Page 20 of Cold Foot Sentry (Wreck’s Mountains #6)

“That’s you,” the girl behind her said, nudging her arm.

“What?” Tammy asked, pulling from her memory of Tawk’s agonized curse last night as he’d left.

“Tammy Ray Lynch,” the announcer called out in a firm tone. She must’ve already called her once.

“Oh, shoot,” she murmured as she made her way quickly to the stage. She climbed the stairs carefully in her heels and then shook the hand, and grabbed the diploma, and this was the moment, right? It was the moment she’d worked so hard for.

Up in the bleachers, the Cold Foot Crew was cheering their brains out, and Tammy gave them a little wave and a smile before she shook the other head professors’ hands and made her way down the other side of the stage.

She’d seen her parents before the ceremony, and they were all excited and happy, and the Cold Foot Crew was here to support her, even Jess after whatever that weirdness was last night.

Her cheering section was the loudest of anyone she’d seen walk the stage.

But…

Tawk wasn’t here.

She kept getting angry with herself for caring so deeply. She’d just met him. She was being ridiculous.

The rest of the ceremony dragged by. She was early in the alphabet and had to wait for a while before she could toss her cap in the air and make her way toward the bleachers.

Harley reached her first and picked her up in a bear hug. “You did it!”

Tammy forced a smile and hugged her tight around her neck, and then moved to Timber, Sasha, and Katrina. The guys were next, and then between Cash and King, she could see her parents making their way to her.

Mom had a troubled look in her eyes, and her dad had his lips pursed like he was stressed.

She gave them big hugs and introduced them to the Cold Foot Crew, worried that they were upset that they hadn’t met her friends yet.

Her parents were polite and cordial, and shook all of their hands, but the tension stayed in them both.

Her dad kept scanning the clearing where all the graduates were hanging out with their families and friends, as if he was looking for someone.

Aaron perhaps?

“Aaron isn’t invited,” she said softly. “We’re really through.”

“Aaron is in the hospital, honey,” Mom said quietly.

“What?” she asked, certain she’d misheard her.

“He messaged us this morning. Said your boyfriend put him in the hospital.”

Well knock her over with a feather. Her boyfriend? Tammy raised her eyebrows and shook her head, baffled. “Can you repeat all of that?”

Her mom pulled her phone from her purse and opened up a text thread with Aaron.

He’d sent a picture of himself in a hospital bed.

His face was completely swollen and all shades of blue.

His lip was split badly, and his eyes were swollen nearly shut.

She could see a cast on his arm from this angle of the picture.

Holy crap,” she murmured as she read up. Aaron had texted her mom, Be careful of Tammy’s new boyfriend. He put me in the hospital last night. He’s dangerous. Please talk to Tammy and make sure she understands he’s bad news.

She cleared her throat and pulled her phone from her back pocket and turned it on.

“What are you doing?” her mom asked.

“I’m figuring this all out,” she told her as the lock screen glowed to life. The graduating students had all been required to turn off their phones for the ceremony.

A text from Tawk popped up. No one is allowed to mess with you, Tammy.

He admitted he busted your headlights. He won’t do that again.

If you ever need anything, I’m a call away.

Don’t let anyone fuck with you. Not ever.

Congrats on your big day. You are a woman who is going to figure everything out. Tawk.

“Why are you smiling,” her dad asked low. “None of this is funny.”

Tammy wiped the smile from her face and pursed her lips against another one. “Look, your golden boy, Aaron, busted out the headlights of my truck last night because I told him no to getting back together.” She shrugged. “I bet he won’t do that again.”

“Aaron did what?” her dad barked, looking like he wanted to throttle her ex himself. There he was. There was the man who raised her to take no shit from anyone.

With the realization of what Tawk had done, it felt so damn good to have someone be protective of her. Tawk must’ve read her text last night from before the mess with Jess and the Sister’s Edge members, and he must’ve gone and fixed it after he’d left.

Yeah, it was unfortunate that Aaron had ended up hurt and in the hospital, but it was also super messed up that he’d busted her headlights on the thing he knew she loved most in the world—her 4Runner.

He was used to getting away with everything.

Literally, no one had ever reprimanded him, and there were people in this world that you just knew needed a punch to the face to correct behavior.

He finally got what was coming, and Tawk had been the one to stand up.

No one is allowed to mess with you.

Yeah. Hell yeah. That felt right. It meant the world that he’d left but was still telling her if she needed anything, just ask and he would fix it.

Tawk might be a monster, but he used that to defend her, and she appreciated it more than she could ever put into words.

The vision of his wings going around her and taking the bulk of that heat last night washed across her mind. He did that instinctively. He would take pain to keep her safe, and it matched how she already felt about him.

“Everything is okay,” she promised her parents. “I know that looks extreme, but Aaron has had that coming for a while.”

