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There were some more specifics Roman had to go over before they arrived at the Keys. They had a couple more hours together before it was go time, so he went over the basics again with Bang Bang, Doc, and Phantom. He still wasn’t sure if bringing Wyatt along would be a good idea or not, but he did realize that he’d been gone for quite some time. He looked over his shoulder and tried to see what was happening at the front of the boat but didn’t spot Wyatt or Tor.
Something inside him told him to go check. A distant whisper he was close to ignoring.
Instead, he excused himself. He turned and walked down the side of the boat, looking at the light playing off the crystal-blue waters. He turned a corner, and that’s where he saw them, right where he expected them to be but doing the absolutely unexpected.
Tor had his arms on either side of Wyatt, pinning him to the boat, and his head was forward, lips likely on Wyatt’s neck. Wyatt looked over Tor’s shoulder, and his eyes nearly exploded out of his skull. His jaw dropped, same as Roman’s, but only for a second. He picked his jaw back up from the floor of the boat and turned, leaving Theo and Wyatt to their own devices. Anger began to thread through his emotions, coloring his nerves a fury red. Betrayal twined with it, along with a noxious green thread of jealousy. All of it wove together to create a curtain of multicolored fury that fell over his eyes.
Yeah. Wyatt can stay behind.
It broke him, but this wasn’t a time to be broken. He’d have time for that later. Instead, he needed to keep his cool and lead his crew in a way that kept them all safe. He’d need to excise his emotions, set them aside, drop them in a freezer, and confront it all once they had Mimic and the tome.
But fuck did it hurt.
It hurt bad.
Chapter 24
Wyatt Hernandez
“Okay, Julie, I’ll call you when things have settled down. I think this is it, though. I think after today, all our problems are over.”
“Just be safe, Wyatt. I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t.”
“I don’t care about the money,” Julie said, the call becoming as choppy as the water. “I just want you to be safe.”
“And I will. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
“Alright. Bye. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Wyatt hung up, rubbing the bridge of his nose as a way to relieve the growing anxiety inside him. He felt like a pressure cooker. He expected steam to shoot out from his pores at any moment now.
Guess I should go back and find out what Roman decided.
He bristled at that. He and Roman were a pair, a unit—it only made sense for them to stay that way even throughout the heist. It was when they both worked at their best, when they had each other to feed off. And Wyatt had proven himself. Sure he wasn’t as seasoned a leader as Roman or as expert a shooter as Bang Bang, but he had his skills, and he proved he could effectively use them.
Wyatt started back toward the group when he spotted Tor turning the corner. He seemed to be having some trouble obtaining his sea legs with the way he wobbled around like a blow-up doll whipping in the wind.
“Wyatt, hold up. Can we talk real quick?”
That caught Wyatt off guard. He cocked his head to the side, examining the face that looked back at him. Theo had changed in the years they’d been apart. He had a more weathered face, smile lines appearing to be permanent at the corners of his eyes, along with the couple of lines on his forehead. He had a permanent five-o’clock shadow and had a shadow cast over his gaze. He appeared worried about something.
“Sure, what is it?”
Wyatt had no idea what to expect, but if Theo needed help or advice, then he’d try to give it to him. They were exes, not mortal enemies sworn to defeat each other in a ritualistic sword battle.
“Well, it’s about—” Just then, a particularly large wave hit the boat, tossing the two of them back. Wyatt hit the railing with his ass, grabbing it with both hands before he was tossed off. Theo had a harder time keeping his balance. He fell forward, hands outstretched in a feeble attempt at saving himself from the harsh effects of gravity. They landed on Wyatt’s hands as Theo flopped against him, his chin jutting hard into Wyatt’s shoulder.
And then Wyatt looked up. Directly into Roman’s eyes.
Ah fuck.
He knew what this looked like, even if it had a perfectly reasonable explanation. He helped Theo off him and felt himself go into panic mode. If it were anyone else, anyone else, then Roman likely wouldn’t have gone directly to “oh shit, he’s cheating on me,” but Roman had walked up on Wyatt and his ex in an apparent embrace. And it wasn’t a friendly hug, either. Theo had fallen so hard against him that Wyatt wondered if one of his ribs was bruised.
