Page 50 of Crazy for You
“We’ll talk later,” I said. My pulse was on a fast-moving train whenever Colton approached.
19
Bending over, Grady kissed Mia on the head, then whispered something in her ear that made her cheeks flush. I was speechless. I had never seen Grady so loving before.
In contrast, Colton tucked his hands into the pockets of his swim trunks and stared out at the Atlantic, not looking at me or anyone. He seemed as though someone had shocked him into silence, and I was silently pointing the finger at myself. Nevertheless, his bottom lip was swollen, and he did have a bruised jaw. The area around his eyes was pinched, but I didn’t see any discoloring.
The tension skyrocketed into the clear blue sky. Good thing we were out in the open air, where oxygen was in great supply. Otherwise, if we were in a closed room with no windows or a way out, I would’ve been laboring for breath.
Grady got comfortable behind Mia, kicking out his strong legs and big feet. The dude was a giant. “Lawson, where’s your skateboard?” His tone was nice and even and didn’t hold the animosity it usually did when he spoke to me.
If I hadn’t been with Georgia and Mia, I would have thought I was in some alternate universe. Or maybe Mia had trained him well.
I narrowed my eyes at the blond QB. “Not here.” My tone held a smidge of sarcasm. It was hard to shuck the snarky attitude with Grady. It didn’t help that I was on edge.
Grady glared daggers at me with those blue eyes of his. He went to open his mouth, but Mia clutched his thigh as though she could sense him about to spew a retort.
It didn’t matter if he did. I was ready to spar if Grady wanted to. Maybe that would jar Colton from his frozen state for good. He snuck a look at me for a split second before he resumed his soldier position, as though he was guarding Buckingham Palace.
My stomach twisted and twined in an overpowering need to shout at Colton, to fracture that wall he’d built around him. To hell with swapping words with Grady. Colton needed a jolt of something. Sadly, I didn’t have the nerve to be the one to shake him back to reality.
I couldn’t believe how he’d changed since the first day of school, when he’d been kind and nice.He hit you with his truck. He had to be nice.I knew the fights with his dad were one cause of his darkness, but I also believed I’d played a part in his crankiness.
After all, he’d said, “You need to stop getting under my skin, Skyler. I have a lot of control, but every time I look at you, I want to lose that control.”
It was clear by the tension in his shoulders that he was hanging on by a thread, and amid the host of emotions thrumming through me, pity stood out. But I didn’t want to feel sorry for him because I didn’t like when others did that to me. Mia and Georgia had been great in taking my mind off Dad and showing me how much they loved me. Colton needed someone who could do the same. I would gladly step up, and I’d tried, but he didn’t want a friend, and he wasn’t interested in me. His words, not mine. I took comfort in knowing he had Grady.
Georgia’s gaze darted to the ocean, then back to me as if she was trying to save me from a downward spiral. My BFF knew me so freaking well. It was time to let the cold water from the Atlantic jar me out of my Colton haze and kick-start my heart.
I stood slowly, just in case the trembling in my legs got worse and made me collapse. Hell, I would probably fall just from the warm breeze blowing.
Grady was saying something in Mia’s ear again, and given how she leaned back into him with the shyest of looks, I suspected it was both mushy and rated R.
Yeah, I was not ready to watch the show Mia and Grady were about to put on. Once on my feet, I adjusted my bikini bottom so my ass cheeks weren’t hanging out.
I was waiting for a jab or snark from Grady, but nothing came. Maybe he was changing.
Georgia hopped up. “I’ll come with.”
As we headed down to the shore, Georgia glanced behind her. “Colton is watching you or checking you out.”
A slight shiver blanketed me, and I was afraid to look. “Is he still in soldier form?”
“He’s sitting on the sand.”
“I hope he’s okay,” I said as the waves broke over our feet. The cold water was a welcome relief to both my skin and my torn emotions.
Georgia walked into the water until she was waist deep. “He will be. Grady talked to him in depth, according to Mia.”
I followed her through the surf. “I hate to say this, but maybe Grady is good for Colton.”
She dragged her fingers through the water and giggled. “I agree.” Then she dove under.
Again, I followed suit. I needed a distraction. I needed to put out the inferno blazing through me. I swam out just as Georgia surfaced.
“God, I needed that,” she said. “The tension was too much back there.”
I needed more than an ocean of cold water, but I had to agree on both counts. We swam around before floating, letting our bodies go with the current and the ebb and flow of the waves. For the briefest of moments, I cleared my mind, staring up at the wispy clouds. After a minute, I sighed, feeling like my world wasn’t in a state of unrest, as if my heart wasn’t racing because of the guy who was a blend of confusion and chaos.
