Page 5 of I Found You (Wilder #1)

Wyatt

The smell of motor oil permeated my clothes and seeped into my skin. It was darker inside than it should have been at midday in the middle of July, the overhead lights struggling to illuminate the space. The windows hadn’t been clear enough to actually see through in years. Just the way I liked it.

My garage was my sanctuary. I enjoyed my work, especially the hands-on repairs. The paperwork side of owning a business was a pain in the ass, but it was worth it to answer to no one, take on as much or as little work as I wanted, and choose my own schedule.

It had been busier than usual this last week.

I had taken the rest of the week off during the Fourth of July week.

Thursday, my birthday, was spent talking to the police and reenacting my steps from the night before.

Then Friday, I just felt off all day, like I was forgetting something.

I took the weekend to recuperate and get back on track.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, I was days behind and struggling to keep up.

The only other mechanic that I had quit last month to travel the country with his girlfriend.

Good for him, honestly. They were young and in love.

It had been over a week since I drunkenly stumbled upon an abandoned baby and brought her home.

I couldn’t stop wondering about her. Where did she end up?

Was she safe? Did the police find her family yet?

Luke wouldn’t tell me any information. He was still pissed that I was involved in it at all.

Or he might just be pissed because I didn’t call him immediately.

Every time I asked for an update on the case, he would brush me off.

It was Friday, which meant Luke should be home from his shift by five o’clock.

I closed my garage right at five o’clock, then ran by my house to shower and change before heading over to Luke and Juliet’s.

I knew Juliet would be a little irritated by me stopping by unannounced, especially on a Friday night, but she wasn’t my problem.

I needed to talk to my brother, and I wasn’t going to let his ice queen wife dictate when that was allowed.

I pulled up in front of their perfectly traditional house.

Vibrant green grass, due to the time-operated underground sprinkler system, manicured within an inch of its life, blanketed the ground.

The walkway was a decorative brick design with absolutely no weeds in sight.

Truthfully, it was a beautiful landscape, just a bit too neat and tidy for my liking.

Making my way to the front door, I happened to glance toward the vehicles in the driveway.

Juliet’s year-old Land Rover Discovery was parked in the driveway, closest to the garage but not in the garage like it usually would be.

Luke’s eight-year-old Ford Explorer was parked behind it.

Luke was still in his car, eyes closed, leaning back into the seat.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I asked as I tapped on his window. He nearly jumped out of his skin as his gaze shot to mine. He clearly didn’t hear me pull up or notice me walking over. That was very unlike him; he was always so observant.

“Jesus fuck, Wy. You scared the shit out of me.”

“Why are you hanging out in your car, brother?”

“Just decompressing before I go inside. I can’t be unloading on Jules just because I had a rough day.”

I glanced toward his house and then back to him. “You want to talk about it?” I asked.

“Nope.”

We both knew it wasn’t just a bad day at work that had him stalling to go in. I had enough on my mind as it was. I wasn’t going to pry, but I would be here if he needed to vent it out. He knew that.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, getting out of the car and making his way to the house. Pausing at the front door, he turned to me. “Jules is going to be pissed if she had made plans for tonight.”

I huffed a deep chuckle. “Probably. But it’s a Friday night, and I wanted to grab a beer with my brother.” I slapped him on the shoulder. In a more serious tone, I added, “If it’s going to cause an issue though, I’ll leave.”

Luke didn’t respond, just opened the door.

I followed him inside. The inside of their house was nothing like the exterior.

There were shoes piled up near the front door.

So many shoes, it looked like a family of five lived here instead of just the two of them.

The dining table to the left was completely covered in a mess of paperwork, mail, dish towels, travel cups, empty can cartons, and a dead plant.

Straight ahead was the open-concept living room slash kitchen, clothes and blankets strewn everywhere like a bomb went off. Dishes in the sink were piled high .

“Hey, babe,” Luke called to Juliet. She had her back to us while she stood at the stove in the kitchen.

“Hey.” Her eyes darted between Luke and me, her face not masking her irritation. “I didn’t realize we were having company,” she said through gritted teeth. “Hi, Wyatt.”

