Right Back On

Sixteen

Wyatt pulled up to Tommy's trailer house with us both in one piece and me still awake, much to his relief. Personally, I thought he was being overkill about the whole thing. Though my vision was a little blurred and my head hurt like hell, I highly doubted it was a concussion since I never blacked out.

"Alright, little R, let's get you inside."

I glared mercilessly as he unbuckled my seatbelt. "Dammit, Wyatt, quit treating me like I'm five!"

Before he could run around and try to pack me all the way to the house, I forced the door open and dropped to the ground on unsteady feet.

Just as I'd expected, Charlie was waiting up pensively. Tommy stayed in the living room as well, though he was snoring like a freight train when we walked in. Wyatt held onto my elbow even after I informed him that I could walk just fine.

"Well, you got her home," Charlie began. "Now what's this about a concussion?"

Wyatt struck me as the type to dance around a question and charm you into thinking everything was just fine. He surprised me by telling my brother outright exactly what had happened.

"Well, all in all tonight was kind of a shit show. Oakley's boyfriend brought his bitchy little sister when we went out to eat and she got mad and made Lane leave. We ended up having to fit five people in my pickup. Since Coda's the littlest, she sat on Blake's lap and when I drove off the curb too fast she flew up and smacked her head really hard. I don't know if it's actually a concussion but she was sort of unsteady so we figured we'd rather be safe than sorry."

"And how come you brought her home instead of Kellan?" Charlie quizzed.

"I think Kellan's under a lot of stress right now... He was being an ass tonight and him and Blake got into it so we just left."

I was surprised that Wyatt stuck up for Kellan even after the way he'd acted towards both of us tonight. It made me realize that their friendship must have some deep roots.

"Anyway," he continued, "I'm real sorry about Coda getting hurt. That one was my fault and I didn't mean for it to happen."

I butted in. "I really don't think it's a concussion. I didn't black out or anything so it's probably just a good bump to the head."

Charlie glanced at me gravely. "You might not think so but I'm glad Wyatt was taking care of you. We'd all rather be safe than sorry."

I pouted for a minute, unused to my brother siding with anyone but me. To some extent, I was the typical, spoiled family baby.

"On the bright side, her and Oakley won second place in team roping!" Wyatt informed him, relieving the tension.

Charlie stared at me, quite astonished. "You did?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. The accomplishment felt like a very small piece of good in the whole of our disastrous night at the rodeo.

"Well, I guess there's one positive about this shitty day," he said wryly, voicing my thoughts. "Wyatt, thanks for taking care of my sister. I owe you, man."

"No problem. She's a hell of a girl. Hopefully Kellan pulls his head out of his ass so she doesn't have to get hurt again."

"Shit, I need to call Torrin," I muttered, fishing my phone out of the back pocket of Blake's borrowed jeans. I'd informed him that I'd actually drive home after the rodeo and wake him up when I got back.

Though things were still a little blurry, it was much easier to read the contacts on my phone without Kellan induced tears filling my eyes.

Just like Charlie, he answered groggily. "Hullo?"

"Hey, Torrin. I'm staying with Tommy tonight so don't worry about me."

"Wait, why? Tommy's place is even further away than home is."

I sighed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you when I get home tomorrow. Just know that I'm at Tommy's now and I'm safe."

"Uh, okay... I love you."

"Love you too. See you in the morning."

I hung up the phone to find Wyatt and Charlie deep in conversation as if they were the best of friends.

"Wyatt, how far do you gotta drive to get back home."

He shrugged. "I figured I'd stay with my grandparents tonight. They live just outside of Hauser."

"Oh, that's not too far. I was gonna say, if you still had a couple hours to drive, you could stay here. Who're your grandparents?"

"Bill and Anna Lunders."

"Aw, really?" Charlie's face lit up much like Wyatt's had when I told him I was from Hauser.

He nodded solemnly.

"Now there's a coupl'a damn good people," Charlie grinned in approval.

"Yeah, they're alright." Wyatt's crooked smile matched my brother's. "Anyhow, I should probably get outta your hair, let you get some sleep."

"Yeah, I guess it's getting late. Thanks again for looking out for my sister."

Wyatt nodded and strode out the door to his waiting Chevy and I pulled off my boots unsteadily.

"He sure seems like a nice kid," Charlie commented.

I shrugged. "Yeah, he's saved my ass more than once."

I plopped down on the air mattress they'd left out for me and Charlie took a seat in the recliner.

"So, what's this whole deal about Kellan?"

My sigh was fairly loud and I hoped it didn't wake Tommy. "Y'know, Charlie, I'm not even sure. I think I told you he was a real ass last weekend but we had a really nice heart-to-heart on Wednesday. He apologized and so did Oakley. They both promised this weekend would be better but I guess that didn't happen."

"Well, shit," he muttered, voice as hollow as mine.

I sighed again. "Yeah, I just don't know what to do. Kellan started being an ass to Wyatt and Blake got pissed and yelled at him... That was after Oakley yelled at me and stomped off with Lane."

"Sounds to me like Blake and Wyatt are the only ones on your side," Charlie commented.

"Yeah, I think Oakley just got demoted from her position of best friend," I muttered.

"Who's replacing her?" My brother asked, sounding slightly amused.

I shrugged, forgetting it was dark. "I don't know. Probably Blake."

"Does that mean Wyatt's replacing Kellan as your crush?"

"I do not have a crush on Kellan," I argued vehemently.

"You might not anymore but you did for a while there," he chuckled.

"Shut up," I muttered, crawling under the covers. It was probably still sixty degrees outside but I was freezing anyway.

"Just think about it. I like Wyatt."

Charlie's words were the last thing that ran through my mind before drifting off to sleep.