Chapter 5Braylin
Chapter Five
brAYLIN
I t was a hard fight, but I finally managed to get my parents to agree to let me go home. To my apartment. Alone. Mom, in particular, was worriedly wringing her hands as I dropped onto my couch with a heavy breath of relief.
After reassuring them twenty times that I would be okay and that I would call them immediately if I needed anything, they finally left with great reluctance. As soon as I locked the door behind them, I leaned against it and sighed.
It had been one of the longest and one of the most confusing days of my life. Somehow, the trauma of the bank robbery had been overshadowed by the attention Colton had paid me at the hospital. I looked down at the hand he’d held as he called me sweetheart and shivered, replaying the way the butterflies had swarmed inside me.
With a sigh, I kicked off my shoes and dragged myself off to bed. I had no idea what it all meant, and I was scared to death that he was just being kind to the frightened girl. I hated myself for reading too much into his words and actions, knowing that he had a long time girlfriend waiting for him at home.
I dropped into bed a few minutes later after turning off all the lights and stripping myself bare.
I was making myself a cup of coffee in my tiny apartment kitchen when I heard a knock at the door. I glared down at the small bit of coffee I sloshed over the rim of the cup when my hand jerked at the unexpected sound.
Figuring it was my parents coming to check on me, I unlocked the door and pulled it open without checking the peephole. When I saw who was standing on the other side, I froze solid with my mouth hanging open.
“Did you check before you opened the door?” Colton stood there, towering over me with a frown. My gaze drifted over him as if checking if he were really in front of me. He was dressed the same as he had been the day before. His uniform stretched over his broad chest and thick biceps. He was obviously on duty, or I supposed he could have been heading into work. But why was he at my doorstep? “Braylin, I don’t want you opening the door without checking first. It’s not safe.”
“Um,” I couldn’t think with him frowning down at me the way he was. I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. “I thought you were my parents.” I cleared my throat. “What are you doing here, Officer Hammond?” I straightened my back, proud of myself for not turning into a stuttering mess.
His frown only deepened further at my question. I contemplated just shutting the door in his face until he held out a bag that I hadn’t noticed he was carrying. “I brought you breakfast. I wanted to check on you and thought I could get you to sign your statement.”
I hesitantly reached out and took the bag from him, finally recognizing the smell of sausage and eggs. I peeked inside to see a wrapped breakfast sandwich from the local cafe. “Thank you. That was very kind of you.” I stepped aside so he could enter. I suddenly panicked and darted my eyes around, hoping that I hadn’t left anything embarrassing lying around, like a bra or panties. Then I let out a relieved breath silently when I remembered that I had tidied up yesterday before work.
“If you’d like, you can take a seat on the couch.” I waved toward the living room, which was two feet away as if he wouldn’t be able to figure out where the couch was, and I felt heat rush to my face. “I’m going to grab my coffee cup, if you don’t mind,” I mumbled and scurried the few feet into the kitchen area as he continued to glance around with curiosity clear on his handsome face.
From the corner of my eye, I watched as he sat down on my small two-seater sofa and relaxed. He looked so comfortable in my space while I was a bundle of nerves. I remembered that I had just woken up and jerked my head down to check what I was wearing. “Cheese and rice,” I muttered to myself when I thought of how I’d dropped into bed without a stitch of clothing on. Luckily, when I woke up, I threw on a pair of sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. But I wasn’t wearing a bra, and my nipples were standing out loud and proud against the worn cotton.
I picked up my coffee cup, and using both hands to hold it, I blocked the front of my chest from his view. I hoped. Desperately. I walked into the living room and sat gingerly next to him since it was the only other sitting space unless I wanted to drop to the floor. I figured that would have finished off any remaining dignity I had left, so next to him, it was.
When I sat, we were so close I could feel the heat from his thigh next to mine. Granted, he was so large that it would have been impossible for him to stay on his one little cushion. I took a sip of my coffee and hugged the cup close to my chest.
“How did you know where I live?” I blurted out when it hit me like a freight train that Colton Hammond was in my apartment.
He raised an eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth tipped up in a little smirk. He held up a folder that had been in his lap. “It was on your statement. Name, address… phone number.”
I ducked my head, staring into the hot, creamy bean juice in my hands, hoping for a miracle in the form of my couch just swallowing me into the abyss. “Oh. Right.” I cleared my throat. “So, you came to have me sign my statement.”
Colton’s tone was soft as he called my name. “Braylin.”
I tore my eyes away from my cup to look into his face and immediately felt myself being pulled under his spell as his bright blue eyes searched my own. “Yes?” My voice was breathy, something I wouldn’t have been able to stop if I tried.
“I came because I wanted to see you.”
My mind froze at his words, and I blurted out the first word that popped into my head. “Why?”
He shifted his position next to me until he was facing me. Then I watched in shocked silence as he took the cup from my trembling fingers and set it down on the small coffee table in front of us. My eyes tracked his every movement as he reached for my hands and gripped them lightly in his. He gave them a little squeeze when they spasmed in his hold, and I jerked my eyes from our hands back up to his face to see him smiling down at me, a soft look I couldn’t decipher on his handsome face.
“The moment I laid eyes on you in that coffee shop, I wanted to find out who you were. I was planning on hunting you down until we got the call that there was a bank robbery in progress. When I saw that you were involved, it felt like fate. In a fucked up sort of way. I hate that you were in that kind of situation and that you had gotten hurt. But I can’t deny that I’m glad I got to see you again.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.” My numb brain was trying to catch up to what he was saying, but nothing made sense. Why would he want to see me again? Didn’t he have a woman?
“All I can say is that I liked what I saw. I want to explore this immediate attraction that we have.” He tightened his hold on my hands. “You can’t deny that you are attracted to me, too.”
At his words, I yanked my hands out of his hold and crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to protect myself. “What I don’t understand is why you would come here today, bring me food, tell me that you are attracted to me, all while you have a girlfriend.”
His eyebrows drew together as he frowned down at me, taking in my defensive posture. “Girlfriend?”
I lifted my chin and huffed. “Fine. Wife? I wasn’t sure if you and Katy had gotten married yet since you aren’t wearing a ring.”
Colton closed his eyes and shook his head. I watched as his chin dropped to his chest as he took a couple of deep breaths. I heard him mutter under his breath before he brought his head back up to stare right into my eyes, not allowing me to look away from him.
“Braylin, Katy and I broke up about three years ago. I haven’t seen her in all that time. I haven’t even been with another woman since I left her.” I searched his face for any signs of deceit. Or maybe I was looking for lingering pain or regret. All I saw was determination.
“Oh,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. I thought you two were…” I trailed off, not knowing how to say that I thought they were in love and would be together forever. He huffed out a laugh that sounded faintly bitter.
“You and everyone else in this town.”
I winced and apologized again for lack of anything better to say. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head and looked away toward the window that was letting in the morning light. I wanted him to take my hands again, to pick up where he had left off while he was telling me how much he wanted to get to know me. Instead, his hands were clenched into fists in his lap, and his jaw was tight as if he were grinding his teeth. Tears filled my eyes when I realized that I had lost the very thing I had wanted most in the world for more than six years. I had ruined it before I even had it. Deep sorrow and grief filled me so completely that it felt as if my chest was going to cave in on itself.
I covered my mouth to hold in the sob that wanted to escape and turned away, suddenly wanting him to leave as quickly as possible.