by Linda Kage
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh, weren’t you?”
I lifted my chin. “No. I wasn’t.” Okay, maybe just a little, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Well…I forbid it.”
“Wait, what?” Colton shook his head. “Just like that? Don’t you even want to quiz me first, find out how totally awesome I am, check out my teeth? Something?”
My dad sent me a dry glance. “I don’t like him. He’s disrespectful.”
Colton gulped audibly and sank closer to me. I lifted our entwined hands to my chest and scowled stubbornly at my father.
“Is this the only reason you came all the way up here? Because you heard I was dating a white boy?”
Dad’s jaw tensed at that. “This relationship, or whatever it is you two have going on, is over. The color of his skin has nothing to do with it.”
Yeah, right. I snorted. “How can you say that? You don’t even know him.”
“Little girl,” he boomed. “Do you really think I came all this way without checking him out first? The kid came from the poorest neighborhood in Pennsylvania. He’s trash who grew up in a trailer house with his three siblings, who all had different fathers, by the way. And his mother was a drunk, drug-addicted crack whore, who had sex with men for her next hit.”
When Colton flinched, I stepped closer to him. “He can’t help who his parents were, Dad. That was a low blow. Did your research lead you to the fact he hasn’t lived with his mom since he was eight and he went on to graduate as the second smartest student in his high school class?”
“Sure, but he enrolled into college with his degree as undecided. He has no plans whatsoever for the future. Hell no one’s ever even turned in a W2 for him, meaning he doesn’t have a job either.”
I was about to argue that he made a very lucrative career out of making Vines—where I’m guessing his sister took care of the money matters—but my father would probably turn his nose up at that too and call it frivolous and irrelevant or something.
“You’re not being fair,” I muttered. “He’s only eighteen. What do you expect, he’ll have a complete resume on hand, with a detailed blueprint planned for the rest of his life?”
“And he’s only eighteen years old!” My father jabbed out his arm as if making a point. “Which is four years too young for you. Child, what are you thinking?”
“Actually, uh, it’s three years and four months,” Colton said. All this time, he hadn’t said one word in defense of himself. But he spoke up now? For that?
My father and I both turned to look at him as if he were insane. He just shrugged. “Well, it sounds better than straight-up four.”
Dad shook his head and focused on me. “He’s not one of us. He will never respect you.”
“Respect me?” I barked out a laugh and set my hand against my throat. “Colton has done nothing but respect me, something I can’t say for Shaun.” That tattletaling sack of shit. “And he’s always made me feel like I fit into his life. It breaks my heart that you don’t even want to give him a chance. And I hate not having your approval, but honestly, Dad, this isn’t your decision to make. I am with Colton now, whether you like it or not.”
Clearly, the man did not. He narrowed his eyes and pointed at my nose.
“You are to stop this nonsense right now, young lady, or I will take you back home with me tonight. Is that clear?”
I stared at him a moment before sighing. “No.” I shook my head. “That is not clear at all. I’m twenty-one years old. You can’t order me to do anything.”
“Is that so?” He glanced around the living room of my apartment before declaring, “I pay for this apartment, Julianna. I pay for your college. Your car. Your phone. Do you want me to keep providing for you or not?”
My mouth fell open and the air whooshed from my lungs. “Are you giving me an ultimatum?”
My father and I had a brief stare off before he slowly began to nod. “Yes, I guess that’s what I’m doing.”
I swallowed, feeling as if he’d just pummeled me in the chest because the breath left my body.
Colton was the first to react, even though he’d experienced a moment of frozen shock too. “Dude, what?” he exploded. “You would cut off her money for college? Why would you do that? I mean, I could totally see it if she was like some wealthy heiress or something and you said you’d cut off her trust fund as a way to drive me away, like testing to see if I was a fortune hunter or something. But messing with her education doesn’t affect me at all. It only hurts her.” He spun to me, incredulous. “What the fuck? I thought you said he was a good dad.”
Before I could answer, Dad grabbed Colton’s arm and spun him around so they were face-to-face.
“Look here, boy. You have no right to stand there and question my parenting skills. Until you have raised a little girl all by yourself since she was six years old with no one in the world but you responsible for her, you have no right to tell me how to do my job. I know my Julianna. And I know how to protect her.”
“Yeah, no. No, you don’t,” Colton said, shaking his head. “I think you forgot one little detail when you were raising her up right to be a strong, independent, intelligent woman. She actually became a fucking strong, independent, intelligent woman. She doesn’t need you to support her. If she wanted to, she could still do everything she’s doing now without you. It may take her longer and put more stress on her, but she’d get that shit done. So all you’re really doing right now is cutting yourself out of her life because of your own issues. You’re hurting her by making it damn clear you don’t trust or support the decisions she’s made. You’re…you’re just being a fucking prick right now.”
“Colton,” I said softly and touched his arm to calm him down.
He huffed out a breath and tore his glare from my father. When his gaze met mine, his shoulders slumped. “Well, he is,” he muttered.
“My ultimatum stands,” Dad stated, gazing between us. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours to make your final decision.” Then he strode out of the apartment, leaving a wake of silent shock behind him.
