Page 141 of Down Bad

Wyatt looks down, appearing at a loss.

Lance shrugs. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Right?” agrees Joel, then adds, “And I was there, Wyatt. I can vouch for your man. He was nothing but respectful and—”

“I don’t need anyone’s vouching,” I cut him off.

Wyatt looks at me. “Diego …”

“You still don’t trust me? You think I—” Suddenly it hits me. The way he’s acting tonight. His forced smiles earlier. “Did he do something? Did he come by your shop today?”

“No.” Wyatt looks away.

I lower my voice and get closer. “What’d he do?”

He closes his eyes. “He terminated our agreement.”

For a moment, I don’t know how to react.

Whether to feel guilty. Fucking proud. Angry and fuming.

Misunderstood.

All I know is that Lance and Joel have nothing to say for once, and Wyatt, maybe for the first time, isn’t hiding anything from his face. No plastic smiles. No insisting he’s okay.

“Good riddance to that asshole,” I finally say.

Wyatt’s eyes pop open. “What?”

“Fuck that guy. You’re better off.”

“Better off? Do you have any idea—?” He lets out a dry, bitter laugh. “You had no right.”

“To what? Ask a dickhead to respect you?”

“To involve yourself!”

“He’s the one who involved me.”

“You still could’ve stayed out of it, Diego!”

“You’re the one who just thanked me last night for standing up for you!” I spread my hands. “So which is it, Wyatt? Am I a man you can rely on to watch your back? Or just the guy you’re fucking next door?”

I don’t realize by this point that the jukebox has gone off.

That no one’s talking in the bar anymore but us.

He sputters, takes a step back, shakes his head. “Standing up for me … doesn’t mean deciding what’s good for me.”

“I’m kinda sick of being the only person in this town willing to speak up when you’re being taken advantage of,” I say quietly. Whole damned bar can hear every word anyway. “And also being the only one you get mad at for saying so. That just makes me the asshole, right? Well, if that’s the price for you opening your pretty eyes, so be it. I’m the asshole. But isn’t my heart in the right place? Doesn’t that count for something?”

Wyatt’s shaking.

His arms. His hands. His lips.

I’m hurting him. No matter what I do to help. No matter how I try to make him happy. I just fucking hurt him.

I’m just another asshole in his life he needs to be rid of.