HERO: An Unfit Hero Novel Page 6

  Walking over to the new mother, I place my hand on her arm. Her eyes slowly flutter open and she gives me a small smile.

  “Do you want her now?” I ask.

  Without speaking, she holds out her arms and I slip the baby in them. As much as I want to, I don’t ask her where her family is, it’s not my place. I watch them for a moment, then finish checking on her and leave them alone to bond. Mother and baby, it’s a sight that makes my entire body ache, not just my heart, but my entire being.

  “You clocking out?” Shirley asks.

  She’s the charge nurse for my shift and always stays until the entire shift is clocked out.

  I nod, giving her a smile. “I just checked on 2C, bathed the baby and left the two of them alone. I updated the chart,” I ramble, trying not to think about them being all alone.

  “Sad about them,” she murmurs.

  “Sad?” I ask.

  Shirley bites the corner of her lip, then looks around to make sure that we’re alone. I’m typing in my time and logging out of the system as she speaks.

  “Poor girl is all alone, the father up and left her a month ago. No note, no fuck you, nothing. She tracked him down in Llano. He’s shacked up with some other woman.” She shakes her head, her eyes softening as she looks toward the closed hospital room door.

  “That’s terrible,” I admit.

  My heart aches for her, for any woman in her position, but a brand new mother, set out to brave this cruel world alone. She’s braver than I was, than I could be. Closing my eyes, I inhale a deep breath, then let it out. I can’t think about my past, I can’t think about what I did. I know for a fact that my situation was different, that I did the right thing, even if it hurts like hell.

  “It is. Men are scum,” she says with her face scrunched up like she’s smelled something bad.

  I don’t argue with her. I know that Shirley has had some terrible men in her life. She probably does think that they’re all scum, I wouldn’t blame her. I haven’t seen many good men in my life either, but that’s where we differ.

  I don’t allow myself to be vulnerable to them, so I haven’t been hurt by as many men as she has. I won’t let it happen. I’ve been hurt enough in life as a child, now that I’m an adult and in control of myself and my future, I have no desire to have myself shattered by a man from the inside out.

  Lifting my hand, I give Shirley a wave goodbye as I shrug my purse over my shoulder. Keeping my head down, I wait for the elevator to open. Once I step inside, I push the parking garage button and let out a sigh.

  The past few days have been extremely stressful, add to that a twelve-hour shift and I’m just plain exhausted. The elevator car stops on the cardiology floor and I hold my breath, like I do every single time it stops on this damn floor. I see a hand hold the doors open and I try not to let out a groan when he steps inside of the car.

  “Exeter,” he says, his voice full of surprise as he walks inside and stands just a little too close to me.

  “Elijah,” I grind out, forcing a smile as I tip my head back to look up at him.

  He has his chin dipped, his green eyes are too intently focused on me. Elijah was one of my biggest mistakes. We had sex at the Christmas party last year. We were both drunk and he was being extra flirty. I was feeling sorry for myself, and I allowed things to go too far.

  I’ve never been with anyone that I’ve had to work with before and knew that I should have stayed far away from him, but much like the night I met Wyatt, I was shocked that he wanted anything to do with me. My self-consciousness is a serious burden when it comes to men.

  Elijah is a doctor, and he’s made it more than obvious that he would like to see me again, but I keep pushing him away. I don’t like him, not in that way. He seems like a nice enough guy, but he’s not my type at all. There is always something just missing when it comes to him.

  Well, not just something. I couldn’t come with him, and although that’s not the sole reason I didn’t want to date him, he wasn’t rugged enough for me. He’s nothing like Wyatt, actually he’s the complete opposite. I didn’t even realize what I wanted at the time, I just knew he was too—soft.

  “I was hoping I would run into you again, soon,” he begins, and my stomach drops.

  I know what he wants, what he’s going to ask, it’s how he starts off every conversation. The elevator doors open and we walk out together. I head toward the destination of my parked car, which is not where the doctors have their private spaces. He follows me, and I let out a sigh.

