Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

HAYDEN

Why I was so nervous, I couldn’t understand. This was Colt.

My former best friend, crush, and love of my life. Okay, maybe at the time I didn’t think he was the life of my life, but considering how I hadn’t been able to move on or want to be with anyone else, I was starting to believe that to be true.

He broke my heart and it seemed like he was trying to make up for it now. Should I take another chance on putting myself out there again? I should kick myself for even considering this. I’m just going to get my heart broken again. Forcing that thought aside, I sighed and pressed the doorbell button, hearing the chimes echoing throughout the house.

The door swung open and everything I was going to say died on my tongue. Colt stood there in his dark flannel shirt that was open and showed off his lean, muscular body. A body that was a result of hard work at the gym and farm work, and tan from the many hours spent in the sun.

Damn, he was beautiful. Seeing him out here, outside of the comfort of the office, was doing something to me.

“Hayden?” he prodded, and I had to shake off whatever thoughts were going through my head so I could focus on this story. Down, girl. Calm your hormones.

“Sorry, where would you like to get set up at?”

Colt looked around, and while he did, I followed suit and took the time to look around his home myself. This was him. Purely and unapologetically him. Everything from the décor, to the minimalist style, to everything in between. Every touch of this farmhouse was Colt and I felt my throat clogging with emotion.

Because it was everything he had talked about doing once he was able to afford to. Once upon a time, I had hoped I would be the woman he would share that with. Now I wasn’t so sure.

There were a lot of things we had to work through.

“Let’s set up outside near the barn. It’s a gorgeous day and there are plenty of hay bales to sit on.”

I grinned and looked over my shoulder where the giant red barn sat. The smell of a barn was comforting. “Let’s do it.”

After getting my camera and station all set up—hey, I was a one-woman show—I pressed record and waited until the red light came on before starting the interview.

“So Colt Beckett, you’re North Carolina’s so-called Golden Boy. How do you feel about that?”

He smiled at the camera, then turned to me, maintaining the smile. “Well, to be honest, ma’am, it feels pretty damn good if you ask me.”

“Your viral video shows you saving a family from a flood. What made you decide to risk your own life to help others?”

Colt didn’t even hesitate in answering. “It was the right thing to do. Why should my life be any more important than theirs?”

I nodded and felt my heart skip a beat at his response. “Good answer.”

“Would you have jumped in to save me, Hay?”

My head snapped up, thrown off-guard by his question. “Um, let’s just stick to the questions for you, Mr. Beckett.”

He was goading me. Getting a reaction. Ruining my story, I just knew it. Marsha was going to kill me if this story didn’t get written.

“I would have jumped in to save you.”

His statement threw me for a loop. I wanted to throw my notebook at him for saying something like that. Colt didn’t get to say anything like that to me. He was the one who was a dick to me. Accused me of being a whore when he was the one who had women fawning over him constantly back in high school. That was toxic bullshit and I wouldn’t put up with it.

“Back to the questions, um…” I looked down at the list of questions I had drawn up last night, wondering which one I was going to ask next. The whole situation had been turned on its head, and I had to get some control back one way or another. “When you were rescuing that family from the flood waters, what was going through your mind?”

Colt sighed heavily, leaning forward, and placed both elbows on his knees. “Nervous. I wasn’t sure if I would make it out alive. Or be able to save them all. The waters were rushing so fast, I was afraid of not being able to pull them out before they were swept down the river. I was also thinking that if I didn’t save them, then I would feel more awful than I did when I hurt my best friend back in high school.”

Okay, that does it. Standing up abruptly, I marched over to the camera, stopped the recording, and then turned around to glare at him. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re ruining this interview!”

Colt didn’t move an inch. He sat there and watched me with this broody look. “I thought you’d be happy that I was admitting I was wrong.”

Crossing my arms across my chest, I glared at him while tapping my foot. “Really? After all this time, you now realize you were wrong? Colt, I never slept with Daryl. I never had any interest in him.”

He nodded, but didn’t say a word.

“Did you know that Daisy actually paid Daryl to break into the girls’ locker room and steal my underwear? He was paid to wave my underwear around and pretend like he ‘bagged’ me, when in reality, it was Daisy who wanted you to begin with. She wanted me out of the way to get to you!”

Colt’s eyes grew wide at this new revelation. “I knew she was diabolical, but I had no idea it was that bad. How did you find out?”

I waved my hand around dramatically. “Why do you think I’m so damn good at my job? I find shit out, and report it. That’s what I do.”

He hung his head in defeat. “Shit.”

“Yeah, you’re a bigger douchebag than I thought. You chose to believe that I would go for someone like Daryl Gates, one of the biggest players in our class, instead of you. Well, newsflash, Colt, I never wanted him. I wanted you. I loved you.”

His head snapped up at my confession, and the look in his eyes made me suck in a breath. Before I realized what was happening, he was in front of me in three long strides, caging me against the wall of hay.

“Say it again.”