drops to his knees before me. “I’m so fucking in love with you, Jade. Please, baby, come home with me so we can sort this out. I need you in my life, but I’ll get it if you want to leave. I won’t hold it against you, but it’ll fucking hurt.”
I look down at him on his knees, begging me to stay and the raw emotions begin to rise within me until they’re completely overwhelming me. A lump forms in my throat and I step into him, desperately needing to be closer. “You love me?” I whisper, feeling my voice break as he says the very words I’ve wondered about since the day he sat at my mother’s dinner table and admitted that he didn’t love me … yet.
“I do,” he says, the desperation shining brightly in his eyes. “I love you so fucking much that it hurts. I’ve hated being away from you these last few days. I need you in my life. I don’t know how you did it but you weaseled your way in and now I can’t fucking breathe without you.”
I fight the tears that well in my eyes as I curl my hand around the back of his neck. “I love you too,” I whisper, meeting his eyes and letting him see just how much I mean it.
A smile tears across his face. “I know,” he says with the slightest amusement. “You blurted it out on Sunday while you were screaming at me.”
“Shut up,” I laugh just moments before he grabs me and brings my lips down to his.
Fucking home.
I kiss him deeply, feeling all the hurt from the last few days finally dissolve into nothing and allowing my aching chest to finally begin mending.
His fingers lace through mine and I pull him up, never wanting to see my man begging on his knees again. As he stands, his arm twines around my waist and he pulls me off my feet, refusing to break our kiss.
“Put her down,” comes a pissed off growl from across the parking lot.
My back stiffens, recognizing that voice from anywhere.
Colton’s hands tighten on my waist and he pulls away from me, lowering me to the ground as his head snaps around to find the threat.
Nic stands across the lot and I find him leaning up against Colton’s Veneno with his finger through the finger grip of his gun, spinning it in circles like a fucking idiot. Did nobody teach this guy gun safety? If he wants to accidentally shoot his balls off then that’s one sure way to make it happen.
“What are you doing here?” I demand, looking at the man who killed my father in distaste. Colton instantly picks up on my tone and I’m sure that he’s reminded of the state I was in when I first arrived at the hospital and is currently putting the puzzle pieces together. Sensing my unease, Colton discreetly puts himself in front of me.
“You and I haven't finished our conversation.”
“Yeah,” I scoff. “We’re more than finished. In fact, I’m pretty certain that there won’t be a damn thing left for us to ever discuss.”
Nic’s face drops and anger flashes in his eyes. “Don’t fucking say shit that you don’t mean. You’re a lot of things, O, but you’re not a fucking liar.”
“Sorry,” I laugh. “I must have learned that trait from you.”
His eyes narrow, pushing off Colton’s car and striding toward us. Colton moves with him, always keeping himself between me and Nic’s gun, and from the look on Nic’s face, he’s more than aware of what’s going on.
He stops a few feet from us and glares at Colton. “Do you mind fucking off now? I’m trying to have a conversation with my girl.”
“You see, that’s just the thing. She’s my girl and judging from the way she’s shrinking away from you, she doesn’t want a damn thing to do with you.”
The gun spins around his finger again, making me more nervous than I should ever have to be around a man who claims to love me. For fuck’s sake, it was less than twelve hours ago that he was trying to convince me to marry him, and now he shows up here with a fucking gun?
Where are the boys? They should have a leash on their fearless leader.
“Get out of here, Nic,” I say, continuing on from Colton’s statement, not denying it in the least. “I’ll talk to you when you’re not trying to intimidate me with your fucking gun.”
“What? This?”