Page 19 of I Found You (Wilder #1)

Wyatt

The next couple of days went by pretty much the same.

Jackson hung around the garage a lot, working on his truck during the day.

He was a quiet kid around me, but I could see trouble brewing for him if he continued to hang around with the crowd he was with currently.

Friends of his would drop by and screw around for a while.

I didn’t mind Jackson using my tools or equipment, but I kept my eyes on these so-called friends.

I got the impression that he didn’t really want them around, but until they stepped out of line or Jackson himself told me he wanted them gone, I would leave it alone.

It was just Jackson and me at the garage right now though. I was walking him through the steps to disconnect the engine block so we could remove it and do a full rebuild.

“Alright, next thing we need to do is remove the entire intake manifold. It’s a pain in the ass, but if we leave the radiator in place, we run the risk of damaging it when we reinstall the engine.”

“Will I need the impact gun for that?”

He was catching on quickly, asking the right questions. I liked helping him out and teaching him the ropes.

“You will, but not yet. We have a shit load of disconnecting to do first. Grab the socket set and the ratchet.”

A car pulled up outside, and for a second, I thought it might be Maeve, but as soon as I heard their voices, I knew it wasn’t her.

Jackson picked his head up, and I could tell when he registered the voices too. His shoulders slumped, and he rolled his eyes.

“Want me to tell them to leave?” I asked.

“No. Unless you don’t want them here. It’s your shop.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. Just let me know if you want me to kick them out.”

“It’s fine,” he said quietly just as the door opened.

“J-man, what’s up?” one of them said as he walked in.

Sam was back as well, immediately fucking around with my equipment and tools, along with a third kid.

“Where you been lately? We needed you yesterday.” He walked up to Jackson, standing toe to toe.

Jackson tried to stare him down, but he broke eye contact first, looking back at his truck.

Shit. He should have stood his ground. A silent stare down until the kid backed off.

“Just been here, working on the truck.”

“Yeah, you’re always here now. Got yourself a new daddy and forgot about us, huh?” The kid laughed and punched Jackson in the shoulder. Jackson winced. It didn’t look like a hard punch, but it wasn’t exactly a friendly one either. What the fuck was he doing hanging out with these kids?

“Fuck off. What did you have going on yesterday?” The kid clearly hit a nerve. Jackson straightened his back and tipped his chin up. He looked more like one of them, part of a little gang of hoodlums that ran the streets.

“Nothing at all.” He motioned his head toward me. Kid was as subtle as a wrecking ball. “Let’s get out of here though. We got things to do.”

I hadn’t moved from my position by the truck, staying completely silent during their exchange.

I used a rag to clean my hands and crossed my arms across my chest. The group of three all made their way to the door, just assuming Jackson was going to follow them out.

His eyes darted from their retreating backs to me, and I could see the indecision wearing on him.

“You don’t have to worry about this.” I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the truck or whatever his friends had planned for him today. “I’ll be back tomorrow to work on it.”

“You can stay here and work on your truck if you want. They give you any shit about it, just let me know,” I told him, my expression hard and serious. Nothing good was happening with this crowd. Jackson would be wise to stay far away from them.

“No. The truck will still be here tomorrow. I’m going to hang with my boys for a while.”

I gave him a quick nod and watched as he hurried to catch up with them.

I finished my day at the garage, getting my own work done. I still had to shower and change before I picked Maeve and Jane up for dinner at my dad’s tonight.

My chest felt weird when I pulled up in front of Maeve’s house.

I felt like I was on edge. But that would make no fucking sense.

I’d been spending a lot of time at Maeve’s.

Every day, really. After work, I had been coming by Maeve’s to hang out with her and Jane.

We took Jane for walks after we ate whatever Maeve decided to cook for dinner and I had all of the dishes cleaned up.

Jane loved the docks. She would ooh and aah at the birds and the boats.

I liked to sit with Jane at the end of the dock and dip her feet in the ocean.

When we got back to Maeve’s, I would get to work scraping the chipped paint off her siding.

