CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
MILO
I ran blindly through the house, my heart pounding against my chest as I tried to catch my breath.
Asshole.
I was sick of it—sick of being the girl he used to prove he was still in full possession of his balls. It felt like a pissing war. Like Colton was only using me to prove that he was the better man. Was I some prize he needed to win in order to prove his manhood? Did he think I was made of steel? That I had no feelings whatsoever? Even if everything I’d said had been true—even if I had really been with Max—the fact that Colton still thought it was okay to kiss me whenever the hell he felt like it?
It felt like he owned me.
And I hated that truth.
Because it meant he had all the power.
And I was just the type of girl to pine over him for the rest of my life—unless I cut him out.
Without a second thought, I went into the guest bedroom at the end of the hall and pulled open the door to the attic.
An old memory surfaced with each step my heels took on the stairs.
“I got the dragon, Milo!” Colton yelled. “Don’t worry, I got him.”
“Colt.” I shivered in my box castle. “I’m afraid.”
“Don’t worry, Princess!” he shouted. “I brought my sword—dragons are terrified of wooden swords, you know.”
“Really?” I perked up. That was nice to know. “Hey, Colt?”
“Yeah, Milo?”
“Does the wood sword ward off mean girls too?”
He was silent. “It scares off everything bad in the whole world, Milo. I promise.”
“Colt?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for slaying the dragon.”
“It’s my job.” His reply was swift, easy, as if it were real.
But it hadn’t been real, not at all. Because if he’d truly meant it, if my reality was that he would slay all the dragons—then he wouldn’t keep hurting me. The hero isn’t supposed to hurt the girl, he’s supposed to save her. For my entire life Colton had made me believe he was the hero out to save me, not only because it was his job, but because he wanted to, because he felt something.
Clearly he felt nothing.
Emotions clogged my throat as I reached the top of the stairs. The box castle looked exactly the same. The wooden sword was lying across the floor, and the stupid hat I used to wear was lying next to it.
With a curse I grabbed the hat, put it on, then grabbed the sword and started using it to knock the boxes over.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” I swung as hard as I could.
“What the hell are you doing?” a calm voice said behind me.
I didn’t stop.
“Milo—”
“Leave me alone, Colt!”
“I would.” His arms came around me. “But you’re doing it all wrong.”
“What?” My hands dropped, the wooden sword clattered to the floor. “Doing what wrong?”
“That’s not how you storm a castle.”
I shook my head. I would not laugh; I refused to smile. That’s what Colton did! He got so far underneath my skin that even if I was contemplating jumping out the window or stabbing him in the eye with a toothpick—one word from him and I was suddenly on cloud nine.
“Not this time,” I mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Hi-ya!” I karate-elbowed him or whatever the hell it’s called, grabbed the sword, and started swinging wildly in his direction.
“Put the sword down, Milo.”
“No!” I tapped him in the shoulder with it and took a stance. “Leave me alone! Go back to Jenna!” I was getting no points for maturity. That much was true. I swatted him again. “I’m serious, Colt, leave me alone!”
“No, damn it!” He grabbed the sword from my hand, but I refused to let go, meaning I slammed across his chest so hard that I lost my breath.
“I said let go.” I stomped on his foot.
He winced, but held me firmly. “I’m not leaving you.”
“That’s just the thing,” I whispered, my eyes searching his. “You always do.” I shrugged. “I can’t do this anymore, Colt. I can’t live in this fantasy. I’m not in the castle, you don’t slay dragons for me anymore. This . . .” I looked around. “Isn’t real.”
“The hell it isn’t.” His hands went around my face. “Tell me this isn’t real—what we have. What we’ve always had. Tell me it’s not real and I’ll walk.”
“You’d do that?” I choked. “You’d leave me?”
“If I knew you wanted nothing to do with me—I’d leave. And before you go chewing my ass off for being that type of guy—just know. I’d rather leave, and know you were at peace, then stay and be the cause for the constant war.”
“I’m not really with Max,” I blurted.
