Page 93 of No Apologies
Chapter Seventeen
Skylar put her car into park and sighed. Home. She was finally home.
Even though she’d spent several hours in the house where she’d grown up, she didn’t consider that home anymore. She hadn’t in a long time. She loved her family house. She’d loved growing up there, loved that she was always welcome back there but it wasn’t home.
She’d always thought that home was the place you wanted to be at the end of a long day and lord, it had been a long day. It had been a long week. If she was honest, it had been a long couple of months.
Her life had been in a state of upheaval ever since Jemma came home. Not just because she’d gotten a roommate for the first time in her adult life or because her best friend had finally come home. That day had been a turning point in all their lives.
She hadn’t known it at the time. Hadn’t known it when Colt came storming into the woods after her and interrupted her weekend away with Trey. Hadn’t even known it when she stumbled into that apartment next door and found Jemma and Cash cuddling like the old lovers they were.
It was crazy to think that had been over two months ago. Crazy to think that she’d been living and working next door to Colt for years before that and hadn’t pushed the issue between them. She hadn’t been happy with their strange, sometimes strained, friendship, but she’d been content.
It had taken Jemma coming home, falling in love with Cash again and getting her happily ever after for Skylar to finally own up to what she wanted.
She wanted Colt. She wanted them to build a life together. She wanted them to have a future, together.
And after spending most of the day talking to her mother, she knew that if she was going to get what she wanted that she had to talk to Colt. She had to tell him the truth about what she’d done. She had to explain why she had done it.
He was going to be angry. She didn’t doubt that for a second. But she prayed that he would understand. She could deal with his anger, had done it before and would likely have to do it again. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She loved him and she’d done what she needed to in order to protect him. He had to understand that.
Colt had spent most of his life trying to take care of Cash. It hadn’t mattered that they were the same age. In fact, he’d once told her that despite being twins he considered himself the big brother. He was Cash’s protector and even though they were grown men, that hadn’t changed. Just a couple of months ago, when Jemma had been threatened by her abusive ex, Colt had taken it onto himself to handle it so that his twin didn’t get into any trouble.
And the way he’d tried to protect her, that had been crazy, over the top and unnecessary but it only spoke to what a good man he was. He’d known his life was dangerous as long as he was involved with Lincoln and he’d kept her at arm’s length to keep her safe. He hadn’t even allowed her to be in the shop whenever his cousin visited him to talk business. He hadn’t wanted any part of that world touching her.
He took care of people. It was what he did. But it was time somebody took care of him in return and that was going to be her.
She took a deep breath and then pushed herself out of her car. She headed towards her own apartment. She intended to take a quick shower, grab an extra set of clothes to sleep in and then she would head back over to Colt’s for the night.
She hadn’t spent a night in her bed all weekend and she didn’t miss it. Home wasn’t just a place. It was a person. And at this point, after the chaotic last week, she wasn’t even sure she could sleep alone anymore and hoped she wouldn’t have to.
She loved sleeping with Colt. Even if all they did was sleep. He’d tried to get handsy this morning in the shower, proof positive that he was feeling more like himself, but she’d shut him down. She doubted her ability to put him off much longer but even if they did have to go without sex for a while longer due to his injuries she wouldn’t complain as long as she got to wake up next to him.
Waking up in Colt’s arms was heaven. Being surrounded by his masculine heat and scent drove her crazy but it was also soothing. Reassuring. Because she’d known that he would be there when she woke up. She hadn’t been sleeping well but that had nothing to do with her bedmate. That was her own guilty conscience keeping her awake, knowing she had to tell him what she’d agreed to, soon, before someone else did.
Skylar sighed and busied herself finding the key to her apartment. Her stomach grumbled and she ignored it. She’d contemplated calling in a pizza for dinner but since she didn’t know who all was hanging out with Colt today she figured she’d better wait to make sure she got enough for everyone.
The apartment had basically become a swinging door over the weekend. Tons of people stopped in to check on Colt. Cash and Jemma and Remy were all mainstays of course but there were a lot of other familiar faces concerned about Colt as well. Nessa came by daily to check on her patient, usually accompanied by at least one Bomar boy, sometimes more. Skylar had seen each and every one of Auto’s boys swing through at some point and almost all of the Bible Bomars had stopped in as well. In all honesty, the swell of people hadn’t surprised her. For a man that claimed not to trust anyone and who kept most people at arm’s length, Colt was still a Bomar and they were incredibly loyal to their own despite all their other flaws.
She was still thinking about her run in with Abel Bomar, the eldest of the Bible Bomars, when she slid her key into the lock and twisted. She’d never officially met Abel before yesterday and she almost wished she still hadn’t experienced that displeasure. Lincoln was supposed to be the scariest mo-fo of the bunch but in her humble opinion, he had nothing on his scarred, fighter cousin that had seemed none too happy about Remy taking Colt’s spot in the cage. Because she was still thinking about their meeting, she barely realized the door had been unlocked until it twisted in her hand.
Strange. She’d have sworn Jemma said she was going to visit her mom after work today. Colt had long since kicked her mothering, overprotective ass out of the apartment next door. His words, not hers.
Skylar called out as she stepped inside, “Hey, Jem. I thought you were…”
She trailed off when she walked into her apartment and saw the figure sitting on her couch. She gasped and her hand shot up to her mouth to cover a shout. Since the door had been unlocked she’d assumed Jemma must be home but it wasn’t her tiny, redheaded friend at all.
“Oh my God!” She tried to slow her racing heart, “You scared the hell out of me.” She dropped her purse into the recliner and shut the door behind her when her guest didn’t move, “What are you doing up? You’re supposed to be in bed. I was coming over after I finished up my…”
“After you finished your errands?” Colt cut her off with a growl.
Skylar stopped in her tracks at the venom in his voice. His mere presence in her apartment had surprised her. She’d assumed he got tired of sitting around in bed all day since he’d been complaining about getting up before she left earlier. But from the tone of his voice she knew she wasn’t just dealing with Frustrated Colt.
“Uh, yeah?”
He snorted, “What kind of errands were you runnin’ Skylar?”
She rounded the chair and studied him intently. His eyes were narrowed and barely banked fury burned just behind them. She swallowed hard as her concern immediately turned to wariness. She’d given a lot of thought to how she was going to tell him what she’d done but from the looks of it, someone had beat her to it. She couldn’t imagine there was anything else that would have made him so angry.
