Page 74 of The Saviors: Part One
“I’ll get you one,” Cole says, standing up.
She gives him a disbelieving look. “Cole, you suck at these games.”
“I do not,” he gasps.
“You tried to fight a carnie over them. Twice. In one night.”
“I was drunk,” he defends.
She laughs. “That’s not an excuse. You just suck. Let’s see if your skills have gotten any better.”
She pecks my lips and hands me the gigantic sloth. They walk away, and I hope this will be good for her. She’s probably working up the nerve to have that conversation with him that can bring them back together or shatter it all to pieces.
Kai sits across from me. “I wonder if she knows that Cole is a sniper now.”
I look for them and laugh. “She’s not taking him to a shooting one.” They’re standing at the balloon dart one, laughing like hell every time he misses. I wonder if he’s doing it on purpose to hear that sound. I would. She laughs again when the worker hands her a smaller sloth than the one sitting in front of me. They walk to another game, talking.
“What do you think of Cole leaving?” Ari asks.
“I think he did the right thing,” Keon says. “Axel needs to get his head out of his ass.”
“Has anyone talked to him?” I might be pissed, but I still love the big asshole.
“I messaged him after I left today but haven’t heard back,” Ari answers. “Look, I’m not trying to start shit. But giving him space is the right thing, not shutting him out completely.”
“After everything he said about Chelsea and everything he’s said to me over the last two weeks, I deserve the fucking right to ignore him for a bit.”
Ari holds his hands up. “Sorry. I get it.”
I can’t even think about it without getting pissed off. I know I need to talk to him, but damn, he’s just going to piss me off even worse. If Cole left? It’s fucking bad. Now I feel like I need to go save Nolan because he’s stuck alone with Axel. I pull out my phone and shoot off a message to Nolan to check in. Chelsea skips to the table with two sloths in hand.
“Who’s next?” she grins.
Ari groans and stands up. “I haven’t played these games in a long time. Go easy on me.”
“That’s because you’re fifty,” Tyler quips.
Ari smacks him hard on the back of the head. “I’m thirty-seven, you little punk.”
Tyler shrugs. “Same thing.”
“No, it’s not,” Chelsea laughs. “Show these young bloods how to do it.”
They start walking away, and Tyler turns to me. “You’re going to lose your girl to Grandpa.”
“You’re going to lose your life to Grandpa,” Cole laughs.
“Both of you are going to die if you don’t quit calling him grandpa,” Keon points out.
I like seeing her with my team. My family. A normal person wouldn’t let her wander around with them like this, but no one has ever accused me of being normal. I’ve seen so much change in her too, over the past couple of weeks.
A couple of hours and six sloths later, we’re walking toward the fireworks with Cole and Chelsea ahead of us, laughing and talking about old times. His shoulders are finally relaxed, and he doesn’t have the kicked puppy look anymore. I’m looking at Kai to comment, and that’s when I hear it.
Pop! Pop! Pop!I jerk to a stop. Those weren’t fireworks.
“Cole!” I yell, but he’s already got her back against a booth, shielding her with his body.
“That’s a fucking automatic,” Ari growls.
