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“He led her dad right fucking to her,” I say with an outstretched arm. “I guarantee they’re all in on it. Him, her dad, her mom… they all have it out for her because she’s better than every single one of them and they hate it.”
“You’re right,” Tyson agrees. “But do you realize what you just did? That asshole is going to press charges on you, and then what? What about your wife? What’s she going to think about you beating that guy within an inch of his life?”
“He won't say anything.” I reach into my truck for a rag to wrap around my bleeding knuckles. “He knows I won’t hesitate turning him over to the cops for his role in the salon. And if I know one thing about that piece of trash, it’s that he cares more about himself and his image than anything else.”
As for Libby, I should have told her last night as soon as we got home. But I didn’t want her to shut down and have to deal with another panic attack. I did what I thought was best at the moment. But with the way Tyson is looking at me, I’m wondering if I’ve made a huge mistake. Shit.
“Come on, man, I’ll follow you back to your place. Where’s Little Bird?”
“She’s at my mom’s house.”
Tyson shakes his head. “What the hell is going on around here?” he says to himself as he walks to his Audi.
It took two hours and a cold shower to regulate myself enough to go see Libby. I may have gone about things the wrong way before, but now is the time to set it right. To do what I should have done in the first place.
When I pull up to my mom’s house, I’m surprised to see Blake’s car. To my knowledge, they’ve never met. But I suppose Libby has been spending most days here, and my mom isn’t known for being unwelcoming. I guess it was only a matter of time that they’d meet. I can only imagine the amount of laughter that’s going on inside that house.
I realize how wrong I am, though, when I step inside the door and Blake meets me toe to toe. “What the hell is wrong with you, Gibson?” she demands. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”
The hairs stand up on my neck. “Where is she?” I try to move around her, but she stops me.
“That’s not your concern anymore. You lost that privilege when you decided to lie to her!”
“Come on, dear,” my mom says to Blake as she comes in from the kitchen. “No need to get so worked up over someone else’s marital issues. Let’s give them some privacy.”
“They’re not even married!” Blake’s declaration knocks the air out of my lungs. Did Libby tell her that? Does that mean Libby is done? Is it too late?
“Semantics.” She loops her arm into Blake’s. “Time for you to help a dying woman take a stroll around the block.”
Blake’s face scrunches together. “You don’t play fair,” she says and shoulders past me to hold the door open, but Leann stops next to me.
“Do good, Colton. Libby is mine too.” And she walks out the door with one pissed off Blake Miller.
I make my way into the kitchen and catch site of Libby sitting in the backyard, watching the trees. Similar to how I found my mom not too long ago. Carefully, I open the door and take a spot in the chair next to her, but she doesn’t look at me.
“Libs…” I beg.
“You lied to me, Colt.” Her eyes never leave the trees, so she doesn’t see the knife going into my heart as she says it.
“I did.” Now is not the time for explanations or reasoning. The most important thing my father taught me is that the triumph you feel from saying your peace will never outweigh the regret you’ll feel from the words you didn’t listen to. All I want is to be here. With the woman of my dreams, and listen to her forever.
“I had to hear it from my mom, of all people.” She finally turns towards me and the dagger goes deeper. I’ve never seen so much pain in her beautiful eyes. “It should have been you.”
“I know.”
“Instead, you lied to me and tried to fix everything on your own, without even wanting my input on something that has everything to do with me.” The silence between us is deafening, but I don’t know what to say without sounding like a robot. She’s absolutely right. I fucked up. I let my anger get the best of me and completely lost control.
“Tell me what you need, Libs.”
“I need to trust you.”
48
I’ve been through a lot in my short life. Most of which, I’m finding out, aren't normal. Leann has taught me quite a bit in our time together. How the love we receive as a child is the love we believe we deserve as adults. It’s the love we speak into ourselves, and the measure in which we compare all other loves that come into our lives.
Jett gave me just above what I was used to. Enough to keep me blinded to what was slowly happening right under my nose. The changes he made over time. The red flags that were there all along.
Colt, on the other hand, came in with guns blazing. His love was loud and all-consuming. It was so much bigger than I was used to that I didn’t feel like I deserved it. Instead, shutting it down repeatedly.
