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I went to Joni’s room and knocked. She opened the door, swiping at her cheeks and attempting to hide her head.
“Hey,” she said, her tone morose and miserable.
“You look how I feel,” I told her, not even able to summon up a smile.
A cry escaped her lips and her eyes filled with tears. “Zip came to tell me about your grandmother’s house. I’m so sorry.”
“Is that all he came to tell you?” I asked, pinning her with a stare.
Her gaze widened and then she stood back to let me inside the guest room. It was clean and tidy with a double bed. It had its own small bathroom, but didn’t have a tub.
She shut the door and leaned back to rest her head against it. “You heard, didn’t you?”
“I might’ve been listening.”
Joni let out a strangled laugh. “Here I am, worried about something inconsequential when you’re dealing with the loss of your home.”
I swallowed. “Got any booze?”
“Not up here,” she said. “I can go down to the kitchen and swipe a bottle, but if I do that, Rachel, Allison, and Darcy will know something is up and demand entry into the sanctuary.”
I thought about it for a moment. “I’m okay with that if you are. I just—I wanted to talk to you about Colt first.”
“What about him?”
I described what had happened after he spoke to Dev on the phone and how Colt had gone cold. No emotion had crossed his face, and I worried he was ready to hurt someone.
Joni nodded. “He was like that the first few years after Dad died. It’s Colt’s version of survival mode. I couldn’t get through—most of the time he couldn’t be reached. Like, no matter what I said to him, he wouldn’t hear me.”
“Years?” I asked. “He was like this for years?”
“Yeah. He’s older now. Weathered a few more storms. But this is a part of Colt and whatever Dev said to him—he didn’t tell you, did he?” When I shook my head she went on, “Yeah, whatever Dev said to Colt shut him down.”
“It’s like he turned into someone else. Focused, callous.”
“Ruthless,” Joni added.
“Colt disappeared into the office the moment we got back here. I have no idea what’s going on. I just know the party’s been canceled considering neither of us are in a celebratory mood.”
“I’m not in a celebratory mood either, if it makes any difference.”
“Should I try talking to Colt?”
“No. Let him come to you.”
“My grandmother’s house was set on fire today,” I said softly. “And all I can think about is what Dev said to Colt to make him retreat.”
She reached out and squeezed my hand. Unfortunately, she hadn’t given me any tools in how to break through Colt’s coldness. I shook my head and changed the subject. “What happened between you and Zip?”
“Exactly how much did you hear?” she asked instead of answering.
“Something about pressing your tits against him…”
Her cheeks flamed with sudden chagrin and then she straightened her shoulders. “I could blame the pain meds for my behavior, and maybe they did have something to do with it. It made me bold and I did exactly as he said. But he just…he pushed me off him. Something inside of me broke when he did it, Mia. That was my last straw, you know? I thought nothing could hurt worse than seeing him with tramps climbing all over him. But it turns out, when you offer yourself, body and soul to a man, and he brushes you aside, that hurts far worse than anything else.”
I sighed. “We really should’ve gotten a bottle of booze before diving into this.”
She nodded. “No shit.”
