Page 8 of Wild for the Knight

The silence stretches between us, pulled tight like a rubber band about to snap. My brother watches our interaction, ready to act as a referee if need be. My pulse is loud in my ears as her gaze stays locked on mine, challenging–no daring—me to say something. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why my voice has picked this exact moment to give itself to Ursula. I can’t find a single retort to that.

When she finally breaks her silence, her tone is softer, but the underlying annoyance is still there. “She wanted to go snorkeling, parasailing, and hang out at the beach. Simple stuff, things you’d know if you paid attention.” Her eyes cut to mine as her lips press together in a straight line.

“But we can still do outdoorsy stuff like that in the mountains, right?” Greyson asks as his tone turns thoughtful.

“I thought Monroe was planning activities? Do I need to take that on too?” Abby asks as she picks up the same notebook she just tucked away, opening it and tapping her pen against a blank page. Great, this is escalating beyond my tolerance level for today.

“NO! I’m in charge of activities. You can’t take it from me, Knight!” Monroe calls from the gym on the other side of the door that my brother left open.

They just stare at him, faces blank since they’re used to his unique brand of humor. I might find it funny if I weren’t in the middle of this circus. “I’m not trying to take anything from you, Monroe. Just a question. Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Abby calls before she looks back at me. “Now, you, out. I have work to do.” She waves me off like my mother does when I’m in the kitchen while she’s cooking. Fine with me. I’d rather be anywhere else than here at the moment.

I don’t make it very far down the hallway before I hear, “Baby Wilder, what’s up?” Reed, Andrews, and Zeke are standing to the side of the Hawks' locker room. The three of them look like they’re up to no good. I give them a curt nod as I close the distance between us.

“Are you and Abby done already?” Zeke asks as he peels a banana. This. Freaking. Guy. The eyes of both Reed and Andrews look like they’re about to pop out of their heads.

“You and Knight?” Samuels crosses his arms over his chest as he leans against the opposite wall, trying his best to look unbothered. Where the heck did he even come from? This is something our team doesn’t have. Our team is our team; the staff is the staff. There’s no mixing. Here, though, Abby and Hannah might as well be on the ice with these guys, with how protective they are of them.

Five of them went to Alabama to check on Hannah after my brother decided to be an inconsiderate jerk. Okay, I also played a role in that runaway episode. Reed and Andrews are two of five who’d turn a conversation into a smackdown over those girls if they felt it necessary.

“I was simply trying to make up for missing our planning meeting yesterday. Don’t read too much into it,” I say with my hands up in mock surrender. Reed’s eyes narrow as he thinks over my words. His silence is loud. As the Captain, he has no shortage of things to say or shots to fire.

“I heard about that. Don’t stand her up again. If you can’t be counted on, just tell her. I’d be more than happy to help.” His face relaxes, not a hint of animosity in his tone. Yet, I feel like there’s a challenge here. He wants to take my spot. He wants to spend more time with Abby.

“No.” My shoulders square up, my chest puffing up a bit. “I’ve got it covered.” Now I’m just mad. How dare he try to take my job? How dare he try to take my time with her away?

Huh, where’d that thought come from?

Chapter 4 - Abby

“Oh, that sounds great. Thank you! I appreciate your help.” The kind woman over the phone who helped me order some wedding cupcakes hangs up, and I check off one more thing from my to-do list. We leave in two weeks, and Hannah has been talking non-stop about her ‘week of romance’... I hope she’s not too disappointed when she realizes six other people will be in attendance that week.

My inner control freak is raging at all the things that aren’t done yet. Years of trying to control my circumstances, of trying to control what happens in my life, trying to keep what happened ten years ago from happening again, I kind of developed self-inflicted OCD. Everything has its place, everything goes in order, and I do nothing that isn’t on the list.

I’m lost in the endless Pinterest suggestions over games and decor when there’s a knock on my door. I take two steps before the voice on the other side has me stopping to let out a soft laugh. “Abby! I need to talk to you! I found the greatest thing since sliced bread! Open up!” It’s followed by frantic knocking. I swing the door open with a huge smile on my face. This guy reminds me of my brother, Collin. Class clown, always making others laugh, but has issues that could drag you to the darkest corners of the earth if you’d let them.

“Monroe, what in the world?” His arms are full of, well, I don’t exactly know. He’s bouncing on the balls of his feet like he’s a five-year-old on Christmas morning or doing the potty dance; either could work at this moment in time. His dirty blonde hair is pulled into a man bun on the top of his head, eyes twinkling with mischief. I cannot wait to hear this.

I open the door further so he can come in. “What is all this?” I ask as he drops the bags on the couch.

He turns quickly to face me, “Okay, okay. Get this...” His pause for dramatic effect has me releasing a heavy, completely fake, exasperated sigh.

“Spit it out. I don’t have all day.” I do, but he doesn’t need to know that I’m lame and do nothing on Saturdays when Hannah has events to hold and businessmen to smooge. He takes something out of one of the bags, and I lose my mind. “Is that Chewbacca?”

“NO! You don’t understand...” He pulls a flyer out of his bag of tricks and shoves it in my face. “They have a Sasquatch expedition!” His face is completely serious, and I taste blood from how hard I’m biting into my lip to keep from laughing. “ABBY! Come on... Sasquatches! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” My laugh comes out like confetti from a cannon.

“Monroe...” I can’t breathe, I'm laughing so hard. My stomach is in stitches when I finally straighten myself enough to look at him. His nose is scrunched up, his bottom lip jutted into a pout, and he has the roundest eyes I’ve ever seen. I freaking love him. “Okay, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Let me hear this plan of yours.”

He huffs before picking up more things from his bag. “As I was saying before you so rudely deflated my tires.” I snort, and his eyes cut to mine as I slap a hand over my mouth. “There’s a sasquatch expedition. I want someone to dress up as said sasquatch and scare the crap out of everyone else.” The gears in my head start turning as I take in what he’s saying. A smile slowly spreads across my face as an even greater idea pops into my mind.

“I know that look,” he says as he drops his sasquatch items and steeples his fingers in front of his face. “Give it to me, Knight.”

“What if we made the entire week into prank week?” His smile grows. Ah, yes. This is a plan I can get behind. Let’s file this under games and Monroe excursions; then it’s on the list.

“I think I’m in love.” He says as we both laugh, channeling our inner Dr. Evil. Sucks to suck my friends, it’s about to get real.

“There are a few stores that carry the decorations we need. Whatever we don’t get in the first store, we can look for at the other places. Does that sound like a plan?” All I’m met with is a grunt. Why I expected anything else, I don’t know. But any actual words would be preferable right now.

We get out of the car at the first store, and I barely have my door shut before his voice travels over my skin like sandpaper. “List?” Tate says as his eyebrow raises. Mary and Joseph, this is going to put me in an early grave. It’s your best friend’s bachelorette party. You can deal with this stonewall for a few hours. The things I do for that woman.