Page 60 of Wilde About You

Toby fidgeted as I yanked the saddle off his back. He turned his big head around to let me know he wasn't happy with the way I took it off. I carried the saddle over to the tack room and propped it on its wooden horse. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Sadie.

It wasn't your fault. Come back.

I waited, sure she wouldn't write back. I wouldn't have responded after the way I'd acted.

I think we both know that's not true. I'm used to being a catalyst for bad shit. You're better off without me.

Not true. Come back. Let's talk.

This time there was no response. In our time together, we'd never discussed her apartment. She told me it had been ransacked by Gregor's thugs, so she was afraid to go back there. Now that the picture catastrophe was over, she would have no problem going back to her place. Stupidly, I never learned the address.

Ace was the last person I wanted to talk to, but I needed to find her.

Hey, can you send me the address of Sadie's apartment?

I added please at the end of the text and then deleted it. It sounded far too fake.

A reply came back.

You have got to be fucking kidding.

I figured it was a stretch. I finished up in the barn and walked inside. Maybe this had been an easy way out for Sadie. She definitely took off fast, no arguing, or debating any of it. Just gone.

Dad was just leaving the kitchen with a can of soda. "You scared her off … idiot," he muttered and shuffled on his slippers to his usual destination, his chair.

I ignored his comment and headed upstairs. I kicked off my boots and flopped onto the bed. Sadie's scent floated around me, making my chest heavy. I blew it. Story of my life lately. I wondered just how much lower shit could go before I hit rock bottom. Actually, this felt like it, like rock fucking bottom.

I glanced at the pillow next to me. The slight imprint of her head was still on it. I picked it up and smothered myself in the smell of her shampoo. I was wild about her. There was no other way to describe it. She was what I needed to balance out all the other crap in my life. She was the one. And I'd scared her off in one selfish moment.

Feeling about as low as I'd ever felt, I dozed off. The door creaking open woke me. "Sadie?" I sat up and tossed aside the pillow.

Dad walked in and glanced around. "Pigsty."

"Dad, could you just fuck off, please. I'm not in the mood."

He ignored me. I knew he would. He sat on the edge of the bed. "You think a girl like that is just going to walk into your life more than once?"

"Great. Love advice from the man who has four ex-wives."

"And each one of those women took a little piece of my heart with them. Everyone just assumes the stone-cold asshole Finnegan Wilde never got hurt, but everyone is wrong. It did hurt when they left me. Mostly it pissed me off because I knew I'd pushed them out by being a first-rate asshole. It was always my fault. Just like this is your fault."

"Yep, already figured that out. Thanks for the pep talk, Dad."

"Shut up and listen. Go after her. Go now. She needs you like a hole in the head, but you need her because she's good for you. Jameson, Zander, hell, even Ronan found the women that make them whole. Sadie's that person for you."

"I texted her, and she stopped responding."

"I swear, you young people and your fucking technology. You don't text when it's something like this. You don't call either. You go to her and tell her you need her in your life." He stood up.

"I don't know where she is."

"Then fucking find her and stop pouting up here like a little kid. Now get the fuck out of here. Oh, and I used your truck last night. It's out of gas. Sputtered out its last fumes as I pulled into the driveway."

"Why the hell didn't you fill it?"

"You seen the price of gas these days? And my Mustang still won't start so you'd better borrow Nate's car." He stopped in the doorway. "She has an interview at eleven at some place called Family Portraits. Seems like a good place to start."

I sat and stewed for a few minutes reminding myself I was an adult, and I didn't need advice from my dad, especially a dad who was a supreme fuck-up. Of course, he did manage to marry four incredible women in a short span of time. Not a great role model but impressive.