Facing West: A Forever Wilde Novel by Lennox Lucy

Author:Lennox, Lucy [Lennox, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2017-08-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Nico

West Wilde was a mirage—a phantom empath hovering nearby during my epic journey home. I’d decided he was too good to be true. But god, how I wanted him to be.

“I don’t think you want to know,” I told him. “It’s so fucking pathetic, West.”

His thumbs brushed away the tears that had leaked out, and I couldn’t help but lean in and lay my face against the softness of his T-shirt.

“I want to know. Of course I want to know. And even if it is pathetic, I promise to remember it was a teenage kid making that decision,” he assured me.

I let out a shaky breath. “The movie theater thing happened first. Curt’s comment about the sheriff not marrying my mom as long as I was in the picture. Then on the boat that day, Adriana made a comment about wanting them to get married so she’d have a chance at being able to go to college. It all started coming together to make me feel like I was the one thing preventing my mom and my sister from getting what they’d always wanted.”

“But Nico, can’t you see—”

I reached up to put fingers over his lips. “I know that now. Remember when you said you’d try to remember it was a stupid kid making the decision?”

“I don’t think those were my exact words,” West teased against my fingers with a soft smile.

“Well, two more things happened after that. The first was just a random fluke. Mom sent me to a neighbor’s house to pick up some hydrangea clippings the woman had saved for her. When I approached the screen door, I overheard the neighbor talking to another woman at their kitchen table. The conversation was about my mom and the sheriff. One woman told the other that the sheriff sure was sweet on my mom. But then they both agreed that he’d never pop the question and take it to the next level as long as I was in the picture.”

West stiffened and looked down at me. “You’re kidding? It wasn’t just Curt spouting that bullshit?”

I shrugged. “No. I mean, I know I wasn’t the best kid. I didn’t make good grades, I hung out with all the weirdos who always seemed to attract trouble, and everyone knew I was queer at that point. It wasn’t like I hid it.”

“Even if those things were true, Nico, that’s no reason not to accept you as part of your mom’s family. God, how awful.”

It warmed something inside me to hear him say those things. To finally, after all these years, have someone besides Adriana know what happened and say it wasn’t okay.

“Yeah, well, I made the mistake of telling Adriana, and she went fucking ape shit.” I couldn’t help but smirk at the memory of unleashing the hellcat.

West laughed, and the deep rumble felt amazing against my chest. “She was a feisty little shit when she wanted to be. Sweet as honeysuckle most of the time, but stung like a hornet when she got riled up.

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