Finding Solace (24 page)

 
 
I worked as much as I could to save up to get
the new Dodge Charger that came out and I had just picked it up. All the guys
got back in town for school last week. Colt was up at the University workout
facility working to condition the wrestlers already for the up and coming
season. I was on my way up there to meet him when he was done and show him my
new car. I pulled up in the back parking lot and turned my car off. I rolled down
the windows and let the night breeze in. The wrestlers should have been done
fifteen minutes ago, so after showers I was figuring in the next five minutes
he should be coming out. He didn't know about my car yet and I couldn’t wait to
surprise him. A couple of rows down from me
was
another car with another girl in it. My guess was she was a girlfriend waiting
just like me. I am not an official girlfriend, but I feel like I am sometimes.
And here they come all clean and fresh. I watched Colt walk out last and I
wonder if it will ever get old. The chills I got, taking in the walk, the body,
and the sex appeal, it just always seemed to get to me. But remember that girl
in the car? She just ran up to Colt. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw
her. They talked for a bit, and by this point the parking lot had cleared out.
Their voices were getting louder as they took in that no one could hear them
anymore, except me, which they must not have paid much attention to. The girl
was getting upset. She started to grab her stomach and I thought she was going
to get sick. But then Colt started to freak out. They were loud enough that I
made out the one word that I never expected to hear, "baby.” No way. No
way was this happening. I couldn't do this right now. I wanted to leave, but I
needed to hear what they were saying. Colt said, "Are you sure?”

 
She said,
"Three months." Colt said, "Paternity test." She said,
"Not needed." I was done. I turned the car back on, put it in drive
and left.

 
I went to ‘51’,
where I knew Colt wouldn't be coming. He changed his schedule to allow more
time for coaching at the university. He was assisting, not the head coach by
any means, but he loved it. I just needed a drink to process all of this.
A baby?
Did he not learn his lesson with Jamie? He was
always so careful in the beginning with me. But then again, we haven't used a
condom in months. What if that girl said she was on the pill? Would he believe
her? He believed me. Holy shit! Dave was bartending again so I walked up and
said hello. Then I ordered a shot of
Jager
. Dave
instantly asked me what was wrong. I just said "stuff." Nice and
blah, I didn’t know what to say. He poured the shot, but before he handed it to
me, he asked for my keys. If I was going to start the night with
Jager
, there was no way I was driving my new car. I handed
them over. He looked at the key ring and said, "These aren’t yours."

 
"Yes,
they are as of today. I bought that Charger that I have been drooling over for
a year."

 
"No
shit! That's awesome. Are you sure you want to leave it here over night? On
second thought, if you plan on hanging out I will just call Angie and have her
meet me at your house when I get off. That way you get home safe and I get to
drive your bad ass new car. It’s a win, win situation, so drink up" he
handed me the shot finally and it was gone in seconds. I ordered another one.
When he brought that one over he said, “I don't know what’s wrong, but your
problem might have just walked in." I looked over and sure enough Colt was
standing there staring at me. He walked over and sat down on the stool next to
me.
“This seat taken?"

 
"Nice
line. Did you get that one from your grandpa?"

 
"Ouch.
Someone is crabby tonight. What happened?"

 
"Did
something happen to you tonight?"

 
"No.
Was there supposed to be something?"

 
"Colt,
I'm really tired of the lies. It is your night off. You wouldn't be in here
either if there wasn't something wrong."

 
"I came
in to talk to one of my employees, not drink. You, on the other hand, have been
slamming shots. So it’s your turn to fess up."

 
"Fine,
I went to meet you after practice tonight. I saw you with that girl and I know
she's pregnant with your baby."

 
"Sadie,
keep your voice down and listen to me. I don't know how you know about that,
but you’re wrong. You have it all wrong. Wait, how did you hear our
conversation?"

 
"I was
parked and my windows were down."

 
"The
only cars left were Liz's, mine and a Charger that I think belongs to the
physical trainer they keep on staff. So how did you know what we were
saying?"

 
"I was
in the Charger. I bought it today. I came up there to show you, and then Liz
jumped out of nowhere."

 
"You
bought that?
Today?
Is it outside? Let’s go see this
bad boy. I know how much you wanted it." He was already up and out of his
chair. I didn't budge. He looked at me funny and said, "You don't want to
show me?"

 
"Liz?"

 
"Keep
your voice down, please."

 
"Are
you going to tell me or not, Colt?"

 
"Come
to my office. If I have to tell you, it needs to be in private."

 
I followed
him into his office and then he closed the door behind me. I folded my arms and
waited.

 
"Sadie,
this is not my place to tell you. So please don't say a word. Liz was with Mike,
not me. She's claiming Mike is the dad. She has been looking for him and
thought he might be with me tonight. That's why she was up there."

 
"Holy shit!"
I said it so
fast,
it came out as one word.
"No way.
Where is Mike?
Are you going to tell him?"

 
"That's
why I am here. I know I said that I was looking for an employee, but I came to
see if Mike was here."

 
"I
haven't seen him."

 
"Well,
I need to find him. That girl’s name is Liz and from what I've heard, she is a
skank. If Mike really did mess around with her, he's a fool. Sadie, you need to
pretend you don't know any of this. It’s Mike's business, not ours."

 
"I'm
just so glad it’s not yours."

 
"Beautiful,
I would never be that careless. I already have Maddie. I don't need another
mouth to feed just yet."

