Page 31 of Colt

“Looks like it’s going to be me,” he said quickly, and with zero enthusiasm.

I choked on my water, unable to hide my shock at this turn of events. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What do you mean?” He almost looked hurt, which made me laugh.

“You fucking hate me—and for no reason, I might add. Why the hell would you agree to something like that?”

“First off, I don’t hate you—”

“Yeah, right,” I retorted, not letting him off the hook. “I’m sure you calling me a whore the first night you see me after seven years meant you liked me.”

He leveled me with a harsh glare. “You appeared to be fucking a married man without any regard for how it made you look. What would you call someone like that? And I didn’t know any of this, remember?”

It was a fair point, but it still sucked. I remembered how ashamed and hurt I’d felt when he’d said that. “Fitz knew,” I said quietly. “He’d known right from the start something was off.” I felt my eyes water but refused to cry in front of Colt.

“Yeah…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Look, I didn’t have all the information at the time. Things have changed since then.”

That was probably the closest I would ever get to an apology from Colt, so I let it go.

“What else?” I asked since he was still here.

“The truth is, I would do anything for this club. If I have to pretend to be in a relationship, then that’s what I’ll do. Even if it’s with you.”

Ouch!He couldn’t seem to help himself from throwing out little jabs.

He was right about one thing, though. Loyalty to the club was a reason I could understand. It made sense why Colt would agree since I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any of the other officers. But, I still wondered if we could pull it off and not want to strangle each other throughout this ordeal. Now that Colt knew the truth, maybe he wouldn’t be as hostile toward me, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

“Okay,” I relented, leaving my food and water on the island. I didn’t pretend to be any more excited about this situation than Colt was. “Hopefully we can get some answers quickly, and then we won’t have to continue this charade for too long. For both our sakes.”

With a distant look on his face, Colt responded, “Yeah, hopefully it will be over soon.”

I left, needing time to digest this turn of events. I was getting whiplash from it all, which didn’t help my headache. I didn’t look back as I walked away. I didn’t need to see his contempt for me despite him knowing the truth. This would be a sacrifice for me too, even though he’d refuse to see it that way. And at this point, I didn’t give a fuck about him or his issues.