who created her could hurt her the way he has, I won’t ever know.

  However, I do know that he won’t again—never again. Because I’m going to be the one who fucking ends him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  EXETER

  Wyatt has been quiet. Alarmingly quiet for the past couple of days. We make love every morning, like normal, he goes to work then comes home and we do it all over again.

  I spend my days either at work or with my MawMaw. She’s still shaken up by what my father did to her. Honestly, I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to return back to her home at this point. Chalk that up to something else my father has taken, something that was not rightfully his.

  Wyatt holds me, looking down at me as if he’s afraid that I’ll disappear, but he doesn’t speak. I keep waiting for more, for him to say something, but he never does.

  Instead, he presses his lips together and begins to kiss me, then he eats me, makes me come, then fucks me and makes me come again. An endless cycle of orgasms. I shouldn’t complain, but we’re both avoiding a conversation that we really need to have with one another.

  “Signing papers after work today. I’ll be a little late, want to go out to dinner?” he asks, rolling away from me.

  I watch his ass as he makes his way toward the bathroom. He stops right at the entrance, turning to face me when I don’t answer him right away. I look down at my lap, then back up to him.

  “Is there something you want to tell me?” I ask.

  He grunts, turning his head to the side, then back toward me. “We’ll talk later.”

  “Will we?” I ask. His eyes flash, ther
e’s something unreadable there and I don’t mistake the warning, but I continue on anyway. “It’s been days and you haven’t said much to me. I can tell there’s something working in your head, but you’re not saying anything, so forgive me if I think that, that will change.”

  His eyes narrow, he inhales as if he’s finally going to say something, he doesn’t. He shakes his head and turns away from me. I watch as he closes the bathroom door and I close my eyes. What the hell is going on with him? Why is he being this way? Is this the end of us? Does he want out, now that his house is finished, are we, too?

  A million different questions swim around in my head, questions that I don’t have an answer to. A few moments later, Wyatt is out of the bathroom, a billow of steam following him. He has a towel wrapped around his waist and droplets of water on his chest. I lick my lips at the sight, wishing that I could taste him—all of him.

  “Exeter,” he grunts. My eyes lift to his and I notice how dark his own are as he watches me. “I will talk to you later, it’s time,” he ominously explains.

  “I’m spending the day with MawMaw, we’re visiting Emily,” I murmur.

  He nods, lifting his hand and running his fingers through his damp hair. “You’ll be back here by five-thirty? I’m getting off a little early so I can get those docs signed and done.”

  I nod, biting the inside of my cheek. Wyatt takes a step toward me, then another, until he’s right next to me. I watch as he lifts his knee, it sinks into the mattress next to my hip, followed by the other. One of his hands extends and he cups my cheek.

  “You’ll be here at five-thirty, right sugar?” he breathes.

  I nod again. “I’ll be here,” I verbally confirm.

  He watches me, his eyes focused on mine before they move down my face. “We’ll talk, I fuckin’ promise.”

  Pressing my lips together, I keep my eyes focused on his, wondering if I can believe everything, wondering what is going to happen later, and then my stomach twists when the realization that later will probably be the last time for us. That we’re done.

  “Exeter,” he snaps. My head jerks and his jaw clenches. I watch as the muscle jumps in his cheek and his eyes look assessing as he watches me. “We’ll talk. Get whatever fucked up shit that swirling around your head, out.”

  Wyatt lowers his head, his lips touching mine in a gentle brush of a kiss. “Later, sugar,” he rasps against my mouth.

  I don’t move as I watch him dress for the day. His fire rated jeans fit his legs perfectly, so does the khaki colored work shirt. Slipping his feet into his dark brown work boots, he looks back at me.

  “Later,” he repeats.

  He opens the door, walks out, then closes it behind him, I listen as the lock automatically clicks into place. I sit in the bed, watching the door for far longer than I should. Closing my eyes tightly, I inhale a deep breath before letting it out, then I open my eyes, force myself to stand, and head toward the bathroom.

  If this is over, if what he has to say breaks me, like I have a feeling it just may, I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.

  Letting the hot water wash over my body, I decide that I need to focus on MawMaw, and getting her out of Wyatt’s parents’ place. It’s really nice of them to let her stay there, but it’s been several days, and she needs her own space, maybe we can find something together. Lord knows I spend my free time with her anyway.

  Finishing my shower, I dress in a pair of loose-fitting ripped jeans and a pair of flip-flops. I braid my hair quickly down my back and grab my purse as I head out of the hotel room. Inhaling deeply, I turn toward my car and quickly jog toward it.

  Since MawMaw’s encounter, I can’t seem to help but think that my father could easily find me. Even though we’re one town over, it’s not that big. You can’t hide around here, not from everyone. Someone will assuredly have seen me here, then told someone else, then they tell their cousin, their aunt, and before you know it, everyone knows your business.

  It’s just the way it is in a small town, the way it’s always been, and the way that it will always be.

  WYATT

  “Show up tomorrow at six, ready to go,” my foreman announces.

