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I reach down, stroking the top of his head. “Good boy, Shadow.” He beams up at me.
We keep walking, taking a slight hill, the grass soft between our feet. It feels like we’re the only people left alive and leaving everything else behind. I can even almost let the Ralph stuff go, which I should’ve done long ago, and I will… after I get revenge on him.
Colt takes my hand. “Stay close to me,” he says. “The path gets tricky here.”
I move close to his arm, pressing against him, letting him lead me through the forest. We pass through some trees, then up another small hill, and finally, we emerge onto a small shore that looks back on the city. It seems so much closer than I would’ve guessed, the tall silhouetted buildings, some blinking with light.
“We could leave it all behind,” Colt says after a pause.
“Yeah, right…”
“We could,” he says, and I can’t tell if he’s joking. “Take Shadow, leave the city, forget about the Serpente Family. Forget about everything.”
“Forget about Ruby? Lexy? My parents?”
He looks down at me, a sad smile on his face. “You’re right. They need you, and you need them. I’m happy for you. I was only thinking aloud, anyway. I’m too relaxed around you, Lexi.”
“You don’t have to say that like it’s a bad thing.”
He moves behind me, wrapping his arms around me so I can reach up and hold tightly onto him. I’m completely trapped by him, but no part of me wants to run. As we watch the city and the water, no part of me wants to stray there into the ugliness.
“What do you want, Lexi?” he asks.
I nuzzle closer to him. My thoughts keep flashing back to Luca and Ruby, how she would smile, in love and so innocent. It honestly annoyed me on some messed up level. It was a reflexive feeling like she was becoming weak, but I accepted it because I was the strong one.
I shudder, not strong at all.
He holds me tighter. The fact he says nothing means so much. Instead, he inhales in this intense way, like he’s sensed the effect his question has had on me. It’s like he knows that, by making me think of the future, it has to involve us, but is he that certain?
“That’s a vague question,” I murmur, taking the coward’s way out.
He leans his head down so that his face rests on my head. I can feel his breath flowing over me like warm, trickling water, heating my entire body. I hold him so tightly as if I’m afraid he will fly away.
“With your life. With your future.”
“I never really think about it,” I tell him honestly. “Mostly, I just… the day-to-day, I guess?”
“What if you looked into the future? What if you made yourself?” He wraps his arms even more securely around me.
“I’d find a passion, I guess,” I say.
“You don’t have to guess,” he says fiercely. “Whatever you want, you’re capable enough to get it. You’re smart and funny. You’re a good person, Lexi.” I press back against him, feeling his solid body.
“I’ve always been different than Ruby. She was a history dork when she was a little kid, but I guess I mostly thought about keeping her happy. Mom and Dad would argue, so I’d discuss history with her or go to the gym. I was going recently, actually, until…”
“Gym or not, your body’s perfect,” he says passionately.
“Until, well, you,” I go on, voice shaking. “I’ve been in a rut since that day.”
“Me too. You’ve been in my head twenty-four-seven.”
“But you didn’t let it make you stop doing things, did you?”
“That’s the training in me. Even when my mind is on fire, I can keep everything else cold. Hell, I used to be able to.” His hand slides down my body, gripping my hips, sending those tickling, teasing tendrils through me. “But with you…” He caresses my hips with surprising gentleness, almost like he doesn’t want to scare me away. “So, do you have any ideas about what this hidden passion could be?”
“I duh…” I grit my teeth, then promise myself I’ll get some control. “I don’t know. Does everybody need one?”
“No,” Colt replies. “Some people are happy doing their job or raising their family, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Many people would be much happier if that thinking were looked down on less.”
“How so?”
“When I was a kid, all I wanted was a mattress to sleep on and somebody to share a smile with. That was enough—to have somebody to share my life with, a family. That’s really something.”
His voice gets husky, his hands sinking deeper into my thighs. I’m pretty sure I feel his manhood brushing against me, but my clothes are thick. He drives forward, and then I feel it, feel him, huge and urgent.