  “How have you been?” I chance asking, hoping that he will get the hint.

  A slow smile appears on his lips and his eyes almost sparkle, and that’s when I know that I’ve given him an accidental go-ahead. Damn. He opens his mouth, just as we turn down the aisle where my car is. He turns his head, snaps his mouth shut and stops.

  I lift my eyes, following his line of sight and my entire body sways.

  Wyatt.

  Wyatt is standing against the passenger side of my car, his ass leaning against the door, his ankles crossed in front of him and his arms across his chest. I lick my lips at the sight of him, watching as he pushes off of my car and takes a couple of steps toward us.

  “Hey, sugar,” he murmurs, his light brown eyes focused on me and nowhere else.

  “Hey,” I breathe.

  “I’m Doctor Elijah Madison,” Elijah interrupts.

  Wyatt doesn’t even flinch, his eyes stay on mine and he snorts. “Good for you.”

  My mouth drops open as his arm drops, reaches out for me and tugs my body against his own. Placing my palms on his chest, I tip my head back to look up at him, my eyes focusing on his lips beneath his beard. They’re full, begging to be kissed, and I wonder how I’ve stayed away for as long as I have. Maybe I’m just exhausted, and delirious, maybe I just want him that much.

  “Well,” Elijah huffs. I hear his shoes clicking down the otherwise quiet concrete parking structure.

  “Guy’s a fuckin’ douche,” Wyatt rumbles.

  I press my lips together, trying not to laugh. “What are you doing here?” I ask, changing the subject.

  He dips his chin, his nose running along my temple. “I don’t know. I just had to see you and I didn’t know where you lived. I took a chance and saw your car,” he murmurs against the side of my ear.

  A shiver rolls through my body. My fingers grip his shoulders as his breath washes over the side of my face. I want him. I can’t deny that I do. He’s exactly what I didn’t know I wanted in life. He’s rugged, too handsome for me, kind-hearted, loyal to his family and friends, and the best lover I’ve ever had.

  I wish that I could keep him.

  Chapter Seven

  WYATT

  I have to go and pick up Rylan soon, but I took a chance to see if she was here. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her, about what she said, about how brave she was when she helped me with Channing. Then she talked to the sheriff and backed my self-defense claim, I mean it was true, but she could have said anything.

  “You’re up early,” she points out.

  I smirk, lifting my lips from the side of her face so that I can look into her gorgeous blue eyes. “I’m leaving for work. Gotta pick up Rylan in Gallup.”

  “You drove thirty minutes one way, out of your way, just to talk to me?” she asks with an exhale.

  I shrug. “Don’t have your number, can’t get you off my mind,” I admit.

  She releases me, taking a step back and I find that I miss having her curvy body against my own. I love the way she feels pressed up against me, especially her full tits.

  Those fucking tits of hers are my goddamn downfall. I can still see them when I close my eyes, fuck, I want all of her again so goddamn bad that my entire body aches—not just my dick.

  “We wouldn’t work. I don’t want to date anyone, Wyatt. Nobody.”

  Opening my eyes, I look down at her. She’s lying. She’s thinking stupid fucking shit and I wonder if there’s any
way that she won’t always think it. She wants me, I can tell by the slight flare to her nostrils, the way she stands with her thighs really fucking close together like she’s clenching them. I bet if her bra wasn’t padded, I’d see her nipples hard and aching for my mouth.

  Yeah. She’s a goddamn liar.

  “Why wouldn’t we work, because of your past?” I ask, arching a brow. Her eyes close slowly and she nods once before she opens them to look over at me again.

  Reaching out, I tuck a small piece of hair that’s come loose from her ponytail. “Sugar, I got a shit past too. No reason why our futures can’t be good, just because our pasts fucking suck.”

  With a sigh, she leans against my palm as I cup her cheek. Fuck, she’s so sweet. I want to keep her, I can’t walk away from her, not now, not ever. This is the girl I was meant to have, I just have to talk her around to me.

  “I really like you, Wyatt. If there was a man that I could want, could see myself with, it would be you.”

