The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (13 page)

Chapter 22

Colt

I didn’t need to hear Savanna telling me that we were over. I would just rather not to talk to her at all. She had already broken my heart. I didn’t need to hear it out of her mouth.

For the next week I did nothing but work during the day. At night, Sam and I would venture out in the woods, or hang out in the barn with the horses. On several occasions, Harvey and I would stay up late drinking and playing poker.

As long as I kept myself busy enough, I was able to avoid thinking about Savanna.  With my cousin’s return home fast approaching, my aunt and uncle stayed focused on him. They no longer threatened me or even paid attention to what I was doing. Staying out of their way was becoming a habit.

The day before Ty came home, my uncle came over and asked me to help set up the large tents in the yard.  Harvey and I got right on it. At first, they were a real pain in the ass, but once we figured them out, we got them all up in no time.

After carrying at least one hundred chairs that some person from church had delivered, I was beat. I started to head back to the carriage house when I saw Savanna pulling in the driveway. I stopped walking and just watched her car as it drove past me. In the passenger side was Ty, giving me a friendly wave. Savanna never looked my way; it was one thing that I couldn’t help but notice.

Realizing I couldn’t be rude, I headed in the direction of the car. Savanna got out and froze when she saw me approaching. I turned my hat forward and gave her a nod. It was all she was going to get without me losing it and telling her my real feelings.

Savanna focused her attention on getting Ty’s wheelchair out of the back of the car. I took it out of her hands and got it unfolded, before helping to get my cousin out of the car.

“I thought you weren’t coming home until tomorrow,” I stated while getting him in the chair.

“The doc said I was fine to leave. Said my body had enough time recuperating,” Ty explained.

Pushing Ty across the dirt driveway was difficult even for me, so I insisted Savanna not do it. My aunt met us at the door and once we got him inside, I was shocked by what I saw. Savanna stood in the living room frozen as she looked around noticing all of her pictures had been put back out. It was like my aunt was erasing all of the months she had emotionally damaged the girl.

I don’t know which one of us was more pissed, but shockingly, Savanna put on a smile and gave Ty all of her attention, as if nothing had happened. Knowing that I couldn’t take much more, I saw myself out, without anyone even noticing.

I needed to avoid seeing Savanna, so I took Sam and headed into the woods. We played fetch until my arms felt like Jell-O. When it started to get dark, I headed back to the carriage house and locked the door behind me.

About an hour later, I heard a knock at the door. I was surprised to find Savanna standin’ there looking at me. “Sorry to bother you. I was wondering if I could just get my bag.”

“Stay right there. I will get it for you.” I left her standing in the doorway. I was positive my uncle or someone was standing around watchin’ us and I didn’t want to give them any reason to doubt what I was doing. Savanna was looking down at the ground when I got back to the door.

“Here you go. I packed everything up, even your things in the bathroom,” I stated.

She looked up at me. “Colt…I.”

I held my hand up. “Don’t, Savanna. There is nothin’ left to say.”

I could barely speak. For the first time in my life, I wanted to curl up and cry like a damn baby. I couldn’t keep seeing her. I needed to leave town.

I closed the door without saying another word, but watched through the window as she got in her car and drove away. After the party, I would tell my uncle that I had to go. Hopefully, he would understand why.

Savanna

How could he be so cold to me after everything we had been through? He knew how hard all of this had been. I know he saw those pictures missing before; he had to notice the difference. I saw his face when we got in that house.

I didn’t understand why he wasn’t even being my friend. Was he just feeling sorry for me the whole time we had been together? Was it all a lie?

I was getting really tired of crying, but I couldn’t help it. Once again, my mother sat up with me, holding me until I finally fell asleep.

Ty had insisted that my parents attend his welcome home party, so I decided to just ride with them. We got there a half hour early, but a bunch of people were already there, including some of the girls that had been involved in the fight with me. I felt my anxiety growing as we approached Ty. The girls had already started giving me dirty looks. One of them bent over and whispered in Ty’s ear before walking away. I couldn’t help but notice where his eyes went as she walked away from him. Some things never change.

As I went to turn to give my attention back to Ty, something caught my attention. Colt stood where the blonde was walking. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt that showed off his muscular arms and that mustang tattoo he had hidden at the top of his arm. I knew that the back of it revealed the large one he had on his back. It wasn’t Colt’s gorgeous body that I really noticed. It was the fact that he saw what Ty was looking at, and he knew that I caught it too.  When our eyes met, I got butterflies in my stomach. I wanted to walk toward him, but just as I started to, I heard my name being called. Ty was wheeling toward me as I turned around. He had a fresh smile on his face and pulled me onto his lap.

