Chapter 30 Colt #2
“We had a class together this semester and worked on a project together.” Stella and I did discuss this line of questioning before arriving. We thought this story was much more digestible than the he-slept-with-my-roommate story.
“I hear you play hockey,” Mamaw pipes up. “Are you any good?”
I laugh. “Yeah, I’d say I’m pretty good. But don’t tell Stella I said that. She thinks I need to work on being more humble.” This pulls a laugh from the two women, and I find myself becoming more at ease.
“She mentioned you were hurt?” her mother asks, concern in her eyes.
“Yeah, back at the end of November,” I say, turning to show them the back of my head. “I took a hit that knocked my helmet off.”
“Oh, my gracious! I’m so glad you’re okay! You could’ve been seriously injured!” Stella’s mom fusses.
I just nod, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation. Luckily, I’m saved from having to think of something to say by Stella reappearing with Maddie close behind.
“Papaw’s washing his hands; said he’d be here in a second.”
Mamaw starts dishing some food out onto plates for all of us, telling me to sit back down when I try to help her pass them out.
A lanky, older man walks into the kitchen a few moments later—Papaw, I presume. I stand up and offer him a handshake, which he accepts with a smile.
“I like him already, Lala,” Papaw says, winking at Stella.
“Lala?” I ask with a grin, looking at my girl as I sit back down.
She drops her face into her hands with a groan, making her family laugh.
“When I was little, I couldn’t say words with multiple syllables,” Maddie starts to explain. “I would only ever pick up on the last one. So, Mamaw became Maw and Papaw became Paw, Mom got to stay Mom, and Stella became La. It evolved from there.”
I’m grinning from ear to ear. I love learning new things about her. “That might be the cutest thing I’ve ever heard,” I say truthfully.
Stella’s cheeks are pink, but she’s smiling anyway.
Once the food is served, everyone starts digging in, asking me and Stella about our trip to Denver.
I explain how we couldn’t do much because of my injury, but I also tell them about previous years at the cabin to make up for how boring our trip sounds to those who aren’t us.
Personally, I liked all the alone time we had.
“Are you going to be seeing your family for Christmas when you get back, Colt?” Annie asks.
“Mamaw—” Stella starts, but I shake my head at her, letting her know it’s okay.
“No, ma’am. I—I don’t have any family left,” I manage.
“Oh, honey,” Stella’s mom says. “I’m so sorry. We didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. My mom had cancer and passed away when I was a kid. My dad…had a heart attack two years ago.”
“No grandparents or siblings?” she asks.
“Nope. Only child. My parents were older when they had me, so all of my grandparents have passed, too.”
The family gazes at me with sadness, but it’s Stella who brings some light back to the conversation. Forever my savior.
“His best friend’s family is his second family,” she says. “And now, you have us, too.” She gives me a soft smile, melting my heart just a little.
“That’s right,” Mamaw confirms.
After dinner, the six of us load up in Jenny’s SUV and head to a local neighborhood that’s renowned for its Christmas light displays. We drive through, looking at all the houses, each one more elaborately decorated than the last.
When we reach the biggest house on the block, we pull off on the side of the road and hop out.
“This one has lights throughout the entire front and back yard. They set up a maze just for you to walk through and look at everything.” Maddie’s excited explanation brings a smile to Stella’s face.
“This is her favorite tradition,” Stella says to me. “She loves coming here every year.”
“They change the decorations every year! I mean, who can afford to do that?” Maddie asks, leading the way into the maze.
I have to admit, I’ve never been more impressed by Christmas lights in my entire life.
The display is extraordinary. They’ve set up mostly with the usual Christmas themes: Santa and the sleigh, snowmen and penguins and a gingerbread house, the Nativity scene.
There’s a train full of toys and a nine-foot-tall Nutcracker.
But there are also other light sculptures on display.
The American flag, the Georgia State logo, an entire Ford Mustang made only from lights.
Exiting the maze, Jenny wanders over to a food truck that’s parked on the side of the street serving hot cocoa.
Standing in line, someone behind us shrieks, “Stella?!”
We all turn, and I see a dark-haired girl running toward us.
“Josie!” Stella meets her in the road, embracing her in a fierce hug.
My brows furrow, trying to remember if I know about anyone named Josie, but it doesn’t ring any bells—not that that means much.
