6. ~Colton~

6

~Colton~

I couldn't believe he'd done this.

We'd all finally been in a good place.

Now his actions, this solo decision he'd made, threatened to ruin it.

It threatened to shatter us.

Mason Hall and his fucking unilateral bullshit!

"He's gonna kill you for this," I muttered as I hurriedly stuffed a bunch of my clothes and toiletries into a gym bag I'd pulled out of the bottom of my closet.

Mason had insisted that we relocate to our safehouse—a place we hadn't set foot in for five years.

"You're being overdramatic."

I stilled, then swung my head over my shoulder as he paced up and down my room typing rapidly on his phone, sending orders to Hex , telling our professors we'd need to set up remote learning for a while due to a personal emergency, and what-not.

"Overdramatic? Are you kidding?"

He looked up from his phone. "It's what's best."

"Debatable."

"No, it's not," he bit back. "I'm doing what's needed."

I slapped my gym bag and turned to face him. "That's the thing. You . You're doing what you think is needed. We're supposed to be deciding things together. Especially you and Lev."

"He's not here and he's not answering my texts. I had to make a decision. I had to act quickly."

"You could've given it more time. A little more, at least. He's on the road and he doesn't text when he's driving, not even at a stoplight or anything. And he doesn't like to pull over when he's in a rush to get to his destination."

" Or he's had an episode because of the violent bloodletting that took place at Bree's apartment. He's likely struggling with it. It's been twice he's been a part of something like that in just a couple of weeks. It's gotta be getting to him."

That pulled me up short for a moment.

Shit, that really could be the case.

"Then we should track him and go to him. You have eyes on him, right?"

"No. I had to pull my resources and redirect them because of this situation."

"Okay, then get eyes back on him. Or we can reach out to Caterina and have her track him through his phone… ping it… triangulate, or whatever."

"Rina isn't an option. Anything I ask is gonna come with a favor in return. Whenever she uses those skills of hers, it's a risk, given who she is, so she requires persuasion to use them for others. The last favor I had her do me cost me a gala appearance with my father. If I call in a favor on Lev's behalf, he's gonna be pissed. He doesn't like to be in debt. Besides, with the way things are going, best to save favors like that for something more vital. We both know Lev can take care of himself. You're just spiraling because of all the worry and adrenaline this situation has sparked."

I scrubbed my hand over my face. "Fine, but beyond another couple of hours and we take action, we do whatever, call in whoever we need to find him."

"Deal."

He pocketed his phone and walked to me.

Reaching out, he slid his hand to my cheek, stroking softly. "Everything will be okay."

"You don't know that."

"I promise you that I won't allow it to be any other way."

He brushed his lips over mine, but I pulled from his hold.

"Colt, I know you're not on board with the decision I made, but it's already done, and I can't have bad blood between us again when we just got past the last thing. Like you said, Levi's gonna be pissed. I can't have you against me too. I can't fight a fucking war on so many fronts—least of all, internally."

"I am angry at what you've just done, because it risks the great state of things we've been enjoying lately, all of us being on the same page, having Bree here shifting our dynamic to something much better, without so much aggravation between you and Lev. But I do get your reasoning. I also know you did it for the right reasons, for Lev too. That's not why I pulled away."

He frowned in thought for a moment. "Is this about Bree?"

"Yes, but not in the way you probably think." I wrung my hands, feeling ill at ease bringing this up, especially while things were so tense and now in a state of flux. But now it had inadvertently been touched on, I had to put it out there. Otherwise, I'd keep putting it off and it would make things a whole lot more awkward between Mason and me. "I just… ever since we brought her into our inner sanctum, ever since we came together… you know, fucked?"

"I know what you mean, yeah. Didn't need to hit me over the head with it."

I rolled my eyes. "You know it's my way."

He held up his hand. "Sorry. Go on, brother."

I sucked in a breath. "Ever since we became a foursome, like a solid unit, I feel weird about breaking off into a twosome with you. Especially without telling her. Even Lev. I feel… guilty, like it's a betrayal of the new bond we've forged."

"I understand."

"You do?"

He nodded. "The idea of it has felt different to me as well, since we established this foursome. I just couldn't put my finger on exactly what or why."

"Because you're so far from being in touch with your emotions?"

He gave me a look. "Yes. That."

"While we're talking about this, there's also another reason why I'd rather we don't fuck separately anymore… at least until we can figure this out." I went to him and took his hand, weaving my fingers in his. "You're different when the four of us are together. You come alive, Mason. You let go in that dynamic. That burden that's there whenever you and me fool around one-on-one isn't there when she's present, or Lev either. It does something to you, eases you somehow." I smiled out at him. "And I love it. I love seeing that from you. It's been so fucking long, brother."

He squeezed my hand. "I know. And I'm sorry, Colt."

"Sorry?"

"That I couldn't get back to the person you and Lev knew. That what happened, what being under my father's thumb did, changed me so deeply. I used to be free spirited like you." He pulled away and screwed up his face. "And now I'm this … this stoic machine. Killjoy."

"Hey, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be. You're my boy, I love you. Lev loves you. I know he gives you a hard time about all this, but if you just look a little deeper you'll see it's because he misses his buddy, the guy who used to be right there beside him wading in the shit with him, letting loose alongside him. It pretty much used to be you two who were tighter than you and me are now. I was off doing my music, honing my skills, and songwriting, while you two were off pulling crazy stunts and running wild. When you… after the incident changed you… that was taken from Lev. He gets it, though, I know he does. And he's still here, still your brother-in-arms like I am." I smiled. "And now there's Bree too."

He surprised me then as he abruptly wrapped his arm around me and pulled me tightly to him. "Thank you, brother. Thank you."

Unfortunately, the moment didn't last nearly long enough as his phone rang, cutting right through it.

"Dammit," he muttered, as he fished it out of the back pocket of his designer jeans.

When he took in the call display whatever he was seeing had that agitation morphing to some serious concern.

He took a beat, the answered, "Mason here. He's… what? Where? Okay, yeah, I'm listening."

And that was all he did.

Whoever was on the other end had clearly told him to stop with the questions and just listen real carefully.

"Yeah, got it."

The call ended and Mason absently stowed his phone away.

When he glanced at me, I didn't like the look in his eyes one bit.

In fact, it sent a shudder down my spine.

"Who was it? Was it about Bree? Is she—"

"Things have taken a turn."

Holy. Fucking. Shit.