Chapter 32 Cole
COLE
My chin drops at the venom in her tone. It’s not something I’ve heard from her before. She’s always so quiet and unsure of herself.
Did I think she’d be happy about the car? No, not a chance.
Was I a pussy for going to work and leaving Melvin to give her the key? Abso-fucking-lutely.
She loves Melvin. He’s a sweet old man. She can’t shout at him like she might shout at me. It seemed safer. I figured she might have calmed down by the time I get home tonight.
“Freya,” I soothe.
I’ve been calling nonstop since Melvin called to say she practically threw the keys at him and stormed off.
I bought her the car to keep her safe, not so she could march around the streets alone.
My irrational need to protect her thumps through me.
“Do not ‘Freya’ me,” she snaps. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I was going to do something nice for you to ensure you get to work safely every day. I won’t have you standing on the side of the road waiting for a random man to come and pick you up. Not happening again, Freya.”
“I can look after myself. I don’t need a man controlling anything I do. Not again.”
Her words knock all of mine right out of me. “I’m not…that’s not—”
“I’m done with men thinking they can pull my puppet strings, Cole. That time of my life is over.”
“I know it is. I promise, that wasn’t what this was about. I just want you to be safe. Where you go, what you do, that’s all on you. Just please, do it safely.”
I hear her let out a sigh.
“Where are you, Freya?”
“Don’t do this,” she begs.
“Do what?” I ask, confused that she thinks I’m doing anything right now.
“Be nice after I’ve just gone off on you.”
“I can be nice if I want to be nice,” I argue.
“You just bought me a car, Cole. That’s insane.”
“I think the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you.’”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Is that a synonym of thank you?”
Her soft laughter floats down the line; it makes the hairs on the back of my neck lift.
“Where are you?” I repeat as I take off down the hallway.
“At the store. I just bumped into Levi.”
My grip on my cell tightens.
“Is that why you weren’t answering?”
Something hot and uncomfortable twists my stomach at the thought of her ignoring me in favor of him.
“No. I wasn’t answering because I was—I am—mad at you.”
“So why did you answer?”
She hesitates as I push through the doors that lead to the parking garage and locate my car.
She huffs. “Because I didn’t want to talk to him, okay?”
I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips.
“For some reason, I wasn’t in the mood to be all cute and flirtatious.”
My teeth grind.
I don’t want her to be all cute and flirty with anyone but me.
Shit. There’s that feeling again.
“Which store are you at? The closest one to the house?” I predict, seeing as she walked.
“Why? What are you doing?”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“Oh no. You’re meant to be at work. Do not come and—Cole,” she chastises when she hears the rumble of my engine down the line. “You have more important things to be doing than collecting me from a store four blocks from your apartment. I’m fine walking. I don’t have that much stuff and—”
“I don’t care, Freya. I’m coming to get you.”
She wants to argue, I can sense it even through the phone, but she wisely holds back.
“I’m fifteen minutes away. I’ll be in the parking lot when you come out. Do not even think about ignoring me.”
I swear, her breathing gets heavier.
“We’ll see,” she states before shocking the fuck out of me and hanging up.
“Well then,” I muse, putting my car in reverse and backing out of the space that is considered mine at the arena.
If anyone else were to hang up on me like that, I’d be pissed. But with Freya…fuck. I’m turned on. My temperature soars, and I hold the wheel in a death grip as I fly across the city to where she is.
Should I be at the gym in the arena right now? Absolutely yes. But do I care? Hell no.
I’ve got an hour until our team meeting. I’ll come up with a reason. Like the other guys, I can claim a family emergency and slip away. Coach Watson knows I don’t have any family. I’m just hoping that, considering it’s the first time I’ve ever done something like this, he’ll be lenient.
Fuck it. Even if he’s not, I’ll take the punishment because I’m doing the right thing.
My eyes dart everywhere as I pull into the parking lot of the store. I’m achingly aware that she never actually confirmed if she was here or not, just allowed me to continue assuming she was.
I kill the engine and climb from the car, spinning my baseball cap around to hide behind, and then I sit myself on the hood of my car and wait.
I keep my head down, but only so much, because I need to find her. If anyone spots me, well, they might just discover that I’m not always so friendly, because there is only one person I’m here for. And until I lay eyes on her, no one else may as well exist.
My heart pounds steadily in my chest. I’ve never done anything like this before. There has never been a reason good enough to force me to walk out of work early.
But then there was Freya…
Finally, I find the woman I’m here for standing at the checkout. My breath catches as our eyes meet through the windows. My fists curl at my sides with my need to march in there and pull her into me.
Our eye contact holds as the rest of the world, and time, falls away.
She should be doing something, but instead, she stands there frozen.
I don’t know how many seconds pass, but it feels like a lifetime. Or it does until she suddenly rips her eyes from me to focus on the cashier.
