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Colt squeezes my hands tightly, letting me feel his support. “There’s nothing funny about this.”
“He used to make me act like a dog,” I tell him, almost expecting a smirk, but his eyes gleam with rage. “Crawl around his room and make yapping noises. His parents both slept with earplugs in. I’d bark quietly. Crawl around. Drink from a bowl.”
My whole body tightens like I’m bracing myself for his ridicule, and then tears try to sting my eyes again. I feel them brimming, trying to escape. I bite down, swallow, and try to force away some of the pain. Then it becomes too much, building in me like a wave. Colt wraps his arms around me and lets me cry against him for several minutes.
When I finally stop, he moves his hand gently across my face.
“He’s the animal, Lexi,” Colt snaps. “He’s the mongrel.”
“I let it go on for way too long, for years. Two, I think. I was just so young. I thought I was doing the right thing, protecting my baby sister. Then I saw him for what he was one day at school. I saw one of the other kids yell at him, and he just started crying, and it was so sad, so pathetic. I just stopped going to his room. I was paranoid for weeks after.”
I let out a shaky breath, but the flow of the words is getting easier, making me feel more capable of sharing these extra pieces of me.
“I watched Ruby like a prison warden. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight. That was fine by her since it meant we got to go on all these history adventures together.” I smile, remembering her stomping around determinedly in the yard.
“It sounds like you raised her,” Colt says, with a smile that seems less ruined by anger now.
A smile touches my lips, too. It’s the sweetest thing he could’ve said when I’m buried in these nasty memories.
“But he did nothing. Life went on. We ignored each other. When he moved away, I did my best not to think about him, but now…” Suddenly, my phone vibrates. I check it, worried it might be Mia. Maybe Ralph is taking this out on her. “Wow. It’s him. Ralph. He texted me.”
“What is the little worm saying?”
I read the text, shaking my head in disbelief, and then show Colt the screen. Do you think you got this job by accident? I hired you because I OWN you. Don’t forget what I said. He followed this with a camera emoji.
“What does that mean?” Colt snaps.
“Just now, he threatened to have videoed what he did, me acting like a dog.”
“Bullshit,” Colt says. “A man as impulsive as him, he would’ve sent it with his message. He doesn’t have a goddamn thing other than a pathetic idea of power, Lexi, but he’s about to learn just how wrong he is.”
“What are you going to do?” I whisper.
“What was your plan?” he counters.
“I… don’t know,” I admit after a pause. “I just want to see him squirm.”
Colt grunts. “That can be arranged.” His voice gets deeper, rougher, and angrier when I seem shocked. “He tried to drug a Marino. No, fuck that. He tried to drug an innocent eighteen-year-old woman. It doesn’t matter which Family she’s in. That right there is enough to take him out. If I had no personal ties to this situation, that would be my assessment, my judgment, but…”
His hands tighten around mine. His voice trembles so much it’s like he’s trying not to let out a primal roar. “But what he did to… to you, Lexi?” He shakes all over. “There’s no running from that.”
“What would you do?” I ask.
“You don’t have to be a part of it,” he says, reading me.
“It’s dark, Colt. It’s really dark, but so is going on a screwdriver rampage. I hid this secret for years because I knew if I told Ruby, she’d blame herself since he was threatening her. I’m done being scared. Maybe I should’ve asked for your help from the start.”
“You got so much done yourself,” I tell her. “You fought him, Lexi. You damn near knocked him out with that slap.”
When I smile, it feels like a miracle, like something only Colt could accomplish. “It did feel pretty good. I’ve wanted to do that for years.”
“He’s going to get what’s coming to him. He has to. I can’t go on living knowing there’s a man out there who did that to you. A man who was going to do something sick to a young woman just two days ago and would have if it weren’t for your quick thinking.”
“Mia’s,” I correct him. “I just recorded it.”
“It was still quick thinking,” he says fiercely.
He gently holds my hands, and we sit silently for a while. “How would it work?” I ask finally.
