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Colt watches her walk into the building and takes a moment to collect himself. He doesn’t want to leave her alone, and everyone else starts shifting towards their vehicles to head to the hospital in support of a daughter. It doesn’t feel right to leave her.
Weird concept, huh, big brother?
He can’t argue with that one, and he heads inside and towards the women’s bathroom. Opening the door, he watches her jump as she looks up into the mirror, his eyes locking with hers in the reflection.
“Jesus, you have to stop doing that.”
“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
She smirks. “It’s the only thing that’s felt relatively normal today. Which I think is a sign of having an unhealthy environment, but fuck shrinks. The only thing that would’ve felt more normal would be punching out a club bunny again. That actually would’ve made my entire day.”
There was a time you used to make her entire day.
Ignoring his brother’s taunt, he says, “You jumped into action.”
“It’s just second nature, I guess. It sucks it happened to Grayson. These assholes need to be dealt with the Drifter way, Colt. Psycho-leading-the-charge kind of way.”
He nods. “I promise to make sure it happens.”
“The only guy I saw with a gun had a red handlebar mustache and a beer belly. If you want to keep a promise to me, promise me you’ll find him and make him suffer. Something tells me he’s bad news.”
Swallowing, he looks at the ground. “In order for me to keep a promise like that, I have to go back out to Black Valley.”
“I’m not the one who ordered you to stay here. The only thing I ever asked of you was to be home more often than you were.”
Fuck, that’s true. “Yeah, I know.”
“As long as you’re spending time with the kids, that’s all that matters. And if you need to be in Black Valley to make these guys pay for what they’ve done, so be it.”
His eyes lock with hers as she turns and leans against the sink. “You’re sure it wouldn’t bother you for me to be out there? Knowing Diane’s still there? Well, unless Lacey murdered her. I don’t exactly keep in touch.”
“It would make me a hypocrite if I was upset.”
“What do you mean?”
Her eyes cast to the ground. “I decided a week or so ago that I need to start seeing other people. See what’s out there besides the club. You know, rip the bandage off.”
Stomach dropping, he gapes at her. “You’re going to start… dating?”
“Nothing serious,” she says. “It’s been over six months, and I can finally say I don’t cry at the mere thought of you anymore, and I don’t want anything serious. But it’s time to figure out what else is out there for me. You know, normal, boring people.”
“That’s really what you want to do?”
Her cheeks puff, and she slowly blows air out. He’s overwhelmed with the sight of her mixed with the metallic scent of blood filling his nostrils to the point he can taste it. Or maybe it’s the blood from biting his cheek in scared frustration he tastes. He can’t decide if he’s angry, upset, or devastated. Maybe all three.
“Trust me, what I want and what I’m doing are very different things. But what I want isn’t what I can have, so I need to try something else. It’ll probably suck, but there are a lot of new things that aren’t awesome in my life I’ve had to get used to. This is just another one of them.”
“Do you have dates lined up?” His voice comes out strangled, and he barely breathes. Like someone Ky’s size bear hugs him too long.
“No, not really. I’ve had a few invitations that I’ve turned down, but I think I might take some of them up on offers for dinner when you have the kids. Sitting at home alone is depressing, and I need to stop drinking my dinner.”
“Lex-”
“It’s time we move on, but I wanted to be the one to tell you. I didn’t want you to find out by randomly seeing me out with someone or hearing it from God only knows who. My goal isn’t to hurt you, Colt. I wasn’t sure if you’d even really care, but I thought you should know.”
Hurt him? This actually really fucking hurts. And not care? How could he possibly not care? He can’t find the words to say anything, so he just nods like a mute idiot.
Giving him a sad smile, she wipes her hands and walks to the door. “Looks like I was right.”
