Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Colin
18 Years Old
“Shhh.” Piper slapped her hand over Carter’s mouth as she waved him and Colin into her room. Colin had half a mind to tell Carter he couldn’t help with his grand escape at all if he didn’t stop laughing. In hindsight, Colin should have asked Piper first since he knew her window would be the easiest to get down from, but he was trying to keep the number of people who knew about Scarlett a secret, and despite his loud mouth, Carter could be a steel trap when he wanted to. “What is going on?” Piper hissed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “You all scared of the dark or something?” She pointed to the stack of blankets and pillows Colin was holding.
“I need to climb out your window,” Colin started in immediately. “Carter’s is too far away from the edge of the roof. I’m sure I could jump it, but he was worried I’d fall and break my neck.”
“We don’t have a whole lot of luck when it comes to death,” Carter said.
“Not that I’m not on board with you sneaking out, but why?” Piper asked.
“Why does anyone sneak out?” Carter scoffed.
Piper’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and she smirked. “You’re going to see Scarlett?”
“You know?” Colin asked, surprised.
“You’re way too touchy with her at school for her to just be the girl you’re tutoring.” Piper shrugged. “So…”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Colin said. “Please don’t tell anyone, and please don’t ask me any questions.”
“What?” Piper balked. “You finally get a girlfriend, and I don’t get to ask any questions? Did he get to ask questions?” She jabbed a finger in Carter’s direction.
“Nope,” Carter popped the P. “Colin won’t tell me shit.”
“She’s the one thing I look forward to every day, and I don’t want to ruin it.” Colin sighed. “I don’t want a thousand questions. I want to keep her to myself for a little while without the added stress of Walker and you guys and everyone else in my business. Can this just be for me? Please?”
“Okay.” Piper nodded.
“Okay,” Carter mimicked.
Shocked that there wasn’t more pushback, Colin looked between his siblings with caution. “That’s it? You’re not going to fight me on it?”
“No. You found someone that makes you happy right now, and that’s more than I have, so I don’t want to ruin it for you.” Piper swallowed.
“Agreed,” Carter said. “There isn’t a whole lot of happy to go around, and you deserve some.”
“So do both of you,” Colin said.
“Yeah, well, when we find it, we’ll tell you to stay the fuck out of our business.” Carter grinned.
“You all can stay the fuck out of my business regardless,” Piper chirped and flashed them a smile.
“Great. It’s settled. We all have a ‘fuck off’ sibling pact,” Colin reiterated. “Can I climb out the window now?”
They moved over to the window, and Piper carefully slid it open so it wouldn’t make a sound, then grabbed a thin flathead screwdriver from the top of her nightstand. Like she was a seasoned pro, she slotted it into the corner of the window. “This is the loudest part,” she whispered, popping the screen off with a series of snaps on one side. When she had a good handle on it, she unsnapped it from the other side, and the window was open to the one a.m. night breeze. All three of them stilled, waiting for Walker to inevitably come up the stairs to catch them in the act. There was nothing but silence, and Colin figured that Walker and Talia were just as he had left them: passed out on the couch in the living room watching a movie. When he had stolen his car keys from where Walker had haphazardly left them on the coffee table, he’d thrown a blanket over the both of them, and they had gravitated toward each other in a cuddling heap the way he and Scarlett often did. Once again, Colin was left to think Talia and Walker would both be better off if they stopped beating around the bush. If they figured their whole situation out beforehand, he wouldn’t have to sneak out, and if both the front door and the sliding glass door to the backyard weren’t so close to the living room, he wouldn’t have to go to such extreme lengths to see Scarlett.
“So, getting on the roof looks easy enough,” Carter whispered as Colin reached through the window to set the bedding down. “What does he do after that?”
“I usually go to the back corner and climb down the trellis to the back deck.” Piper pointed. “You have to be careful, though. There’s a broken slat near the bottom you can’t step on, or you’ll fall. Luckily, it’s not a very big fall, or I probably would have broken something the last time.”
“We should be more concerned that the world’s biggest klutz frequently roof-hops,” Carter said to Colin.
“I’ll worry about it later,” Colin said, lifting his foot to the window ledge.
“Be careful,” Piper and Carter whispered at the same time.
“Go to sleep,” Colin told them. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
The window was cramped, but he made it through to the other side and easily balanced on the slanted roof with his supplies in tow. He had worn his best traction shoes for the occasion and effortlessly made it to where the trellis waited like the perfect ladder for his escape.
By the time Colin had reached his car, the excitement of everything had him vibrating. He rocked in the driver’s seat a few times, trying to get control of his body before he had to perform. The blankets and pillows were secured in the backseat along with a strip of condoms he had pulled from his pocket. Everything was ready. He was ready. The engine started with a roar he hoped wasn’t audible from inside the house, and he was off.
Scarlett’s house sat in darkness. Even her window, which was visible from the street where he had parked, didn’t have a light on. Fifteen minutes with no response to his text had him a bit worried, so Colin finally bit the bullet and walked up to the house. Hundreds of romance novels and movies alike had one thing in common, and as Colin stood beneath Scarlett’s window, tracing over the smooth surface of the rock in his hand with his thumb, he thought there couldn’t possibly be a more romantic way to get her attention. The first rock he threw missed the window entirely. The second hit dead on, but nothing happened. The third rock, he should have realized, was too pointy. He shouldn’t have thrown it so hard.
The sound of breaking glass shattered all his hopes of romance and sex under the stars. The blood-curdling scream from Scarlett’s room had him sprinting for her front door.