“Hey, Jules.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Juliet’s eyes bored into Luke. His shoulders slumped, and he stretched his neck from side to side. I only felt a little bad knowing I was contributing to his stress, but also, what was her problem all the time?

Luke and Juliet walked down the hall and into their bedroom. I pulled out one of the island chairs, taking a seat in one of the only cleared-off places I could find to sit.

“You can’t just bring people home, at dinner time no less, without talking me to, Luke.”

“I didn’t. He showed up at the same time I did. You want me to tell my brother he needs to leave? That he isn’t welcome at our house?” Their raised voices carried out to the kitchen.

“That’s not what I said. Don’t put words in my mouth. But I only made two pieces of chicken. I don’t have anything to offer him.”

“Don’t worry about it, babe. We’ll just go to Harpoon’s, have a drink over there.”

“And what about dinner?”

“What do you want me to do, Jules? Just tell me what I am supposed to do, and I’ll do it.”

“Whatever you want, Luke. It doesn’t matter.” Jules stormed out of the bedroom. A few minutes later, Luke came back out, changed into his street clothes.

* * *

Harpoon’s was quiet for a Friday, but it was still early.

It would get pretty wild here in a few hours.

Ronnie came over to take our orders—Jameson neat for Luke and whiskey sour for me.

There was nothing special about Harpoon’s.

It was a pretty standard small-town bar.

The lighting cast from the ship’s wheel chandeliers was low.

Old seafarer and whaler memorabilia were scattered on the walls.

It was quieter than the sports bar in town, until the locals came out—then it was a rowdy fucking disaster.

I winked at Ronnie and gave her my best smile when she set down our glasses, and she just laughed at me and shook her head.

“You’re trouble, boy. Always have been. Good thing your little brother is here to keep you in line.”

“Hey, Ronnie, don’t talk like that. Calling a grown man little does damage to his ego.” Luke laughed.

“You two don’t need any help stroking your ego,” she replied.

My lips spread into a wide grin, and I opened my mouth to speak, because really, who could let a comment like that slide.

But she cut me off before I could get a word out, raising her finger in the air, bright orange polish on the nails.

The laughter in her eyes matched mine. “Nope. I heard it as soon as it came out. I’m not accepting commentary on that statement.

Enjoy, boys.” Ronnie moved to the other side of the bar to serve the other couple of people in here, leaving Luke and me by ourselves.

“Hey, man, sorry if I fucked things up for you tonight with Jules. I knew she’d be irritated, but I didn’t expect a blowout. ”

Luke kept his eyes on his glass, his fingers swiping through the condensation. “Could you hear us?”

“Yeah, you two weren’t exactly whispering in there.”

“It’s fine. I don’t really want to talk about it.” He threw his head back, swallowing half his drink like it was a shot.

“Okay, sure. Anytime though.” He nodded, his hand rubbing over his mouth and jaw. “How’s things at work? Any update on Baby Girl’s case?” I asked casually, taking a sip of my drink.

“Wyatt, I can’t talk to you about an open investigation.

You’re too close to this. I’m sure the little girl is fine.

The social workers found a home for her while we are gathering all of the evidence to figure out who she belongs to and how she ended up on the side of the road.

” He narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t get Wes involved, did you?

I told you, this is a police matter. We don’t need a civilian screwing things up for us. ”

“No, Wes has been too busy with his own workload. I haven’t asked him to step in on this.

I can get him to if needed though. You know damn well Wes will get me this information if I ask him to.

” I knew it would piss Luke off to no end if I got Wes involved.

He’d offered to—as soon as the police were gone and my statement was taken, Wes asked if I wanted him to find out what he could.

I had an in at the police department; I shouldn’t need my PI best friend to drop everything he had going on for this.

“I get it, alright? You can’t tell me anything. ”

Luke raised his brow with a side-eye glance. He didn’t trust that I would drop the matter. But that was fine. I had two ins at the police department, anyway.

“I’m going to hit the head, then one more before we leave?” he asked.

“Yup, sounds good. ”