“When did you get here, babe?” he asked.

“Just a few minutes ago,” I explained.

“You gonna give me a kiss or what?”

I leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips, not being able to stop myself from thinking about him watching that girl.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I just haven’t seen all these people in a long time. Guess I am overwhelmed.” I tried to sound convincing, but I don’t know if he believed me.

To avoid conflict, I stayed by Ty’s side. It seemed everyone was nicer when he was around anyway. After a few hours, the tents were full of people. I was pretty sure the whole town had come. I looked around for Colt a couple times, but was never was able to find him. I don’t know why I kept trying. He was obviously done with our little fling. I guess that was all I was to him.

Ty had a bunch of catching up to do, so as the night went on, I found myself just sitting near him trying to stay out of his spotlight.

Finally, he stood up and whistled so that everyone looked our way. I was shocked to see him actually standing considering he had to be taught to do everything all over again. I could tell it was a struggle, as he leaned on his chair for support.

“I have an announcement to make,” he said as he looked all around. “I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. You don’t know how much it means to me. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves tonight.” A bunch of whistles and screams came from somewhere in the yard. Ty laughed then continued. “As most of you know, Van and I have been together for a long time. We haven’t always seen eye to eye, but through it all, we managed to find our way back to each other. I wanted you all to be here tonight to witness me taking our relationship to the next level.”

My heart started beating out of my chest as I watched Ty drop down on one knee. This couldn’t be happening. He pulled something out of his pocket and put it out in front of me. “This was my grandmother’s ring. I want you to wear it and say yes to being my wife.”

In the crowd, there were a bunch of noises, mostly people clapping and yelling what my answer should be. I looked around the room. First seeing the shocked look of Ty’s parents, then seeing my own. My mother knew my true feelings, so I saw the anguish in her eyes and knew exactly what she was thinking. Finally, I found the one person I was looking for. Colt stood in the corner of the tent. His arms were crossed but he was looking right at me. Even from a distance, I could see disgust in his eyes. He didn’t want me. I closed my eyes and tried not to look back.

I could say no and give up the only real relationship I ever had. Or, I could say yes, considering that at least I could have the forever I always wanted.  I really needed time. This was all too sudden. Ty was acting as if nothing had happened.  But, the truth was, I never wanted to feel that alone again.

“How about an answer, beautiful?” Ty asked again.

I looked down at him, with tears in my eyes that had nothing to do with his proposal. “Yes. I will marry you.” I helped Ty stand up as he wrapped his arms around me and brought his lips to mine. I looked in the direction of where Colt had been, but noticed he was gone.

I didn’t get the clapping and celebration that I had always pictured and honestly, I wasn’t that excited. I mean, I looked down at the ring on my finger, the ring I always knew would be mine someday, and I felt nothing. 

I distanced myself from Ty, almost immediately, as he continued to mingle with all of his friends. I needed to be alone. There wasn’t one person here that could ever understand how confused I was.

Brina finally showed up just as everyone was starting to leave. Ty was not her favorite person and she claimed she had to work. She wasn’t too happy with what was sitting on my finger either.  My parents had already left, after asking me a thousand times if I was okay.  Ty’s parents still wouldn’t look at me.

His frat buddies had pulled him away and I could hear the rowdy bunch of them somewhere out in the dark field. Brina came over and put her arm around me. “Need to talk?”

I shrugged.

“Van, where have you been this past month? You stopped returning my calls. You were never home and when I saw your mother, she thought you had been with me. You need to tell me what’s going on. Did you join a secret cult? What gives?”

“I can’t talk about it,” I said as I started to head toward the barn. I just wanted to be with Daisy. I didn’t care about the party at all. Ty had already ditched me just like always to hang out with his friends. He still had no idea how awful they had all been to me. Didn’t he notice that not one of them came up to congratulate me?

Once we got in the barn, Brina spun me around to face her. “Spill! Now!”

“I was seeing someone, okay? It’s over now and I just can’t talk about it,” I admitted.

“Holy shit! Just tell me who it was. Please tell me,” she begged.

I started to cry again. “I can’t tell you. I can’t ever talk about it. It doesn’t even matter anymore. It was over the moment Ty woke up.”

She grabbed me and wrapped her arms around me. “Jesus, Van. Whoever this mystery person was, they did a real number on you. I am so sorry, sweetie. You don’t deserve to hurt like this.”

