His family was here with us for most of the week because they were packing him up. He was moving out, and I was going with him.
The pair of us honestly didn’t know how Miami would react to him essentially getting sick after signing contracts. He was so fragile, but not only did they say they still wanted him, but they’d wait for him. The team reps said they’d wait as long as they needed to, and thankfully, that hadn’t been long. Tonight was Colton’s going-away party, the final step before our big move, and a large change for me as well. I’d be working for Roxie, Colton’s sister-in-law, as soon as we got settled in.
I really did get it all in the end.
“Gram, just a sec,” he tossed, opening the closet door. He waved me back, and I stood, grinning behind my hand.
“Colton—” she started again, but then Colton slid out of the closet, closing me in behind him.
“Gram, you didn’t have to come all the way up here,” I heard him say, and listening behind the door, I couldn’t keep that smile off my face.
“What are you doing up here, honey? Where’s Camille?”
“Oh, uh, she’s around,” he grunted. He definitely hadn’t covered well, and my face burned.
“I thought y’all were packing,” Colton’s grandma continued. “You said you were going to pack up this room and there’s barely any boxes filled.”
I cringed, but still fought my laughter. We’d started to pack and then…
“Still working on it, Gram,” Colton said, so obviously anxious with his heavy breath. “And tell Pop to ask Irene where the paper plates are. She packed most of the kitchen up last week.”
Irene, though she wasn’t coming with us, was with Colton until the end. She’d cried more in this last week than she had even after finding out Colton had been having mental health trouble, which had been a lot. Upon living with them both, I knew she saw Colton as another one of her children. She loved him, and I knew he’d miss her. I would too.
Pressing my ear to the door more, I strained to hear the tail end of the conversation, but it seemed Colton calmed his gram down enough for her to leave. I came out of the room after that, and the minute he saw me, he rushed over, grabbing me.
“Colton!”
He spun me around, dropping me on the bed that had already been ripped of its bedding. He somehow landed on top of me, and when he did, he pressed a big old kiss to my cheek.
“Have I told you how much I love you?” he asked me, less joking around when he moved to my lips. He actually couldn’t stop telling me he loved me, not since we got back. He really wasn’t afraid of it anymore, opening his heart and letting someone in. I’d learned that his lack of commitment came from the absence of his mom in his life, something he’d shared with me once he arrived home. I hadn’t been surprised, and I think in the back of my mind, I maybe might have guessed that. He never kept women around, at least not long, and the ones he did, he couldn’t seem to choose between, like he was scared to.
“Not as much as I love you,” I said, breathing him in and tasting his tongue. He made me hot all over again, and we might have just gotten down one more time if not for his dad calling again. It seemed he couldn’t find the cups this time, and judging by the smell of barbecue coming from downstairs, the man was ready to eat. He’d been cooking most of the day for Colton’s going-away party. Colton had all his friends coming over later today. Jesse would attend, of course, and even Tommy would be there too, which made me happy. He wasn’t coming to Miami, but only because a referral I gave him to one of the top PR firms in LA wanted him to work personally for them. It seemed I had some pull in this city after working for Colton. I’d made a mark, did a good job, and people were listening because of it.
Things really were going perfectly, and this man hovering above me was only the cherry on top.
“Be down in two seconds, Pop. Two seconds,” Colton said, smiling a little before getting back to where we were. His hand moving up my thigh, Colton kissed me into a short oblivion.
“Give your girlfriend time to breathe, boy, and get your rear down here!”
My eyes wide at what his pop clearly knew was going on in here, Colton and I both laughed. He let me up then, tugging me with him. I got to my feet and started to go so we didn’t have to answer to his large father but stopped when Colton didn’t immediately move. He was reading his phone and I walked over.
Hey, I’ll never stop trying. I just wanted you to know that. I love you, Colt. I really do and I’m sorry, it said and I did read it over his shoulder. I saw no name with the number, but I knew who it was.
Colton did too obviously.
He deleted the text message immediately, then grabbed me in a nice firm hold. I knew he was beyond the crap that went down with his mom, but still, I knew it wasn’t easy for him to see her reaching out. She had a couple times, never approached him, of course, but she had called, texted. She apparently wasn’t giving up.
“You know, you don’t need to respond to her,” I said to him. I had explained what she said at the coffeehouse, what happened and why she hadn’t been there for him. She did seem like she was ready to step up and be a good person, but the only one who could be the judge of that was this man.
He kissed the back of my hand, using it to pull my arm around his neck. He held me by my hips for a short millennium.
“Today isn’t about that,” he said, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Bending down, he kissed me again, holding me close. Taking me by the hand, he led me outside his bedroom. I supposed, when it came to his mom, he was again moving past it.
