CHAPTER 5

Frankie

 

I was lying in my bed and staring at the ceiling when there was a quiet knock on my door. “I’m awake.”

When my mom walked in with a beautiful vase of wildflowers, I sat up, wincing at the pain in my arm. I’d had surgery yesterday to fix the break and would be in a cast for several weeks. “These came for you.” She set the vase on my dresser next to the others that were there.

“Who are they from?”

“Wilder.”

Hearing his name made my heart beat a little faster. “Really?” I couldn’t help the smile that stretched across my lips.

She sat at the end of my bed and patted my leg. “Yes. He’s waiting in the living room.”

I gasped and brought my hand to my mouth. Forgetting I was wearing a cast, I clocked my chin. Under any other circumstance, I’d have registered the pain, but I was in such shock from hearing Wilder was here that I could only feel the excited pounding of the blood in my veins. “He’s here?” I squeaked.

“I wanted to make sure you were awake before I sent him in.”

“I’m awake.”

She grinned knowingly. “Then I’ll send him in.”

I sat up further, and as soon as I heard her talking and then the rumble of a very male voice, I realized I looked like shit. Panicked, I tried to smooth out my hair with my good arm and attempted to grab for my lip gloss, but in my haste, it rolled to the floor. Bending over, I was reaching for it and just had the tips of my fingers on the tube when I heard, “Grace.”

My nerves got the best of me, and I lost my balance and fell out of bed, landing on my shoulder with my legs tangled in the blanket. “Crap.” I wanted to cry at how embarrassing that was, and I shoved up and felt a warm hand at my neck.

My hair was pushed to the side, and then Wilder’s handsome face appeared. He was crouched down and wore a mask of concern, although I could tell he was trying not to laugh. “You okay?” He tucked the strands behind my ears and pulled the blanket off the bed, my legs going with.

“Yeah.”

When he held out his hand, I took hold of it, the same butterflies swarming around in my belly as the first time he touched me. He stood, pulling me with him, and I loved that he was so strong yet gentle at the same time. Once I was on my feet, I realized how wobbly my knees were, so I sat on my bed to cover up the fact that I was about to fall again.

He glanced at my cast, and I saw the cord of muscles in his forearms bunch when he squeezed his fists together. “So, this is a dumb question, but how are you doing?”

“Good.”

“That’s good.” He pulled out the pink chair from my desk and sat down, resting his elbows on his thighs, his forearms dangling, and I wished I was close enough that somehow his fingers could brush against mine. My room was small, but unfortunately, there was enough space for him to be too far away. His cologne subtly overpowered the scent of flowers, and I also wished I could have bottled that smell.

It was my turn to say something, but for the life of me, I couldn’t think of anything. Not a question, a statement. Nothing. So I just stared at him.

He watched me too, and when his eyes went from mine down to my lips, I felt them parting on their own accord. My nerves tingled, and my throat itched, but I didn’t want those feelings to go away. I wanted them to spread, to intensify, and I knew the only one who could make it better was him.

But he quickly looked up and cleared his throat, and all that goodness began to fade away. “I, uh, just wanted to come in person and apologize again. I—”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was. I took you off the trail, and I shouldn’t have, but I wanted to show you the land, the meadow… I wanted you to see my life, that part of me, so I did, and you got hurt because of it.”

Shaking my head, I began to get my bearings again. “It was an accident. I’m fine, so please don’t feel bad.”

“Your arm is broken. You’re not fine.” His tone was laced with guilt, and I hated that he felt that way.

“But I am.”

He sighed. “Can you still draw?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Don’t ever stop doing that. You’re amazing at it, and the world needs to see your work.”

Just because I didn’t show other people my journals didn’t mean nobody else hadn’t ever seen my drawings. But nobody else had ever made me feel like my stuff was any good. That maybe I actually was talented. They never complimented me with such conviction that it awakened my soul. “Will you sign my cast?” I grabbed the marker off my nightstand and handed it to him, feeling anxious in an almost good way.

He uncapped it and then scooted closer. He held the bottom of the cast and dropped his head so he could watch as he signed his name. I didn’t look at what he wrote because I was too busy studying his features so close up. His lashes were dark but not long, his eyebrows thick and the same color as his jet-black hair. When he finished, he put the cap back on the marker but didn’t scoot away.

