Page 71 of The History Between Us

I’m in love with him.

One.

“Happy New Year, William,” Colt whispers a moment before his mouth crashes down on mine. Fireworks go off in the distance, but the real explosion is between us. Bringing his hands to my face, he tilts my head, tongue slipping past my parted lips as it brushes against mine. My head swims as I taste him, feel him. Colt presses his body into mine, hard and hot, pinning me to the side of the barn, and everything around us vanishes.

In this moment, the fireworks, the cheering, all of it falls on deaf ears. It’s me and Colt, reveling in one another, and nothing—and I mean,nothing—has ever felt this right. It takes no time at all for the kiss to turn heated and messy, like around Colt I become insatiable. I don’t know how long we stand here, but before long, I hear a voice cut through, and it turns my blood ice cold.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

At the same time, Colt and I freeze. Our eyes pop open, and there’s a brief moment where they lock before we turn our heads, gazes landing on a very pissed-off looking Max.

Shit.

Trish is running up behind him, a look of dread on herface. “Max, knock it off,” she calls out as she comes up to his side, placing a hand on his arm like she knows he’s about to come unglued.

“What the hell is going on?” he repeats, his voice low and palpably angry. His eyes are narrowed into slits on us, face turning a bright shade of red.

“Dad, stop.” Colt steps forward, placing his body slightly in front of mine.

Max’s eyes slice over to his son. “I catch my best friend and my son making out, and you tellmeto stop?” His chilling gaze darts to me, and my heart pounds harder in my chest. “What the fuck is happening, Will?”

Stepping forward, beside Colt, I hold out a hand and say, “We planned to tell you soon. This isn’t how we wanted you to find out.”

Trish’s hand comes up to cover her mouth. Our gazes meet for a moment, and for some reason, she doesn’t seem quite as surprised as her husband.

“You planned to tell me what, exactly?” Max grits out.

“Max, honey,” Trish cuts in. “Let’s go home, and we can all talk about this tomorrow when you haven’t been drinking.”

“No, Trish, I want to talk about it now,” he says roughly. “Planned to tell me what, Will?”

I drag in a deep breath, knowing whatever I say isn’t going to go over well with him. “Colt and I have been seeing each other for?—”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Will?” Max spits out, his face flushed red. “My fucking son? I thought we were friends?”

“We are friends.”

“It has nothing to do with you, Dad,” Colt blurts out, and my eyes fall closed as I bite down on my molars.Shut up, Colt.

Max scoffs, looking from his son to me. “He’s half your fucking age,” he bites out, then takes a step toward us. “Half your fucking age. You have known him since he was a fucking baby. What the fuck is wrong with you, Will? I trusted you.”

With each sentence, he steps closer until he’s right in front of us. Hands clenched into fists at his sides, I know whatever’s about to happen won’t be good.

“It’s not like that,” I say calmly, trying like hell to diffuse the situation.

“Whoa, hey!” Turning our heads, we all watch as Shooter jogs up to us, a drunk grin on his face, eyes bouncing between the three of us. “What’s going on here?”

“Not now, Shooter,” Max growls, his furious eyes never leaving mine. “What, did you think you could just fuck around with my son, and I’d be okay with it?”

Annoyance flares inside of me at the flippant way he says that. Like Colt’s nothing more than a notch on my belt. This isn’t how I wanted Max and Trish to find out, but in this single moment, I’m realizing that maybe this is okay. I’m sick of hiding Colt. Sick of hiding how much I care about him. “It’s not like that,” I grit out again, harsher this time. “If you’d fucking calm down and let me explain, maybe you’d understand.”

“I don’t need to understand anything because it’s fucking clear what’s going on. I thought you were a better fucking man than this, Will.”

Everything that happens next happens in a flash. One minute, Max is glaring down his nose at me, the next he’s got my shirt fisted in his hand as he rears back his other, landing a hit I don’t see coming right in my jaw. A round of collective gasps sounds around us, and all hell breaks loose. Max’s hold on my shirt drops as Colt steps between us, shoving his dadback with enough force that Max nearly falls over.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Colt growls. “You’re acting like a fucking idiot. William and I are both adults!”

Rubbing a hand along my jaw, knowing it’s probably going to bruise, I stand to my full height, wanting to make sure Colt doesn’t do anything he’ll regret, like deck his father back in my honor. That’s about the last damn thing we need.

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