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“You just saw me knock a guy's face in, Libby. That’s asking for you to have a panic attack. I wasn’t thinking straight and I’m so fucking sorry.” Wrinkles line his face with worry and his shoulders sag. It’s unbelievable that he thinks he’s the bad guy in this situation.
I cock my head to the side. “Why did you come back?”
“I never left.” The wrinkles deepen as if he’s offended I questioned him, but the statement goes straight to my heart and it beats faster.
“Why did you punch him?” There is so much emotion in the air and I need to make sense of it. I need to know I'm not crazy.
Colt's focus snaps to attention, his face made of stone. “He had his hands on you, Libs. They were around your neck. The things he was saying…” his eyes glaze over for a second before he recovers, shaking his head. “There’s no world where that will ever be okay.”
“Because a man shouldn’t lay his hands on a female?”
“Yes.”
“Is that all?” He doesn’t say anything, so I take a few slow steps in his direction, keeping eye contact. “Is there another reason you didn’t leave after I told you to? Why you lost it when you saw what he was doing?”
For the first time, Colt doesn’t directly answer my question. “Why did you tell me to leave?”
“I didn’t want you losing control.” That should be obvious.
“Because you were scared?”
I look straight into his soul, the way he does when he wants me to feel the weight of his words. “Because I care about you, Colt.” His cheeks flush and he puts his hands in his pockets. Finding my boldness that I’d once had in life, I take another step closer and he looks away. “Don’t you dare shut me out, Colt Gibson,” I demand, poking a finger into his chest.
“Libby, I need you to stop.” His jaw ticks.
“Why?”
“Because you’re pushing buttons I don’t think you’re meaning to.” His breath is shallow but controlled. I take another step so that our bodies collide.
“Colt, I promise you I’m okay. What happened out there?” I motion towards the door. “Was awful. I’m ashamed I put myself in that situation. I hate that you lost control, but only because I know that’s your biggest fear.” I pause, letting him absorb my words. “Now I need you to answer my question.”
Silence.
“Why did you hit him? Why didn’t you leave?” I push.
His expression softens as his eyes close. “Because I can’t stand the thought of him, or anyone else, laying a finger on you in any capacity.” He slowly opens them again and they’re full of knee-weakening intensity. “I couldn’t just leave you alone with him. I wanted to respect your wishes, I really did. And I swear I tried to, Libs. I went all the way to my truck, but I couldn’t make it further than that.”
“Why?”
Narrowing his focus, “You already know the answer.”
“Say it,” I dare him.
I swear his stature becomes taller as he looms over me. “Because you mean more to me than whatever demons I fight. I’m completely consumed by you. How to get to you, how to be around you, how to show you that you are so much more than what you’ve been led to believe. And I don’t want to fuck it up.” The power of his words radiates from him, forcing me to absorb them into every fiber of my body. “I haven't even known you a month, but you are my only focus. I’ll never question or disregard the things you ask of me, but fuck if walking down those stairs didn’t feel like I was leaving my soul with you. I need to know that you’re safe, and if that guy is anywhere around you, then that’s not the case.” He runs his hand through his hair and takes a breath, seeming to choose his next words carefully. “I couldn’t leave because my heart is with you, Libs.” My stomach flutters at his words. I don’t know what to say, so I ask the only thing that comes to mind.
“What do you need from me, Colt?” He’s been here for me enough. It’s time I repay the favor.
His gaze saddens. “I need to know that it’s okay for me to feel that way.”
Holy shit. Colt Gibson is scared. Of what, I’m not sure, but I can hear it in his words. He bared his soul to me, and it's only fair I start to give him the same. “It’s okay with me if it’s okay with you.”
22
“So he was marrying you for money?” Colt’s face tenses. Opening up about the night at the salon is terrifying, but I figure there’s not much left off the table at this point, and he’s proven himself to be a safe place. And what began as telling him that Jett had hit me because he was upset turned into me telling him everything Jett said and the conversation with my mom, which I hadn’t even told Blake about.
“Apparently.”
“Fucking unbelievable,” he says.