I looked at Colton.
He blew out a breath, fell onto the couch and finally lifted his gaze to me. Something punched me hard in the center of the chest, and I realized it was doom. What was worse, I could see the same doom reflected on his face.
“Wow,” he rasped. I swear his voice was shaking with nerves. It scared me.
It scared me because it meant he was as rattled by all this as I was.
Shoving his hand through his hair, he gave a quiet, non-amused laugh and shook his head. “He really doesn’t want us to be together, does he?”
Fear trickled through my arms, chilling them. I hugged myself, seeking warmth. Seeking comfort. “No,” I murmured. “It doesn’t seem that way.”
I’d never seen Colton’s brown eyes look so sad before. “Baby doll, I don’t want your dad to punish you and threaten your education because of me.”
“Well, I don’t want members of your family to hate you because of me,” I countered.
He rolled his eyes. “They don’t hate me. Brandt and I talked. He’s going to be cool, I swear.”
When I widened my gaze pointedly, he sighed. “Okay, he’s not thrilled, but he’ll get over it. He’s my brother. At the end of the day, he loves me. Always.”
“Well, he doesn’t love me,” I groused. “And I have to say, it’s not awesome that he disapproved of us the way he did.”
Colton’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t refute my claim. “Yeah,” he muttered right before he lifted his hands. “You know, this is stupid.” He surged to his feet but didn’t really go anywhere. “It’s just fucking stupid. We might be young, but we’re still both adults. Why does everyone think they can tell us what we can and cannot do together?”
“I don’t know.” I moved toward him and grasped two handfuls of the front of his shirt. When I looked up into his eyes, he sighed and cupped my cheek in his hand.
“The only thi
ng that matters is what we want. And I want you. So it comes down to what you want, baby doll.” He arched a single eyebrow. “Do you want to drop me like a dirty rag or not?”
“No,” I whispered, leaning forward to press my face to his collarbone. “Never.”
“Good.” He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and held me against him. After resting his cheek against mine, he straightened and cleared his throat. “You know, I could afford both your and my college tuition.”
I jerked back to gape up at him, my mouth falling open. I’d had no idea he made that much from his Vines. But then I shook my head, getting past that and focusing on his suggestion. “Colton, don’t be ridiculous. You’re not paying for my college.”
“Why not? You’re giving up that money and more for me; it’s the least I can do.”
“Just…” I patted his chest and then touched his cheek, honored he even offered. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah, I didn’t figure you’d accept.” He blew out a long breath. “I guess that means there’s just one thing for me to do.”
“What do you mean?” I looked up into his face, almost dreading the answer even as I asked for it. “What are you going to do, Colton?”
He shrugged. “I’m going to talk to your dad and convince him to approve of our relationship so you can keep going to college with his help.”
I stepped back. “No. What? No, that’s an awful idea.”
“No, it isn’t. Why is it a bad idea?” He looked kind of insulted by my insistence.
I pointed toward the door where my dad had just left. “You just tried to talk to him, and it only made things worse.”
“Hey.” He grasped my shoulders. “Will you trust me? I’m the king of bullshit, remember?”
“Except my father sees right through bullshit,” I growled.
“So do you, but I won you over, didn’t I?” Pressing a kiss to my forehead, he murmured, “I can win him over too.”
“How?” I asked incredulously.
He shrugged. “Easy. The most important thing in his life is you, right? I just have to make him see you’re the most important thing in my life too. I can do that.”
I blew out a breath. Yes, he could. Colton had turned out to be the best person I knew. “Okay, you’re right,” I murmured, hugging him hard. “You can do anything you set your mind to. I trust you.”
He blinked at me suspiciously. “You do? Well, of course you do. I’m awesome. But, wait. You agreed with me too easily. What’s the catch?”
I smiled and kissed his cheek. “No catch. I love you and trust you. That’s all.” But inside, I had already started to think up a way to convince my dad to give Colton a chance too. And that’s what I really trusted. Us working together through teamwork.
COLTON’S CHAPTER | 32
I stayed with Julianna until morning, and I swear we held each other a little tighter all night long as if we both feared someone was going to barge into her room and physically tear us apart, namely her dad.
After her alarm went off, we knew we needed to get up and prepare for a day full of classes, but we didn’t want to move just yet. We lay there, staring up at her ceiling as we remained wrapped around each other in our safe little cocoon.
“Is it bad that I want to hunt down your ex and kick the shit out of him for telling your dad?” I asked.
She huffed out a laugh. “Honey, get in line. I would love nothing more than to punch him in the throat right about now.”
“I can’t believe he and your dad still talk. I mean, your dad knows why you divorced him, right?”
When Julianna swallowed audibly, I looked at her. “Julianna?”
With a sigh, she closed her eyes. “I just told him I felt like I was too young to be married at that time, which was also true. So, he still kind of thinks Shaun and I will get back together again someday.”
“What?” I sat up, outraged. “Why didn’t you tell him everything?”
“Because…” She cringed and then glared at me for pressing the issue. “Shaun insisted it was an accident, and it very well could have been. I didn’t want to falsely accuse him of anything.”