Colton
The amount of people who showed up for my send-off to Miami should have astounded me, but it didn’t. I had so much support here, so many friends that turned into family. Having my own here amongst them only cemented all the good times I had in this city, my new family and my old coming together. I’d like to say I was nervous about leaving it all behind, uncomfortable, but I wasn’t. I’d learned that change isn’t a bad thing, that people could be there for you and be trusted. I was happy I got to learn those lessons all while living here, and I personally stopped and had full conversations with everyone in the room. I saw all my old teammates and even some new ones. I’d been down to Miami a couple times since I got back from treatment, and already, I was making more family down there. They came for this bash, hanging out with my brother Griff most of the time, but mingling too. My agent, Joe, even stopped by, and though he was staying here, he was representing me still. We’d be seeing each other monthly and even weekly in the beginning.
“I made this for you, and you better be eating while you’re down there,” said Irene, red in her eyes as she handed me a damn quilt. The thing looked handmade, and I was completely in awe.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I told her. I would miss her, truly a friend to me.
She cupped my cheek. “Take care of yourself,” she said, and I brought her into the biggest hug. She’d cheered for me so hard in the end. I gave her a peck on the cheek before I had to leave her too and greet more people. My family was the life of the party, but ironically enough, not because of my all-star brother Griffin.
Brody literally had a circle around him, the rest of my family members with him, along with a bunch of my friends. My brother pointed at me when he saw me from across the room, and curious, I started to go over there, but my arm was grabbed.
“I wouldn’t,” Jesse said, cringing when he pulled me back. He clearly just arrived, as I hadn’t seen him, and the motherfucker had the nerve to grab a beer before even saying hi to me first. That’s classic Jesse, and I couldn’t help but smile. He did too, jostling me with the bottle before pointing it in the direction of my family. “Your bro’s telling embarrassing stories about you.”
With that, a round of laughter shot out of that room, Brody the ringleader when he tossed an arm around his wife, Alexa. They’d left the twins at home and currently sat on my couch, Brody making a weird jiggle dance on it. This, of cou
rse, made everyone laugh, and though I didn’t know the context, I now knew it had something to do with me. He had everyone in hysterics, Hayden and Karen especially. They were sans kids too, as were Roxie and Griffin, all choosing sitters. The group all sat around hamming it up, and Brody even had my pop laughing. My pop too had a beer from his easy chair, listening to the man’s story. My stepmom, Ann, Gram, Aunt Robin, and some of the older members of my family were in a circle chatting, but they stopped long enough to have a laugh at my brother and his stories.
“Motherfucker,” I said, but broke down in laughter as well in the end. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t seem to keep the smile off my face these days. Things were just so good.
Obviously, realizing he hadn’t said hi, my pal Jesse brought me into a hug. I’d be missing him too, possibly the most. We’d been through thick and thin together on our team, and though we’d play against each other on the court soon, it’d suck to be a plane ride away.
I actually hadn’t seen much of him as of late. He’d been busy doing his own stuff, and of course, I had my own. Between dealing with my own mess and packing to leave, I guess we’d both been absent. He wanted to give me my time to deal with everything, and I appreciated it. He was here now, though, and I pounded his fist, leaving all that with my brother and his stories to talk with my friend a bit. We took our talk to the kitchen, and I chatted with him for a little while before I got distracted.
She just had that effect on me.
My girl… was a goddess, a true ride-or-die, and the fact I couldn’t keep my eyes off her only added to her perfect package. Camille wore my favorite dress on her, a white one that made her breasts and thighs look fucking perfect. Her hair done up, she had all her brown curls in a lovely waterfall effect on the top of her head. She noticed me staring, in full conversation with her former assistant, Tommy. She was probably saying goodbye to him like I had been to the rest of the room.
She waved at me over her glass, and I waved back, a sudden nervousness in my gut I probably could explain, but it’d be there anyway despite what I had planned for tonight. She did that to me, made me nervousness in the best possible way.
“I still can’t believe you’re dating Cami,” Jesse said, waving at her too. He knew we were and finally knew everything now. I’d been keeping all my drama from him too, and of course, he’d been more than accepting. In the back of my mind, though, I did feel some of his distance might have been because all this went down and he didn’t know about it. He was my friend. He was close, and he still didn’t see everything. I’d just been so good at hiding it.
I might have been mistaken, though, because none of that could be seen on this night. Jesse was more than casual, taking a drink, and all that was hopefully, thankfully in the past with us.
He took another sip of his beer, swallowing it down a little hard this time. “And you guys are still moving in together?”
“Yeah,” I said, finally allowing my gaze to part from my wonderful woman and return to my friend. “It all worked out, her getting that job with my sister-in-law and everything.”
I was so proud of her. She was so damn special and she was with me. Hell, if I hadn’t given her enough reasons to run away, but she didn’t. She stayed.
“You think it’ll all turn out?” Jesse asked me, my attention moving over to him. He frowned for some reason. “I guess I just mean Cami’s cool people, and you’ve been indecisive in the past.”
I might get offended if anyone else said that, but Jesse had seen a lot being friends with me. He had no reason to worry about Cami, though.
I was actually about to prove that to him.
Those nerves popped up again, and I asked Jesse for his drink. He gave it to me, looking curious, and I took it down hard.
“It will,” I told him. “I just hope she says yes.”
“Yes?”
