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The muscle in Wyatt’s jaw twitches under the dashboard lights before he reaches forward and shuts the truck off, still not answering me.
“Clearly, something is wrong,” I urge, turning to face him fully. The silence in the truck is stifling. “Wyatt.” I shove him gently on his shoulder, trying to poke the bear because I want to get this over with…whatever it is. “Just say what’s on your mind.”
He turns to face me, and the yellow outdoor light from the barn casts shadows on his face, making him even more handsome. “I just couldn’t help but notice tonight that you’re fine accepting gifts from everyone but me.”
Without waiting for my reply, he gets out of the truck and makes his way into the barn to check on Millie. I usually find it really sweet, but his comment makes it a lot less cute.
Sweet and psycho.
I slide out of the truck to argue with him but pause outside the barn when a text comes in on my phone.
Avery: Cow in distressed labor at a farm just west of Denver. Quick drive for you if you want to join.
I hesitate in the doorway, chewing my lip as I debate this. Maybe it’d be better for me to get away from Wyatt and not stir things up any more than I already have.
“What is it?” Wyatt asks as he steps out of Millie’s pen and closes the gate.
I exhale heavily and slide my phone back into my purse. “Avery is treating a cow nearby. I might go help him.”
Wyatt’s brows lift. “You said you were exhausted.”
“I was,” I reply as I dig into my purse for my car keys. “But this is work.”
“It’s not work,” he barks, marching over to me. His nostrils flare as he glowers down at me. “It’s voluntary. You don’t have to say yes.”
“Maybe I want to say yes,” I exclaim, propping my hands on my hips.
Wyatt reaches down and shocks me when he yanks the keys out of my hand. “It’s too late for you to drive to Denver.”
My jaw drops as I stare at him, holding my keys. The absolute fucking nerve of this guy. “Give me my keys back.” I grind the words out slowly, my teeth cracking as I move closer to reach for them.
“No,” Wyatt responds, pulling them back out of my grasp. “You’re not going.”
“Are you kidding me?” I bellow, my entire body vibrating with barely concealed rage. “Why on earth do you think you have any right to dictate what I do?”
“Because I’m looking out for you,” his voice booms in the quiet barn as he fingers my keys in his big hand. “You’re mine to take care of.”
I stop attempting to grab them, my body frozen with that claiming statement he just made. It’s what he’s been silently saying for the past several weeks with the gifts and the demands, but now he’s saying the crazy part out loud. “You realize how nuts you sound, right?”
“You work too much, Trista.” His voice cracks, showing a rare glimpse of emotion as the veins in his neck bulge. “You’ve been on yourfeet all day, and you need to take some time for yourself. Just this once, you should not go and help Avery.”
“You’re not my dad, Wyatt!” I argue and jam a finger into his big, meaty chest. “You’re not even my daddy. You don’t get to control what I do even though it’s clear that’s exactly what you’re trying to do.”
“How am I trying to control you?” Wyatt snaps, his brows furrowed in anger.
“Oh, let me think,” I state dramatically, holding my fingers up to count down my list. “You keep your brothers from me, you barely let me talk to Everly’s stepmom earlier today, you ruined a potential donor situation with Max because he could clearly tell you didn’t like what he offered, and now you’re going to tell me I can’t go help my friend?”
“A friend who wants to fuck you,” Wyatt snaps, irritation evident in the tremble of his body. “If Avery isn’t a part of your bullpen, he sure as hell wants to be.”
“So what?” I cry out, my body exhausted at the mind games this guy is playing with me. “If I need to be fucked, then why shouldn’t it be Avery? Nothing in our contract said I had to be celibate and in complete solitude for these next several months, so if I want to fuck Avery, I should be free to do that. It’s not like I can get pregnant again.”
“God, you are so frustrating!” He turns on his heel and marches down the alley of the barn. Millie’s head pops up as she presses her hooves to the top of the gate to watch the show.
Reginald’s snout sticks out from beneath his pen door, clearly pissed about his shitty seats, and Handsome’s view isn’t much better. This barn is equipped for real-sized animals, not this pick-a-mix batch we have going on here.
“You want to talk about frustrating?” I stomp over to the counter and slam my purse down so I can grab a fistful of granola bars. “Stop laying these barn snacks out. I know you’re doing it just for me. You’re not subtle, Wyatt.”
He turns on his heel and scoffs. “Oh, you don’t like those?”