“I’m so sorry I’ve been MIA since you moved,” Josie begins. “I’ve just been insanely busy, and I suck at checking my phone.”
I walk up behind Stella, setting a hand on the small of her back and watching for cars since the girls seem oblivious to the fact that they’re standing in the middle of the street.
Stella steps out of Josie’s hug, looking up at me, beaming.
“Colt, this is Josie, my best—” Like a switch flipping, Stella goes pale, her face falling. I feel her begin to shake as she steps closer to me.
Following her gaze, I latch onto a man walking up behind Josie. He’s tall, though not as tall as me, and slim built. He has dirty blond hair and a face full of stubble.
Josie turns and sees him, then looks back at Stella and winces. “Stells, I can explain…”
Stella locks eyes with her friend, eyebrows raising in shock. The blood has all but drained from her face. She looks horrified and betrayed.
The guy walks up and wraps an arm around Josie’s shoulders. “Hey, Stella, long time, no see,” he says, eyes perusing over her body, causing a slimy feeling to spread through my gut.
Stella backs into me even more, pressing her entire body into mine. She doesn’t say a word, just stares down the man with utter terror on her face.
“Stella, please, I wanted to explain. Dylan, maybe you should go back to the car…”
“There was this guy, Dylan. He had been—I don’t know—crushing on me, I guess, all semester.”
“I told him I wasn’t interested multiple times, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.”
“Dylan was at this party, and he was hammered. I’m talking obliterated. I don’t know if he was just drunk, or if other things were involved.”
“He started feeling me up and grinding on me. Eventually, I was able to shove him off of me, but not without him leaving some bruises behind.”
“I could feel it in my gut that something bad was going to happen.”
“Dylan chased me, grabbed me, tried to put his hand down my pants.”
“He grabbed me by the neck and slammed me into the side of the car and threw me onto the ground. The only reason he didn’t do anything worse was because of the car alarm.”
“They found me lying in a pool of blood from where my head had busted on the road. I still have the scar.”
The memory of Stella telling me what this prick did to her flashes through my head. Fuck. How could I have forgotten something like that?
The bastard shoots me a menacing grin, as if he knows I just realized who he is, and he doesn’t care one bit.
“—and we met by accident, and he apologized for what he did to you! And I was going to tell you, but I didn’t know how…” Josie is still talking, trying to plead her case, but Stella is completely checked out.
Maddie walks up, looking concerned, and I steer Stella into her arms. “Take your sister back to the car, Maddie,” I command, leaving no room for argument. Thankfully, she doesn’t try to.
When they’re a safe distance away, I step toward the couple in front of me.
“I may not know you, but you are, without a doubt, the worst friend anyone could ever have. This motherfucker attacked her, and you decided to let him into your bed?” She flinches at my words. Good.
Dylan—oh, this bastard is asking for it—just smiles. He’s enjoying the fact that I told his girlfriend off, because it was never about her to begin with.
All of this was to get back into Stella’s vicinity.
With that realization, all rational thoughts leave my head. My vision goes red, and I rear back my fist, slamming it right into his grimy teeth.
His head snaps back with the force of it, and Josie screams, backing away.
When Dylan looks back at me, he’s still fucking smiling, though this time his teeth are soaked with blood.
He bends down and tackles me around the middle, driving me toward the edge of the road.
My feet catch on the curb, and I stumble back, falling on my ass for the second time today.
Dylan, now on top of me, swings a fist at my face. Turning at the last second, I avoid taking a hit that might give me another concussion, but his fist still grazes my jaw.
Using my superior size, I buck up, rolling so that I’m on top of him now. Holding him down with my body weight, I bash my fist into his face over and over and over.
And the psychopath beneath me just keeps fucking laughing.
I swing and swing, losing myself to the violence. After an ungodly number of hits, I feel hands reach down and pull me off him, and I come back to my senses to realize it’s the cops. Someone called the cops.
The police put both of us in cuffs, marching us to separate cars, while Stella’s family protests from the side of the road.
I meet Stella’s gaze, her gloved hands cover her mouth and tears stream down her cheeks. But I nod at her, hopefully in a reassuring manner, to let her know I’m not hurt and that everything’s going to be okay.
Although I’ve never actually been arrested before.
Well, fuck.