“That’s bullshit. You know it wasn’t an accident just as much as I do. He’s still keeping tabs on you, and he grabbed your arm, baby doll. Your instincts are not off. He’s violent. And what the hell, anyway? Why didn’t you tell your dad about the infidelity? Surely that would’ve made him never want to talk to his precious Shaun again.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, looking weary. “I was too embarrassed. I thought I should’ve done something better to keep his interest only on me.”
I took her chin and looked her straight in the eye. “You can’t get better than perfection. He fucked up, it’s that simple.”
She gave a flustered smile and rolled her eyes before kissing my lips and patting my chest. “Thank you, but…it still knocked down my confidence a couple sizes. And besides, he really wants that job with my dad after he graduates. I didn’t want him to lose his chance at his dream future just because I didn’t like him anymore. That seemed…awful of me.”
I blinked at her. “Jesus, you really are a bleeding heart softie under that tough shell, aren’t you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Am not.”
She was. And I loved that about her too. Grinning, I said, “Too bad your dad doesn’t have the same soft spot.”
As my smile dropped to worry, Julianna pressed her forehead to mine. “Baby, look at me.”
When I did, she smiled. “Don’t worry so much about him, okay? You and I are a team, remember. We can get through this together.”
I paused. She was absolutely right. So why was I worrying? We had this in the bag.
Relaxing, I laced our fingers together and squeezed her hand warmly. “I love you,” I said, not sure what I’d do without her.
Her grin turned playful. “Not as much as I love you.”
I laughed and kissed her full on the mouth before saying, “Not even possible.”
Her free hand crept between us and headed down. I liked where this was going and quirked an interested eyebrow, just as someone knocked on her bedroom door.
“JuJu?” Tyla called. “Can I borrow your black ankle boots?”
I met Julianna’s gaze and her shoulders fell as she removed her hand from my pants. “Yes,” she called back, quietly groaning and dropping her face to my shoulder. “Just a second.”
Dammit. With a sigh, I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling to control my hormones. “Rain check?” I guessed.
Juli stroked a couple fingers down my cheek. “Yes, I’m sorry. Tyla deserves some extra attention this morning. We kind of crashed her break-up party last night when my dad showed up.”
“Right.” I exhaled a bolstering breath. “To be continued, then.” I needed to get going to shower and change at home, anyway.
“Don’t worry, baby, I’ll see you soon enough again in philosophy class.” And then she proceeded to give me a very nice kiss goodbye.
When I made it home and slipped inside the back door, the smell of bacon greeted me. Instantly alert, I lifted my nose toward the source only to find Aspen at the stove, flipping fried eggs.
I stopped and stared at her, unable to move in fear she’d stop cooking if I did something wrong. I hadn’t seen her cook anything in nearly three months.
She grinned at me. “Good morning. Have you eaten breakfast yet? I can put some more bacon and eggs on for you.”
Oh, hell yes, please.
“Okay,” I said. “That’d be great. Thank you.”
Beau sat at the table, happily swinging his feet as he drank from a glass of orange juice. “Mama’s cooking breakfast,” he announced.
“So I see.” Pointing toward the opening of the hall, I said, “I’m just going to jump into the shower real quick. Be right back.”
“Okay,” Aspen answered, smiling congenially over her shoulder at me.
I touched her back as I passe
d, thanking her for…well, everything. Then I ruffled Beau’s hair and hurried from the room until I reached the nursery where I found Noel changing Lucy O’s diaper.
“Aspen’s making breakfast,” I told him, curious if he was aware of this phenomenon. She’d gone shopping yesterday with Caroline and the kids, and today she was cooking. It was almost like she was the Aspen of before.
“Shh,” he hissed meaningfully at me. “Don’t jinx it.”
I grinned as I crossed my arms over my chest before resting my back against the doorframe. “She’s really been improving lately, huh?”
My brother lifted his daughter into his arms and held her against his chest as he turned to me, his eyes full of hope and joy. “Yeah, she has. She’s been amazing. She actually asked to keep the kiddos home from the sitter today so she could watch them but…”
When he hesitated uncertainly, I nodded. “Yeah, a couple more days to let her adjust without them will be good for her.”
His shoulders relaxed as if he’d needed to hear my support to know he’d made the right decision. “I just…I’m almost afraid to believe it, but I think our Aspen might really be coming back to us.”
“About damn time,” I murmured approvingly.
He nodded. “Hell yeah.”
When Aspen called that breakfast was ready, Noel and I separated so he could go eat and I could take my shower.
Within the hour, I was clean and changed and fed and ready to start the day, feeling upbeat and positive about everything ahead of me.
With Aspen getting better, it seemed like anything was possible, like maybe I could even convince Julianna’s dad to not just approve of me being with her, but maybe even like me too.
I sped through my first class, sipping from my favorite nicked-from-Julianna to-go mug, and grew eager as I walked to philosophy the next hour, ready to see her.
Reaching the lecture hall before she did, I found a seat with plenty of open spots around it to save one for her, but she still hadn’t arrived by the time Dr. Taris showed up and began to drone on about how the thoughts of some dead guy from over a thousand years ago were relevant in today’s culture.