Page 21

Twenty One

Hailey

I woke up the next morning just before noon, as evidenced by the bright sunlight streaming in through the gaps in the curtains, and realized I wasn’t alone.

The last time I spent the night here, he had to leave early for practice. This time, though, his large body was wrapped around me as if he wanted to hide me from the world. I enjoyed that. With him by my side, I could take on anything.

I closed my eyes again, snuggled closer to his body, and — oh, shit, part of him was already awake. My sore pussy throbbed, apparently unconcerned that it had been more or less torn in two only a few hours ago. That horny bitch.

There was no way I would be able to endure a second round so soon, so I tried my hardest not to wriggle around and absolutely not to rub against him like a wanton whore. Definitely not.

The memory of him calling me his slut flashed through my mind. I may have been a virgin until last night, but that didn’t mean I was a sweet summer child. My Kindle was filled to the brim with smutty romances extraordinaire.

I’d had to keep my head above water all those years when I thought he didn’t want me and he thought I didn’t want him. I still wanted to rip my hair out about this. We could’ve had years together. However, everything happens for a reason, and in the end, my plan had worked out.

Now that I was with him, really and truly with him, I wouldn’t let him go.

My phone was on the bedside table on the other side of the bed, so there was no way to get to it without waking him. I figured we’d have to get up soon anyway. Even though it was Sunday and there wasn’t an official practice, I guessed he’d still do some kind of workout, just like me.

A devilish grin played around my lips as I thought about waking him in a special way.

Before I even got the chance to put my plans into action, warm lips descended on my neck as a thick arm wrapped around my waist.

I moaned as I said, “You’re awake? That’s too bad — I had such lovely plans for waking you up.”

His rumbling laugh vibrated against my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.

“Mmm. Sounds tempting, but I’m afraid we’d never get out of bed again.”

I snorted, then sucked in a startled breath as he abruptly flipped me over and pulled me onto his broad chest. The smattering of hair brushed over my sensitive nipples, and I propped my chin on my fist so I could peek up at him.

His gaze was incandescent, ice on fire. “How are you?” he asked softly. “I mean, are you feeling … Did I hurt you?” Concern resonated in his voice, his tone quiet and serious.

“I’m a little sore, but I think that’s relatively normal. In any case, you didn’t hurt me.”

He exhaled, his arms wrapped around me like a cage. “Okay.” He nodded slowly. “Okay, that’s … good.”

I giggled. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

Colt groaned, the raspiness striking me right in the core like a bolt of lightning releasing molten lava.

“I’m not good at … any of this. Pretty obvious. So don’t hold it against me if I say stupid shit.”

“I like you the way you are. Stop worrying about everything.”

Trying to change the subject, I studied his face. I stretched my hand and gently ran the tip of my index finger along the prominent white line that cut through his eyebrow.

“How did that happen?” I’d always wondered how he’d gotten it, but I’d never had the balls to ask — not that I’ve had much opportunity to.

His features hardened, and I regretted asking, ready to take the question back, but then his gaze softened a fraction as it met mine.

“Happened when I was quite young, I’ve had it for ages, really. I was seven, and well, I’ve always been taller and broader than most of my classmates. Anyway, one day during recess, one of the kids in my class decided that my ‘fat ass’ was taking too long to climb up the jungle gym, and he pushed me. I fell really awkwardly and landed right on a sharp metal edge. It bled like hell.” His tone was blank, but his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard and looked away. “Does it bother you?”

“No! No way, don’t even think that.” Tentatively, I stretched out my hand again, and when he didn’t stop me, I traced it more firmly this time.

His eyes closed, but there was still a sharp crease between his eyebrows. I crawled a little higher on his chest and planted a kiss on his jaw, his cheek, his temple, and finally on his scar. I peppered his entire face with tender kisses until the lines smoothed out and the corner of his mouth pulled up.

***

On my way to the car, I scrolled through my notifications, my stomach turning to ice. Several texts, ranging from unpleasant to boiling with rage, had trickled in over the past few hours. Had Colt seen them too?

God, I hoped not. I didn’t want him to know how far my father had gone and how often I had been forced to play along.

Dad: Call me as soon as you read this.

Dad: Really? Don’t you at least have the decency to give me a call after your abandonment of your duties?

Dad: I’m not a man you can just ignore. You should know this by now. Call me now.

Dad: You better have a good explanation for all this.

Dad: You ungrateful brat! How dare you defy me like this? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!

Dad: There will be consequences for this, young lady.

It took me a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. Right — the date he had arranged for me, the one I had deliberately chosen not to attend. I knew he would lose it and expected his anger — yet it was something else to experience it firsthand.

My head was blank, with a strange buzzing in my ears. I would literally rather do anything other than deal with him right now, but his threat made me nervous. I thought I was beyond his reach, but that only made me more suspicious. What would, or could he do, being so far away from me?

I needed to know what I was dealing with. My thumb trembled as I tapped the little phone icon next to his name. It rang twice before he picked up.

“About fucking time,” he snapped. “Where have you been?”

“Nice to talk to you too. Thanks, I’m good. Yeah, lectures and training are going well. Where have I been? Oh, just out with friends.” I certainly wasn’t going to tell him the truth now .

“ Friends . Sure.” He scoffed. “Save the sarcasm. You embarrassed me, Hailey. How could you just stand Nico up?”

“Nico?” I asked incredulously. Surely not …

“Yes, Nico. You finally made an impression on someone, and he wanted a second date with you. Imagine my surprise when his father angrily called me and told me you didn’t show up. I was mortified! Do you have any idea what you just threw away? And for what? To run around with Colt, that bumbling fat idiot.”

The only way he could’ve known about it was if Nico had run to him and tipped him off. My blood pounded even harder in my ears as anger gripped me, both at Nico, the little fucking snitch, for violating my privacy, and at my father for talking about Colt that way.

“Colt is not an idiot. I don’t care what I just threw away . I don’t want to—”

“I don’t give a shit what you want or don’t want.You benefit from this family, you live a privileged life. You could at least do me a favor here and there.”

My mouth dropped open, but he continued speaking before I could even think of an answer. My chest tightened as if an invisible hand was pulling a band tighter and tighter around it, and I struggled for air, my fingers curling around my phone so tightly my knuckles turned white.

“Now you have blown it with Nico. Congratulations, well done. I’ll tell you one thing — the next time I can convince someone decent to take you out, you’ll show up and be on your best behavior, or you can kiss your time at college and your degree goodbye.”

“Excuse me?” I croaked. He wouldn’t really cut me off, would he? I mean, yeah, he probably would, but until now, I had assumed he would never even consider it because it would reflect badly on him. Unless … unless he made up some excuse. With that silver tongue of his, his friends would surely believe any lie he spewed.

“You heard me. You’re going to go on these dates, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find someone you can tolerate, but I honestly don’t fucking care. If you don’t feel up to that, you’ll just have to live with the choice I make.” He was dead serious. This felt like a bad dream, and I was tempted to pinch myself.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Language, young lady. It means that if you don’t play along, and continue to defy me like this, I’m going to find someone to take you off my hands sooner than you’d like. And then I won’t even consider whether you might like them.”

I stood rooted to the spot in front of my car, every muscle rigid. My heart dropped. He was serious, and he saw nothing wrong with doing this.

“Dump the Michaels kid. I don’t want to hear any more about this nonsense. I’ll be in touch with you as soon as I straighten out this mess, and this time, you will show up.”

The line went dead, and I remained frozen in place. A paralyzing coldness of terror seared through my very being, consuming every shred of warmth I possessed and leaving nothing behind.