Colt Book 3

SUMMER

The door was open, and I saw my brother, his gun pointed. But that wasn’t my concern. My concern was for Tess, who was standing in the hallway screaming, squealing even.

It was deafening, and her hands were covering her eyes.

I ran to her, wrapping her up in my arms, smothering her, while looking at Scorp.

How the hell could he shoot a gun off in the same house as his daughter after everything that had happened! How could he do that?

I was glaring at him, but his attention was on Violet.

His eyes were glued on her, glaring at her, his lip twitching, as if he had just tried to shoot her.

After everything Violet had been through as well.

Fuck, what the hell was Scorp thinking?

Clearly, he wasn’t!

I knew I wasn’t fit to be Tess’s mother, but Scorp was in no position or mindset to be a father.

The more time that passed, the truer that statement became.

Losing Charlotte had cost Scorp his heart.

I blamed Colt for that.

“Leave,” Scorp hissed at Violet, and my lips formed a firm line.

How could he be so cold and heartless in one word.

I wasn’t a fan of Violet. She had cost me my sister, but how Scorp had said that one word made me feel an itch of pity for her.

After all, she hadn’t pulled the trigger at Charlotte; that had been Colt.

Colt was the one who deserved to be told to leave!

Violet muttered something and then walked out the door, which was still open.

“Tess, darling.” I lowered to her level. “I need you to go to your bedroom. I’ll be there in a minute.”

I kept a smile on my face the whole time, until she disappeared up the hall.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I whisper-yelled at Scorp. “How could you fire a gun in the same house as her?”

“Violet deserved the bullet. Pity I couldn’t go through with it,” he muttered with an icy heart and picked up the vodka bottle.

“Bitch deserved to be dead.” The bottle went to his lips.

I looked at him, not believing what I had just heard.

“What happened to her being the love of your life?” Tears welled up in my eyes.

“Charlotte died so that she didn’t. So you could have your happy ending, Scorp, and this is how you treat her memory?”

“I didn’t ask her to die for Violet. I would rather Charlotte were here than Violet!” he roared so loudly even I flinched from the tone.

I stared at him.

What had happened to the man who loved with his whole heart?

What happened to the man that always stood for good, even when things weren’t looking in his favor?

What happened to the man that saved me?

I looked at him, and I couldn’t see the brother I loved.

I remembered now the thought that had crossed my mind when Charlotte’s coffin went into the ground.

My brother died with her.

“You don’t deserve Tess.” I shook my head, tears running down my cheeks. “You don’t deserve a happy ending. You don’t deserve anything but suffering.” I didn’t care how harsh my words were.

Scorp’s lips twitched up as he looked at me mockingly. “Well, you got your wish, sis.”

“I’m taking Tess, and when you sober up and realize the fucking mistake you have made, don’t come looking for us. Tess deserves everything, and I won’t have you pulling her down with you.”

I threw the empty bottle of liquor at him. One of the many surrounding him on the coffee table.

“Drink yourself into a coma. You’re not the only one grieving. Tess lost her mother! You, of all people, should know what that is like!”

My voice choked up. “Because I know what it’s like to lose your parents.”

In some ways, this was karma. Scorp had to take me in and bring me up. I knew I had no money, no skills, no source of income, as I packed Tess’s bags.

But when I took her hand and walked her out of the house, I knew I’d figure it out.

Just like I figured out everything.

The saddest part was that Scorp actually looked relieved when we walked out of his life.

He got his wish; he was alone now. He had no one but that bloody club.

I hoped for his sake that it lived up to everything he wanted it to be.

COLT

“And another one. What is that, your third bottle?”

My eyes were glued to the bottle.

“No, sorry, it’s your fourth. Doesn’t matter how much you drink, Colt. I’m not disappearing.” She had an evil smirk on her face when I looked up.

I had heard stories that if you drank too much and did drugs, you’d lose your mind.

But I never thought that would happen to me. Always had done drugs but never had hit them as hard as I did now. Or had, until she showed up.

