Clay sighed tiredly and reminded Wyatt for what had to be the millionth time. “We’re not buddies.”
Wyatt knew with absolute conviction Clay didn’t mean it. They didn’t suffer through two very painful concussions together to walk the other way once they’d healed up. Those were battle wounds. It was like surviving a war together. Wyatt just chose to forget they’d been on opposing sides. He knew Clay was supposed to be his best friend. It felt like destiny.
Just like he knew he was supposed to grow up, be sheriff, and marry Tabitha McMillen.
Part Four
The Vigilante
A pit bull is like a fighter. Every so often it needs to taste blood.
Chapter Eleven
September 1992
Tabitha missed riding the bus with Clay.
Even after he got stuck in the foster system, he still bused to school. Probably because most of his foster families didn’t want to spend any more time with him than they had to. Now the start of ninth grade had him in one of those in-between stages where no one wanted him, and he was back living with the Conners.
So Tabitha was riding the bus alone because the sheriff always dropped the twins off before school, and Clay along with them. The last time he was with the Conners, it took them months to find him a new place to stay, so it looked like Tabitha was going to be busing alone for her first many weeks of high school.
How very unfortunate.
She sat in the back, reading her book and avoiding making eye contact because she’d never learned how to make friends. She was still upbeat because Brett started getting rides to school now that Vaughn had somehow gotten a beaten-up older-model car. Not having him on the bus bullying her when he got bored was very refreshing.
Only the first streaks of pink were starting to stretch across the sky, but the bus was nearly full because the buses started on the bad side of town earliest and worked their way to the few spoiled rich kids whose parents were somehow too busy to drive them in the morning.
She didn’t bother to look up when it stopped, so she was surprised when Terry Dower was suddenly standing over her.
“Can I sit?”
Tabitha blinked in surprise at the older boy, but grabbed her backpack and slid over anyway. “I thought you had a car.”
“My parents sold it.”
“Oh.” Tabitha shoved her old backpack down to the ground as Terry sat. “I guess that sucks.”
“It does,” he agreed and let his head fall back against the headrest. His eyes were closed as if he were hiding from life.
Tabitha studied him, surprised by any number of things, not the least of which was Terry riding the bus. His family was one of the richest in Garnet. He had been driving around in a very nice Honda Prelude, and she couldn’t possibly imagine what happened to make his parents sell it.
“Is Maple’s not doing good?” she asked curiously.
“It’s the only grocery store in town. Can’t do anything but good.”
Tabitha noticed she wasn’t the only one amazed by Terry being there. Everyone was looking back to the two of them, whispering under their breath in scandalized shock.
She wanted to ask why, but she didn’t. Terry looked miserable, so she just picked her book back up and started reading. She was good at giving people the space they needed.
They were five minutes closer to school before Terry asked, “Do you and Conner got something going on the side?”
Tabitha made a choked sound of shock. “Excuse me?”
Terry shrugged, a blush staining his cheeks despite his tan still left over from summer. He ran a hand through his dark hair and seemed to be choosing his words. Then he leaned in and spoke in a low voice only Tabitha can hear. “I notice he’s always hanging out with you, but you ain’t going out with him. I was just wondering if y’all were sneaking round or something.”
“No,” she said a little too quickly. “He’s Clay’s best friend. They train all the time together for the circuit, and Clay’s my friend, so—”
“No, I see him looking at you.” Terry gave her a sharp, penetrating glare. “And I see you looking at him too.”
Tabitha rubbed her fingers against her palm, feeling the smooth scarred skin as a reminder. “I don’t like Wyatt Conner.”
“But what if you did? How would you ever be able to date him? You know his daddy wouldn’t put up with him going out with a McMillen any more than your family would want you hanging round the sheriff’s son.”
Tabitha could only gape at him. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”
“I just—” he started and then looked away as if trying to find some sort of courage she didn’t understand. Then he turned back to her, his shoulders tense with determination. “If you ever wanted to date Conner, I could help you out.”
Tabitha didn’t want to date Wyatt.
At least that was what she told herself as she felt the scars on her hand once more, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Why would you want to do that?”
“We could help each other out.” His dark eyes were still bright with resolve. “You’re different than the folks round here. You’re always writing and reading. Like an artist. Aren’t artists supposed to be different than other folks? More understanding.”
Tabitha leaned into Terry and confessed, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking ’bout.”
“Forget it.” Terry huffed and fell back against the seat. “It was a dumb idea anyway.”
“I don’t even know what the idea is.” Tabitha’s mind was still reeling. This conversation was like trying to put together pieces of a puzzle, and she knew she was missing key facts. “Is this because of your car?”
“Fuck my car,” he growled. “And fuck my mother. I don’t need it.”
Tabitha fell back against the seat and looked ahead, still trying to understand what she was missing. This whole situation was beyond odd. She and Terry weren’t even very good friends. He was two years older than her, and until now he’d been one of those older high school boys she saw in passing but didn’t talk to very often. He was nice, he was handsome, but he was also rich and had very little reason to associate with her.
“When have you been watching me and Wyatt?”
Terry wasn’t very sports minded, so he wouldn’t have been likely to see them at the rec center. True, they ran into each other around town, but to say they hung in different circles was an understatement. The only other place she saw him was at Maple’s, where she would often do shopping for her mother. Sometimes Wyatt and Clay were with her, but not always.
Then something occurred to her, and she turned and asked, “Are we that obvious?”
He gave her a look as a disbelieving laugh burst out of him. “Wyatt’s been hounding you since elementary school. Everyone knows it.”
“It hasn’t been that long.” She felt her cheeks get hot. “Just ’cause we talk don’t mean—”
“Look, I don’t care who you wanna date.” Terry cut her off with another long look. “Not like I got any place to be giving people hell on impossible relationships. I just thought I’d help you out if you wanted to make your move.”
“Make my move?”
“Wyatt Conner ain’t exactly hard on the eyes,” Terry said in a low voice. “He walked onto the varsity football team this year as a freshman. He’s won a million karate trophies, and he’s got that confident stride like his daddy. He talks, and people listen. Every cheerleader in this school is gonna be crawling all over him now that he’s in high school.”