Chapter Thirty-Three #2
He smiles and reaches his hand out to touch my face. “Are you really here?” he asks, and I lean my cheek into his hand, soaking up the small comfort.
“I’m really here,” I reply, tensing up. “But if you want me to leave, I will. I one hundred percent get it.” I half smile.
He looks panicked and slowly shakes his head. “No… no… please don’t leave, Dee,” he pleads, and I caress his cheek, trying to calm him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I reply.
He finally takes a look around the room. “Why am I here?” he asks, and I look over at Johnny because I don’t want to be the one to explain this nightmare.
“You overdosed after a fight with Dee last night.”
Colt looks at me like he’s confused. “Wait, last night? What fight? I haven’t seen Dee for two months,” he says, furrowing his brows.
“You don’t remember?” I ask, and he looks deep in thought and slowly shakes his head.
“It’s okay. I came back to see if I could talk you into rehab. You didn’t want to. Not much else happened,” I lie.
“Don’t sugarcoat it, Dee. He needs to know the truth. He needs to know what happened so he can understand why he has to stop the drugs and get back to living,” Anna berates.
I look at Colt and sigh. “I gave you an ultimatum. If you want me, then you go to rehab. You said you didn’t need to go and didn’t, and had never loved me.
You told me to fuck off. I threw a bottle at you, and you left.
Well, that’s the scaled-down version, anyway.
” I hold back a sob at the memory of how much he hurt me.
Colt looks horrified and squeezes my hand tighter. “You know that’s not true. You deserve a happy life with Joseph if that’s what you want.”
“God, you’re an idiot. I deserve a happy life with you, Colt. But only if you’re willing to make the change,” I say.
“Dude, seriously, you returned to the penthouse after leaving Dee and started throwing shit around. You were talking about how you fucked it up with her again and that you ended it for her own good, and that she’s better off without you.
Anna went to check on Dee, but she wouldn’t let her in, and you locked yourself in the bathroom with a bottle of Jack and your damn stash,” Dingo tells him.
I look down at Colt, and he frowns.
“Dee, I don’t know how to function without you.”
“Don’t worry… I wasn’t doing too well without you either.”
“Baby, if going to rehab will get you back in my life, then I’ll buy the rehab clinic and live there forever if it’ll allow you to be with me,” he says.
“So, you will go?” I can’t help but notice Hux leaving the room.
“Dee, I’ll do anything to be with you. Anything, baby,” he says, trying to sit up in the bed.
“You have to do it because you want to stop using, Colt. Not because I—”
“We,” Anna says, interrupting me.
I smile. “Not because we want you to.”
“I need to do it. I know I can’t do it on my own.
I’ve let it go too far, and for that, I’m so damn sorry to all of you.
I’m not proud of myself and have been a selfish prick, and you guys and the fans have been suffering.
I’m going to change. I will be better not just for you but for me as well.
If you’re going to be with me, Dee, I need to be worthy of you, and at the moment, I’m not. So, sign me up. Just one request?”
I raise an eyebrow.
“I want to go home. I want to do rehab in London. I’m sick of not being home. I need to calm down and regroup, and the only place I can do that is in London, with you by my side?”
“Of course,” I answer, leaning down and kissing him, and that undeniable spark between us flows through me.
“Hey, I went and got the doc,” Hux says, walking back in and disturbing my moment with Colt.
“Hello, Mr. Slade, how are you feeling?” the doc asks before he listens to Colt’s chest.
“I’m in two minds about that, doc. On the one hand, I feel like absolute shit, pretty much like I’ve been hit by a bus, but on the other hand, I’m feeling the best I have in months ’cause my girl is here.”
“Your brother tells me you’d like to check into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” everyone reiterates, including Colt.
“Okay then. It’s good to know you have the support around you you’ll need.
I can arrange for you to be transported back to London and to a clinic as soon as possible.
I’ll get all the details arranged and come back to you a little later.
I’m glad to see you’re doing better, Mr. Slade.
My daughter would kill me if I didn’t save you today.
She’s a big fan,” he says before leaving.
As the door closes behind him, the quiet hum of machines fills the room again. For the first time in what feels like days, the weight in my chest eases.
Colt’s alive.
Really alive.
“How are you really?” I lean in.
“I feel terrible, but seeing your pretty face makes everything better,” he says, gesturing with his lips that he wants a kiss.
I smile and lean down to kiss him. “I love you, Colt. I never stopped, not for one second,” I say.
“I know, baby, and neither did I,” he replies.
It’s not the I love you, I’m so desperate to hear, but it’ll do for now.