23. Colt

I ease my way into the room, tension filling the space. My gaze darts from Tucker to Skylar and back again.

“What’s going on?” My voice is soft but guarded. I have no clue why they asked me to come here. I”m a little worried if I”m being honest.

Tucker opens his mouth to respond, but Skylar beats him to it.

“You wanted to know what happened. Why I left...”

My eyebrows meet my hairline, I never thought I’d willingly get this story out of either one of them.

“Well, shit. I wasn’t expecting this.” I run my hand through my hair. I don’t know how to respond.

“You deserve to know; we should’ve told you ten years ago. It was unfair of me to ask Tucker to keep it between the two of us.”

There’s a sadness in Sky’s eyes, she’s hesitant to let me in even though she wants to. She’s always been like this, unwilling to let anyone in, but she let Tucker and I in before, she needs to do it again.

“Skysky, let me in,” I plead with her; I don’t know what else I can do. “You know I love you. Nothing you say can change that.” I slowly settle onto the coffee table, facing the two of them on the couch.

“I know, I love you too. You were always like a brother to me and I”m sorry I pushed you away.”

Tears fill her eyes, making my chest ache. I hate seeing Skylar cry, she’s like a sister to me too. I’d do anything to protect her and make her smile.

I slide a little closer to her, taking her hand in mine. I drag her into my embrace, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

“Stop worrying about the past, darling. I”m not going to judge you for something you did at eighteen. Tell me what happened. No matter what comes outta your mouth, Tucker will still be my best friend and you’ll still be my little sister, I promise.”

Skylar’s gaze finds Tucker, they stare at each other for a moment before he gives her a nod. She sucks in a deep breath, then spills all of her secrets to me. Tears trickle down her cheeks, but she isn”t the only one. All three of us have tear stains on our cheeks by the time she finishes her story.

“Damn…” I launch off the coffee table, pacing back and forth.

I can”t believe all of this happened between them and I was completely clueless. So much makes sense now.

Tucker was terrified when Malory got pregnant and I couldn’t figure out why. He was terrified he’d lose another baby; terrified history would repeat itself.

Little comments have been made over the years by him or Willow, always alluding to something missing. I always thought they were talking about Malory walking away or the life Riley would have with a mother in it. Now it’s clear, none of it was about Malory. Malory never really mattered to Tucker; it was always Skylar. They were talking about the life he would’ve had if Sky didn’t have a miscarriage and they never broke up.

“Colt…” Sky’s soft voice fills the air, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Please say something… anything.”

“I”m sorry, Colt. We didn’t mean to hurt you,” Tucker whispers. My brows furrow together, my gaze shifting between the two of them.

“I”m not upset, not really. I mean, do I wish you’d told me? Hell yeah, it kinda sucks to be kept in the dark for ten years, but you didn’t tell anyone. It wasn’t personal, I get that. But, damn, Skysky… Why’d you leave us? I would’ve been there for you. I would’ve held you while you cried. Hell, I would’ve cried with you, Skysky. You didn’t just leave Tucker behind, you left me too.”

“I never wanted to leave either one of you.” Her voice is barely a whisper as guilt floods her features.

“Then why’d ya do it? You left the only people who ever cared about you.”

“Because of the rest of them!” She jumps off the couch, throwing her arms wide, anger filling every ounce of her. “They all loved to criticize me! ‘Oh, look at what Skylar’s gotten into today’, ‘Will that girl ever learn?’, ‘She’s never going to make anything of herself’. I put up with it for years, Colton, for my entire life. But after losing my baby, I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t face the criticism, the stares, or the snide comments… I couldn’t pretend to be the girl they all expected when that girl died the second I found out my baby was gone. I lost everything in that moment.”

“You didn’t lose me,” Tucker whispers, wrapping his arms around Skylar from behind.