“You don’t say.” He chuckled.
“Son of a bitch, you knew!” I screamed, pushing against his chest.
“How the hell am I the villain in this story? You lied to your entire family, put Jason’s health at risk, are most likely going to have to pay for Reid’s therapy, and nearly drove me insane!”
“Aw, really?” I sighed.
“God, you’re such a basket case.” Colton rolled his eyes. “I say all that and the only thing you hear is that you were successful in nearly making me lose my damn mind?”
I nodded.
“I’m done,” Colton said softly. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll both regret and remember this day for the rest of my life, but—” His mouth touched mine, just barely before he pulled back. “If you ever turn into an evil genius where you see yourself needing a partner in crime, or even just someone to beat up on. Sign me up.”
“Huh?”
“I love you.” He smiled. “So damn much that I’m pretty sure if I wouldn’t have found out you were a lying little brat—you would have found Max’s body in the pool.”
“You love me?”
“Again, I just admitted to homicidal thoughts and you hear . . . nothing but the love?”
“Say it again?”
“I almost killed Max.”
“Not that part!” I smacked him.
“I love you.” Colton cupped my face with his hands. “You’re crazy as hell—but you’re my crazy. I want to live in that head of yours. I want to hear about the crazy things you conjure up in that imagination of yours. I want to slay your dragons again, but this time . . .” His voice lowered. “I’m not leaving the castle. I’m not going back down those stairs. I’m staying.”
“You’re staying?” I asked, confused and elated at the same time. My heart slammed against my chest.
“Yeah. I’m not just going to save the damsel—I’m going to rescue her, then I’m going to kiss her, then I’m going to marry her, then I’m going to fight with her, then I’m going to love her again. I’m sure there will be more dragons ahead of us—but we’ve had lots of practice, so I think we’ll be safe.”
“Maybe bring your sword, just in case,” I whispered, handing him the wooden sword.
“Yeah.” He took it. “Just in case.”
He dropped the sword, which clattered against the ground just as our mouths met in a frenzy—both of us pushing against one another so hard that it was more of an attack than consensual kissing.
“Damn it!” Colton grabbed my arms and pulled me down to the ground, and right into the castle.
“Yeah.” I pushed him against the small wall under the arch of boxes. “Never dreamed about this when I waited for you up here.”
Colton pulled back, his eyes as dark as smoke. “You dirty little liar.”
“What!”
“You thought about this.” His hand moved from my face to my chest, and then rested on my hip as he softly unzipped my dress. “And I sure as hell dreamed of this.”
Giggling, I captured his mouth with mine as my fingers fumbled awkwardly with his shirt.
“Colton? Milo?” Max’s voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs. “You guys up there?”
“Shh!” I covered Colton’s mouth and panicked. If I said nothing he’d walk in on us and ruin my special moment! “Um, yeah, kind of busy, though.”
Nothing, and then, “Oh, what are you doing?”
Colton gave me a helpless look, then licked my hand.
“Uhh,” I giggled as he nibbled each finger. “Playing dragon slayer?”
“Can I play?”
“No!” I shouted, then I laughed. “Um, I mean, it’s more of like a two-player game.”
Colton’s eyes darkened as he tugged my dress farther down.
“Are you the dragon or the slayer?” Max wanted to know.
Holy crap, why wouldn’t he just leave?
“Um, I’m the slayer.”
“So Colton’s the dragon,” Max confirmed.
“Yup!” Holy . . . that felt good. His tongue flicked my ear and then moved to my neck. I moaned and then my mouth was covered by Colton’s.
“Okay,” Max sighed. “But just, uh, remind Colton that he should put a helmet on his dragon, you know since they can be so . . .” Cough, cough. “Dangerous when they, uh, invade.” Cough.
My eyes widened in horror.
“You feel me?” Max asked. “Because dragons breathe fire and if you’ve never experienced . . . er, fire before, then it may be wise to use—”
“Got it, man, thanks!” Colton yelled.
“Good talk!” Max called.