I nodded, then handed him back his drink and headed in for the question of my life. I walked right over to Cami, taking her hand, and her eyes widened when I waved to get everyone’s attention.
“Hey, Pop! Gram, Aunt Robin, everyone. If you can come in here, I have an announcement to make!” I called into the other room. “You too, Brody. I heard you were talking about me, you asshole!”
He had the nerve to look offended when he got up, leading the party from the living room. I got a look from both him and my gram after what I said, and I cringed at the connection.
“Sorry, Gram!” I said to her, dropping an arm around Cami. Camille laughed at me while most of the house made it into the kitchen. Filled to the brim, everyone who could fit in it did, and my brothers stood back so their wives could see. Everyone really was here, my whole immediate family outside of the kiddos. It just made this moment that much more special, and I brought Camille closer.
She put an arm around my waist, happy to be a part of whatever this moment was. She really would be here for me through it all. She had been.
I faced the room. “I guess I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out, but not just that. You’ve all been here and not just through the good stuff. I wanted you all to know that I appreciate you, and you’ve made things not only easier but worthwhile.”
A few raised their glasses to me, my brothers and Jesse lifting their beers. There were smiles all around me, but none wider than on the woman under my arm.
Camille had these big brown eyes I really could see now that I was this close, and just like that night on my couch, she lost me in her. She lost me in her essence, her goodness and her big heart. It was big for me and never closed me out, no matter how many times it should have.
“I shouldn’t have you,” I said to her, this room frickin’ full, but I could only see her. I squeezed her shoulder. “But since I do, since you’ve allowed me…”
I had to drop to one knee before she realized what was going on, and the entire room, the women mostly, gasped, chants of glee sprinkling around us. The room went silent after that, and it was only Cami and me.
I pulled the diamond ring I bought for her out, the one only for her. I never thought I’d marry anyone, but then came her.
“Oh, God. No, you’re not,” she gasped, her hands pressing to her mouth. They fell from her lips. “Colton Chandler, you are not—”
“I am,” I said, opening the box. The emerald cut sparkled, shined as bright as her eyes, filling with emotions. “If you’ll let me, that is. Cami, will you marry me?”
She actually left me hanging for a second, looking around the room. She stopped on my family. “Is it okay?” she asked them, and something about that warmed my heart. She knew how much they meant to me, and she’d spent a lot of time with them during my recovery. We’d been a true family, and she was a part of it. She smiled with tear-filled eyes at them all. “Because I really want to be a part of your family.”
My gram’s hands moved to her chest, and my aunt Robin was actually crying. In fact, all the women in my family were in hysterics.
I let the feeling fall away that one was absent, one closer to home, and waited too. This moment was the most important, not my past. No, my mother wasn’t here, but that was okay. I didn’t need her. Just Cami and all the other special people in my life.
One of them smiled, my gram. “We’d be happy to have you, honey. So happy.”
My pop put an arm around her, and Cami, well, there was no more resistance. She bent down and kissed me, the yes on her lips, and I slipped the ring on her finger as the room erupted in applause.
Everyone was here for this big moment, all the people I cared about. I danced Cami around after she said yes. When her feet touched the floor, we were together.
“I can’t believe you did this. How did you do this? Ah!” she shouted at me, admiring the ring before she kissed me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I said, then a small tidal wave of my family swarmed us. They crowded around us, the women wanting to see the ring and the men congratulating me.
“She’s a good one,” my pop sa
id, then faced the ladies. “It seems they think so too.”
I was happy for that, literally all my female family members dancing around her. I got hugs from my brothers, a fist pound from a few friends, but one of them I noticed was absent. I didn’t see Jesse immediately after the proposal, and since he’d been acting weird, his question about Cami and all that, I decided to go find him. I headed over to Cami first.
“I’ll be right back,” I told her, kissing her on the cheek. “I lost Jess in the shuffle. Need to go find him.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, and as I hoped so, I put on a smile for her. She was quickly surrounded by people after I left, folks wanting to see the ring, and I wasn’t terribly worried about her as I circled my packed-up house. There were a lot of places he could go, but I figured if he was anywhere, it’d be in the pool house. The extra booze was out there, and it wouldn’t be uncommon for me to find him there during a party when the drinks got low.
That’s probably all this is.
Putting my hood up, I headed out there. It was misting outside, the evening settling in, and my property’s back lighting triggered on as I walked. The light to the pool house was illuminated on the outside, and I had hope he was in there.
“Jess?” I stated, pulling my hood down with when I walked inside. As it was dark, I flicked on a light. I saw him staring out the windows toward the back at the Hills. I picked up my feet. “Jess, what’s going on?”
He didn’t talk to me. He didn’t… move, and it wasn’t until I got over to him that I understood why. He had something in his hands, something I recognized.
The nine-millimeter came from my house, usually in my study. I bought it at a gun show a while back and figured it didn’t hurt to have one in the house. I grew up around guns, being from Texas, but it usually never made it out the lockbox.
Colton (Found by You Book 7) Page 17