“It hurts so much,” I confessed.

“Give it time. Everything is going to be okay. You have a wedding to look forward to. You can have the life you always wanted now.”

That was the problem right there. This wasn’t what I wanted anymore.

When Brina finally calmed me down, she stayed until I insisted I was fine. I told her I was going to find Ty and see if he was ready to call it a night. I watched her pull out of the driveway and noticed the light to the carriage house was already out. Maybe Colt had met a cute girl and was giving her a whirl, just like Ty had always said he did.

Thinking about him was like a kick in the gut. I rushed over to the field where people stood around a small fire. Sitting on Ty’s lap was the blonde who had beat me to pulp. I stood there just staring, not knowing what to say or do. Before I even knew what was happening, I was running. I ran away from everyone, as fast as my legs could take me.

Ty was never going to change and Colt didn’t want me. I just wanted it all to be over with. I couldn’t take the pain anymore. 

The thunder rolled in the distance and lightening continued to crash, but I continued to run. Nobody would be looking for me. Nobody cared.

Chapter 23

Colt

I couldn’t stand around anymore acting as if nothing was wrong. I went to the carriage house and grabbed my cell phone. After a twenty-minute phone call, I was able to book a flight for tomorrow night. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of this town.

I couldn’t believe she said yes to his proposal right in front of me as if I meant nothing to her.

Savanna was breaking my heart over and over again. I needed to get away from her so that I wasn’t constantly reminded of what I couldn’t have.

I grabbed a six-pack of beer and headed out to one of the fields. After I finished beer number five, I heard the thunder rolling in. I decided that I didn’t want to talk to anyone for the rest of the night, so I climbed up into the combine and got myself comfortable. After the bottle of rum I had finished off and now the beer, I was too drunk to find my way back before the rain came.

When the first drops hit the combine’s windshield, I could tell it was a serious storm.  The lightening was hitting every couple of minutes and the rain was so heavy it sounded like rocks.

Even through the loud pattering of the rain, I could hear something else. I thought it was an animal, or possibly Sam followed me out here and was scared of the storm.

I was wrong.

As the lightening crashed, I saw a silhouette hunched over about one hundred feet from where I was standing. Assuming it was some drunk person lost; I climbed out and went to check. I got about five feet away and knew it wasn’t a stranger.

It was Savanna.

The rain was coming down something fierce, but we both stood there just staring.

I didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want me. I felt rejected as if she had just tossed everything we had away.

When she started yelling, I was even more confused.

“How could you? How could you just push me away like I meant nothing to you?” she screamed.

“What are you talkin’ about, Savanna? That’s not what happened and you know it!” I said defensively.

“I poured my heart out to you. I told you that I loved you,” she yelled.

The rain was really coming down and lightning was hitting all around us, but neither of us moved. In fact, neither of us even paid much attention.

“That’s funny because the moment your precious Ty woke up, all your feelin’s for me went down the tubes.”

Savanna came walking toward me, breaking the gap between us. As the lightening continued to crash around us, I could see the pain in her eyes. “Is that what you think? I tried to call you. I tried so hard, but you kept pushing me away. Why did you continue spending time with me if I meant nothing to you? I let you in. Do you have any idea how much you hurt me?”

“I pushed you away because I couldn’t stand to see you with him. I did it so that you could be happy. Isn’t that what you want? Don’t you want your happy ever after with Ty?” I yelled.

She pushed me again. “Damn you, Colt. I hate you for hurting me like this. I hate you. I hate you so much for not wanting me. You made me love you, but you never wanted us to be together,” she continued to beat on my chest and I let her.

Finally, when enough was enough, I managed to grab her hands. “Stop fightin’ me! I didn’t want to hurt you, Savanna. I would never hurt you. Stop being so stubborn and listen to me.  I love you. I love you so much that it’s killin’ me inside. I can’t stand being without you, not even for a day. Seeing you with him hurts too much.”

I let go of her hands and we stood there, just standing in the pouring rain. At the same time, we both collided into each other’s embrace. I could taste her sweet skin even through the raindrops. Her lips pressed so hard against mine and there was no way I could stop myself from kissing her. I picked her up into my arms, before we slowly made our way to the muddy ground.

I pulled away, but only to look at her. Her hair was stuck to her face, and even though we were getting muddier by the minute, I moved it out of the way.

“You really love me?” she asked.

“Darlin’, you have no idea.”

