Page 63 of Cole

I answered, stuffing my fist into my mouth to smother a scream as Emmit’s nasally voice hit my ears.

“Where’s my column? You know, you’re always hounding me for more responsibility, more work, more everything, and then, you can’t even manage to get your actual work done.”

I spied Lily across the diner and headed toward her, weaving in and out of tables to get there.

“Give me more work, Emmit, I can take it. Give me something real.”

He snorted. “Imagine if I did. What would I do then, hold the front page to accommodate your tardiness?”

I was about to retort, when I went flying. My cell phone fell and clattered across the floor, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad about finishing the conversation with Emmit so abruptly.

My knee stung; I’d gone down on it hard. I sighed, turning to pick up my fallen bag, just as someone snickered. I stiffened, my face suddenly getting hot.

I looked up, and there she was, big, chunky boots stretched out directly into my pathway.

The woman with the bangs and the nasty attitude. I searched my memory for her name. Kiki, that was it. Kiki.

“Oops, sugar. You should work on that clumsiness. It’s not very sexy.”

She smirked at me. I scanned the rest of the table. There were three women altogether, and not a single one was looking at me with anything approaching kindness.

Ok, then.

“Isabelle, are you ok?” It was Lily, weaving through the booths to me, and picking up my cell.

“I’m fine. Takes more than a little trip to rattle me,” I told my friend, and shot Kiki a sugary-sweet smile. “Have a nice night, ladies.”

“Oh, we will,” she purred, then jerked her head toward the door, where a group of guys had just walked in.

The Harbor Hounds cuts stood out under the early evening lighting of The Chickadee. It was a few guys I’d never seen before, and… him.

Cole walked in behind the rest of them, his expression carefully blank as he looked around. Kiki rose from her seat to wave to him, and he remained emotionless. Then his eyes connected with mine.

A shock wave of feeling ran through me, rooting me to the spot. It had been a few days since Marcus’ party. A few days since I’d slept in his bed, in his arms. A few days since the hockey game, when I’d worn his cut, and my father had been such an asshole to him. A few days since I’d given up on all of it.

“You ok?” Lily asked beside me, clearly wondering why I hadn’t moved yet.

“Yeah,” I managed, trying to school my expression. The men at the doorway were moving toward us, and suddenly I felt so embarrassed, I couldn’t stand it. I turned and went in the direction of Lily’s booth on the other side of the diner. Lily followed, glancing back over her shoulder.

“Oh, look, it’s Cole,” she said, swinging into the booth seat opposite mine. “Am I about to get in the middle of something?” She shot me a smile, which slowly dropped as she took in my pained expression.

I shook my head slowly. “Yeah, I know. I didn’t expect to see him here. That’s the problem,” I told her.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why would it be a problem? I thought you two were…”

“We’re not. I mean, we did, but we can’t in general.”

“Why not?”

I told her about running into my father and Grant, and how judgmental they’d been. She listened sympathetically, and then shrugged.

“You’re not really the kind of person who only does what her dad wants her to do.”

I shook my head firmly. “You’re wrong. In reality, I’ve never really gone against my parents. Studying journalism was the first time, and it’s going nowhere. Apparently, I have the investigative skills of an imbecile and am only suited to gossip columns, anyway. One thing I don’t have to be a master investigator to know is that Cole Bailey is not the guy that everyone thinks. He’s totally different. He’s loyal and responsible, and cares about all his guys. He’s an artist, believe it or not, and talented. He cooks...” I trailed off, suddenly feeling self-conscious about how quickly I came to Cole’s defense and enumerated his many sexy qualities. Clearly, I’d given this too much thought. Also, I was meant to be talking myself into staying away, not falling harder.

Lily was quiet a moment. “You like him, don’t you?”

I laughed. “Like him? I can’t like him. He’s not someone you can just like. He’s… his life seems complicated.”