Chapter 4
Colton
This was a bad idea.
Why did I suggest driving her home in the first place?
I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white against the dark leather. I was struggling to not look in her direction. I shouldn’t have suggested this.
She was uncomfortable, always glancing at her phone like it was going to blow up at any given moment.
The cab of my truck was filled with tense energy. She hadn’t said a word. She just sat beside me on the other side of the truck, completely rigid. If her sweet perfume wasn’t so intoxicating, I wouldn’t have even known she was here.
“Left at the next light.” Her voice was so soft against the heavy metal that was blaring through the speakers. I barely heard her over the music. “And then right into the apartment community.” She pointed as I made the left. I adjusted the volume of the music to a low lull so I could hear her if she spoke again.
“Considering you live so close, you shouldn’t be late to work,” I said, deciding to make some small talk. Anything was better than this tension.
She sighed and fell back against the seat, her body loosening some. “You really don’t know the half of it.”
“Enlighten me then.” I stole a glance at her. She was already looking at me, biting her plump, pink lip. Didn’t she know what that did to a man?
“I would hate to sound like a spoiled brat now.” I fought against every instinct to pull her lip from her gnawing teeth as I answered her.
“Come on now. Don’t tell me it’s something stupid like oversleeping.” She smiled and looked out the window so I couldn’t see her face anymore.
I turned into the apartment complex and rolled up to a gate. She fumbled around in her bag for a moment and then pulled out a remote, held it up, and pressed a button. It didn’t work, and she smacked the plastic thing against her hand.
“Sorry; this piece of crap never seems to work.” Her cheeks were flaming again – a bright shade of pink – this time in embarrassment. God, she was beautiful.
“I’m in no rush.” I wanted to ease the nerves coursing through her every action as she finally got the remote to work. Her leg was bouncing with nervous energy as we drove through the gate. I eased onto the brakes, waiting for her directions. When she didn’t give any, I looked through the rearview mirror to make sure there wasn’t another car behind us so I could put the car in park.
Something was seriously wrong with her.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a breathless whisper, her eyes wide and round.
“What has you all anxious?” I had been in enough foster homes to know the signs – her quickened breath the closer we got to the apartment, her jumpy behaviors. She was afraid of going home, and I didn’t like that one bit. Home is supposed to be your sanctuary from the rest of the world.
“I just don’t want to be late for dinner with my boyfriend. Do you mind stepping on it instead of making me even later?” There was a harsh bite to her tone now, along with the reminder of her boyfriend again.
Surely, she had to know that a boyfriend didn’t deter any man. It only made the game more fun because now, I had a challenge.
Making her fall in love with me would be hard, but luckily for me, I loved a good game. I never lost, and I wouldn’t lose this one – not with a prize as sweet as her.
A horn blared from behind us, causing me to jerk into action. I threw the car into drive, and she pointed down a narrow, twisty road to the right, finally deciding to give me directions. “The last one,” she muttered as I drove down the dark street.
I pulled up in front of the last building. A bunch of half-dressed girls were posing for pictures at the entrance. Summer rolled her eyes and opened her door before hopping out. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you Monday.” She slammed the door closed before I could answer and walked past the girls taking pictures of themselves.
I rolled the windows down so I could say goodbye as one of the girls turn to her. “New boyfriend?” Summer paused and looked between me and them. They were all staring at me, halting their seductive poses to gawk.
“No, not that it’s any of your business, Hannah.” Summer turned, her blonde hair flying over her shoulder.
“I’m sure Tom would love to hear about the hunk who drove you home then,” the girl threw back, and Summer threw the middle finger over her shoulder, making me smirk. The girl had a fire in her soul. “We know how possessive he is over his little sunshine,” the snarky girl teased, and the girls around her snickered.
Putting the truck in park again, I hopped out. “Listen, ladies,” I smirked at them, “I’m just a friend from work. She needed a ride, and so, I offered.”
“Right,” the one who never seemed to shut up drawled out, her eyes raking over me. “Like we’re supposed to believe that. Someone as hot as you clearly doesn’t just have the intention of dropping her off. It’s okay if you two were cheating on Tom.” She shrugged. “It’s not like he hasn’t slept with all of us already.” She grinned, malice in her tone as she pointed at herself and her friends.
