Page 57 of Toxic Wishes

“We all go through a slut phase. At least Josh is hot, and you don’t regret fucking an uggo.”

I turn around and nearly piss my pants. Colt is standing in the room with a half-mooned grin on his smug face.

“Is that so? When was your slut phase, Ash?” He accents my nickname when he says it. I feel all the blood rush to my toes and feel my eyes bugging out so wide they feel like they may fall out of my sockets.

“Hey Mel, let me call you back. I’m getting another call.”

“You are? I thought I heard a guy,” She says through the speaker phone. “Are you sure you have another call or C-”

I hit the end call button before I can embarrass myself anymore.

“Uh, hi, what-what are you doing here?”

He cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow at me. I want to bury myself inside these bed sheets and hide. This is his place, you idiot. Why would you ask that?

“I mean, is, is everything okay? How was your trip?”

Colt took a trip with his son the week I have been here. That was part of the reason I decided to move in. It didn’t feel like I was intruding since he was leaving town on vacation.

“Great, and no, my house leaked in the kitchen the whole time we were gone. So I’ve been dealing with insurance all day and home retailers. But I figured I would come and find you first and let you know my son and I are here. I didn’t want to —” He looks me up and down.

“Walk in on any slut phases you might be going through over here.” He is holding back a smile. I can tell by how faint his dimple appears on his cheek.

Kill me, just kill me now.

My cheeks turn bright red, so I try to stay calm and breathe.

“Oh, um, no worries. I can just head back to my house if it’s a couple of days. I have all my stuff packed in m-”

“It won’t be a couple of days. It will probably be a couple of weeks, maybe a month.”

I try not to show the shock I’m feeling on the inside now. A freaking month? How am I going to stay here for a month if his house is being renovated?

“Oh, well, I can’t intrude, obviously you have enough on your plate.”

“Nonsense. I just need to unlist the property for the time being, at least until I have a better idea when the repair men will be finished. Anyway, not to bore you with all that stuff, we are ordering some pizza. I figured you might be hungry. You like cheese, I hope—Bodie’s favorite—but if not, I ordered a Philly cheesesteak kind with extra mushrooms. It has veggies on it, so it’s somewhat healthy.”

I’m standing still, not sure what is happening. Is he being nice? And how did he know that’s my favorite kind of pizza?

He claps a hand on the door. “Anyways, just thought I’d let you know. We’ll be in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

He closed the door, and I finally let out the breath I was holding. What the fuck just happened. Did he just tell me I’m still welcome to stay here? Even while he and his son are here? Am I going to be forced to live with Colt Kilian? No, scratch that. Can I even share a living space with Colt Killian? The man I have hated for years.

22

Colt

“I believe that a person's taste in music tells you a lot about them. In some cases, it tells you everything you need to know.” — Leila Sales, This Song Will Save Your Life

I was platting our dishes when Abigail walked inside, looking around as if there would be other people inside.

She put on sweatpants, and I appreciated the change. The shorts she had on earlier, when I welcomed myself into the apartment unannounced, were the kind that hugged your hips and I got a view of her camel toe. It reminded me of the first night I walked in on her.

You are not getting hard thinking about your dead brother's crush. You are not getting hard thinking of your dead brother's crush.

“Hi,” my son’s voice snapped me out of the fantasy I had been playing in my head, and I looked at Abigail again.

“I'm glad you could join us,” I say as I pull out another paper plate. “Which one would you like?” I pointed to the two boxes, and she pointed to the Philly cheesesteak.

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