Cole (The Ride Series) (14 page)

I raised my brow at her as I locked
the door and reset the alarm.

She rolled her eyes. “Same shit I’m
sure Cole told you. No going anywhere, be careful blah, blah,” she grumbled.

I laughed at her attitude and without
asking I started making us each a cocktail. “What’s going on with you two
anyway?” I asked curiously as she sat at the bar.

She sighed. “I’m done for,” she
admitted. “I’ve never felt like this about a guy, but part of me is terrified
that he’s only being so protective because of the whole alpha male thing.
“Girl, mine. You no touch,” she grunted, imitating a caveman.

I laughed a loud belly laugh. It felt
great.

“Part of me is worried that once all
this blows over he’ll lose interest,” she admitted, her tone serious. “He’s
been taking great care of me,” she added quietly.

I smiled warmly, pleased to hear that.
“He was chasing after you before this happened. You were at the club when this
bullshit started. That’s huge,” I reminded her.

“I guess,” she muttered.

“It is,” I said firmly, taking a much
needed sip of my drink.

“So did Cole tan your hide or what?”
she wanted to know, and I knew she wanted to change the subject.

“At first he wanted to,” I admitted.
“But then I explained why I did it and I think he understood. I’m pretty sure
I’m forgiven,” I said as I shrugged. “I told him about how things were with
Jake and Victor,” I practically whispered.

Her eyes grew wide. “Even…?”

“Yep.”

“Holy shit, did he completely lose his
mind?”

“Actually, no. I was kind of shocked.
He held it together really well,” I told her as we moved over to the couch and
faced each other, both trying to get comfortable on the soft leather.

“I’m impressed,” she murmured. “How
did it feel to tell him?”

I grimaced. “Obviously it sucked to relive
that shit. But I guess in the end it was somewhat freeing to tell someone other
than you, and to have him be so great about it.”

“He loves you, you know,” she said
softly.

I bit my lip. “I would like to think
that’s true.”

“I know it’s true,” she said firmly.
“When you left, I thought he was going to literally murder anyone who held him
up even a second in taking off to go get your stupid ass,” she told me and
laughed when I swatted at her. “He was so worried.”

“Well he got me back quickly enough,
and it would seem as though I’m to be a house guest indefinitely.” I wrinkled
my nose.

“I’m not surprised. I promise to come
visit you all the time,” she said and clinked her glass with mine.

“Sal isn’t chaining you to the bed?” I
asked with a raised brow.

She shook her head. “I talked him out
of it. I’m not a target like you are. It was just wrong place, wrong time.”

“Yeah, but Kat, you’re my roommate.
Someone might think I’m still there,” I interjected worriedly.

She waved me off. “I may not be under
house arrest but that doesn’t mean Sal isn’t keeping a close eye. I’ll be
fine.”

I let the topic go for the moment but I
was hardly pacified.

We drank martinis and gabbed until Sal
came by to pick Kat up. I resisted asking him if he’d seen Cole, not wanting to
seem like a clichéd housewife. But when he wasn’t home by 10
pm
that night, I called him. It went
straight to voicemail. My brow wrinkled wondering where he was. He hadn’t made
it seem like he’d be gone that long. I still didn’t have anything with me, so I
borrowed one of his T-shirts and a toothbrush, and then crawled into a very
empty feeling bed.

When I rolled over at 2
am
and found that his side of the bed
was still cold, I got really worried. I called his cell again and when I still
got no answer, I called Kat. Obviously I woke her up, but she put Sal on the
phone after I explained about Cole.

“He’s working through some shit. He’s
fine,” Sal told me, making my blood run cold.

“Working through some shit?” I asked,
my tone arctic. What the hell did that mean?

“He’s safe, he’s at the club,” he told
me, his tone softer.

“Okay well that’s where I’m going
then,” I huffed, hauling myself out of bed.

“You aren’t,” Sal argued.

“I am,” I retorted. “Hank’s out front.
I’m sure he’ll take me,” I added. The poor guy was probably bored to tears
anyway.

“Fuck,” he clipped. “I’ll be there in ten
minutes.” I didn’t take it as a great sign that Sal was insisting on taking me
if I was going, but I pushed that worry to the back of my mind and got dressed.

“This is a bad idea,” he informed me
once he dragged his ass out of bed to come get me in his pickup truck.

“Oh well,” I said as I shrugged,
feigning indifference as I looked out the window. The truth was that I was
scared out of my ever loving mind at what I would find at the club. But I had
to know what kind of shit he was working through. If he couldn’t work things
through with me then we had a serious problem. And God help me, and him, if he
was working through anything with someone else.

I spotted him immediately when we
walked in. His back was to us, body hunched over the bar as he sipped what
looked like whiskey. I was pacified to see he was alone. And even more so when
I saw him immediately brush off a woman who walked over to him and tried to put
a hand flirtatiously on his shoulder. Clearly this wasn’t about anything other
than being in his own head, deeply in his own head. There were a few other guys
shooting pool but it was really late, or early, and the place was pretty quiet.

“Penny for your thoughts?” I asked
quietly, pulling up the stool beside him.

His eyebrows rose in surprise. “What
are you doing here?” his eyes were bloodshot but his speech wasn’t slurred.

“Couldn’t sleep without you,” I said,
pulling the bottle over and taking a swig. He turned back and stared into his
drink. “Find what you’re looking for in there?” I asked softly.

I’d never seen him like this. He
wasn’t angry or his typical alpha self. He was contemplative and almost…sad.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said
quietly and his words sent a stab of pain through my heart.

“Why?” I spoke past the lump in my
throat.

He didn’t answer. He sat quietly and swirled
the liquid in his glass.

