“I assure you, Colt, I amnota farmer,” Grant emphasizes, his British accent getting posher the angrier he grows. “I own farmland all over the UK.” He drops his condescending gaze, sizing Colt up in a way that makes something violent stir within me. “And what is it that you do?”
“Right now, he should be doing me, so if you’ll excuse us...” The words tumble out before I can stop them.
Not my finest performance considering my mother’s literally three steps away, her face suddenly paper-white. Whatever. If I spend another second with Grant he really will bleed, and it’ll bememaking it happen.
With a grip that’s way too tight, I seize Colt’s hand and lead him away, leaving Grant to gape after us.
I didn’t spend an hour getting ready just to have my date ruined by his arrival. Colt’s relaxed demeanor vanishes once we’re round the corner, away from prying eyes. The atmosphere between us shifts to uncomfortable for the very first time. It’s normally as easy as breathing to be around him... right now I’m closer to suffocating than breathing.
Every muscle in his neck and back tenses, his jaw clamped tight as he grips the railing. I watch him inhale and exhale, like he’s cooling his jets, before he pulls out a cigarette, the flame of his lighter flickering in the purple ambient lighting.
“Did I... did I take it too far with that comment?” I ask, coming closer.
The picnic area at the far end of the deck is the last thing on my mind, no matter how beautiful it looks.
“No,” he clips, sending a cloud of smoke swirling between us. “You could’ve told me he’s your ex.”
I lean beside him, my back to the ocean, eyes on Colt. “I’m sorry. It’s not a past I enjoy revisiting.”
He rakes his long fingers through his hair, taking another drag. “How far back are we talking?”
“Five years.”
That calms him down a bit. Maybe he thought we broke up recently and there were still some unresolved issues or feelings.
Someone clears their throat, and we both glance at the waiter with a bucket full of Coronas on ice, standing at a respectful distance. “Shall I give you a moment?”
I cover Colt’s hand with mine before he snaps the steel rail. “If you’d rather go back to our room—”
“No.” He flips his hand and laces our fingers as he turns to the waiter. “Leave the bottle opener, please.”
SIXTEEN
Colt
“WILL YOU PLEASE TELL ME THE WHOLE STORYor am I supposed to let my imagination run?” I ask as we settle on the mass of blankets and pillows spread by the pool.
Addie lays on her side, knees curled in, one arm supporting her head. The purple glow ofSerenity’s lighting illuminates her skin, her long eyelashes casting delicate shadows on her cheeks.
“There’s not much to tell,” she admits. “Grant’s your age. He was twenty-one when we started dating. I’m sure you remember what it’s like to be twenty-one. There’s one thing men that age are particularly interested in.”
I sit up. “You were sixteen...”
“Technically, I was still fifteen. Three months shy of my sixteenth birthday.” She takes a slow swig of her beer, eyes unfocused, like she’s traveling back in time.
“Did he...? Fuck, did he force himself on you? He was an adult, Addie, that’s—”
“Wrong?” she supplies. “Inappropriate?”
“Illegal.”
“Underage drinking is illegal, too, but everyone does it. Are you saying you waited until you were eighteen to have sex?”
“No, but it was consensual between two minors. I never touched an underaged girl after I was legally an adult, however slight the age difference.”
She smiles, drumming her fingers on the neck of the bottle. “Not everyone’s so principled. Grant sure wasn’t. He had no issue with the age difference.”
My palms start sweating. Unspoken scenarios flood my mind, spreading like a drop of ink in water.
