AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This time instead of pulling off to an abandoned area of open field, Cole parks the car at the front of the house.
Slinging both our bags over one arm, he opens my door with the other, reaching for my hand before leading us inside.
We may not have spoken since we’d left but I was okay with that. Enjoying the freedom of being alone with him, even if the pinch between his brows deepened the more times his phone vibrated.
He hasn’t checked it once. It’s stayed in its place in the console between us the entire time. Logic told me it was his father, my heart, however, hoped it might be someone else. Like his brother—
“What!” he barks into the receiving end of the line. My hand is dropped and replaced with whoever was on the other end of his cell phone.
Guess the constant vibrating finally got the better of him.
The muscles in his shoulders swell, tensing. The conversation as short and as one sided as my attention span currently realizing who it is. His voice is dull through the receiver but not any less foreboding.
Silas.
Quietly, I let him go for several minutes before my agitation gets the better of me. We were supposed to be here for us, not business.
Snatching the phone, Cole’s eyes spring over. The prominent scowl on his face drops lower, as his attention is pulled away from the text he’d been skimming after hanging up.
There may be things going on right now out of our control. His barely there patience thinned to a thread, but we’re not here for work.
It’s been less than ten minutes since we arrived, and I’m already irritated. The peacefulness of the drive evaporated as soon as he answered the phone. The text scrolling after hadn’t helped either.
There are things—big things—he’s not willing to open up about yet, but I won’t let his father be a distraction. I’ve been patient, but not anymore.
I understand the frustrations. His family losing their entire half of Hardin is not easy, but I’m done letting Iceman use that as an excuse. Willingly letting his father parade him around, and Cole doing so easily. I know it’s a diversion, but I’m strung out.
“Stop!”
The bated, deeply seeded anger of his stare should make me flinch the longer that one word hangs between us. I don’t, flinch that is, because I know the look is not meant for me. It’s directed at me but it’s for everything else going on.
“Stop… what?” His voice calm, too cautious. Studying me.
Iceman knows exactlywhat.
All of this, I want to yell! I want everything to go back to how it was before their final regular season game. Before everything changed.
I must take too long to answer because before I can do anything he’s stretching his arm out between us. Flexing, the tips of his fingers fold in and out. Demeaning.
“Come on, Rory, give me my phone back.” His sigh is as mulled as it is infuriating.
“No,” I reply. Hugging it to my chest. “You don’t need it,” unless you want to talk to one person in particular. My tone implying the last part without it needing to be said.
Cole’s response is to exhale roughly out his nose, that too perfect jawline ticcing in place.
“We came here to have spring break to ourselves.” Remember? I lift my chin defiantly. “We came here for us.”
Everyone’s getting too comfortable staying confined to denial. To what is our new reality.
“You should talk to him,” I conclude after a few more loud beats of my heart.
“Can’t.”
“Why not?” I grit out.
“You took my phone, and we’re talking right now, sweetheart.” Those bent fingers, flick upward as he lists each new item off. “Besides, as you said we came here for us,” he deadpans like the sarcastic asshole he is.
My expression is not at all amused by his sarcasm, and I easily let him see that. His pupils shoot to the ceiling in response. Scoffing, before grabbing our bags and bypassing me.