“You didn’t lose me either, darling. You never lost us, you pushed us away. You cut ties with us so we couldn’t reach out to you. Do you know how many searches I ran for Skylar Barren? I looked for you forever. When I finally found you in that big city, I kept an eye on you the best I could. I knew where you lived and where you worked. I knew you didn’t want to hear from us, but that doesn’t mean we let you go.” I turn my attention to Tucker. “Did you ever tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Sky peeks up at Tucker. He turns a glare on me, I guess he didn’t. “Tell me what, Tucker?” He lets out a long sigh, shaking his head.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Like hell it doesn’t!” I roar, standing to my full height. “We came down to Philadelphia, did you know that?” When Skylar’s eyes widen like saucers, I know she didn’t. “We drove there three separate times. The first time was your sophomore year of college, it took me that long to find you. We saw you laughing and smiling with friends. Some guy had his arm around your shoulders and you looked happy.”

Her brows furrow, hurt seeping into her features.

“You guys drove eight hours and never even said hi to me?”

“You didn’t want us, baby. You left us behind for a reason. You looked happy, we didn’t wanna ruin that.” Tucker brushes a strand of hair out of her face. She pushes him away, her eyes wild.

“When were the other two times?” Her gaze never leaves me, she knows he won”t tell her.

“We came to your graduation.”

“What?” Tears fill her eyes… again.

“We wanted to be there for you even if you didn’t know,” Tucker whispers. “We brought Riley with us. She was barely six months old.”

She sucks in a shuddering breath, trying her hardest to keep it together. Her gaze swings to me, pinning me with the weight of her stare.

“Colt? When was the last time?”

“You were moving in with Garrett. We were in the park across the street when you were taking boxes up.”

“You were right there and you never did anything? Why drive so far and not talk to me?”

“It wasn’t about talking to you.” Tucker rubs the back of his neck. “It was only ever about checking on you, making sure you were ok, that you were happy. We didn’t want to mess up the life you created, we just needed to see for ourselves that you were getting the life you deserved.”

“Colt?”

“You looked happy, Skysky, we weren’t gonna ruin that by saying hi.”

She drops onto the center of the couch, burying her face in her hands. Tucker and I exchange a glance before we take a seat on either side of her. Tucker rubs her back in soothing circles, I place a hand on her knee, squeezing lightly.

We’re quiet for a while, comforting Skylar the best way we know how, by being there for her and silently supporting her. She lets out a humorless laugh, startling both of us.

“You know, when we were moving in, I swore I saw both of you, but I convinced myself I was just seeing things and missing you guys… Garrett even made a comment to me about two gay guys and a little girl staring at me, I told him he was crazy. He wasn’t, was he?”

“Nah, that was us.” I chuckle.

“You two are such assholes,” Sky whispers.

“What’d we do?”

“I wanted nothing more than to come back and see the two of you. I thought about you all the time, I wanted to know if you were both doing well, what your life was like, stuff like that. I wanted to reach out, but I didn’t know how to. I was afraid you wouldn’t care anymore. I figured you forgot all about me the second I left. I used to beg God to not let you forget me.”

“Why didn’t you come back sooner?” I grip her chin, raising it until she’s forced to meet my gaze.

“I needed to make something of myself before I came back here. I needed to prove I wasn’t the Skylar Barren everyone expected me to be.”

“How’s that working for ya, darling?” I smirk when she barks out a laugh.

“It’s not great. No matter how much I’ve changed they all refuse to see it. They still see the rebel child Pastor Barren couldn’t control.”

“I see you, baby, Colt sees you. You haven’t changed though, that girl is still inside of you, but she grew up,” Tucker says softly.

I slip my phone out of my pocket, pulling up the video from last night with a smirk on my face.

“That girl’s definitely still in there.”

I press play, enjoying the groan and string of curse words coming from Skylar.

“I”m gonna get fired.”

“You are not.” I throw my head back laughing. “They can”t do a damn thing about the principal getting drunk and dancing with a friend at a bar after school hours.”

“Half the teachers are looking for ways to get rid of me. I”m sure there are more videos than yours floating around.”

“We’ve got your back, darling. We’ll take care of you.”

We sit in comfortable silence for a while. Letting our new found knowledge sink in. Tucker finally breaks the silence.

“Let’s go get Riley from Mom and head to the park. I promised we’d play after we finished talking.” Tuck pulls Skylar up, instantly holding her to his chest.

They’re still so in love with each other. Malory never stood a chance. She couldn’t have Tucker’s heart when it’s always belonged to Skylar.