  There is a mixture of excitement and dread throughout the crews that surround us. Contrary to some belief, not every lineman lives for the storm. I did. Until I had someone waiting for me back at home. Now, I understand why some guys don’t want to go, or if they do, not for long extended periods of time.

  My stomach twists at the thought of leaving Exeter for weeks, or months. The threat of her father, my new house, and our rocky status of a relationship right now is almost too fucking much. Everything, and I mean, everything is up in the air.

  I should have told her about my past, about Sammi and our relationship about our baby. I should have already told it all to her, but I kept putting it off. Now it’s unavoidable. I can’t put it off another day. If I don’t tell her tonight, then I don’t know if I ever will.

  I’m leaving, and I want her in my house, in my bed and to be mine, but not without knowing all of me. I couldn’t bear for her to find out later, for someone to slip, and honestly, I’m surprised nobody has yet.

  Rylan clears his throat next to me after the foreman and general foremen walk away together. Their heads are down in serious conversation, most likely talking about tomorrow morning’s game plan.

  Back-to-back hurricanes, both fucking huge and moving as slow as molasses, goddamn we could be gone for six months.

  Turning my head, I look over at my cousin. “I don’t want to miss the baby being born,” he murmurs.

  I shake my head. “You ain’t missin’ shit, cousin. Worse comes to worse, you’ll fly back for the birth,” I promise. He will too, he’s my groundhand and he will not miss this child’s birth—his child’s birth, not if I have anything to say about it.

  “Ready to go home?” I ask, looking over at him.

  He doesn’t seem to have any of his worries eased, and I don’t blame him. Channing needs him, and he’ll be gone. This is the life we lead, and some years we don’t go anywhere and some, like this year, it’s goddamn mayhem. He nods, turning toward the truck, his feet moving, but his mind is gone, too busy thinking of the what-ifs of what is to come. I don’t blame him; I’m feeling the exact same way.

  The drive home is silent, and once we arrive to Rylan’s, he exhales and shakes his head. “Swear when we leave tomorrow that I’ll be able to see my baby come into this world?” he asks again.

  I nod. “Swear to Christ, cousin. You will not miss it,” I promise.

  His head turns, his eyes meet mine and he lifts his chin. “I’m doin’ this for them, working my ass off and trying to be a good man. It’s for the people I killed, but it’s for Channing and the baby too. Equal parts and shit,” he mutters.

  “It’s for you too, Rylan.”

  He grunts, his eyes never breaking from mine. “It’s for me too,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper.

  “Spend as much time as you can with her tonight. Make sure everything is handled around the yard. If we’re gone too long, I’ll send Ford over to cut the grass and check on her, he’s always in town.”

  Rylan lets out a long exhale. “Fuck, I didn’t even think about that shit. Ford would do that, wouldn’t he?”

  “You know it,” I snort.

  I watch as he exits the truck, then stops before he slams the door closed. “All y’all. I couldn’t do any of it without you,” he admits, but before I can say anything else, he closes the door and jogs away from me.

  Rylan likes to do that, deliver heartfelt poignant shit and then practically run away before anyone can say a word about it. Once he’s inside his house, I shift the truck into drive and head toward my woman. I have to confess my past to her today after I sign paperwork on my new place. I just hope by the end of this day she’s moving in with me and not running away.

  The hotel parking lot is almost empty when I pull up, except for her car and a cou
ple more toward the back of the lot. I’m glad that she’s here, this morning didn’t go exactly as I’d hoped, and it seems like the rest of the evening will be nothing but a challenge.

  I don’t even have to turn the truck’s engine off. Exeter is already walking toward me, her head tipped down as she hurried in my direction. I watch as she opens the door, then climbs up in the seat that Rylan just vacated next to me.

  “You ready?” I ask.

  She hums but doesn’t meet my eyes. I don’t know what that means, but I try not to read too far into it. Driving toward the title company, I can’t help but wonder what tonight will bring. Exeter has been quiet the past few days, but then again, so have I. It just seems like everything is happening so quickly, and without a break to breathe.

  “Can I stay here while you sign?” she asks once I pull into the title company’s parking lot.

  Glancing around, I notice that it’s pretty empty downtown. “Honk if you need help,” I grunt.

  She reaches for me, her hand wrapping around my wrist before I can shift and open the door. “Whatever it is, we’re going to be okay, right?” she asks, her voice sounding so small.

  I look down at her hand, then lift my gaze to her eyes. “Yeah,” I rumble, my voice sounding rough and scratchy. “God, I hope so.”

  She nods, her brows furrowing together, but she doesn’t say anything else. Her hand falls away from mine and I slowly open the truck door and climb out of my pickup. Locking her inside, I make my way to the title company front door, pausing to look back at her.

  She’s watching me, her eyes trying to read me, mine are doing the same. I want to know her every thought, I want to know that we’re good, so fucking good that she can see the same future with me as I can see with her.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  WYATT

  The bar downtown is quiet. Our food sits in front of us untouched. My appetite is gone, and Exeter is avoiding my eyes, knowing that I’m about to hit her with a bomb. I should be feeling high right now.