My eyes shot to Summer who had frozen in place, her back facing us. She turned slowly, her pretty face red, her eyes blinking slowly. “Come again?” she whispered, taking small steps in our direction.
Oh, boy.
“Don’t act like you didn’t know. Where the hell did you think he was going all those Friday nights?”
I might as well be invisible by that point. The two girls had completely forgotten I was standing here. Anger pricked at my skin at the nerve of this bitch to hurt someone so carelessly.
And then, my eyes roamed over Summer’s shaking body, and my heart ached for the pain etched into her expression.
This wasn’t happening.
“Since you need me to spell it out for you,” the same girl pointed at her chest and then each of her friends who were all laughing at Summer, “your boyfriend has slept with all of us when you weren’t in the mood. It’s not our fault you couldn’t please your own man.” She looked down at her nails for a brief second just as Summer launched herself at the girl. Even I, with SEAL training, hadn’t seen that coming.
The two fell to the ground, and I just stood there.
What the hell was I supposed to do?
I watched the scene unfold. One of the girls was recording, and the rest were squealing as if that really helped the situation any.
“You bitch!” Summer screamed and slapped Hannah, who only laughed in response.
Women really were evil.
“How dare you?!” Summer shouted when one of the other girls jumped into the fight and pulled her hair, yanking Summer’s head back.
“You should have treated him better!” the girl screeched, still tugging Summer’s hair.
I saw Hannah get ready to kick Summer in the ribs, and I quickly intervened, grabbing ahold of Summer’s slim waist. I pulled her from the grip of the two girls, tugging her away. She was thrashing in my arms, screams of rage and pain coming from her throat, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Let me go! Let me go!” she cried. My heart shattered at the sound of her broken pleas.
The girls were still smiling at us, like they hadn’t done anything wrong. Summer’s body deflated against mine, and her hands gripped my arms that were holding her up. Her body trembled as sobs tore from her throat.
I turned away from them and put Summer back in my truck. I fastened her seatbelt as her tears poured from her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. Her beautiful face was flushed, and her hands were shaking.
Her adrenaline was wearing off quickly, and when it did, this girl was going to crash – hard.
Throwing the group of girls a final middle finger, I walked around the front of my truck, hopped into my seat, and pulled off, rolling up the windows so Summer couldn’t hear them anymore. I gave Summer all the seclusion she needed as I pulled out of the apartment complex, stopping at the first gas station I saw.
And she fell apart.
Her shoulders shook with sobs, sounds of pain ripping from her throat. I just sat there, completely helpless. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to help her.
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I assured her. “How can I help you?” She just shook her head.
“I don’t know.” Her voice shook, and the tears still didn’t stop.
“I’m gonna get you something from the store,” I told her, thinking maybe she just needed some time to herself. I left the truck running and headed into the small, run-down store. I found a bottle of coke in one of the many fridges and checked out.
Would chocolate be a good idea?I scanned the shelf, frowning as I did so. There were so many options.
What if she’s allergic? What flavor does she like?
Hell.
Grabbing a Snickers, I threw it on the counter. Everyone likes Snickers, right?
I hope she did.
The dark, night sky rumbled in the distance with the threat of rain when I stepped outside. I briefly looked up and saw a flash of lightning. I fastened my pace towards the truck.
In the darkness, I couldn’t see her until I opened up my door and the cab lights came on, illuminating the broken girl still weeping from the previous events and the shocking news she’d been delivered. I got in and adjusted the radio station to something softer, something more comforting, and handed her the bag with the soda bottle and chocolate.
“Drink this,” I gently commanded. “It will help with the shock.” She took the bag, rubbed her eye with the other, and smiled softly.
“And the chocolate?”
“Should numb the pain?” I offered with a shrug, and she giggled, sniffling right after. That giggle had my heart twisting in my chest.
I can’t want her like this.
“Thank you. This was sweet of you.” She opened the bottle, and the hiss of the gas releasing filled the silence. I watched from the corner of my eye as she took a few loud gulps.