His brown eyes lifted, and he found me staring at him. His pupils dilated, and even though I was wearing a cast, I felt it when his fingers tightened. “Frankie.” He whispered my name, and those two syllables said everything I needed to hear.

I leaned in first, and he didn’t hesitate to copy my movements. His nose brushed mine, his lips grazed my cheek, and then, “Frankie?” My dad called my name, and I jerked back. Wilder sat up straight, just as my father’s figure filled my room. He crossed his arms and dipped his chin at Wilder. “Everything okay in here?”

Wilder stood and brushed his hands on the front of his jeans. “I just wanted to come by in person… see that she was okay.”

“That’s a long drive to make.”

“Only a couple of hours, sir.”

“Well, it’s about to get dark. Probably best for you to head on back now.”

I jumped to my feet. “Dad, he just got here.”

“And now he’s leaving.”

“It’s okay, Frankie. He’s right.”

“I’ll walk you to your car.”

He grinned. “Truck.”

“Of course.” I rolled my eyes.

My dad backed out of the room and walked us to the front door, where he opened it and made it known he’d be watching. I pushed open the screen, and Wilder followed me until we reached the driver’s side of his surprisingly fancy new white truck. “This is really nice.”

“Thanks.” He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t spend much money on anything else, and I plan on driving this baby until it dies, so it’s an investment for me.”

“You don’t need to explain.”

He kicked at a rock on the driveway and sighed. “Well, I should go. I’m glad you’re doing okay.”

“Thank you for coming by. It was really nice of you.”

“The least I could do.” He reached for his door, and his hand brushed my shoulder. It lingered, and he rubbed his thumb across the pulse point in my neck, causing an erotic thrill to course down my spine. “Take care.”

“Yeah, uh… you too.”

He dropped his arm and got in, and after he started the engine, he rolled his window down.

“Oh, wait, I almost forgot to ask you if you happened to find my notebook. It must have fallen out when I fell.”

There was a rock song playing in the cab of his truck, and he turned the volume down and leaned out the window a little bit. “I didn’t see it, but I’ll look, and if I find it, I’ll bring it to you.”

“Okay, thanks, but you don’t have to drive back up here. Just drop it in the mail or something.”

His head jerked to the side. “You’re worth the drive. Later, Grace.”

“Bye, Wilder.”

I watched him disappear, thinking I wished he’d take me with him. I wanted to get out of my house and away from everything and everyone more than ever. “Come on in, Frankie, supper’s almost done.” My father’s voice made me jump in my skin. I’d forgotten he was there.

As Wilder’s taillights faded, a loneliness filled me, and I almost wanted to cry. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Don’t be too long.”

I heard his heavy footsteps fade away as he walked to the kitchen in the back of the house. My mom laughed, which probably meant that my dad kissed her neck. She was ticklish there, and his beard made her giggle. He did that a lot, made her laugh. He also was super protective of her and treated her like she was a queen.

But she didn’t know what I did.

Nobody did.

And because I didn’t want to hurt either one of my parents, I kept my mouth shut.

Instead, I drew. And I wrote. I let out everything I was feeling on paper, but it didn’t really help. The only time I ever felt a sense of relief was when I was with Wilder. When he was holding my hand and listening to me. When it felt like, for the first time in my life, I wasn’t alone.

So as I stood there, I wrapped my arms around myself and held on tight to what he made me feel so I could remember it because even though I was young, I knew that wasn’t something I’d ever get back… unless I got him back.

I glanced down and got a glimpse of his handwriting and remembered I never read what he wrote, so I turned my arm to get a better view. Never ever give up, Grace. X – Wild. His belief in me was something I would cherish forever.

Hugging my arm to my chest, a tingling ache started to crawl up my throat and sting my nostrils, but when my sister whipped her car into the driveway, I had to jump back. She slammed her door and stomped around to the back, where she roughly yanked out Aubrey’s car seat. The baby was screaming crying, and when Piper walked around to the front of the car, I saw that she had been crying, too.

“What’s wrong?” I took the car seat from her and unbuckled Aubrey and held her to my chest with my good arm as I started bouncing with her and using the fingertips from my casted arm to try to soothe her as I rubbed her back.

“He didn’t show.” She furiously wiped the wetness from her face. “I should have known, but I wanted to give him one more chance… well, fuck that.” She shook her head and straightened her shoulders. “I’m done.”

I kissed Aubrey’s temple as she settled down. “I’m sorry, Piper.”

