Page 2 of Fame & Chaos

When Mum finally said it was time to leave, disappointment hit me so hard it physically hurt. I didn’t want to go. I’d only just met him, and already I wanted more time. More answers. More of whatever this strange feeling was between us.

I was too shy to ask him anything, but before we left, he hugged me tightly, and I remember feeling safe for the first time in a really long while.

Mum finally told him the truth…

That I was sick.

Really sick.

And she needed his help.

Colt agreed to get tested to see if he was a match, and Mum spent the entire drive back to London almost buzzing with excitement.

“He hasn’t changed,” she kept saying softly to herself. Then she looked over at me and smiled. “That man is going to change our lives, baby boy.”

And God… was she right.

I felt sorry for Dee. She seemed lovely, and at my age, I couldn’t understand why my existence upset her so much. Now that I’m older, I get it completely.

Her husband had a child with his ex-girlfriend.

A child neither of them knew existed until Mum showed up on their doorstep and detonated their entire world.

And the worst part? It happened at the absolute worst possible time.

I know now that before Mum and I arrived at the manor, Dee and Colt had been trying to have a baby through surrogacy. The transfer had failed just before we arrived, and Dee was devastated. She wanted a family with Colt more than anything, only for his secret son to appear on their front doorstep like some cruel joke from the universe.

I didn’t understand any of that back then, but I do now.

And honestly? I felt like an asshole.

Even though none of it was really my fault.

That blame lay firmly in my mother’s lap, Macy McCormack. Colter Slade’s ex-girlfriend was the woman who unknowingly blew apart a marriage before it had barely begun.

After that first meeting, everything changed fast. Colt started coming to our house all the time. The second he found out about me, it was like something inside him switched on. He threw himself completely into my life.

And God, I loved him for it.

After seven years without a father, having someone care about me the way Colt did felt unreal. Mum loved me, I never doubted that, but Colt was different. He fussed over me constantly, checked on me every five minutes, carried me to bed when I was too exhausted to walk, and somehow always knew when I was having a bad day before I even said anything.

He made me feel safe.

More than that, he made me feel important.

For the first time in my life, we had proper food in the house. The heating stayed on. Mum wasn’t crying over bills at the kitchen table anymore because Colt quietly handled everything without making her feel ashamed about it.

He just… took care of us.

Or at least, he took care of me.

Sometimes Uncle Huxley came with him. He was quieter than Colt and more guarded, but he was still good to me. I liked him a lot, though it wasn’t the same.

What I felt for Colt was immediate.

Instant.

Like some missing piece inside me had finally clicked into place, and I worshipped him.