"What—" I'm pulled to my feet by his hand around my wrist. "Colt, what's going on, are you okay—"
"I'm great. Amazing, actually. But I need you to come with me right now."
"Colt—"
"Now, Morrison."
He steers me toward the door, his hand sliding from my wrist down to lace through my fingers, and I barely have time to grab my coat off the back of the chair before he's pulling me through the café.
"Bye Zoey!" Avery sings.
"Use protection!" Quinn hollers.
Colt drags me onto Main Street before I can blink, the freezing wind ripping across my cheeks.
"Colt Lane. Are youkidnappingme?"
He glances over his shoulder, that dimple flashing.
"Would you like that, Zo? Because I'm telling you right now, I've got rope at the apartment if you want me to tie you up."
"Colt."
"I'm justsaying—"
But his voice quickly fades because we're walking so fast down Main Street that the string lights blur overhead like falling stars.
"Where are we even going?"
"My place."
I stop dead on the sidewalk.
He stops two steps ahead and looks back. The grin fades into something softer, something that shows me he gets exactly what's going through my head right now.
"Just… trust me, sweetheart. You're going to want to see this."
I look at him. At this man with messy hair and that boyish hopeful look in his eyes.
And I think about Quinn and Avery's advice.Just let him.
I take his hand again. "Lead the way, Hockey Boy."
Colt's apartment is on the top floor of an old building on the outskirts of town, and the squeaky elevator ride up is the longest fifteen seconds of my entire life.
The door dings and Colt fumbles his keys as we reach a door at the end of the corridor. He gets the door open and ushers me in, and I fully expect to see a hockey-boy bachelor pad on the other side.
Instead, what I get, shocks the hell out of me.
"Wow, Lane. This place isnice."
And I mean it.
The entire back wall is floor-to-ceiling windows, framing a view of the mountains that looks photoshopped. The floors are this gorgeous warm walnut, and there's a gray sofa that looks like it's never been sat on.
It's beautiful. It's pristine.
It's also weirdly...empty.