“It’s not your fault. I’m the one who’s sorry… believing him when he said everything I wanted to hear. It was textbook, and I’m the moron who fell for it.”

“You’re not a moron.”

She laughed humorlessly. “I am.” Her eyebrows drew together. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Frankie.” She tilted her head. We were twins, so we did have a pretty intense connection. She knew I was lying. “Talk to me.”

“Wilder just left.”

When her eyes went round as I recapped the past fifteen minutes, I saw the redness from how badly she’d been crying, too. But when I was done, she just lifted a shoulder as if to say that’s it? “Why do you look sad, then?”

“I’m not.”

“You like him.” She deduced my feelings and snapped them in an almost accusatory way.

Shrugging, I didn’t disagree. “He’s nice.”

“He’s just a boy, Frankie. And he lives far away, and even though he’s cute, nothing could ever happen with him.”

“Why not?”

She looked at me holding Aubrey and quickly wiped away the tears spilling over. “Because you have so much going for you. You’ve got such a bright future, and I can see it in your eyes… I can see he’s charming you the same way—” She dropped her head and sniffled. “He’s going to make you believe you’re special, but at the end of the day, he’ll end up breaking your heart, Frankie. Don’t give him that power… Don’t ever give any man that power. Promise me you never will.”

“I’ll never what?”

“You’ll never give a guy that kind of power over you.”

I wasn’t even sure what she was talking about, but still, I knew she needed to hear me say it. “I’ll never give a guy that kind of power over me.”

“Good. Can you watch her while I go take a shower?”

“Sure.”

She didn’t even thank me as she went inside, and even though I really just wanted a minute to myself, I ended up watching Aubrey for the rest of the night.

* * *

My homelife was pretty abysmal, with the stress of a new baby in the house and all. I’d gotten my cast off a couple of months later, and to celebrate, my mom agreed to watch Aubrey so Piper and I could go to the fair. I didn’t care either way, but Piper was desperate for a little fun, so I agreed to go.

And of course as soon as we got there, she found a guy. And that guy had a friend with him. And I was left with a complete stranger while Piper disappeared. “Sorry, you don’t have to stay with me. I’ll be fine.”

“It’s fine. Wanna play some games?”

“Sure.”

We walked over to the ring toss and each lost, then we tried the one where we threw a baseball at three bottles. I hit none, and he got one knocked off and let me pick the prize. I took the small teddy bear for Aubrey. “Oh, let’s try this one. I’m good at it.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the balloon darts.

I stood next to him while he popped all three balloons right away. He took the offered glow necklace and cracked it, then put it around my neck. “Your turn.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.” I took the dart and threw it… and it flew crooked past the balloon board and landed in the ground next to a pair of cowboy boots.

Like one of those scenes from a movie, I saw that those boots belonged to Wilder. He was wearing jeans that hugged his legs like an answered prayer, white cowboy hat on his head, and a dark blue T-shirt over his muscled chest… he was perfect.

He glanced down at the dart, then looked up and over, his eyes capturing mine almost instantly. I froze, and when a girl ran up to him and threw her arms around him, I felt bile rise in my stomach to the point that I had to turn away.

“Hey, you okay?” Cory grabbed my shoulders. “Are you gonna be sick?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m fine.” I cleared my throat. “I just, uh, a bug flew in my mouth.”

“Gross.” He handed me his cup of beer. “Wash it down with this.”

“Thanks.” I took a small sip and scrunched my nose. “This is gross.”

He just chuckled as he took the cup back and slammed its contents, and when he stepped out of view as he tossed the cup in the trash, I came face-to-face with Wilder.

His expression registered shock, but before he said anything, Cory threw his arm over my shoulder. “’Sup, man.”

Wilder tilted his head as he crossed his arms, ignoring Cory. “Hey, Grace.”

“Think you got the wrong girl.” Cory pulled me closer to him. “This is Frankie.”

“I know who she is.”

“Hey, Wilder.” I gave a lame wave. “How are you?”

He shook his head like he was in disbelief before he answered. “I’m fine. You?”

“I’m good. What are you doing he—”

“Wild, hey!” The girl called his name and was waving at him frantically.

He held up his hand to her. “I’ve gotta get back, but it was good seeing you again.”

“Yeah, you, too.”

He seemed like maybe he wanted to say more. I wanted him to say more. But instead, he offered me a small smile and then walked away, disappearing into the crowd.