Wild Card

by Elsie Silver

“Bash,” I whisper, “I really hate to do this to you… Actually, I really hate to do this to me, but I have to go to work.”

“He was not making something else. He’s been nervous cooking since he got up. This man is so obsessed with you, he doesn’t even know what to do with himself.”

“This is the casserole my mom used to make me when I was hungover.”

“But I just got home. I feel like, I don’t know. Should we…hang out? I mean, we’ve kind of just fucked and partied after months of basically hiding from each other.”

“That lovesick fool is waiting for you on the back deck.”

“What are you doing out here, Casanova? Just being lovesick?” she teases before stopping rather abruptly.

“You know me. Just been waiting all day for you to get home.”

“Gwen, so help me. If you don’t let that one go, you’re gonna pay for it.”

“Now you’ve got my attention.” She salutes me. “Reporting for duty, sir. Ready to pay for it.”

“Is this a raccoon charcuterie?” I chuckle. “It’s whatever you want to call it, Gwen. But I picked out an array of options to see if we can get your raccoon friend back.”

It turns out that when I care about someone—when I love someone—I’m willing to do anything for them.

“How long will you be away?” I saunter toward him, unable to resist the pull. “I feel like I might miss you.” He quirks a brow. “Oh yeah?”

“Guinevere, what are you doing?” I smirk and ditch the bra too. “Giving you a parting gift.” “Fuck,” he groans. “This is not helping me want to leave.” I shoot him a sultry wink. “Gotta keep you coming back for more.”

“I’m never going to get enough. I can promise you that much. I’ll always be coming back to you.”

“I think the only thing this will accomplish is making me not want to leave, Gwen.” I pump. “It will give you something to think about while you’re at work.” “If I think about this, I’ll crash my plane,”

“Fuuuccckkk,” he hisses, lifting my hair with his fist and flexing his hips.

“You’re such a filthy little tease. And it’s hot as hell, baby. Never change.”

“This hot little mouth.” He thrusts again, my cheeks hollowing out as he does. “Un-fucking-beatable.”

“That’s it, Gwen. Suck it.”

“So fucking pretty like this.”

Making Sebastian Rousseau—Mr. Always in Control—fall apart is my crowning achievement.

“I think I love yoga even more now,” I whisper as we walk out of the studio that I’ll never be able to look at the same way again.

“I’m going to go out and I’m going to leave you to think about this.” “Leave me to think about this?” I repeat. “So is this the end? You just run along to the next stop? Guess you did warn me you don’t stay in one place for long.”

“And while you’re at it, you need to do a little soul-searching to figure out if you can let go of the way we started so we can focus on what we are and what we’re going to be. Because I can’t handle feeling guilty for something that I would never have done on purpose. I won’t sign up for walking around on eggshells in my own home, trying to figure out what’s wrong or if I’ve offended you. It’s stressful and unhealthy, and I’ve lived that story already. I’m not doing it again. I deserve more than that. But most of all, Bash, you deserve more than that.”

“I don’t know. Things didn’t sound fine from where I was hiding in my bedroom. Gwen laid you out, boy.”

Sure, he looks like a massive meathead, but underneath it all, he might be one of the most sensitive guys I know.

“It’s bad. Windy as fuck tonight, and it’s dry back there. No one has burned the underbrush for decades. A dry spring means it’s basically a forest floor of kindling and pine needles.”

“Let the record show that I love Rosie enough to spend all night sitting quietly in a shitty little bunkhouse just so I can catch her favorite rodent.”

But instead, the woman who is the love of my life is missing during a major natural disaster.

“Dude, go. I got this. You have zero game. If there’s a girl who actually likes you, you need to go find her.”

There’s an embroidered patch over his heart that spells out Eaton and I focus on that instead.

“Hi. I’m Beau. Here to help you out. What do you say we get the hell off this mountain?”

Within seconds, he’s there. In the flesh. Right in front of me. Reaching for me. Yanking me into his arms as I wrap my own around his neck. He crushes me against him so tight, it takes my breath away. I don’t even mind. It’s the perfect reminder that I’m alive.

“You’re a fucking wild card. Unpredictable and never what I expect. You scare the hell out of me every damn day. But today more than any of them. Because I thought I lost you.”

“And I love you, and I hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell you.”

“Never scare me like that again. Never.”

“I love you too. I do. I have for a long time. And I promise I won’t ever scare you like that again. I promise.”

“I love you so fucking much,”

“I didn’t know where you were. You could have died. I could have lost you. And all I could think was the last thing I’d have said to you was that you never stay anywhere for long. I told you to wait for me and then I told you to leave. And I… Gwen, I need you. Like my next breath. It’s… I can’t breathe without you. If you leave for Costa Rica, I’m coming with you. Where you go, I’ll follow. I don’t care where we are as long as we’re together.”

“You’re my limes, Bash. I’m the tequila. You and me? We’re gonna spend the rest of our lives making margaritas, okay?”

“I fucking hate that you went missing,” he says, “but I have to confess, if I’d been in your shoes, I might have done the same thing.” “Oh good. We both have a hero complex,”

“Gwen, I’m never calling you Mom, though.” I burst out laughing, overcome by exhaustion and the aftereffects of high adrenaline.

I breathe him in. I breathe my anxiety out. I breathe him in. I breathe my doubt out. I breathe him in. I breathe my fears out. Because with Bash at my side, nothing feels as terrifying.

Gwen promised not to run, and I promised not to let her go, and that’s what we’ve done.

“I love it here,” she finally whispers. “It’s beautiful,” I reply simply. “No. I mean here. With you. This life. I love it all.”

It hits me that I’d give her anything. Everything. But hearing that she loves what we’re building? It fills me with so much pride that I could burst.

“That’s my daddy!” West shouts as he practically launches himself at me, knocking me backward with the force of his hug.

LMAOOOOO

“Do I like it? I love it. I’m…I’m so lucky to have you. I—” Her head tilts, and she steps away to get a closer look at the tail. “Does that say Wild Card?” Her voice cracks and I step up beside her. “Named it after you too.” The

I cup her jaw and smile down at her. My wild card. My tequila. My everything.

“Nah, with you, it’s never enough,” I murmur before dropping my lips to hers. Kissing my wife soundly like I plan to for the rest of our lives.