“Damn,” I mutter, shaking my head as I watch her tap my credit card and then place all the bags in the cart, ready to head out.
My stomach flutters with something, nerves, I think, as she makes her way toward me.
She keeps her head high and her eyes set on me.
Confidence looks really fucking good on her.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I tease once she’s close enough to hear.
“I can’t say it’s the biggest surprise I’ve had this morning,” she deadpans.
I smirk, loving this fiery side of Freya I haven’t seen before.
I push from the hood.
She watches me prowl closer, her head tipping back so she can keep eye contact with me.
“I like surprising you.”
I swear, the air between us thickens as I gaze down into her blue eyes.
“That might be true, but I’m not a fan,” she states before attempting to push the cart forward.
My hand darts out, my fingers wrapping around her forearm.
Her breath catches, and I like to think it’s because she feels the same spark up her arm that I do.
“What are you doing?” she asks, suddenly looking around to see if anyone is paying us attention.
“Shit,” I hiss before pulling my hand away and letting it drop to my side. “Get in the car; I’ll sort this.”
“No, Cole—” She cuts herself off when I shoot her a demanding glare.
She purses her lips in frustration before making a show of lifting her hands from the cart and holding them up for me.
“Knock yourself out,” she says, marching toward the passenger side.
She isn’t fast enough, though, and I get there first to open the door for her.
She glares at me once again before she drops into the seat. Something tells me that it kills her to hold back her “thank you.”
Still smirking, I close the door on her before loading the groceries into the trunk and returning the cart.
She watches me the entire time. I don’t need to look up to know her eyes are locked on me. I can feel it. My skin prickles with awareness, and my blood is still simmering.
“Do you need to look so freaking smug?” she asks as soon as my ass hits the seat.
“I’m not looking like anything,” I argue.
“Did you want to tell your expression that?”
“You’re really pissed at me, huh?”
“What gave that away?” she asks, folding her arms over her chest as I back out of the space.
“There are a couple of clues. Look…I’m sorry for blindsiding you with the car. But I didn’t know how else to do it.”
“Maybe that was a sign that you shouldn’t have done it.”
“Nope. You need a decent car. I need you to have a decent car,” I add quickly before she can interject.
“I can buy my own damn car, Cole.”
“I’m sure you can. But while you’re working for me, you don’t need to.”
She thinks for a moment. “So if I were to leave, I’d have to give it back?”
Abso-fucking-lutely not. “Sure. Yeah.”
“Another benefit of my already overpaid job.”
“That’s it. Consider it a bonus for unsociable hours.”
“You’re away half the time. I have the best hours of any job ever.”
“Early mornings, late nights, demanding boss,” I list, making her snort a laugh.
“Oh, yeah. It’s a nightmare. I don’t know how I’m coping.”
“By accepting my gifts to make your life easier. And safer.”
“My old car was safe…”
“Until it left you stranded for any murderer to pick up on the side of the road.”
She huffs but doesn’t argue. For a minute at least, anyway.
“The Uber driver wasn’t a murderer. He was very friendly and drove very well.”
“Thank fuck.”
“You’re being totally irrational, you know that, right?”
“No, I do not know that,” I state as I turn onto my street.
“Where’s it gone?” Freya asks, noticing that her new car is missing.
“I had Melvin park it in your space.”
“Cole,” she sighs.
“Freya,” I counter.
“I hate you spending money on me.”
“That might be something you need to come to terms with, because if I want to buy you things, I will.”
“I’m not sure that’s a normal thing for a boss to do.”
“Fuck normal, Whirlwind. I’ve never been normal, and I’d hate to start now.”
“I’d hate for you to change, too. I like you the way you are,” she confesses as I pull into my space and kill the engine.
I turn to her with a wide smile.
“Is that right?”
Her eyes bounce between mine as she tries to decide how to answer.
“Yes,” she finally breathes.
All the air rushes from my lungs at her confession.
“Good. Because I like you too.” More than I think I should.
I keep that final thought to myself as I climb out of the car and begin gathering up the grocery bags.
“It is very pretty,” Freya muses, and when I look over, I find her circling her new car.
“Just like its owner.”
She instantly stops walking and lowers her head as she battles to accept the compliment.
“There’s another bag to grab,” I say, pulling her from her trance.
“Oh, yeah. O-okay,” she stutters before rushing over and grabbing the last bag.
I could have easily taken it, but her words from earlier about being able to look after herself and not needing a man have stuck with me. If she needs to carry a bag to feel independent, then she’s more than welcome.
We step into the elevator side by side.
“Did you see that this elevator is going to be out of action soon?”
“I did.”
The air between us crackles as we climb through the building.
We’re almost at the top when I turn to face her and speak again. “Have you forgiven me yet?”