Looking away from her, I reminded myself yet again that this is just a game, that I have someone at home waiting for me, and falling for the shattered girl in my passenger seat isn’t an option. She has to fall for me.
“Where to? I assume the apartment is off-limits?” I asked, putting the car in reverse, my eyes meeting hers despite how hard I fight the pull. She nodded, pulling her now swollen lips from the bottle. She licked them with a sigh.
Did she do that on purpose?
“Home,” she rasped. “I need to go home,” she nodded to herself like this made sense, like how going home was going to fix everything.
“And where is home?” She set up her phone’s GPS and let me follow the directions. She turned away from me and curled into herself, looking out the window, her body shaking with soft cries once again.
It wasn’t until we were at a red light that I looked at her again. It had been almost half an hour of driving with the Friday night tourist traffic in Orlando slowing us down. We hadn’t gone more than ten miles, and the silence from her was killing me.
I was not going to win this game if we didn’t talk, if she didn’t fall for the man she needed to think I was.
She needed to think that I was a better man than her cheating boyfriend.
Her cries had turned to sniffles that filled the otherwise quiet cab. “I didn’t take you as a Billie Eilish fan,” she murmured softly, and I darted my eyes to her. A passing streetlamp illuminated her neck and shoulder where her shirt had fallen, and I saw it.
A huge, gaudy bruise was discoloring her creamy skin. I gripped the steering wheel tighter.
I hated with every fiber of my being that I had been right about the piece of shit boyfriend. He was an abusive asshole, just like I had thought from her anxious behavior. It took a victim to see the signs, and my second foster family had been abusers.
“Did you hear me?”
I had forgotten she had spoken.
“Uh, yeah, she’s okay. Her voice is killer, but it’s not my favorite.” She turned away from the door and studied me.
“You’re telling me you listen to her music all the time?”
“Define all the time?” She snorted out a chuckle, and her hand flew to her nose in surprise. I couldn’t help but grin.
She was adorable.
“Oh, God, that was so embarrassing! I’m so sorry.” We were in bumper-to-bumper traffic, so I stole a glance at her blushing face.
This girl really blushed a lot. It was cute.
“I liked it.” I shrugged. “No need to hide from me.”
“What do you want from me, Colton?” Her question threw me off guard. Instantly, I was left wondering if she knew the game I was playing, if she could sense it with some super girl powers, but she continued before I could come up with some kind of answer. “I mean, I don’t know any guys who would have done what you did for me this afternoon, and you don’t even know me. Are you just trying to secure your job, or is there more to this?” She fiddled with her fingers, her gaze unwavering from the windshield.
The traffic started to let up, and I applied more pressure to the gas, wishing we were closer than five minutes away.
“Maybe I’m just a nice guy?” She laughed and shook her head.
“Those don’t exist.” I frowned. “I would know. I’ve been surrounded by guys my entire life. I have two brothers, and I work with a bunch of guys. Men suck.”
“Not all of us are bad,” I admitted, opening up a little too much to her, but she pulled the truth right out of me without trying.
“I don’t think I’ll ever trust a man again after tonight – at least one that isn’t related to me.” There was so much pain laced into her tone that it ate away at my hard shell, and for just another brief moment, I didn’t want this to be a game. I truly wanted to heal her. I wanted to make her feel better.
“I haven’t hurt you, have I?” She shook her head, a lone tear rolling down her right cheek.
“No, I guess not, but this,” she pointed between her and me, “can’t happen again. My dad has a strict policy against dating at work, especially for me. I’m not supposed to mingle with the staff too much.”
That confused me. “Why?”
She shrugged. “There are just some lines you don’t cross.”
“Even for love?”
I didn’t know where this crap I was spouting was coming from. I had never been the overly emotional type, nor did I even believe in love. Sure, I loved my girlfriend. We had been together for so long now that I couldn’t remember a time before her, but I wasn’t in love with her. I never had been.
I honestly never thought love was real, especially not after my birth mom gave me up with a half-assed letter, begging for me to understand when I got old enough.
No matter how old I got, I would never understand.
“Not even for love,” she confirmed just as I pulled up to the gate of her parents’ house. I slowly approached the guard house and handed over her ID, which gave us immediate access.