  I grunt, taking a step closer to her again. Sliding my arm around her waist, I pull her against my chest, still cupping her cheek. Lowering my face, I brush my mouth across hers, just a light touch of my lips against her own.

  “Sugar, you can have me, fucking hell, I’m practically on my knees beggin’ for a taste of you, again,” I rasp against her mouth.

  She shivers in my arms, her breaths coming out in soft pants. I wish that I could strip her bare, right here, show her just how fucking bad I want her. Her arms lift, winding around my shoulders and she presses her lips to mine.

  I groan when her tongue traces my lips. Moving my hand from her cheek, I cup the back of her head and hold her angled to my advantage as I take over the kiss.

  Exeter whimpers and I swallow the sound, loving the noises she makes, wishing I were inside of her when she made them instead of standing in this fucking parking garage. Slowly, I break the kiss, nibbling on her bottom lip. I have to leave for work soon, and she’s yet to agree to see me again.

  “Dinner, Friday?” I ask.

  She chews on her bottom lip, a lip that is swollen from my mouth, a lip that I can’t help but imagine what it would look like wrapped around my cock. I want that, I want her, I want everything.

  “I work Friday night,” she murmurs.

  I can’t tell if she’s lying or telling me the truth. I don’t release her, deciding I like the way her arms feel around my neck, the way her body feels against mine. I want her here, always. She inhales through her nose, then exhales out of those swollen lips.

  “Saturday?” she asks.

  A slow smile spreads on my lips, unable to control myself. I’ve won, at least for now. Pressing my mouth against hers, I taste her one last time before I take a step back from her warmth.

  “Saturday. Give me your phone and I’ll program my shit,” I murmur.

  She reaches into her scrub pocket and hands me her device. I quickly add my information, then place a call to my phone so that I’ll have her number, too.

  “When do you work again?” I ask.

  “Tonight, was my last night, then I would normally work Saturday night, too, but I switched with someone. My schedule is all off this week,” she explains, her eyes wide and she’s babbling.

  “You always work with that tool doctor?” I ask, not forgetting the man that bumbled and fumbled around when she arrived at her car.

  “No,” she says, shaking her head. “He works in cardiology.”

  I snort, nodding my head. I have no doubt that he has her schedule memorized and makes sure he’s working when she is. He seems the fucking type.

  “I’ll text you later tonight, maybe we can get together before Saturday,” I murmur.

  She nods, looking to the side and then back to me. “What do you want, Wyatt? Just sex?” she asks.

  Shaking my head, I level her with my eyes. “Sugar, if all I wanted was an easy lay, I wouldn’t be tracking you down at work and asking you out on a fucking date. Sex is the easy shit. I want more.”

  Turning away from her, I walk over to my truck. Climbing inside, I watch her as she slips inside of her own vehicle. I don’t move until she’s started her car and pulls out of her space. Only then do I leave the parking garage and head back toward Gallup to pick up Rylan for a long day of work.

  EXETER

  I try and fail, not to think about Wyatt as I drive home. I practically follow behind his truck the entire way. I would recognize the big machine anywhere, and that dark headed bearded man driving, too. My heart won’t stop racing, the adrenaline spiking throughout my entire body from our exchange.

  I want him. He wants more and I can’t deny that I do too. I want more of him. I know that he’ll figure out soon enough that I’m not worth the time. Selfishly, I want what little time I can have with him. It’s going to really hurt to watch the look in his eyes when he realizes that I’m not all that great. That I’m not anyone he wants as his own, but maybe I can survive it without completely falling apart?

  I doubt it.

  Pulling into my small driveway, I let out a sigh at what waits for me on the front porch. Killing my engine, I open the driver’s door and close it quietly. I take a few steps in the direction of my guest. She’s standing there with a small suitcase at her side.

  I haven’t seen her since she was lying naked on the floor, Wyatt on top of her, wrestling a knife from her hands.

  “Ex,” she rasps as I get closer.

  “Emily,” I murmur.