I found her mouth again and the water helped me trace my lips easily around every inch of it. Her tongue mingled with mine and I couldn’t help but run my hands down her perfect skin. I wasn’t surprised when she tugged at my shirt and tossed it somewhere in the field, after she pulled it over my head. Her nipples were so hard and my fingers played with them over her wet shirt.  Not wanting to have to feel her through clothes, I pulled her shirt over her head and lay it behind her.  She rested her head back down and moaned as I ran my lips around the pink of her nipple. When I finally put it in my mouth and sucked, she screamed out in pleasure.

Her knee came up and rubbed against my erection, and immediately I felt her hand unbuttoning her own pants. She wanted me right here in this field and I was going to give it to her. Nothing was going to stop me tonight. Not the rain and not any one of my family members. She was mine.

As she slid out of her wet pants, I did the same, both of us moving faster than we ever had before. Being away from her for a whole week had made the anticipation of what was happening even more heightened. We weren’t being gentle. With one hard thrust, I entered her. She cried out. “Yes! Colt. Please.”

I found her lips again and licked them as I thrusted into her harder each time. Her hands grabbed around to my ass and I felt her nails digging deeper with each motion. I pushed inside of her even further by using her shoulder to push off of. Her hands dug even deeper and started pulling me to move even faster. I grabbed one of her legs and pushed it up against my chest so I could get deeper. Savanna called out into the stormy night, but only I could hear her. I could feel her insides tightening as I continued to thrust my hard shaft inside of her. As I heard her crying out my name, I couldn’t hold it any longer. I felt my release and let it happen until I finally collapsed over top of her.

Our heavy breathing continued even after minutes had passed. We were lying naked in a freshly planted field. Our bodies were covered in mud and our clothes were scattered all around us. We didn’t care. Even with the thunder and lightning crashing above us, nothing mattered.

I put my head over hers to block the rain from hitting her in the face.  “You okay, darlin’?”

Her wet hands came up and touched me. “I am now.”

I stood up and reached out my hand. “Come on, let’s get out of the rain,” I said as we started looking around for our clothes. We grabbed the wet pile and made a beeline for the combine.

Once inside we cuddled together. Our clothes were soaked and we didn’t bother putting them on. I tried to hang them up to drip dry, but it was unlikely it would happen overnight.

I held Savanna close to me. I couldn’t believe she was really here in my arms.

She stood up and started getting her wet clothes on. “What are you doin’?” I asked.

“They can’t find us here together. We can’t hurt him like that.”

“Come home with me, Savanna. We can leave tonight,” I pleaded.

I didn’t want to face my family either. I knew if I wanted to be with her, it had to be done.

She shook her head and continued to get dressed. “I have school. My family is here. I can’t just leave.”

“What are you sayin’? Are you sayin’ that we ain't goin’ to be together?”

She kept shaking her head, tryin’ to get her wet shirt to slide down her stomach. Her teeth chattered and she seemed like she was out of her right mind.

“No. I can’t do this right now. I need to get back.”

She went to open the door and I grabbed her arm. “No!” I pulled her away from the door. “You wait just a minute. Now I can’t read your mind, darlin’, but you seem like you’re running right back to him. I need to know what you’re thinkin’, Savanna.”

She looked up at me. I pushed my forehead against hers. “Please don’t ask me that right now, Colt.”

“So am I right? Are you running back to him?”

She tried to grab my hand, but I pulled away. “Please. You have to understand. I can’t just leave him right now. It has nothing to do with how I feel about you, about how much I love you,” she whispered.

I raised my voice. “You love me? You sure have a pretty fucked up way of showin’ it, darlin'. Just so you know, I am not goin’ to sit around and watch you playing house with my cousin. My heart can’t take much more.”

“Please don’t make me choose right now. Please,” she begged.

I shook my head. “Savanna, I think you are amazin’. I should have told you that I loved you before you walked into that hospital, but I really believed that I never had a chance. Seeing you with him, especially tonight when he proposed, it crushed me. I don’t regret what we just did. I would do it all over again if I had a choice. But, I can’t sit around and wait for the time to be right. It isn’t fair to me and it sure ain’t fair to Ty. If you are truly in love with me, you won’t waste anymore time makin’ your decision. The storm has passed if you need to go.”

Savanna reached up and kissed me with tear-filled eyes. “I choose you,” she whispered in my ear, before running out into the night.

I slumped down against the combine door. It was too dark to see where she went, and I probably should have tried to walk her back, but my stubborn ass just sat there, letting my future walk away from me again.