I nod, understanding where he’s coming from but really not sure how I feel about it. “Can I ask you something?”
He nods. “Of course.”
“Why put him down there in the first place?” Colton’s brows furrow and I clarify my question before he starts with the obvious answers. “Why put him in the wine cellar and not lock him away. I mean, the guys in prison have a shitload nicer living arrangements than he does.”
Colton takes a breath and steps into me before lifting me onto the counter so that we see eye to eye. “There are a few reasons,” he starts. “We have the obvious answers like for one, it was the first place that I could think of on short notice, and the fact that he was going to get his ass handed to him means that there was going to be a mess. There’s plumbing down there so I could easily clean up. Reason number two, he raped you. It’s as simple as that. He hurt you and that fucker deserves to suffer.”
“That easy, huh?”
He nods, his lips pressing into a tight line as he bares an ugly part of his soul, hoping that it’s not going to scare me away, but after everything we've been through, there’s not a lot that could pull me away from him. “That easy.”
I swallow, meeting his eyes. “Have you ever done something like this before?”
“No,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, Jade. I’m not a good guy. I’ve done a shitload of stuff that I’m not proud of but keeping a fucking rapist locked in a dungeon, yeah … this is the first. I ...” Colton lets out a heavy sigh and meets my eyes. “There’s something you need to know about Jude, something that I’m hoping might help you to understand why I went to such lengths with this.”
I watch him cautiously, feeling my anxiety beginning to spark. “What is it?” I ask, my voice a soft whisper.
“You know the other girl who he hurt? Mandy Johnstone.”
I nod. “Yeah, what about her?”
“After all that bullshit with her getting hurt and Jude’s parents fucking around to make it worse, she went away. Her parents claimed that they sent her to boarding school as some sort of twisted punishment for lying about what happened with Jude, even though we all knew it was fucking true. But here’s the thing, I looked into the boarding schools around here and she's not enrolled at any of them. I checked with her extended family and friends, no one has heard from her. It’s as though she just disappeared off the face of the earth, and my gut tells me that Jude had something to do with it. I don’t know if he scared her off or if he did something worse, but I wasn’t going to allow that to happen to you.”
I stare at him in horror. “I … I don’t even know what to say about that. You think he killed her?”
“I really don’t know. I have no evidence to support that he did, just that she’s missing or hiding away somewhere. Maybe she changed her name and just slipped away with the rest of the world, but what I do know is that he had something to do with that and it’s about time that he got what he deserves.”
I nod. “I couldn’t agree more.”
He leans into me and rests his forehead against mine. “Jade, I’d do fucking anything to protect you, and before you start, I know that you’re perfectly capable of protecting yourself but when it comes to you, I can’t help myself. I knew it the second I met you just outside this door and you gave me that hungry look as though you’d die without getting a taste. You’re my fucking girl, Jade. I hate that I treated you so badly when you first arrived. It took me way too long to admit to myself that I was wrong about you, I wanted so badly to be right. I didn’t want to fall for you. I always saw falling for a woman as weak, but it’s not. Having you in my life has made me better despite the fucked up things I’ve been doing.”
Warmth spreads through me and I lean into him, meeting my lips with his and kissing him deeply.
“All I want to do is make you happy, Jade.”
“You do. I …”
The shrill ring of my phone cuts me off and I let out a groan as I fish it out of my bra and stare down at the screen. “Ugh, it’s Charlie,” I announce before lifting the phone to my ear and silently brushing my lips over Colton’s again. “What do you want?”
“Coooooome oooooon. For fuck’s sake. I thought you’d be out of there just after I was.”
“You said ten minutes.”
“Yeah, that was twenty minutes ago.”
“Fuck, really?” I pull the phone away and glance down at the screen, taking in the time. “Shit. I’m coming.”
I end the call before Charlie has a chance to make a comment about my last words and Colton steps out of my way, realizing the panicked look on my face. After all, he sees it way too often to know exactly what it means. I’m fucking late. “Here,” he says, shoving his roll into my hand after I’ve jumped down from the counter. “I’ll see you after school. Try not to break any noses while you’re there.”
“Can’t make any promises,” I sing before scurrying out the door and finding Charlie very impatiently waiting, muttering about it being the last time he offers to drive my stupid ass anywhere.
Chapter 16
My locker door slams closed with a
