Fuck.
“Is that who I think it is?” Uncle Donny asks. “Is that one of them?”
My uncles both puff up like a couple of Papa Bears, but I hold up a hand to stop them and walk over to meet Colt halfway. “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here,” I say, glaring at him.
“I didn’t know you owned the hospital,” he says with an easy grin.
I cross my arms and narrow my eyes at him. “What do you want?”
“You look hot in jeans,” he says, looking me up and down. “You should wear them more often.”
“Thanks,” I say, rolling my eyes. “But I can’t possibly look hot right now. I look like Rudolph if his nose stopped working and he flew face-first into a tree.”
“Maybe you just need someone to help guide your sleigh,” he says. “I volunteer. I’ll be Captain America. I’ll slice down any tree that comes in your way.”
“I thought you were Romeo.”
He shrugs, that goofy grin still in place. “Every superhero needs an alter ego.”
We stand in silence for a minute.
“Nice kicks, too,” he says, nudging my toe with his. “You look kinda badass in that getup.”
“Seriously, Colt,” I say, glaring. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to give you this,” he says, pulling his hand from his pocket and holding out my phone. When I look from it to his face, his expression is serious. “I’m sorry about what Devlin did. I just wanted you to know that we had nothing to do with it.”
“I don’t think Devlin had anything to do with it.” I’ve spent the entire night replaying everything in my mind. When Devlin saw that Royal wasn’t in that school basement, he was surprised. When he ran out of there yelling for his dad, he didn’t sound accusatory or shocked that his father would do something like that. He sounded scared. Scared for his dad, who betrayed their grandfather by telling Devlin where to find Royal.
“He confessed,” Colt says, dropping his hand back to his side when I don’t take the phone. He’s looking at me like I’m a stupid, lovestruck idiot who won’t believe the truth that’s right in front of her. Maybe I am.
“I know,” I say. “I’d think you’d need more than that to turn your back on your own family. Your boy, no less.”
Colt hesitates, glancing around and lowering his voice before answering. “I didn’t turn my back on my family. He did.”
“So, it’s your whole family against him?”
“He chose to do what he did,” Colt says. “And yeah, I have family loyalties beyond him. I figured you’d understand that.”
“Why?” I ask. “Mynonniis a candy maker, not The Godfather.”
“Oh,” Colt says, looking surprised. “I thought…”
“What? That the mafia was here because a dozen Italians showed up at my house?”
He shrugs, his smile apologetic and slightly embarrassed, like a kid who just got called out and doesn’t want to get in trouble. And maybe that’s what he is. Maybe that’s why he will be my friend one minute, and the next, he’s doing what his cousins want. Suddenly, I understand him. I get it. Because of all the Darlings, Colt is the most like me.
He just wants to make everyone happy, and I get that. I really, really do. He’s as lost and frustrated as I am, pulled in two or three or five different directions because he has to be the person his family wants all the time. He’s never allowed to be the person heis, if he even knows who that is.
Still smiling, he holds out my phone again. “I put my number in your phone. So you can call me if you need anything.Anything.”He winks at me, and I feel a smile tugging at my lips. Why is he so damn hard to stay mad at?
“Thanks,” I say, accepting the phone. “But I don’t think Devlin would like that too much.”
Colt tilts his head, giving me a curious look. “It’s like that with y’all?”
“Yeah,” I say, biting my lip to hide a smile. “It’s like that.”
We stand in silence for a minute, and I feel warmth creeping up my neck. At last, Colt lets out a chuckle and reaches out a hand to give me knuckles. “Okay, then,” he says. “See ya around, Ru-liet.”