Dad nodded. He still looked a little troubled, but he did say, “I didn’t know Aaron had followed you here.”

“He’s been a lot. I guess he got bored and is wanting me back. It’s not because he really cares though. It’s just because I told him no. No one tells Aaron no.”

Mom pursed her lips. “Well, it seems your boyfriend told him no.”

“He’s just a friend,” she corrected her.

“Is your friend here?”

Sadness moved through Tammy like a wave at high tide. She couldn’t find her smiles anymore, not even if she tried. “He’s gone.”

Mom gave a pitied smile, and then asked, “Where is the celebration at?”

“Um, I’m not sure,” she admitted, looking around for Harley. She’d mentioned going out to eat or something. “Hey Harley?”

“Yep?” Her friend answered immediately from where she was chatting with the Cold Foot Crew a few yards away.

“Are we still going somewhere to eat for lunch?”

“Oh yeah. I reserved the back room of Pepper’s Pub.”

Sweet. She’d never been there before. “Thank you for doing that! Is there room for my parents?”

“Of course! There’s plenty of room.”

“Okay, we can meet you there if you want.”

“I’m starving,” Cash announced.

“You’re always starving,” Katrina jabbed.

“I am also hungry,” King said, raising his hand like he was in school.

She giggled and gestured toward the parking lot. “Let’s make like cows and moooove.”

Cash groaned, and Harley snorted, but no one laughed. Not like Tawk had done when she’d used a moo-cow joke on him.

Everything reminded her of him.

She scanned the crowd, but he really wasn’t here. She couldn’t deny the disappointment that swirled in her chest. She hadn’t realized how much it meant to her that he be here until she’d shown up.

She was proud of herself, but she wanted to celebrate with the people she cared about. It might have been a messy night that made them incompatible, but she still had those big feelings that had swallowed her heart up whole.

“What’s wrong?” Jess asked softly as she passed.

Tammy studied the woman’s face, and considered telling her what a problem she had caused last night, but she didn’t know Jess that well. Now, she mostly knew the witch was dangerous.

“I’m fine,” she murmured, and walked past the witch to put some distance between them. She hated that Jess could control Tawk’s reality.

The curse he’d yelled as he’d walked away last night echoed through her mind for the tenth time today. His tone had been full of agony, frustration, and regret. They had other issues as well, but Jess was a big reason for him leaving.

She still needed time to think about all of that, and figure out her feelings on the witch.

When she pulled into the parking lot of Pepper’s at the edge of town, everyone else had already arrived and were headed inside.

For a few moments, Tammy sat there gripping the steering wheel, wondering if she could do this.

Could she force the smiles and put on a happy face and hide the emptiness and uncertainty she was feeling?

She had to. These people were here to celebrate her big day, and she didn’t want to be a downer.

She pulled her phone out of the cupholder and looked at Tawk’s text message again.

No one is allowed to mess with you.

How long had she craved for Aaron to figure that out? How many years had she waited for him to grow up and stick up for her on anything?

You are a woman who is going to figure everything out.

She loved the way Tawk saw her. He hadn’t been through her awkward childhood years, or her gawky teens. He hadn’t seen her being built into the woman she was…he only saw the woman as she was now, and the way he spoke filled her with a confidence that surprised her.

I wish you were there today . Her finger hovered over the send button, but she couldn’t do it. They’d had their closure, all messaging him would do was drag it out.

He really was gone.

She deleted the message. What was wrong with her.

She’d known him for such a short time. This was on her.

She’d allowed him to touch her body when she’d known damn-well she wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of woman.

She had a heart. She got attached. She’d fallen hard for him and wanted more and more and more.

It was wrong to want a shifter like him, she knew it was. Tammy was still having to convince her heart of it, that was all. It would take time.

He’d left so damn easily, and she had to absorb that.

And while a part of her understood his reasons, what value was an easy-leaver to a woman like her?

She was on a path. She was aimed at a good future.

She was working hard to get to a dream-spot, and here, on what should be one of the happiest days of her life, she was pouting over the absence of a man.

That’s what men did—they ruined big days.

Fuck. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed and winced. That wasn’t fair of her. He’d told her about his dad and his mom, and she could understand him not wanting that for her. She could also understand not wanting more out-of-control moments around Jess.

He was trying to do the right thing.

No, he was doing the right thing, not just trying to.

She gave a test-smile to the rearview mirror, then turned off her 4Runner and got out.

She could do this.

She checked the parking lot for Tawk’s truck and wondered how long she would do that for—look for him. She wondered how long this disappointed hole in her chest would exist when she realized he wasn’t where she was.

A memory of him kissing her washed across her mind. “Goodness, get ahold of yourself,” she muttered as she pulled open the door to Pepper’s.

Everything was going to be okay.