Page 8 of No Apologies
His brother growled and he fought another laugh. It was too damn easy. Teasing Cash about Jemma, flirting with Jemma, all of it was designed for the express purpose of driving his twin crazy. In all honesty, he thought of the girl like a sister, he always had, but getting a rise out of Cash was too much fun to pass up.
“You’re courtin’ a gruesome death bro.”
Colt laughed, “Always.”
Jemma’s sweet voice filtered through the line, “Stop threatening your brother and hand me the phone. You shouldn’t be talking while you’re driving.”
There was a shuffle on the other end and he smirked as he listened in. He could still hear Cash complaining about him hitting on his girl. He could also hear Jemma calmly and rationally explaining for the hundredth time that Colt only did it because Cash rose to the bait each and every time. She understood them so well.
“Colt?” She came on the line a second later.
“The one and only. How ya feelin’ sweetheart?”
“Not great but I feel terrible complaining about the miracle of life and all.”
“If you’re gonna barf your guts up I’ll admit it’s gotta be more rewarding than a hangover.”
“Yeah, or being sick, at least this way I know why I feel like crap and that it will pass.”
“True.” He scratched his head when she was quiet for a long moment, “Okay Jem, now’s the time where you tell me why you’re really calling. It wasn’t just to check in I know because otherwise Cash wouldn’t have let me talk to you. What’s up?”
“Well, I was going to ask a favor but I was hoping to do some small talk first.” She sighed and he could perfectly envision her smiling at his brother on the other end of the phone, “I was going to sweet talk you with promises to name your nephew after you but I should have known you’d get straight to the point.”
“Woah, hey, we can small talk all night if it gets me a namesake.” He shot a look at Bentley when the landline rang.
His cousin sat upright like a shot and Colt pretended to be busy arranging his stuff on his tray as he kept an eye on him. Bentley answered the phone on the second ring in a professional tone of voice Colt hadn’t been aware he had. Huh, he hadn’t been expecting that or the friendly way Bentley chatted to whoever was on the other end.
Jemma’s voice pulled him back to his own phone call, “Sorry, too late.”
“Damn, I still got time to change your mind before baby B joins the world I guess.” He held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he locked up his office, “So, what’s this favor you need? Must be good to have you throwing around naming rights.”
“Yeah, well…”
He paused, his playful mood slipping away as Jemma hedged. He’d assumed it was something small like checking her mail while she was away. He’d been teasing about it being a big deal. But if it had her hesitating, he knew it must be something he wouldn’t want to do.
“Jem?”
“I need you to go and check on Skylar.”
All of the air rushed out of his lungs at the mention of the pretty little blonde he hadn’t seen all day. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from jumping on the opportunity. Yes, of course he would go and check on her. It would give him an excuse to see her, to be near her. But he knew better than to leap on something when it seemed too good to be true and that’s exactly what this was.
Skylar didn’t want to see him. He knew that. She’d been avoiding him for weeks now. Ever since she’d reached out to him on a night when he was hurting and he’d lashed out at her for it. He’d been too close to the edge that night, all of his demons ripping at his good intentions. Then she’d showed up like a bright spot in the darkness and he’d known that if he let her in, let her comfort him, that he would do the thing he’d been trying not to do for months. He would cross the line and destroy their friendship.
As it turned out, he’d done that anyway. When he’d snapped at her that he didn’t want her around, she’d taken him at his word and disappeared from his life. Well, she couldn’t just disappear. They lived next door to each other. They worked next door to each other. Her best friend was marrying his brother. Their lives were intertwined whether she liked it or not but she’d made it clear she didnotlike it recently.
She didn’t come by just to hang out and talk anymore. They didn’t have lunch together anymore. She didn’t pop in and out of the shop when she had a break between clients anymore. She only saw him when it was absolutely necessary these days and he had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate it if he showed up on her doorstep unannounced.
“Colt? Did you hear me?”
He cleared his throat when he heard Jemma say his name. He’d zoned out, he realized. That was how damn distracting Skylar was to him. He couldn’t even get through a phone conversation after the mere mention of her name.
“Uh, yeah, look Jem, I don’t think…”
“Don’t say you can’t do it.” Jemma cut him off with a huff, “I wouldn’t be asking if it was just a social call. She’s sick, Colt.”
He frowned, “What do you mean sick?”
“She says its food poisoning. I don’t know. She’s been sick all day and I’ve been checking on her but she’s all alone at the apartment tonight and I’m worried.”
