Page 84 of When Sparks Fly

Colt.

“Nope, no princess here.” I turn back around, ignoring his remark. “Hi, Belle!” It’s an effort to kick my excited voice into overdrive, greeting children with a broad smile. Especially because I know he isn’t leaving.

Out of my peripheral, Colt moves closer, fitting himself between Izzy’s passenger door and my driver door. He leans against Izzy’s car, not taking his eyes off me. I continue to ignore him.

Izzy and Leah are giving me questioning glances. Chewing my lip, I shake my head tightly at Izzy.

If I ignore him, he’ll go away.

It’s a lie. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what Colt wants, but the pit in my stomach is warning that this is going to be more than a menacing wink over his shoulder.

“No cow-fucker tonight?”

My head snaps in his direction, my eyes darting to Izzy briefly. She’s eyeing the families walking by the backs of our cars, who are now eyeing the biker clearly up to no good. Her voice is getting louder to compensate for the added distraction. “You are such a cute Cinderella! Happy Halloween!” Leah follows suit.

With both hands on the roof of the Jeep, I lean over to whisper-yell at Colt. “What is your problem!”

It’s not a question. I know there isn’t a logical answer at this point. I also know drawing attention to it won’t make him go away.

He brings a cigarette to his mouth, taking a long drag, and eyes me from head to toe. “Usually you’re hot. But tonight you look fucking ridiculous.” The cigarette returns to his lips.

“Ouch, that hurts,” I deadpan.

Night is descending quickly, the sky darkening to an indigo color, and there are no lights in this parking lot. A massive oversight. Only the cherry of Colt’s cigarette lights the space between the cars.

“I’d still fuck you if you asked nicely.” Smoke leaves his mouth in a cone. “Well, I would.” He snickers the second part as if someone’s with him.

My climb out of the truck is far less graceful than the last time I did it. I shove the bucket of ducks and candy at Izzy, who now stands between our two cars attempting to block the view. Her ability to put her back to Colt iseither really brave or really stupid, but I don’t have time to deal with that right now.

When I turn on Colt, he stands fully again, flicking the cigarette under Izzy’s car.

“Get out of here!” Without thought, I move toward him. He grins at me, backing up slowly. Too slowly. Taunting me.

“That what you want, princess?” Every time he calls meprincess, a cold chill runs down my back. Nausea coils in my stomach.

Continuing forward, I move to shove him, but he’s ready and he grabs my wrists, pulling me into his chest. My feet falter at the change from pavement to grass as he pulls me around the front of the Jeep. “What’s wrong,princess?”

His emphasis on the last word lets me know he’s doing it on purpose. I’m fighting against his hold, simultaneously trying to push him away and pull my arms free, but neither thing is happening.

In front of the Jeep, I can no longer tell what people can and can’t see. My senses zero in on what’s happening right here, in this moment, and everything else is distant. A sense of familiarity washes over me as I struggle against him.

“You seem a little worked up.” His eyes gleam and his grin grows, and I’m two seconds from throwing up on him. “Need a little release?”

“You couldn’t give me release if you had a map where X marks the spot,” I spit at him.

His grin never falters. “Maybe if you expected more than to be treated like a common whore in an alley—"

I explode. I bounce up on the balls of my feet and slam my head into his nose with all my force. There’s a satisfying crunch and he releases my wrists.

“FUCK YOU!” I scream. I no longer care if there are families with children.

“Motherfucker!” He’s holding his nose which is pouring blood. When he pulls his hand back, his eyes shoot up to my face. I’ve never seen a look contain so much fury.

Pounding footsteps and skidding tires mesh with the whooshing of my own blood in my ears as Colt launches at me. I’m fully prepared to grab two handfuls of hair and give him a knee straight to the dick, but his gaze shoots over my shoulder and he missteps.

“We’re not done, bitch,” he says under his breath, the pounding in my head getting louder.

Movement from my peripheral catches my attention as Colt darts into the darkness. Sutton’s truck is parked on a side street, driver door open, lights on, as he runs straight for me.

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