 
I leaned up
and kissed him. "Good to hear!"

 
“I can understand
why you would have been upset, considering you thought it was me. But Sadie,
you need to know that I am always protected outside of our situation. I would
never risk your health like that."

 
"That's
all I have the right to ask. Thank you for not making me. I can say the same. I
always make sure you are as safe as well." I didn't need to do that but a
small part of me hated hearing that I have to share him. So why not make him
feel the burn if I have to, right?

 
He looked
like I slapped him. "Sadie, I don't want to talk about this anymore. It’s
not mine and that's all that matters. Now let’s go get you another drink."

 
Colt had
been texting Mike all night and got no response.

 
"Sucks
when people don't get back to you, doesn't it?" I had to get that little
dig in. He is horrible at this himself.

 
"Ha, ha,
funny girl, I am surprised he isn't texting me back by now."

 
"Your
guess is as good as mine."

 
Heather and
Jason came in through the door and I ran up to greet them. I miss the hell out
of my girl, but I know that they are happy. If she is happy, then I am for her.

 
"I'm so
glad you guys are here. I thought you had a class tonight, Heather?"

 
"I did.
They just wanted to update us on the new system they are moving over to in the
office. Pointless, if you ask me. The old one worked better anyway."

 
"Well,
I'm glad you’re here. Come over to the bar. Colt and I were just talking. We
can pull over some stools."

 
Heather and
Jason followed me to where Colt was. They did the bro handshake and then Colt
asked Jason if he had heard from Mike tonight.

 
"Nope,
I was working out and then I met up with Heather. Why, what's up?"

 
"I just
needed him to answer a question for me, nothing important."

 
"I can
text him, if you want?"

 
"Don't
worry about it. I’ll talk to him tomorrow, I'm sure."

 
I excused
myself to go to the bathroom and Heather came with me. Of course she asked what
Colt wanted to talk to Mike about. I just played stupid. Not my place (see I
remember).When we were done we walked back over to the boys, only mine had a
tall redhead on his lap, backwards. As in straddling him, seriously? I paused
long enough in my step that Heather looked up.

 
"Oh, no.
Sadie, what do you want to do? I'm here for
ya
whatever you decide."

 
"I want
to make her feel ridiculous when he shoves her off. That's what I'm
gonna
do."

 
"That's
my girl!"

 
We walked up
to them and Heather greeted Jason with a kiss. Colt was saying something in her
ear and hadn’t noticed we were back yet. That was when I cleared my throat. It
was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. She hit the floor. He stood
up so fast she actually hit the floor on her ass. He was gracious enough to
help her back up at least. When she came to stand over me like an amazon, she
looked me up and down like she was sizing up her competition. Right! I do not
play, I win.

 
I walked
past her to Colt, grabbed his face and kissed him like only I do when we are
having sex. He moaned in my mouth and it was all over. He forgot where we were
or who he even was with that kiss. I made sure of it. She huffed and walked
away. It was only then I was willing to stop. Colt was not. He grabbed me and
pulled me on top of his lap. He continued to kiss me until I realized I was
sitting on him on the same position redhead was. I jerked away and jumped down.

 
"Where
are you going?" He said as he grabbed my arm to pull me back over to him.
I wasn’t going to be bitchy, but I could not be that girl either.

 
"I need
a drink. What about you?" I waved Dave over to order a beer when he said,
"Nice show. Terri is nasty and thinks she can do whatever she wants to
Colt. It was nice seeing her be put in her place."

 
"I
don't know what you are talking about. Colt here can do whatever he wants or
whoever he wants." I glanced at Colt and then back to Dave.

 
"Sure, Sadie.
As long as you’re not there to see it, I
guess."

 
"You
pretty much got it. Now can I please have a Bud Light?"

 
"I will
take one too," said Colt.

 
"That
was fucking awesome!" Leave it to Heather to not let things go. And then
there is Jason to add to the fire. "Colt, man, you dropped her on her ass!
Priceless, dude.
Fucking
priceless."

 
I grabbed my
beer and went to the dance floor. I can always block out drama when I dance. I
love music, plain and simple. I had been dancing for a while when someone
bumped in to me. I was sure it was an accident, so I ignored it. Then it
happened again. This time I was hit harder than the first. I turned to see
Terri and her friend laughing. You have got to be kidding me.
"Grow up" just fell out of my mouth.
I started to
walk away but Terri wouldn't let me.

 
"I
liked your little show. You proved nothing. Well, unless you wanted to let me
know he's yours. If that's the case, he cheated on you last night with me, in
the boy’s bathroom. So see, you’re not so special."

 
"In the boy’s bathroom, really?
You must be special. I
was wrong. He's all yours. How could I ever compete with the bathroom of a bar?
Forgive me."

 
I walked
back over to Heather and asked if she could take me home. I had enough girl
drama for one night involving Colt.

CHAPTER
26

 
Colt
followed us back to our apartment with my car, lovely. I wanted space and I got
a sleep over. Dave was pissed off that I didn’t wait for him but I promised he
would get to drive it soon. As I was washing my face, Colt came in to brush his
teeth. We worked around each other like we had been doing it for years. Well,
technically it had been about a year. It was crazy how comfortable things at
home have gotten when outside of home we still were dealing with things like
tonight. When I climbed into bed he was right there to scoot me into place. We
laid there for a while before the silence was just killing me.