and safety.
Mine, my mind whispered as his heartbeat thumped in my ear.
But there was something else we needed to talk about still. I didn’t want to ruin this fragile, burgeoning thing between us, but before it went any further, we needed to deal with the stupid, stubborn elephant in the room. The thing that had kept Wyatt away from me for so long.
My brother.
“Wyatt?”
His hand smoothed up my back, leaving a warm trail in its wake. “Hmmm?”
“What about…” I hesitated, loath to bring up the subject and spoil the mood.
He gave my ponytail a gentle tug. “What about what?”
“Josh.” My mouth twisted with resentment as I spoke my brother’s name. If it hadn’t been for him and his misguided determination to butt into my life, so much might have turned out differently.
Wyatt went disturbingly still for a moment. Long enough for a sense of dread to settle in my stomach. Untangling himself, he rolled onto his back away from me and stared up at the ceiling. I felt a chill at the loss of his body heat as I watched a muscle twitch in his jaw.
He let out a long breath and raked his hands through his hair. “We can’t tell him.”
When I didn’t respond, he turned his head to look at me. The worry lines had returned to his brow. “You know that, right?”
I didn’t know any such thing. As far as I was concerned, Josh had way overstepped by interfering in my love life. I wasn’t feeling inclined to coddle his chauvinistic attitudes. But I also wasn’t the one in danger of losing his friendship. It was easy for me to stand up to Josh. I was his sister, so he was stuck with me no matter what I did.
“Please, Andie.” Wyatt’s face contorted, and he reached for my hand.
I frowned as I let him entwine our fingers. “Why? Why does he get any say at all about you and me?”
“Because I made him a promise.”
It was a dumb reason to deny ourselves happiness, and it made me angry. “A promise he didn’t have any right to ask for in the first place. A promise you never should have made.”
Wyatt flinched at my tone and rolled onto his back again, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“Is this what you were trying to tell me that night you got in the fight?” I asked.
His head swiveled toward me. “I don’t remember. Did I?”
“You said Josh made you promise to look out for me back in tenth grade. But that wasn’t all he made you promise, was it?”
“No.”
“Let me guess: he made you promise to keep your hands off me.”
Wyatt turned his head back to the ceiling and nodded.
“That was high school,” I said. “We’re all grown-ups now. The statute of limitations on stupid high school stuff ended years ago.”
“It doesn’t work that way.” His jaw set stubbornly. “A promise is a promise.”
Under different circumstances, I would have found his fidelity admirable. Sweet, even. But since it was my choice that had been taken away by this ridiculous oath, and my wishes that had been thwarted without my knowledge, I merely found it frustrating and ludicrous.
“Oh come on,” I snapped, getting angry now. “People say and do all kinds of shit when they’re teenagers that no one takes seriously or expects to stick forever. That’s literally why the courts seal juvenile records. Because what you do as a teenager shouldn’t dictate the whole rest of your life.”
“Josh takes this seriously. Trust me.” Wyatt’s eyes met mine. “You think I haven’t ever tried to test the waters over the years? Believe me, I have. Grown-up or not, his opinion hasn’t changed. Not about this.” He squeezed my hand in what felt like an apology and a plea for understanding all at once. “I wasn’t being dramatic when I said he’d never forgive me.”
Wyatt knew my brother as well as anyone—even better than me—and if he really thought Josh would end their friendship over this, then I guess I believed him. Hadn’t Mia said pretty much the exact same thing? And that had been coming straight from my brother’s mouth.
Wyatt knows Josh would kill him. That was what Mia had said. Those were the words Josh had used, and while he might have been exaggerating, he hadn’t been kidding.
My brother had a temper he worked hard to keep in check, and he held grudges even better than I did. I tended to blow up at people, letting my anger burn hot, which