Colt’s words reverberate in my mind like lost sound waves.

I want to see the baby…

He’s watching me from the driver’s side of the car, and there are so damned many things in his eyes that are tearing me apart: simmering anger, fierce pain, confusion, and finally, that soulfulness I’ve always seen in Colt, even when no one else saw it. In his eyes, I see the guy who would lie beside me on a blanket by the lake, waiting patiently while I took pictures of sunsets and moonlight, then looking at every image as if it was a gem. He would make up stories about the photos, surprisingly romantic stories, anecdotes about where we might be when the sun set tomorrow or who else was sitting under the same moon.

I know I was the only one who ever gave him the chance to spin those tales, and now he wants me to give him another chance—an even bigger one.

He wants to see our baby.

Without looking away, he turns off the car’s engine. It’s obvious that he knows I’m not going anywhere. He’s probably even used to girls telling him yes all the time, especially since he can have any female in the world he wants.

Maybe it’s that fact more than anything that has me shaking my head. “No, Colt, you can’t see him.”

He continues to stare at me, breaking me down with that magnetic gaze.

I swallow, then say, “Sebastian’s sleeping right now.”

“Perfect, because all I want to do is look at him.” A muscle in his strong jaw ticks. “If he wakes up, then I might even be able to—”

“Hold him?” Panic is chiseling its way through me. “Don’t push this, Colt. I said no.”

“Where’s the dad, Serena?”

Why can’t he just give up? “None of your business.”

“Is he inside your parents’ house?” One side of his mouth curls into a snarl. “Is he a bigger loser than I am? Shit, at least I would’ve been able to put a roof over your head.”

“Just stop it.”

“Why? Because you’re thinking that, whatever I say, I’ll always turn out to be a fuck up? Or maybe you’re telling me to stop because Sebastian’s dad left you and the baby hanging, and you don’t want me to know that.”

There’s such venom in the way he talks about the dad that I know he’s thinking about his own crappy father and how the man left Colt and his mom high and dry.

As I search for something to say, he runs his fingers through his hair, then fixes his gaze on the house. He looks back at me, and I gasp under the burning desperation I see in him now.

“How come you never mentioned the dad tonight?” he asks. “Why haven’t I ever heard a damned thing about him on Instagram or from anyone?”

I don’t think I’m going to get out of this unscathed, so I give in slightly. “Let’s put it this way—Sebastian’s dad didn’t leave me and my son hanging.” My throat is clogged with emotion. “God, Colt, it’s complicated, okay? This is a discussion for another time…”

Not tonight. Maybe not ever. But I definitely can’t do this now. I want to get inside the house to be with Sebastian again, to hold him against me just like I held him before I left for that downtown bar and Colt found me.

I start to get out of the car, but Colt grabs my hand. My skin reawakens under his touch. I realize only now that his hands are still calloused, a working man’s hands. Hollywood hasn’t turned him soft at all. Even so, there’s something tender in his gaze, an open wound, and I look away because I just can’t handle the damage I inflicted on him anymore.

“Serena, look at me.”

I shake my head.

“Serena…”

At his shattered whisper, I can’t help myself—I look at him: those gray-blue eyes, those beautiful lips, the face that’s always haunted my yearning dreams.

“You broke my fucking heart,” he says. “You told me Sebastian wasn’t mine and that you’d cheated on me, and when I demanded to know who the father was, you wouldn’t tell me. On that day, I left and tried to never look back. Do you know what it’s like to be betrayed by the only woman I ever…”

He stops short of saying loved, and I take in a long, uneven breath.

His voice turns to a growl. “Of course you know what it was like for me. You read about it in the tabloids.”

Yes. I’ve read about how he goes through women like he’s collecting one-night stands. After I burned him, he became a wreck, and it’s only now that I see the true destruction firsthand. He’s jaded and bitter about losing me.

He still has my hand in his, and the temptation to just tell him the truth about Sebastian overwhelms me, especially when I look into his eyes and see the beaten-up heart he tries so hard to hide from everyone else.

“I’d give it all up in a second for you,” he whispers.

A sob rips through me, but I hold it back. I shake my head again. “I don’t want you to give up anything for me. You escaped from that dead-end job at the gas station, and look at you now. You’ve got the world in your hands.”

“I don’t want the world. If I’d only heard a word from you…” He tightens his hold on my hand, his voice gruff. “If you’d only given me one small sign, I would’ve dropped everything and been yours…all yours.”

Dear God, every time he says something it’s like a blow to me, and I’m slowly cracking apart.

“Dammit, Serena, I would’ve raised that little boy as my own.”

That’s what finally breaks me, and I heave out a sob. “But he is your own.”

Absolute silence presses down on the air, and my eyes are so full of sudden tears that I can’t see Colt’s face except for a blur. I can feel his confusion, just as if it’s my own. The tears finally spill from my eyes, clearing my vision, and now I can see the turmoil that’s started to fill his gaze.

“It’s true,” I whisper. “Sebastian’s yours.”

When he slowly lets go of my hand, I try to reach for him again. He raises his hand as if to tell me not to touch him, then turns to face the windshield. I’m totally falling apart now, seeing my own tragedy play out before my very eyes.

“Colt…”

He grips the steering wheel as if the enormity of the truth has pierced through his shock. “All the time I’ve lost with him…”

“I’m so sorry, but there were reasons…”

And right now, as my heart crumbles, those reasons seem so stupid. But there’s still a niggle in the back of my brain asking, What if you were right? What if he goes off the deep end right now?

He’s shaking his head. “You lied to me.” He turns the full force of his dark gaze on me, and I shrink back. “You assumed I wasn’t worthy of raising Sebastian.”

“There’s so much more to it, Colt—”

“You need to go.” He’s so calm and cool on the surface, but I can tell there’s a threatening storm beneath his façade. “I need to get out of here.”

“Wait, I can explain it all—”

“Maybe I should fucking rephrase it.” He’s clenching the wheel so hard that veins are standing out in his arm. “I need to get out of here now.” There’s fire in his gaze. “Get out, Serena.”

This isn’t the Colt I’ve been with for the past couple of hours… He’s flipped. This is the guy who drinks and brawls and ends up tangling with the law, and I don’t wait for him to warn me again. I fumble with the door, knowing when to push him and when not to.

As soon as I close the door and stumble to the curb, he starts the engine, then peels away in a squeal of tires. I stand there with the night weighing down on me, watching the taillights of his fancy car as he turns a corner to get away from me as fast as he can. I’m too numb to feel anything because… Why? Isn’t this the way I thought things would eventually end up if he ever found out? I deserve to be left in his rear view mirror.

I betrayed the hell out of him.

My mind is filled with white noise as I walk toward the house. The windows offer only wan light, and everyone is obviously in bed. Jack’s BMW isn’t even here, but Sebastian will be.

Sebastian...

Once I’m inside, I see that my parents have left my bedroom door open, even though they have the baby monitor in their room. As I make my way to my son’s crib, my heart weeps, especially when I look at Sebastian under the moonlight from the window. He’s sprawled on his back, his baby blanket covering him from the waist down, his little rosebud lips pursed in sleep, his fists loosely curled. I run my finger down his soft, soft cheek, and it’s only then that more tears rush me.

Sebastian is the only part of Colt I have left. As the realization seeps into my very soul, I sink to the floor, muffling my sobs, keeping them as much of a secret from everyone as all the secrets I’ve kept before.