It was slow going since I was only able to put in an hour or so every evening, but it was getting done.

Before I left for the night, I would help with the nighttime routine, getting Jane bathed and changed for bed.

That little girl had stolen my heart from the first day I met her.

I could not imagine how anyone could leave her lying on the ground, hidden under some brush, alone in the world.

I had never seen myself as a domestic kind of guy before—never even been in a serious relationship—but with Maeve and Jane, I didn’t mind it so much.

I rapped on Maeve’s door, wearing a pair of dark green shorts and the cleanest white T-shirt I could find.

Side note: it might be time for me to pick up some new plain white T-shirts that aren’t stained or stretched out.

The edginess I felt tripled when she opened the door.

She was wearing one of those flirty little sundresses that I associated her with, but I didn’t remember seeing her in this particular one before.

The bright yellow color made her look like the sun.

The top went all the way up to her neck, but it wrapped around the base of her throat and left her shoulders bare.

It came down to just above her knees, and it had a little tie that wrapped around her middle.

“Is this alright? Should I change?” she asked. It took all of my effort to drag my eyes back to her face.

My voice was rough, and it was like my lungs forgot how to work. “You look like the fucking sun.”

“Um, I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Is the color too bright? It’s too much, right? Give me two minutes, I’ll throw something else on.” She handed me Jane and turned to go inside, but I reached out and grabbed her arm, halting her.

“No, don’t change.” I didn’t mean for it to sound so commanding, but she looked beautiful, and I didn’t like the idea that she felt she needed to look any other way. Images of walking into my father’s house with her on my arm looking just like this flashed through my head.

Shock was evident in her eyes, along with something else. With the way her face pinked, I would venture that something else was interest. “Okay.”

My free hand pressed lightly on her lower back as we walked to her car.

Maeve got into the driver’s seat as I was putting Jane in her car seat.

I had to remind myself that this wasn’t a date.

I didn’t date sweet girls who took in babies with no family.

I didn’t date kind girls who raised their brother on their own when they were barely old enough to take care of themselves.

Maeve was the type of girl who was looking for forever, but that wasn’t for me.

It was for Luke, for Reid, maybe even for Lydia—although who the hell knew what she was up to in the relationship world—but that had never been in my future.

As with most places in this town, my dad’s house was only a few minutes from Maeve’s. We had just pulled onto his street when her arm shot out like a cannon, and she grabbed my bicep. “Oh my goodness, I forgot to bring the wine. I bought wine, and I forgot it on my counter.”

“Don’t worry about it. You didn’t need to bring anything. It’s just dinner.”

She removed her hand from my arm and started to smooth it along her skirt.

I had the strangest urge to take it in mine.

The fact that she was so nervous was kind of cute, but it also made me think she might think this was more than it was.

Holding her hand might give her the wrong idea, so I kept mine to myself.

It didn’t stop my gaze from drifting to her hands though, where she rubbed them up and down her thighs, wondering what it would feel like if those were my hands on her leg.

I would squeeze her thigh tight enough that she would be able to feel every finger but not so tight that it would hurt.

I would gently guide her leg toward me, opening her wider.

Fuck. Focus, Wyatt. You’re at your father’s house for a fucking family dinner. The last thing I need is to walk in there with a fucking boner.

Noise was coming from the backyard, so instead of heading into the house, I guided Maeve to the gate that led to the patio while she held Jane against her like she was a shield.

Apparently, we were the last to arrive. Even Sheila Rawlins was already here.

I hid my smile and grabbed me and Maeve a drink each.

I went around the group, telling Maeve who everyone was.

“You know Reid already. That’s his girlfriend, Kayleigh.

They’ve been together for years, high school sweethearts.

My other brother, Luke, is with his wife, Juliet.

” I took a sip of my beer, not having anything to add to that relationship dynamic.

“And this is my father, Charlie,” I told her just as my dad came walking up to us.

“You must be the nice lady that Reid says is stealing our Wyatt’s time.” My father smiled down at Maeve, but I pretended he was talking to Jane.