The houses in this neighborhood weren’t as big as I would have thought. They were average-size. Based on the business, I had figured her parents would be rolling in money, driving luxurious cars, and living in a mansion, but they weren’t.
The GPS took us to her house where her dad’s truck was parked in the driveway along with her mom’s big SUV. I put the car into park, and she unclicked her seatbelt for the second time that night.
“Thank you for everything. I’ll see you Monday?” She waited for my response this time instead of closing the door.
“Can’t wait.” I winked at her, and this girl had the audacity to blush again, casting her eyes down before closing my door and walking up the long drive to her parent’s house. I pulled away before the front door opened, not wanting to cause trouble for her.
My mind played over the evening. It definitely hadn’t gone according to plan, but I had enjoyed the time I spent with her.
Monday couldn’t come soon enough.
---
We hadn’t spoken all morning. She told me that dating was against policy, and I didn’t want to get fired on my second week.
At lunchtime, her boyfriend’s car peeled into the lot, and she stormed out of the building. Rage – clear as day – was painted on her beautiful face. Her boyfriend threw his car in park and glared at her through the windshield, pointing at her and then the passenger seat.
My nerves were on edge. I knew how abusers worked. This wasn’t going to end well. Sticking to the shadows, I watched, preparing myself to intervene if need be.
He was shouting at her so loudly that I could hear his voice, the nasally sound just about as annoying as a pesky fly, but she was sinking into her seat, cowering away from him. My blood boiled at the sight. I fought to remain hidden when all I wanted to do was yank her from the car and punch the loser straight into tomorrow.
I kept watching. She was screaming now, her arms flying as she yelled back at him. Her boyfriend’s eyes landed on me, narrowing, and I glared right back at him, not backing down, silently letting him know that I was here, and I wasn’t leaving.
She threw open the door of his fancy car and started to get out. But then, at the last second, she turned back to face him, her face red with anger, and she screamed at the very top of her lungs, “Fuck you, Tommy!”
Tommy moved so fast that she didn’t have time to react, but it was like I was watching the sickening act in slow motion. He reached forward and pushed her hard – so hard that her head knocked against the glass of the window. Her scream of pure pain shot right through me, and that was all it took.
I was running.
She crumpled to the ground, and her boyfriend got out of the car and ran across the front. He pushed me, but I didn’t move. She looked up at me, her blue eyes wide with fear and shiny with unshed tears. I bent to help her up, and the son of bitch took a swing at me almost knocking her back to the ground, but I stiffened against his weak hit, keeping us both upright.
“If you’re going to hit me,” I snarled, “at least put some force behind it, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since you like to take your anger out on her.” Tommy’s face twisted into a snarl, and he moved for her, but I stepped out of his way. He ran into his own car.
“Oh, God!” Summer cried as I walked away with her still held in my arms. I settled her on the chair I had been eating lunch on.
Turning back to her angry boyfriend who was inching closer to us, I sighed. “You best get in that fancy car of yours and leave before I call her dad and uncle and the rest of this shop. You’re outnumbered, buddy, and nobody messes with the princess of this place.”
I heard her sharp intake of air, but I didn’t turn to look at her. Tommy took another step forward, raising his fist, clearly as stupid as I thought he was.
“You can have her,” he snarled. “She’s a waste of my time, and you know what, Summer?” He looked at her, but I didn’t remove my eyes from him. I knew whatever came next was going to hurt her, so I balled my hand into a fist and decked him right across the face, preventing him from speaking.
He fell to the ground, his hands immediately going to his busted lip.
“I said leave – now.” I crossed my arms over my chest, fighting the urge to shake my knuckles out. I needed to make myself look as threatening as possible so he would get out of here.
I wasn’t letting this douchebag hurt her anymore.
He shakily stood to his feet and ran for his car, tires squealing as he floored the car out of the lot. Finally, I turned to look back at Summer.
My heart – my fucking heart – splintered and bled into my chest at the sight of the shattered girl, completely broken by a man.
She was making it damn near impossible to not fall for her, especially when she looked up at me with those big, blue eyes like I was her hero.