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Because Cole Jagger doesn’t just love me.
He would kill for me.
But tonight, he chose something else.
He chose to rise above his own demons and do the right thing, and that one small action has me falling in love with him all over again.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Cole
The image of Tim’s hand around my girl's throat taunts me as I drive Hadley back to her dorm building.
I know I did the right thing, despite the fact that my body was screaming for me to kill the motherfucker for thinking he had any right to touch what’s mine.
I might have taken matters into my own hands with Charlie and Donny, but this wasn’t my fight. It was Hadley’s, and I had to follow her lead. I also needed to show her that I was different now. That I was able to rein myself in and keep control.
My knuckles are white with the grip I have on the wheel, but I’m in charge right now. I know what I’m doing.
“Are you okay? You’re pretty quiet over there.” Reaching over, I find her hand, desperate to feel her touch but equally knowing that she might not want it.
She let me kiss her in the coffee shop but I’m not stupid enough to think that was because she wanted to. She was scared, terrified, and I was there.
“Yeah,” she whispers. “I’m fine. Just… shocked, I guess.”
“Is that the first time you've seen him since…” I trail off. She doesn’t need me reminding her about the past. It’s not like it’s something she’s going to forget anytime soon.
“Yeah, well… he came in earlier. Jeb got rid of him.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“And say what exactly? I called Conner for a ride, hoping that I could avoid him.”
“If he wanted to see you, he’d have just come back. And he did.”
“I know, it was stupid to think I could outrun him.”
“He’s gone now.” James will take care of it, I know he will. “It’s over.”
She lets out a small sigh.
“Everything is going to be okay, you know that, right?”
“Is it?” Sadness bleeds into her expression. “Everything I once knew is over. I’ve got nothing and no one. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I graduate, if any colleges will even want me. Ugh,” she groans. “My life is such a fucking mess.”
Twisting my fingers with hers, I lift her knuckles to my lips.
“Hey, everything is going to be okay. You’re strong. So fucking strong, you’ll figure this out.”
“I’m glad someone has some faith in me.” She pulls her hand from mine and curls up in a ball on the passenger seat. It guts me that I can’t do anything to help her right now.
Silence once again falls over the car until I pull it into a space outside her building. I kill the engine, half expecting her to jump out and run at the first opportunity, but she doesn’t. Instead, she turns to look at me.
I allow her a second or two to study me before I turn to look into her tired green eyes. Her breath catches as our all-too-familiar connection holds.
“W-why did you come tonight and not Conner?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “He was meddling again.”
