Colt rose and reached for Jace’s note, lifting it first to his nose. Jace’s cologne lingered, and Colt smiled, knowing he’d absolutely lose his man card for such a girlie act as smelling the paper, but still he couldn’t help himself. Colt rolled over, sitting up on the side of the bed and started to read the note. Disbelief seized his heart and pain nearly pushed it from his chest. He got as far as I can’t before he bolted from the room, weaving through the house and hitting the front door within seconds of leaving the bed.
Still naked from the night before, Colt saw Jace backing out of the drive. Jace’s face was turned away from him. Colt made it down one step before he jumped off the front porch in a dead run across the yard, trying to get to the street before Jace could pull away. Colt ran as fast and as hard as he ever had in any game, sprinting to the street as Jace put the car in drive and started forward.
Colt threw his hands out as the car accelerated seconds before the brakes screeched. There was no time to react. Colt squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the impact. The front fender bumped him above his knee. Colt slowly opened his eyes, his heart rate rocketing from the adrenaline coursing through his body. Colt stood with his hands out, the note gripped tight in his right hand, afraid to move from the hood of the car for fear Jace would drive off without talking to him. Jace glared back at him through the windshield, wide-eyed, and clearly shocked by Colt’s actions. The look of determination that soon settled on Jace’s face caused fear and dread to coil in Colt’s gut.
“Don’t leave!” Colt yelled, panicked worse than any other time in his life. His heart began to stutter violently in his chest, not from the run or the near miss with the car, but from the look of sheer hopelessness in Jace’s eyes. They begged him to make this right. Jace continued to stare at him while he removed the earbuds from his ears.
“Please, talk to me. Don’t leave me like this.” Colt rested his hands on the hood, refusing to move from his spot. The note crunched in his hand when Jace shook his head no. The sun was just coming up and struck the car at the worst possible angle, but Colt thought he saw tears in Jace’s eyes. The panic turned to heartbreak, and Colt slowly, carefully moved off the hood and around the car to the driver’s side.
“You have to talk to me. Please, Jace. If we can’t work it out, I won’t stop you from leaving, but please give us a chance,” Colt begged, knowing the words he spoke were one hundred percent a lie. He’d never let Jace leave. He would absolutely do or say anything to keep Jace with him. Colt moved around the car and hastily gripped the gap in driver’s side window. If Jace left, he was dragging Colt with him. Jace rolled the window down.
Colt waited as the window lowered before he reached across Jace and turned the car off. Jace kept him from pulling the keys out of the ignition, but the car wasn’t running and gave Colt the minute he needed to try and talk Jace out of the car.
“Why are you leaving me?”
“You’re naked, Colt. Go back inside.”
“Not without you,” Colt said, gripping the windowsill, trying to keep from touching Jace. “Come back inside, Jace. Explain this to me. Let me try to make it right. Whatever it is, I’ll do whatever. Please, don’t leave me,” Colt pleaded, pulling the door open from the inside until he could step around and get closer to Jace. He took Jace’s hands, and on a deep breath started again. “Baby, why are you leaving me?”
“I can’t do what you’re asking of me. Not anymore. I can’t hide. I’ve never hidden who I am. And if we go with your plan, not only will I be hiding, you will only be my partner for a few months out of the year.” Jace stopped talking and shook his head, looking away from Colt. “I can’t. You can’t. It’ll be too much.”
“Okay, then we won’t hide. When I was lying there, I didn’t think I had it in me to be away from you that long. I’ll figure something else out that keeps us together. I'll find a way to retire if I have to. Now come back inside,” Colt said, pulling Jace from the car. He wouldn’t be happy until Jace was in the house and the car parked back in the driveway.
“Lookin’ good, old man!” A truck full of teenagers rounded the corner and drove past them, slowing way down to get a better look. Clearly they were coming home from a long night of partying and Colt ignored them as the hoots and hollers continued.
“Go inside, Colt. I’ll come back in, but go inside,” Jace said.
“No.” Colt finally tugged Jace hard enough to get him out of the car, and he slid in the driver’s seat. “I’ll meet you inside. I can’t risk you leaving me.”
Colt pushed Jace back, shut the door, and parked the car back in the driveway, right behind his car. He jumped out, his eyes on Jace who walked slowly back to the front door, and Colt clicked the locks to the car. He resisted throwing the keys out into the ocean. The throw would be a distance, but Colt thought he had it in him to reach that far, anything to keep Jace from leaving.
Instead, he watched Jace take the stairs back up to the house and go inside. He found a random beach towel hanging over the rail on the porch and covered himself as he followed. All of the sudden his feet hurt, the dried grass and rocks he’d ran full force over only minutes before were like nails and glass under his tender soles, so he tiptoed his way back inside.