Colton's Lethal Reunion (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

She let them fall.

He swallowed. Licked his lips. Blinked.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. Payne had allowed him to tell her that he wasn’t going to see her anymore. He hadn’t wanted anything left between them.

In that, Payne Colton had been somewhat decent to Kerry, not leaving her wondering. Or maybe he’d just been making sure she stayed away from Rafe. She’d been back and forth on that over the years.

“Because if I had, you’d have said you didn’t care about the threat. You’d have been willing to lose your home so we could stay friends.”

“It’s a choice we should have made together.”

“We were thirteen, Kerry. It wasn’t like we could get jobs and support ourselves, make our own ways in the world.”

“We could have come up with a plan. Some way to communicate...” She’d certainly come up with some crazy ideas over the years, like writing in code on a bathroom wall in a public restroom in town.

“You had to get on with your life, not hang around waiting for me.”

Because he’d been getting on with his.

The reality hit her.

He’d loved her with his whole heart.

She’d been his world.

He’d have stayed with her forever if he could have. Would probably even have married her, like they used to talk about when they were eight and had no idea what marriage really meant, except getting to live in the same house.

And if they’d been able to continue being friends, they probably would have had their happily-ever-after.

When Payne had forced him to break up with her, his heart had been just as broken as hers.

But then...

He’d made a choice. And he’d moved on.

That’s why he hadn’t contacted her later. When they’d both returned to Mustang Valley after college.

All these years, she’d hung on to who they’d been. To him. To the love they’d shared. She’d made it sacred. Which was why the hurt couldn’t leave, why she couldn’t get past the pain of his betrayal. Holding the pain made the love she’d known real. It had given her a way to hold on to him. And she had most definitely been holding on, living in Mustang Valley, comparing him to any other man she’d ever dated, even keeping her hair long. She’d held him in her heart.

And he’d let her go.

* * *

Rafe watched her, w

aiting for a reaction. Some clue that would prompt response. Kerry just sat there, like she was thinking over what he’d said, giving no indication how she felt about it all. Or him.

When she didn’t engage, he wanted to raise his voice to her. Get her attention.

He needed to tell her that he’d never stopped loving her.

He started to regret telling her his secret. He’d thought it would be for her good. To let her know that he hadn’t just abandoned her because she wasn’t worth enough to fight for. But that he’d loved her that much. That she’d mattered.

He was giving her the solution to the mystery that was their past.

Giving her closure.

Or had he been hoping to open a door? Or, more accurately, her heart? Was that what this was about? He’d found what he’d presented to himself as a selfless justification for letting her know that he’d sacrificed everything for her. Made it about helping her.