“What do you mean?”
“With those guys? You could have stopped them.”
“It’s not my job to fight all your wars, Ocean,” he murmurs, using my name and sending shivers shooting down my spine.
“They’d put acid in the grease. It burned my skin and snapped off chunks of my hair. I was lucky that I didn’t end up in the hospital.”
Colton is silent for a moment and I refuse to look back as I continue scrubbing. “I didn’t know that,” he says. “I wouldn’t have allowed that. I’d never allow anyone to cause you harm, Jade.”
I don’t respond as the heaviness of it all begins to cloud my mind. This whole situation is getting frustrating. Twice now he’s let me in and when he does, he’s kind and shows that deep down, he has a heart but the second he can, he flips the switch and we return to enemy territory.
I can’t help but wonder what seeing this graffiti would have felt like for him. Had I known what I now know about Colton’s childhood, I probably would have chosen another image to humiliate him with. Seeing this was probably a kick in the gut and I can’t help but feel like shit about it, but then, he’s also an ass so there’s that.
Minutes turn to an hour where I work in our comfortable silence and then all too soon, the wall is clean and dread sinks heavily into my stomach. Why don’t I want this to end?
I look back at Colton and lean against the sparkling clean wall as he looks down at his phone. “You knew they were going to pour that grease all over me.”
A grin pulls at his lips as his hazel eyes raise to meet mine. “Baby, you didn’t think I was there by accident, did you? I wasn’t about to miss the show.”
I narrow my gaze and lift the bucket of dirty water from my feet. “You’re a real ass, you know that, right?”
He shrugs his shoulders as I go to walk past him and in the blink of an eye, I throw my arm out, sending dirty water cascading over the billionaire douchebag.
My eyes bug out of my head as I realize what the hell I just did.
Oh, fuck.
We both pause, looking at each other in shock but upon realizing that I’m wasting precious moments, I run faster than I’ve ever run in my life.
Colton comes bounding behind me and just as I spy the door to the pool house, his arm curls around my waist, and in seconds, we go crashing down into one of the many pools littered across this insanely perfect property.
Chapter 19
I lean back against the headboard of my bed, staring at the TV while not actually taking any of it in. I’ve had Netflix on for the better part of the night and after realizing that I wasn’t going to find sleep tonight, I completely gave up.
Staring at my ceiling didn’t cut it, so on went Netflix and that’s how I ended up watching the first season of Lucifer, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like it quite so much but there’s something so exciting about the devil. Maybe it’s a bad boy thing … or a British accent thing.
My eyes are heavy and my body is screaming for sleep. It’s well past four in the morning but for some reason, I can’t seem to switch off. It’s been a beyond shitty day with the whole acid grease shower I took and the whole getting sprung for vandalism thing. Not to mention Colton throwing me in the pool completely messed with my new hair and after the torture my hair has been through today, I wasn’t willing to destroy it more by washing and drying it again.
So, here is where I’ve sat all afternoon and night with damp hair and a heavy scowl. With nothing else to do, I pull out my phone and send a quick text, knowing Nic is usually only just getting home at this ridiculous time.
I attach a selfie I took of me standing against the graffitied wall with my scrubbing brush.
Ocean – Sprung!!!!
He texts back almost instantly and I smile to myself. I’ve been missing him over the past few days.
Nic – Oh, shit! Did you get in trouble? What are you doing awake? You should be sleeping for school tomorrow.
Ocean – Long story! Didn’t get busted. Colton and the douchey butler kept it quiet, but scrubbing that wall for over an hour was punishment enough.
Nic – Shit, O. I’m sorry. That’s on me.
Ocean – Don’t be stupid. If it wasn’t spray paint, I would have found another way to fuck with them.
Nic – Good point. Go to bed, babe.
I roll my eyes at his usual bossy nature. Some things will never change. I could be apart from him for years, I could be married with kids and still get messages from him telling me to go to bed. It’s one of the many reasons I love him. No matter what the circumstances, he will always be there for me, always protecting, and always taking care of me.