I stopped them, hoping to sober up and she’d be gone.

I passed out on the couch to her whispering in my ear and then woke up, sober, with her sitting on the coffee table, smirking evilly. She had since made it her mission to count my drinks.

Couldn’t blame the meth ’cause I hadn’t touched it since I started seeing her.

“You know what I find interesting?” She smiled at me. “You haven’t once asked me if I’m real or not.”

“I know you’re dead!” I hissed at her. “I killed you!”

I threw the bottle at her feet.

Stood up, uneasy on my feet.

“I took the gun and pointed it at Violet, and you, being a fucking hero, stepped in front of it!”

I caught myself on the wall while glaring at her. “That bullet wasn’t meant for you! That bullet was meant for Violet. The cheating, back-stabbing bitch.”

I had never seen or experienced a hallucination, but fuck, it felt real.

Hell, it was almost like I could touch her and she would be there.

She just tilted her head, letting me explode at her. Staying silent.

“What, nothing to say?” I hissed at her while sliding down the wall.

I had hit the liquor again today, hoping to numb the image of her.

Charlotte smiled at me as my eyes got heavy.

“The bullet wasn’t meant for you,” I mumbled.

Charlotte walked toward me, standing over me. “You’re about to pass out. We can pick this up when you come to.”

“I hope I fucking die of alcohol poisoning.”

“You won’t.”

She smirked and then lowered to her knees, her mouth going to my ear.

“Because you need to suffer longer. You aren’t getting out of this that easy, Colt Hudson.”

SCORP

I felt my eyes getting heavier as the liquor took over, mixed with the fact I hadn’t slept in days.

I knew sleep was coming, and I couldn’t stop it.

As I looked at the cocaine on the table, my eyes got heavier.

My head hitting the couch was the last thing I remembered.

“Scorp, babe!”

“Yeah, babe,” I yelled from the other room, not pulling myself away from the television, which had what had to be the best football game on.

I heard her walk up the small hall. I glanced at her, and then my eyes did a double take.

“What the fuck?”

“God, that’s the reaction I get?”

Charlotte pulled the pillow out from under her top.

She’d just given me a heart attack!

She looked nine months pregnant at first glance!

“Babe.”

I got up.

“You don’t go surprising your man when he knows your pregnant with pretending to bigger than you are.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Perhaps my man shouldn’t be obsessed over a sports program when there is painting to be done! A room to decorate.”

“We have months to go.”

I pointed at her pillow.

“Maybe when you are that big, I’ll think of picking up a paint brush.”

“Oh ha ha, very funny, Scorp!”

I smirked. “Come watch the game.”

“Can’t. New next-door neighbor is watching Summer wash the car. I am an inch away from telling him and his teenage hormones to fuck off.”

I put my beer down. “You should have said something.”

I swear she had a sign around her neck that stated, “Any man with a criminal record, come at me.”

Walking outside, I saw the bloke with his head over the fence talking to her.

He glanced in my direction and then took a step away from the fence.

“I saw you. I don’t like you.” I pointed a finger at him.

Typical, Summer rolled her eyes as he bolted for cover.

“Why do you do that?” I snapped at her. “Always attract the wrong type of bloke?”

Summer sniggered, and I didn’t see what was so funny.

“If you are this bad with me, how are you going to be with your daughter?”

My eyes widened, and Summer’s smirk dropped.

“Shit, Scorp, don’t you dare say anything!”

I had already turned and was heading back inside. Charlotte was in the nursery, and I spun her around, picking her up and kissing her.

“What was that for?” she whispered against my lips.

I smiled a genuine smile because I wanted a girl. I wanted a little girl just like her mother.

“For saving me.”

And that was exactly what Charlotte had done.

She had pulled me off the bikes, gotten me to stay away from the club, and had reshaped both my life and Summer’s.

Without her, we would have been lost.

She gave me purpose and hope that my life wouldn’t just end in a shallow grave, or in prison.

Not to mention, she was giving me a daughter.