Page 18 of To Have and To Hold

“You can go to the devil—”

He smothered her words when his hand turned her jaw for her lips to meet his. Silencing her in his domineering, punishing kiss.

This was new to her, and she felt a rising fear come over her. For the short time, she and Colin had been in a relationship, he never tried to force her to do something she didn’t want to. Even the last time they kissed she could tell he wasn’t seriouswith his kiss when he’d came into her office, but now this was a side she didn’t know of him or like.

She pushed her lower body away from him, her hands planted on his chest as she tried to leverage herself off him and hopefully break the kiss, her angry gaze locked with his, but Colin snaked his hand around her waist, pulling her up and hard against him. He shifted his head, and his lips moved over hers trying to gain entrance.

Coco tried to fight but eventually knew it was futile, so she just stiffened in his embrace, riding out the tide until he came to his senses.

His kiss changed, becoming desperate in his need to get her to respond and she suddenly felt something was wrong. She sensed behind his domineering kiss was pain and his eyes lost their icy look, replaced with sorrow. Her gaze widened when she began to see tears fall, pooling first in the blue depths, then falling down his cheeks before mingling with their joined lips. She opened hers with a gasp and he groaned, shutting his eyes from her as his kiss softened and moved across hers.

She could taste the saltiness of his tears and moved her hands from his chest now into the thickness of his hair, her fingers running through it, then onto his scalp, massaging. She began to return his kiss, offering him solace in the storm he was going through. Wanting him to know she was there with him, and he was not alone. His grasp around her waist tightened and he delved further into her mouth, tasting and taking what she had to give. His tears stopped falling, and he lifted his mouth off hers. His eyes were damp and miserable as he looked down at her.

“What’s wrong, Colin? Is it your grandfather?” Coco stayed in his embrace, her hands still moving through his hair.He closed his eyes for a second, then rested his forehead against hers.

“I’m sorry for how I acted just now, did I hurt you?” He said, gazing at her swollen lips now.

“No, not really. But you did scare me there for a minute.”

He blinked again, slowly, raising his hand and caressing her cheek. His thumb gently swept against her bottom lip.”

“I am sorry that I scared you. What I did was no excuse and I promise you I won’t do that again.”

She stared searching his face and seeing the sadness still there. For himself, but also for what he’d just done.

She nodded. “But what happened Colin to make you upset?”

He sighed and pulled slightly away from her. “It’s not just about my grandfather; my brother Jacob just delivered some bad news about my niece Kaitlyn.” He turned, walking away from her, his hands balling into fists and she followed, her hand on his shoulder for support. He unclenched a hand and lifted it up, placing it over hers.

She’d seen in the press that his brother had married a senator’s daughter and had a child with her. She didn’t know anything else about the situation.

His voice sounded hoarse with renewed emotion. “Kaitlyn has a form of leukemia, and she needs a donor. My family and my brother are not a match for her.”

“Oh my god, Colin, I am so sorry to hear that. What is going to happen next. Is her mother a match?”

Colin stiffened under her hand. “We don’t know if her mother is a match yet.” The way he said mother with suchdistaste, she knew there was a story there but it was for a later discussion.

“Does this change everything with your grandfather, now that everyone needs to focus on Kaitlyn?”

“No, he doesn’t know yet and we want to keep him out of it for his health too.” Colin turned and gave her a bitter smile. “So, the agreement between us still stands.”

She frowned. “Colin that is—”

They were interrupted when someone tried to push on the locked door, then they tried the knob.

“I thought they said this women’s washroom was open.” They heard a female grumble under her breath, then the person tried the door again.

Both Colin and Coco stood there, silent. Coco hoped the woman would go away, not wanting to get caught and people at the party finding out she was in the bathroom with Colin; her father would have a cow.

“And I need to pee. Shyte.” Coco smothered a laugh at the grumpy last word, the voice sounding like her grandmother. Then they heard the heavy press of heels heading down the hallway.

When all was quiet, Coco opened the door and peeked outside, confirming the hall was empty.

“Let’s go before my father finds out and wants to wring your neck.” She gave him a soft smile that he returned.

She took his hand for a second as they exited the washroom.

“Whatever you need and whenever you want to talk, I am here for you.”

---