  “I have to check myself into a facility, or the police are going to do it for me,” she explains. “They had me on a forty-eight-hour hold. But the only way they aren’t going to press charges is if I voluntarily check myself into a clinic,” she explains.

  I let out a breath. She needs the help, God knows that she really, really, needs it. To be honest, I probably do, too, more than just a counseling appointment a few times a month. Maybe I wouldn’t be waiting for whatever this is between me and Wyatt to fail if I had the help that I truly needed. Although, he’s going to realize what a mistake I am, in general, soon enough. There is no way that he can’t.

  “Do you need a ride?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “Sheriff Robby is going to be here in a few minutes to take me. I’m going all the way to Austin,” she explains.

  I nod, taking a step closer. I wrap my arms around her in a hug, and she does the same before she bursts out into tears. “I’m so sorry. I’m a mess and you’ve been trying to help me, and I just haven’t been reasonable,” she rambles.

  “I love you, Emily. Get help, then come home. You’ll always have a home with me,” I say as my own eyes fill with tears.

  She hiccups, lifting her head from my shoulder, her eyes finding mine. “I’m not coming back to Gallup. I think I’m going to stay in Austin,” she says.

  “Why?”

  I hate how panicked my voice comes out. She smiles, her hands taking mine and holding it between her own. “I need to be free of this place. I need to be free of my father and his memories. You do too, Exeter. When I’m finished, when I’m out, come to Austin. We can start over.”

  Her words, they spark something inside of me. I should jump on the chance. It’s a way to get out and not be alone. She would be at my side, as she’s always been. We would enable one another, just as we’ve always done. That thought makes me pause.

  “I don’t think so,” I whisper. She frowns, her eyes finding mine, and she waits for me to continue. “We need to heal, but we shouldn’t enable one another. If I follow you, that’s exactly what will happen. That’s what we’ve always done.”

  “We support one another,” she argues, letting my hands fall from her grasp.

  Shaking my head, I clench my fists to keep from reaching out for her. “We don’t, Emily. We enable. It’s what we’ve always done. We need to heal, we need to find our own paths and yours is in Austin, mine is here.”

  “This is about that bearded asshole, isn’t it?” she spits.

  I close
my eyes, unable to deny her accusations. It is about Wyatt, kind of. Selfishly, I want more of him. More of his touch, more of his mouth, just more. Until he’s finished with me. Until he figures out that I’m not worth even an ounce of his attention.

  “It’s only partially about Wyatt, Emily. I do really think we enable one another. I know that I’ve permitted your wildness, your relationship with Jacob.” Just thinking about that asshole pervert makes my stomach clench.

  I hear the car pull down the gravel drive and watch as she lifts her gaze and looks over my shoulder, then shifts her eyes back to me.

  “That man is fucked up, his whole family is. You know that Rylan just got out of jail? Jacob told me everything. The bearded dick pulled a gun on me and shot James. He is not a white knight, and once he realizes what you are, he will be gone,” she sneers.

  “Emily,” Sheriff Robby calls out.

  I lift my hand, holding him off, my eyes focused on my cousin’s angry gaze. “You think that I don’t know that he’s better than me in every way a person could be? I know he is, Emily. The thing is, he wants me, and while he’ll have me, I’m holding the fuck on,” I hiss.

  She jerks her head. “He ain’t better than you, Exeter. You are better than him, better than his whole fucking family.”

  “Oh yeah?” I snort.

  “Yeah.” She nods. “He’ll realize you’re better than him, he’ll see that he don’t deserve you and he’ll dump your ass. He will not save you from a damn thing, Exeter.”

  “That doesn’t even make sense,” I mutter.

  She reaches out for my hand, taking it in hers again and I lift my gaze to meet her eyes. She looks lucid enough, but I’m not convinced.

  “Jacob thought he was better than me. Every man I’ve been with has thought they were better than me. The second my confidence grew even an inch, they broke up with me. Just wait, he’ll do it too, they all do. They want to be your whole world. They want to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. If you even attempt to grow and they can’t hold you back, they’ll leave you.”