Page 125 of Coach
The door inched open, and in walked Colter. With a giant basket in his arms.
“I’m just going to drop this right here,” he said, placing the basket on the record cabinet.
“You took Trix to the vet, right?” I asked.
“That was me.”
“Thank you. Really.”
“It was nothing. Don’t tell your mom about the hamburgers we got on the way home, okay, girl?” he asked my dog, shot a wink at me, then was gone again.
“That’s Colter’s thing. Gift baskets. But I want you to eat before we go through it. If you’re not too queasy.”
“That passed. I’m starving.”
“Good. Detroit and Saint both worked on breakfast, so it should be banging,” he told me as he went to grab the tray. “How is your head? Lungs?”
“I’m sore,” I admitted, immediately reaching for a piece of perfectly crispy bacon. “But my headache seems to be mostly better. I’m going to be fine,” I assured him.
“And you’re not gonna need to worry about your old coach again.”
“Was he arrested?”
“No, honey, he wasn’t arrested.”
Oh.
Oh.
That was, what, three murders I was connected to in two days? That was insane. But I had to admit that their deaths were of their own making.
Don’t steal from Russian mobsters.
Don’t kidnap and imprison women who are dating outlaw bikers.
Maybe I would feel more guilt when allthe pain and shock subsided. Even if I didn’t, though, I was going to give myself grace.
I’d been living the past ten-plus years of my life in fight-or-flight. I wasn’t going to beat myself up about not being sad that my stalker was dead.
“What happens now?” I asked as we were halfway through our giant breakfast.
“Whatever you want.”
“What do you want?” I asked as he moved the tray away.
“Easy,” he said, reaching to pull me close. “You.”
EPILOGUE
Coach - 3 days
We barely got out of bed for three full days.
That sounded a lot sexier than it was. And, hey, that was a part of it. But mostly, we were just being close, talking, and opening up. In between that, Este was doing a lot of resting. Like she had ten years to catch up on. I guess she did.
On that fourth day, though, when I got up, Este and Trix were already gone.
I rushed out of bed, not even bothering to put on a shirt, only to find the two of them sitting outside in the pre-dawn hours.