“You’re always asking me to let you
in,” I said quietly. “You need to do the same for me. I want to be here for
you,” I added, putting my hand over his.

“I can’t do this right now,” he said,
his tone turning firm and almost cold.

I pulled my hand back. “Do what?” I
demanded, hurt searing through me like a flame. “Do what, Cole?” I demanded
again when he didn’t answer me.

“I can’t fucking look at you right now
alright
?” he clipped loudly.

I was so shocked by what he said that
it took a moment for it to register. But as the words rushed over me, my face
flamed in humiliation and hurt. A few of the guys had turned to look in
surprise at our exchange and my cheeks flamed brighter still.

I opened myself up to him that
morning, allowed him to see parts of me I’d buried deep and held protected. And
this is how he repaid me, by making me feel complete and utter shame.

I kept staring at him in complete shock
and pain for a few seconds before I stood up on shaking legs and put my purse
on my shoulder. He didn’t spare me a glance as I walked away. My throat was
close to bursting with the size of the lump lodged there. I walked woodenly
past Sal who stood with his arms crossed, eyes narrowed on Cole.

“I’m not going back there!” I cried
when Sal had caught up with me.

“Okay, get in the truck,” he said
quietly.

“Promise me you won’t make me go back
to Cole’s house. I want to go home,” I whimpered.

“I can’t do that, honey. You know your
place isn’t safe. You can stay in my guest room. Kat’s already at my place,” he
reminded me.

I simply nodded, trying desperately to
hold back the onslaught of hysteria. I didn’t want to break down in front of
Sal. I’d suffered enough humiliation already. The drive felt unbearably long
but we finally pulled up in front of his place. He ushered me inside and led me
to his guest bedroom.

“I’m sorry,
Scarlet
.
That was fucked up,” he muttered. I could tell he was out of his depth. We
didn’t even know each other that well. But I knew him well enough to know that
dealing with emotion wasn’t his strong suit. “Get you anything?” he asked, his
tone concerned and hesitant.

“No, thanks,” I managed, barely
holding it together.

He simply nodded and closed the door
quietly behind him. The moment I heard the door click, my eyes filled with
tears and I stifled a sob. I lay down on the bed and tried to be quiet as my
body shook with the force of my tears. It was mere moments before I heard the
door quietly open and felt Kat’s body slide into bed with me. She put her arms
around me as I faced the wall and sobbed into the pillow.

“What happened?” she asked quietly
after I’d been sobbing for an indeterminate amount of time.

“I…God, I have no idea!” I cried, my
breath coming out in gasps. “He didn’t come home, so I got worried and I called
here to see if Sal had seen him. He said Cole was at the club so I went to go
talk to him. And he was just so….cold!” I sobbed. “He said he couldn’t look at
me, that I shouldn’t be there. It was like he was a completely different
person!” I wailed, no longer able to control the volume of my distress.

I heard Kat’s intake of breath as she
squeezed me tighter.

“After everything I told him today,
how could he hurt me like that? I have never felt so humiliated or ashamed. He
can’t look at me?” I cried. “How could he ever say something like that to me?”

“Oh, honey I’m so sorry,” she soothed.

I started crying again and couldn’t
speak. She just held me and whispered soothing words that I didn’t understand
through my haze.

“It’s over,” I mumbled, my breath
hiccupping. “I don’t ever want to see him again,” I said vehemently.

Kat didn’t say anything but just kept
rubbing my back.

“What I don’t get is why he went to
all the effort of dragging me back here when just hours later he was so capable
of such cold indifference?” I asked.

“I don’t know, sweetie,” she said
softly.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” I mumbled
hoarsely.

She continued to rub my back,
murmuring soothing words.

I must have finally drifted off
because the next thing I knew I heard yelling from the living room.

“You have completely gutted her!” I
heard Kat shrieking. “There is no way in hell I’m letting you back there. She
finally lets someone in and this how you fucking repay her?”

“Get out of my way,” Cole’s deep voice
boomed.

“Put a hand on my woman and we’ve got
problems man,” I heard Sal interject. “You need to go home and cool off.”

“Why the fuck is she under your roof?”
Cole demanded angrily. How on earth had he thought he’d go home to find me
there? I wondered how drunk he must be.

“Because after how you treated her
there was no way she was willingly going back to your place, and I wasn’t going
to let her go back to hers. So here she is,” Sal stated. “You need to get your
fucking head together man. I don’t know what that was about tonight but if you
care about her, and I know you do, you’ll go home.”

“She doesn’t want to see you, Cole,”
Kat added angrily. “You’ll be lucky if she wants to see you again at all.”

“Fuck,” I heard Cole clip. “Fuck!” he
bellowed again a moment later, his emotion apparent even through the walls.

“Go sleep it off man,” Sal instructed.

“It doesn’t feel right, leaving without
her,” I heard him say flatly.

“Well you’re going to have to,
asshole,” I heard Kat hiss.

“Babe, bedroom,” Sal ordered.

She must have done as she was told
because I didn’t hear a reply.

Sal’s voice dropped a few notches and
I couldn’t hear what he was saying anymore. But whatever he said must have
pacified Cole to some extent because I heard the front door open and shut, then
all was quiet.

I listened to the sound of my ragged
breathing, my heart pounding in my chest as it had been throughout the whole
exchange. I hadn’t expected him to come here for me. I felt so
confused,
I couldn’t process anything aside from the fact
that I was deeply hurt.

I managed to get some sleep, though
very little. Mostly I just lay on my back and stared up at the ceiling, my eyes
burning from tears and exhaustion. Kat slipped in again in the morning and I
looked over at her without emotion.

“Did you sleep?” she whispered,
crawling back in bed with me.

“Barely,” I murmured hoarsely.