Page 38 of No Apologies
She blew out a heavy breath. Let it happen. She wanted to push and shove and force things but he was right. If she pushed Colt right now, he would push back. They’d already been doing this dance for too long. She’d taken the only steps she could for tonight. She’d ended her relationship and she’d done some casual flirting via text. Now she’d just have to see what happened.
“Thanks Trey, for everything.”
“What are friends for?” He winked playfully.
“You’re a really good friend.”
“So are you.”
They exchanged a warm hug that lingered just a second too long. It didn’t feel wrong anymore. Whether that was because they’d broken up and were hugging as friends or because she’d finally come clean about her feelings for Colt, she didn’t know. But it was nice to hug Trey now, to know that she would still get to see him and have him in her life.
“Bye Sky.”
She waved goodbye and headed to her car. It was a short drive home to her apartment from Trey’s house. Even still, he was right. She hadn’t needed a second glass of wine. She promised herself that she’d text him once she got home to let him know she’d made it and thank him again for everything.
She hadn’t needed a second glass of wine, and not just because driving impaired was a terrible idea. Dialing impaired was too. She glanced at her phone a few times but it didn’t buzz. It had finally stopped lighting up with messages and it felt like a loss. She wanted to talk to Colt, wanted to know that he was still thinking of her, even if he was only cursing at her for sending him completely inappropriate pictures and then not responding.
But she didn’t do it. One glass of wine had helped her send those pictures. Two would have helped her send a whole lot more. And Trey was right. She couldn’t force this onto Colt mere hours after she ended her relationship. She had to let it happen naturally.
A few minutes later she pulled up in front of her apartment. Her gaze automatically swung to the door on the other end of her building. There was a light on inside and the truck sitting in front of it told her all she needed to know. Colt was home.
But she wasn’t going to do anything crazy tonight, she reminded herself as she trekked inside.
She ignored the empty apartment as best she could. Tried to ignore the fact that once Jemma came home from her trip that she would finish moving her things next door. And then Skylar would be alone all the time.
It shouldn’t have been a big deal. She’d lived alone for years. But she didn’t want to go back to being alone.
A small idea that she’d had once before seemed even better with the wine running through her system. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could switch roommates with Cash. He could take Jemma but only if he gave her Colt. She grinned to herself as she crawled into bed, thinking about just how much of a fight the man would put up if she suggested such a thing.
Almost the second her head touched the pillow, her phone buzzed again. Her smile grew as she pulled the phone from the nightstand and saw that it was another message from Colt. He’d stopped texting her before she left Trey’s and she hadn’t expected to hear from him again. She braced herself for another message berating her about her inappropriate pictures but the short text surprised her.
Glad U R home. C U tomo.
He knew she was home? Had he been watching for her? Or had he just happened to look out as she came in?
Before she could talk herself out of it, she hit dial and called him instead of responding to the text message. When it rang once and then twice with no answer she tried not to feel hurt that he hadn’t immediately picked up. He’d sent that text message moments ago which meant he was staring at his phone, trying to decide whether to answer her call or not and that stung.
“Hey.” His deep, husky voice finally answered on the fourth ring.
“Hey.” She responded cautiously.
It was one word. She shouldn’t be able to read into it, but she could. She knew Colt. No matter how he tried to push her away, they were friends. She knew his voice. She’d memorized that deep baritone of his ages ago and she could tell the different nuances of his moods. That one word, hey, had come through loud and clear and the ensuing silence only confirmed her suspicion.
Something was wrong.
“I’m home.” She said softly, trying to gauge what was going on without pressing him for more than he would give.
“I saw you come in.” He sighed heavily, “It’s late. I was starting to think you weren’t coming home tonight.”
“Of course I came home, where else would I have stayed?”
The silence was deafening and she knew then what he’d been thinking. Trey. He’d thought she was staying the night with Trey. Was that why he sounded so forlorn? He’d thought she was out with her boyfriend? Damn, she’d wanted to tell him this in person.
“Colt, I think…”
“I worry about you.” He cut her off and her heart flipped. “I’m glad you made it home. I couldn’t go to sleep not knowin’ if ya were home safe or out there somewhere.”
As much as she liked the admission something about his words was off and it killed her to ask, “Colt… have you been drinking?”
