Chapter 15

15

Abrielle

I stare at the large pickup truck full of artwork.

My artwork.

I can feel myself wanting to cry.

Instead, I take a deep breath.

Colver stands next to me, arms folded.

"How much…?" I whisper.

"Not enough," he says. "But enough to get them off his hands. I might have scared him a little too."

The left side of my mouth curls up into a slight grin.

Of course a part of me wanted to hear that Colver beat the living hell out of Simon, but I get it. We're not eighteen and it's not something that will go away on its own. This is grown up stuff.

I'm not sure how much of a grown up I feel like right now though.

"I had some of the guys help me load it up," Colver says. "Just to get out of there as fast as possible. I chased that little fuck outside and made him stay there. Which, by the way, nice choice in men."

"Screw you," I whisper. "Who would you pick for me? Someone like you?"

Colver walks to the back of his truck, drops the tailgate and starts to grab my precious artwork.

"I don't have much space inside," I say. "But I guess it'll have to do."

"No choice, kitten. I'm not keeping an eye on these."

I love how Colver can just draw a line in the sand and stick to it.

For the next little while we pass back and forth, carrying my paintings into my small apartment.

Somehow we manage to get them all into my apartment and I still have room to walk.

The end result is a gigantic mess, but it's fitting for me.

Perfectly fitting for me.

Colver ends up at the door, leaning against the doorway.

"This really means-"

"Simon is going to get a call too," Colver cuts in. "Possibly a letter. My lawyer is great at scaring people. He's good with the language of it. I'm good with the physical part of it. So I highly doubt this guy will bother you about a lease and your paintings. As far as other shit with him… that ring you threw into the woods… I can't help with that."

"He's dead to me," I say. "He has been for a while. I'm ashamed I let it all happen the way I did for as long as I did."

"Why let it feel that way? That's just how it goes."

"How what goes?"

"Abrielle, it's all you saw from your mother."

I suck in a breath and hold it.

Wow. Really?

"I'm not judging," Colver says. "Look at me. Look at us. Tell me we aren't the fucking same as them. Here you are, in a pinch, looking for someone to save your ass. And here I am, looking for someone to fuck. It meshes. It works. Right?"

"I feel like you're insulting me really hard right now, Colver."

"And?"

"And… I can't believe that I'm agreeing with you."

"Exactly," he says. "I'm not being a dick about it."

"Oh, not at all," I say.

I roll my eyes and turn away from him.

A little bit ago I had tears of happiness wanting to come to my eyes because of Colver. Now it's right back to all I know from him.

Him being a total asshole.

Yet he does it in such an honest way… like it somehow negates his cruelty.

Fuck him.

A hand touches my shoulder and spins me around.

I look up at Colver.

He touches my face. "What the fuck, kitten? We're both fucked up because of where we came from."

"That's just a sorry excuse and you know it."

"Excuse for what?"

"For whatever happens now. You just fall back on where you came from. I don't do that."

"No? Then why did you find me to help you with this Simon guy, huh? You could have gotten a lawyer. You could have sold some stuff and paid for it. Nope. You came to me. And what did I do? I wanted your fucking body all to myself and I got it. So then I show up, swipe a credit card for six figures and we're both happy."

"Six figures?" I ask. "You paid-"

Colver presses his thumb to my lips to shut me up.

"It's done," he says. "Okay? It's done."

He lowers his thumb.

There's this sudden rush that hits me out of nowhere.

Words flowing from my brain and other places, colliding near my tongue.

"Least I can do now is give you a goodbye blow job, right?" I blurt out.

For some reason in my head it sounded sexier and flirtier and maybe even funnier. A way to break the tension and maybe make Colver smile. Then we could laugh and get a bite to eat and…

"It's done," he repeats.

He leans down and brushes his lips to my right cheek.

I stand there, frozen, and watch him leave.

Once the door shuts, I look around my apartment and take inventory.

I have my artwork all to myself again.

Hopefully Simon is done trying to use me as a marionette.

I owe him nothing.

Doesn't hurt matters that I finally got to experience Colver fucking me.

The feel of his tongue between my legs…

Or my mouth fighting to wrap around his dick…

I inhale a shuddering breath and swallow hard.

Colver is right.

It's done.