Three nods.
“What complete bastards.” Three more nods. “How do you know they won’t turn around and tell you that you need to keep fighting?” I felt panic rising, “I mean what’s to say they’ll ever let you stop? They could say you hadn’t paidanyof it back!” My eyes were wide, I met Colton’s eyes and realised they had all come to this conclusion a long time ago. What a complete fuck up. I slumped back on the couch.
“And Connor doesn’t know?” Synchronised nodding.
“If he knew he would be worse,” Colton said softly. “It’s best to keep him out of it. He thinks Aaron took the money to pay the guy for us and now we just like hanging out with him, because he’s such a stand-up guy.” Said with pure contempt. I understood why.
“Your brother is an idiot,” Matt muttered.
“I know,” came the soft reply. My heart clenched at the despair in his voice. Colton was hurting bad.
“Where does he think you got the money from?” I wondered aloud. This was alotof information to take in. My head was reeling and my heart was heavy.
Colton looked at me sadly and with a shake of his head he walked out of the room.
Matt looked after him and then looked at me. “He never even asked,” he said it so softly, his words heavy with the betrayal they all clearly felt.
The fact that Connor just expected his brother to fix this and never even askhowhe managed to fix it was a kick in the teeth to them all. It’s not as if the guys had lots of cash to spare. They were from wealthy families sure, but they didn’t have easy access to that wealth. To get to it, questions would be asked. I couldn’t believe Connor hadn’t even asked, no wonder they were frustrated with him.
This was really bad.
My three superheroes looked after me all day on Monday. It made my head hurt when I thought about how I had lost an entire day and more, but I was so very grateful I had lost it with them. How lucky was I that they had been there to catch my fall? The fact that it had been Tattoo Neck that had called Colton to tell him to come get me, confused the hell out of me. What was his angle?
Colton was tight lipped in regards to his theory as to why. Matt changed the subject when I questioned the motive and given all the emotion that had been shared today. I was ok with letting it go. For now.
It left me with a problem though. I wanted nothing to do with Tattoo Neck or his crowd anymore. I was pretty confident that Jay was innocent in all this. I had asked if he knewwhythey were fighting. Jay didn’t take part in the fights on a regular basis. They weren’t sure how deeply he was involved in what his brother had going on. Theo had reluctantly admitted that his brother had convinced him that they were just rich kids wanting to slum it.
None of the three of them had disputed it. Jay thought they were authentic. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination really. Rich boys ‘slummed’ it all the time. I wasn’t sure how I felt about continuing with Jay. Should I still see him? It seemed unfair to blame any of this on him. I needed to think about this when my head was clear.
I had also learned that Jake Dawson was completely ignorant of their endeavours to keep his family name clean. I was relieved. If I had thought otherwise, I would have strung Dawson Senior up by his tonsils.
The late-night calls from Colton’s dad hadn’t actually been Jake. They had used him as an excuse. I had to offer imaginary Senior an apology in my head for all the negative thoughts I had been sending his way. Seems Tattoo Neck thought he had them at his beck and call and arranged fights at stupid times. Theo was reluctant to admit that the impromptu mid-week fighting actually paid more than the regular fighting at the weekends.Regular fighting, it made my blood run cold.
It was late evening when I looked round my lounge. Theo was on the floor, his long legs stretched in front of him as he rested against the couch. Matt and I were ‘top to tail’ on the couch and Colton was in the single seat his eyes half closed as he slumped in the chair. Theo kept nudging his foot to make sure he was awake as the opening quarter of Monday night football started. It was irritating Colton and giving me and Matt the giggles.
Connor had phoned several times throughout the day and Colton had always answered him, never saying where exactly he was. I had been concerned he would do something stupid, but Colton had assured me Connor had learned his lesson. I noticed that Colton always kept his whereabouts vague. Neither Theo nor Matt had met my questioning gaze when Colton turned his back to answer his brother.
Connor hadn’t been looking for them as such, just letting them know he was going for dinner with Corey and then back to her place that night, so not to look for him.
He had been checking in. I felt my teeth bare themselves as I thought very unfriendly thoughts about my ex-boyfriend.
They had probably been right not to tell me; not because it would have brought problems with Tattoo Neck as such. I wasn’t an idiot. However, I think they knew I wouldn’t be able to hide my feelings from Connor. Matt nudged me when he caught me and shook his head, but his eyes danced with laughter. Theo had winked at me.
I had snorted a laugh and Colton had turned to threeveryangelic faces. He had frowned in confusion and suspicion - all credit to us, we hadn’t cracked up.
I looked at the three of them sleepily as I snuggled under my blanket. Theo with his mess of curls, his muscles on display in a black t-shirt. He had kicked off his boots when he came in earlier. He looked like a dishevelled surfer I mused. Matt nudged me with his foot and I turned my attention to him. He beamed at me and I smiled back as I looked at his dirty blonde hair, strong jawline and the mass of his muscles. I honestly don’t know how we both fitted on the couch.
I pretended to turn back to the TV but instead my eyes ran over the length of Colton. Was it wrong to just want to lie here and stare at him? He was simply breathtaking.
Worthless little tramp,I looked away guiltily.
Theo stretched and playfully reached back to tickle me. I squirmed away from him laughing. Matt struggled to sit up and then he had lifted my legs and swung himself into a sitting position.
“We should probably move.” He broke the comfortable silence. I frowned, I didn’t want them to leave, despite the way the day had started and the reason for it. This had been the best day in a long time. I probably needed a hobby. I was collecting men in my lounge, like old ladies collected cats.
Theo rose too and looked down at me as he stood. “Will you be ok here?” Doubt was all over his face. I nodded as I shifted into a sitting position. Theo bent and scooped me up I squawked as I was placed on my feet. He didn’t let go. I was grateful for the support.
“We should take Lil Bit home with us,” he said as he addressed Colton. Matt nodded.