Page 109 of Colt

I looked at the door willing it to fly open and for Colt to run in and apologize but my heart weighed heavy with disappointment when it remained closed.

With a breath, I threw the comforter off and got out of bed, grabbing my washbag, and heading for the bathroom again. I wasn’t going to stay here wallowing in self-pity. I need to get the fuck out of here, and away fromhim.

This was the last time he’d treat me like an afterthought. I could do better; Iwasbetter. My chest burned, and my stomach swirled with emotions.

How fucking dare he treat me like an asshole? How fucking dare he think I’d put up with this goddamned bullshit? Anger razed through me, most of it aimed at Colt, but a small part at myself.

I wasn’t this girl. I wasn’t about to take the scraps he threw at me.

Stomping around, I got dressed, shoved my stuff in my bag, and made the bed. Then, as I walked out the door without a backward glance, I felt a small sense of freedom, because at least I could be me again and not have to feel like I was merely being tolerated; a nuisance who got in the way of the shit Colt really wanted to deal with.

If this was Colt’s attempt at love, he could keep it stick up his ass.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Colt

Footsteps startled me awake.

My eyes flew open before settling on the TV screen on the wall of my office. I blinked, confused, lifting my head, trying to work out what the fuck I was doing and why I wasn’t tucked up in bed.

Sitting up straight, I groaned at the pain shooting through my back.

I was too fucking old for this shit. I needed a comfortable, warm bed to spend my nights in, not my office chair. Rolling my shoulders, I worked out the seized-up muscles in my back before stretching my arms up high and yawning.

A piss, coffee, and Iris’s scrambled eggs were needed, and in that order. As if on cue my stomach rumbled loudly and I rubbed my gut, thinking that maybe I could get Ris to throw some bacon on my plate too. I was fucking starving.

Leaning back, I checked in my pocket for my cell phone and fished it out. I looked at the screen and cursed under my breath when I saw it was switched off.

I’d forgotten to turn it on again after I got back from the mission. It was eight P.M. by the time we’d debriefed in Church, so I’d kept it off while we talked, and forgotten about it afterwards.

It wasn’t like me at all, but I was so hell-bent on watching the cameras to see if I could pick something up and then I must’ve nodded off.

The glow from my cell phone lit the room up and the time flashed four minutes past six, before messages and notifications began beeping. Scraping a hand down my face, I cursed under my breath. Jesus, couldn’t I have a night off without people fucking harassing me?

I clicked on the first message when I noticed it was from my sister. Holding my breath, my eyes scanned the text, and I smiled when I saw she was telling me she was pregnant. After making a mental note to call her later, I clicked onto the next one, grinning when I saw it was from Freya.

Within seconds my smile died. A sinking feeling dragged my stomach down to the cold ground before I looked to the heavens and muttered one solitary word.

“Fuck!”

I was meant to meet her last night at the gallery, but I’d fucking forgotten. It had been a crazy day infiltrating Henderson’s office, almost getting rumbled by Stafford, then getting back, reporting to Prez and getting the feeds up and running.

As I clicked through the messages she’d sent throughout the night, my gut sank lower and lower. Freya wasn’t fucking happy with me at all. I couldn’t blame her. I’d literally stood her up, which was fucked up in itself, but when I also took into account how we’d not had much time together since we’d been home, I felt like even more of an asshole.

Clicking the cell phone, I pressed the call icon and got Freya’s voicemail. I looked up again, praying for divine intervention because my girl was gonna chew my ass for this and rightly so.

I went to stand, all thoughts of coffee and fucking bacon forgotten, when the sound of footsteps echoed through the hall, jolting me out of my funk. Something told me it was her. The steps were too light to belong to a man, so that ruled out a brother, and the only other people conscious at this time of day were usually Iris, and Sophie if she was working, and neither of them would be coming to see me for a morning chat.

As if conjured by my thoughts, she appeared at my door, beautiful, sexy as all fuck, and going by the clench of her jaw, also damned furious.

I closed my eyes, straightened my back, and opened my mouth to apologize. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry, baby—” I was cut off by something whizzing past my ear, glancing off my head with a smack. “What the fuck!” I jumped up and froze as I looked down and saw one of the new boots I’d brought her on the floor just behind me. My eyes lifted, rounding as I noted how red with fury her face burned and how tightly her teeth were clenched as she went into the bag she held and pulled the other boot out.

“You can shove your shit up your asshole!” she shrieked, drawing her arm back and launching the other boot at my head.

“Motherfucker!” I snapped; ducking left to avoid the spiked heel stabbing me in the eye. “What the hell are you doin’?”

Growling, she heaved the bag off her shoulder, kneeled to the floor and tipped everything I’d ever bought for her out of it. “You’re a fucking asshole,” she grated out, standing tall again. “I waited hours for you, and you couldn’t even be bothered to fucking call me.” She stomped toward me and swung the leather purse. “You can take your shit and stick it all. Fuck you and fuck your shitty ass promises.”

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