52. Zee
“You sure you want to do this?”
I flick a scowl at Tee. “Don’t talk me out of it.”
“We’ve been standing here for twenty minutes.”
“Colt isn’t complaining,” I argue, though he brought out his phone ten minutes ago and has been sending emails with one hand as his other is currently being strangled by mine.
“Colt gets laid.” Tee pauses. “By you? With you?”
“This isn’t an English lesson,” I hiss, growing tense as the clipping sound of heels echoes down the corridor behind me.
The police have been eyeing us oddly since we showed up.
At first, one of the officers approached us, thinking Colt was here to see his father. But when he refused, the guy behind the desk blinked, took his seat once more, and returned to work.
Sure, every couple minutes, he glances at us, but that’s fine with me.
Tee huffs. “These chairs are uncomfortable.”
“You didn’t have to come.”
“Duh. Of course, I did. But I didn’t think we’d be waiting for you to get a move on. Not when we have to haul our asses to the triplets and Callan’s graduation ceremony.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
“You’re not sorry. If you were, you’d have spoken to the very nice man behind the desk.” She beams a smile at him. “Gary, did anyone ever tell you you grew into that chin?”
‘Gary,’ aka Officer Yardley, snorts. “My mom. Every time she sees me.”
“You married?”
He doesn’t glance away from his computer but holds up his hand and flashes his decorated ring finger at her.
“You’re not trying to pick up a guy, are you?” I groan.
“Gotta make it more exciting around here,” she drawls. “This won’t be a totally wasted trip if you decide to chicken out.”
I glower at her, but before I can utter a word, Colt clucks his tongue. “Tee.”
My best friend sniffs and shuts up.
As she studies her nails, I study the desk.
My throat grows thick with an emotion I can’t describe. It’s not sorrow or anger. It’s like all the years of repressed sentiment is suddenly blocking it.
Not that it’s stopping me from breathing, but it’s there.
Making it hard to focus on anything else.
“I don’t know why you’re scared,” Tee grouses a few minutes later. “He’s already behind bars. What can he do to you?”
And there we have it.
In that uncanny ability of hers, she hits the nail on the head.
Colt, seemingly aware that my batty best friend has indeed picked up on something, zooms in on me. His cell phone gets shoved in his pocket and he turns to face me, blocking my view of the desk.
His free hand cups my chin, and his thumb swoops over my cheek as he tips my head back so we’re looking square at one another. “Is that what has you so anxious?”
I swallow. And it’s hard. Enough that my throat aches. “Maybe,” I manage to croak.
“Baby, don’t you know you’re untouchable now?”
My eyes flare wide. “Huh?”
Those same half-grinning lips press against my forehead, but Tee interrupts whatever he’s about to say with, “You’re a Korhonen, babe. I mean, come on.”
“So’s Clyde! There’s no type of legal defense he can’t afford. He’ll end up serving two months on probation or something,” I squeak. “Then he’ll come for me?—”
“You. Are. Safe,” Colt assures me, his voice tender and calm in the face of my fears. “I will never let him hurt you. Ever. I’ve spent years watching that man hurt the people I love most. My hands were always tied. But he’s the one who unknotted that tie?—”
“He could run me over like he did Lydia,” I burst out. “Retaliation. Revenge. You name it—he’s capable of it.”
“Yes, he is,” Colt agrees, but his thumb brushes over my mouth. “If you think I’ll let him get anywhere near you, you’re seriously underestimating what I feel for you.”
“What exactly do you feel for me?” I whisper.
His grin is confident but warm. Not cocky, just happy. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Swiping at the tears that are suddenly pouring down my cheeks, I mumble, “I can’t believe I said that for the first time in the RCMP detachment.”
“Doesn’t matter where it’s said so long as we mean it.”
As he wraps me in his arms, I close my eyes in the warmth of his embrace.
Anything can happen in this world and despite his words, I know there’s no way to make me safe outside of putting me in an iron lung, but Lindsay was right.
I’m not nobody Zee McAllister anymore.
Neither am I my mother.
Or Marcy.
It sucks, but to a man like Clyde, position is everything and he’s the one who took me from the bottom rung of the ladder and settled me close to the top.
“This is so sweet,” Tee croons, a lot closer than she was before. Colt and I jump when her arms slide around both our waists and she joins us in a group hug. “How do you feel about being my sister wife?”
Despite my nerves, I huff out a laugh. “Wouldn’t you be my sister wife?”
“I almost regret not being raised on the ranch next door to the Seven Cs.” She pouts then smacks said pout on my cheek in a loud kiss. “You going to kick some creep’s ass, Zee? I think you should. You got a whole new start waiting for you, babe. You need to close this part off. Reclaim it. That dick tried to ruin both your lives. Payback’s a bitch when it’s served cold.”
Colt snorts. “Think you’re mixing metaphors, Tee.”
Snootily, she tells my husband, “If the mixed metaphors fit then isn’t it a cocktail of awesomeness?”
I grace him with a pious look. “Well, Colt. Isn’t it?”
“I guess it’s a cocktail I’d be willing to try,” he says wryly.
Tee cackles, smacks him on the cheek with a matching kiss, then shoves me. Because of my current position, it pushes me deeper into Colt’s arms.
Because he’s Colt, he doesn’t falter at the sudden momentum.
He holds me.
Like he’ll never let me go…
“I’ve got you, Zee Korhonen,” he rumbles, the words loaded with meaning.
My voice is back to being croaky, but for a different reason this time as I whisper, “Thank you, Colt.”
“Everything for you, baby. Are you ready to talk to the police?”
Anxiously, I nod.
Then, I reclaim my past. My present. And my future.