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It wasn’t great. But it was all explainable.
He hoped.
“Roman, wait, hold on.”
He caught up to him on the side of the boat, next to the galley. It was a narrow walkway, where they were blocked from view. Only Wyatt could see the intense expression of hurt on Roman’s face. It stung him, as if those swirling green eyes shot barbs full of toxins directly at him.
“You should have told me, Wyatt. You should have respected me enough to—”
“Whatever you think just happened is completely wrong, Roman. I promise you.”
He shook his head, a hand going up to rub the back of his neck. Wyatt had never seen him like this. He didn’t even think Roman was this jealous of a man. He’d always oozed a sense of confidence and calmness. But now, his cheeks were flushed red, and his eyes were filled with bristling anger.
“The timing really couldn’t be better, either,” Roman continued, apparently tuning out what Wyatt had said. “We’re on our way to rescue one of our own. Now’s when you decide to throw everything all away?”
“Stop. Right now, stop. I’m not throwing anything away.” Now Wyatt was growing angry. He felt like he was going unheard, like he was being bulldozed by a man that was supposed to support him. He didn’t like the direction that this was headed in. “I’d never throw what we have away. Not like you did the first time we were together.”
Roman’s head reeled back. He blinked a couple of times, as if Wyatt had thrown a flash grenade into a dark room and he was just now getting his eyesight back.
Wyatt took a deep breath. That had lurched out of him before he could even think about what he was saying. “I’m not doing this,” he said.
“No, because you’re clearly doing your ex instead.”
Now it was Wyatt’s turn to reel back, almost like he’d been slapped. The sting manifested itself all across his face, a flush rising in his neck and cheeks. “Do you really think I’d do that to you? Is that the kind of person you think I am? Seriously? Roman, he was just talking to me. A wave came and knocked him over. That was it. That was all you walked in on. What did you want me to do, toss him over my shoulder and throw him into the ocean? I mean, what the actual fuck?”
Roman blinked some more, apparently processing Wyatt’s words and having a hard time of it. Shit. Was he not going to believe Wyatt’s true story? What would happen then? Sure, Wyatt was annoyed and wished this conversation never even happened, but he was also fine with moving on past this and laughing about it later. What he wasn’t fine with was Roman holding on to his terribly off-base assumptions of events and creating an insurmountable rift between them over something that never even happened. That would absolutely crush Wyatt.
“That’s all that happened,” Wyatt said, filling in some of the unnerving silence.
“Really?”
“Yes. A hundred percent. Swear.”
“Shit…” Roman’s expression softened. His lips slanted, eyebrows following, curving downward in apology. “I’m sorry. That was—it was a big overreaction.”
Wyatt felt an instant rush of relief. Of course this wasn’t going to spiral out of control. It was Roman, after all. Out of everyone on this floating rock, he trusted that Roman knew him the best. He’d know that Wyatt would never betray him, not for anyone or anything.
“Damn,” Roman continued. “Now I feel terrible.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine. I made you feel like shit, and for no good reason. I don’t know what came over me. Just seeing Theo with his arms around you, it triggered something. Maybe I’ve got some repressed baggage or something, I don’t know. But it made me so, well… unhinged.”
That got a chuckle out of Wyatt. “You did have a wild kind of look in your eyes.”
Roman put his hands out, and Wyatt took them. “Seriously. I’m sorry.”
“It’s really okay. I get it. I’m so in love with you, so protective over you, I’m pretty sure I would have reacted the same way. But it’s the fact that we can trust and listen to each other that makes all the difference.”
“You’re right. I do trust you, with my entire life. And I trust everything you say, too.”
Wyatt smiled up at a glowing Roman, the boat apparently trying to nudge them together as it pushed over another wave.
“Good. Imagine if this turned into some big and hair-pulling sequence of misconceptions and miscommunications? That would have sucked.”
Roman scoffed, pulling Wyatt in, their bodies flush together. “Oh, that would have been a pile of bullshit. And unrealistic, too, huh?”
“Yeah, obviously.” Wyatt laughed and nestled into the groove between Roman’s neck and his shoulder. It smelled like the ocean and coconut sunblock, a mixture that made Wyatt close his eyes and imagine paradise.
