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“Colton, it’s the middle of the night and you have another show. Here. In like, twenty hours. You aren’t going anywhere. What could you possibly need to do that’s more important?” He spoke to me like a child and I despised him for it.
“I wasn’t fucking asking permission,” I snapped. “Book me a commercial flight if the jet isn’t ready, I don’t care… Just whatever will have me in the air in the next hour or I’m going to lose my fucking shit! I don’t care what it takes, just do it!”
“If you want me to do that, then you had better start explaining. Because I know every goddamn thing there is to know about you. You don’t have anyone in your life that is worth what it’s going to cost to cancel tomorrow night’s show.”
Carl snatched a box of tissues off a nearby side table and tossed them in my direction on the floor, with more force than was necessary. I knew I had to peel myself off the ground, yet focusing on the cool surface of the concrete floor my cheek rested on was keeping me grounded enough to stave off the simmering panic attack.
“I don’t give a fuck about the show. Or about money! I need to be in St Louis now, so stop talking and just do it,” I growled.
“I will deal with this if that’s what you want, but first you’re going to tell me who this person is.” He held up his hand to silence me as I was about to interrupt him. “And now I’m not asking, I’m telling. If we cancel a show without a legitimate reason, the media is going to be like sharks circling until they find out what’s going on. I know you don’t want to think about this right now, but if you want to keep it that way, I need to know. So what the hell is in Missouri that’s important enough to fuck with your career?”
I leveled him with a look, unsure why Carl was being deliberately obtuse..
“You know exactly who is important enough. My husband.”
PART I
Eight Years Earlier
1. “There’s No Way”
Grayson
On what should have been just another nondescript Tuesday, I had zero inkling that my life was fast approaching a crossroads in which the fabric of my very existence would be forever altered. Whether this fundamental change would be for the better however, remained a mystery.
I found myself a couple of weeks deep into the Jasper County football season—my last if everything went according to plan—and the air had adopted a crisp edge that spoke of the imminent arrival of fall. Engrossed in the sheer debauchery pouring through my earbuds, courtesy of the newly released For the Fans audiobook, written by the reigning queen of smut Nyla K herself, I was oblivious to my surroundings. Caught off guard, I stumbled over a solid weight and briefly wondered, as I literally went ass over tit, if I had walked into the bronze wolf statue of our mascot that lived in the school courtyard. Again.
In the blink of an eye I was sprawled on my back, my vision fixed on the sky that appeared to be tilting. My winded attempts to draw breath were swallowed up by the sultry moans of “Ahh-vee”. Then, just as suddenly, the partially clouded sky above me vanished, replaced by the most captivating face I had ever seen.
Dark, silken bangs formed a frame around a flawlessly symmetrical, heart shaped face. Pristine, lightly bronzed skin complemented naturally rosy lips; a delicate button nose was interrupted by a ring pierced through the right side. However, all of these details paled in comparison to the almond-shaped eyes that gazed down at me, hypnotizing my senses with their cascading rivers of molten milk chocolate, flecked with gold leaf. Their allure held me prisoner for far too long, distracting me from the realization that those eyes, encircled by impossibly long but natural eyelashes, held an unmistakable hostility that bordered on murderous. This, coupled with an adorable scowl—an expression I would become intimately familiar with—clued me in that the person standing above me wasn’t quite as enamored by my presence.
Although his lips were moving, I couldn’t decipher his words over the moans in my ears of two people fucking. “What?” I shouted, instantly realizing how ridiculous I must sound since we clearly weren’t hearing the same thing.
A second later, an earbud was deftly plucked from my ear by slender fingers, and suddenly my own personal Kyran was unleashing a torrent of obscenities, harmonizing seamlessly with the voice in my other ear.
“I said, watch where you’re fucking going!” Then, under his breath, I only just caught his mutter of, “I swear, out of all the sperm to win the race…”
Even his insults sounded perfect—like liquid honey, sweet even when laced with scorn.
I think I might be in love.
For reasons unknown, I continued to lay sprawled on my back, staring at the sheer beauty gracing my presence. The feisty guy shot an eye roll my way, letting out a scoff from the depths of his throat as he chose to stride over me as if I were as inconsequential as the dirt he stood upon. My neck unconsciously swiveled, ensuring I could watch the retreat of his slender, surprisingly tiny form. Given my towering six-foot-eight frame, it dawned on me that I’d likely have to fold myself in half to be at eye level with him. It seemed my spine would be the collateral damage of our relationship, since I refused to let a day pass without gazing into those mesmerizing eyes again.
“Whatcha doing chilling on the floor, bro?” a familiar voice drawled. A not so gentle nudge to the shin finally redirected my attention to my current position, blocking the footpath leading to our first-period English class. Remy, my best friend, decked out in his signature ensemble of flannel and a backward MAGA hat, that he’d defaced with the words “Make Assholes Great Again” in bold sharpie, crouched down beside me and extended a helping hand.
As I rose to my feet, I noticed Kingston and Tarek flanking Remy on either side, utterly unfazed by my antics. It wasn’t the first time they’d caught me in unusual positions—taking a horizontal breather on the ground first thing in the morning seemed par for the course
That’s why I loved my friends, they let me be my over-the-top self without shame or judgment. We all shared a spot on the football team and had most of our classes together, a fortunate arrangement given Coach’s penchant for scheduling extra practices during our free periods.
Tarek nudged me with his elbow, attempting to break through my reverie. Too bad for him I was still dazed from the lingering imprint of those eyes that had sent an electric jolt coursing through my body, all the way down to my cock.
“Oh, nothing. I was just staring at my future husband.”
“Riiight,” King chimed in, his eyes rolling. What was with everyone and their moods this morning? “I suppose that explains why you look like a walking heart eye emoji.”
∞∞∞
Colton. Colton Ray. It had been a mere two days since I first set my gaze upon the man who had commandeered my every waking thought, and those two days had felt like an eternity. My attempts to learn more about my mystery man hadn’t exactly been discreet. Fortunately, in the small town of Jasper, Missouri, where information flowed freely and gossip was currency, the concept of subtlety was foreign. Especially when it came to newcomers.
