Me: I adore you.
Morticia: I know.
“I’m also noting how violent you get when someone pisses you off,” Colt says, drawing my attention back to him. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone stab at their phone quite like that.”
I make wide eyes at him, unable to keep my anger on the inside. It’s unfortunate for him that he’s the one who’s going to cop all my thoughts on this. “Honestly, what’s with men who don’t know what the fuck they want and who tell their woman they want one thing, but then go out and get the complete opposite from another woman after ruining what they had with their first woman? Also, women who should just move the fuck on but don’t should be shot. As should shitty, shitty women who sleep with their friend’s husband the minute their friend is out of the picture. And who probably slept with that husband while their friend was still in the picture.” I exhale a long, angry breath while continuing with the wide eyes.
“I take it the woman you’re referring to when you say she should be shot for not moving on is you?”
“Ugh. Yes.” I force out another angry breath. “The thing is I feel like I’ve moved on from the marriage. I mean, it wasn’t good for a long time. But then shit like this”—I show him the photo of Heath and Joanne—“comes up and so do all my feelings I thought I was done with. It’s doing my head in.”
He looks at the photo and then back at me. “Marriage isn’t something you just move on from, Echo.”
“You’ve been married?”
“No, but it’s the connection of two people and I’ve had that and lost it in my life. Broken connections kill like a motherfucker, regardless of what state they were in prior to the loss. You’ll feel that shit for years.”
“If you were aiming for a pep talk, you missed the mark.”
“Me and pep talks don’t go hand in hand,” he says without a hint of the easy guy I’ve gotten acquainted with tonight. This is a new side to Colt. A deeper, thoughtful side that I’m into even though I made it sound like I’d have preferred a pep talk. I wouldn’t have; I always prefer honesty and the kind of conversation that might slay just as much as be what I need.
I drop down onto the couch, some of my anger dissipating. “I wanted kids. Heath didn’t.”
Colt sits with me. It’s a three-seater, so we’ve got space between us, but he feels close. It’s exactly what I need, and I can’t help thinking how I only just met him tonight, yet here he is in my hour of need sitting with me, listening to me. “That’s gotta hurt.”
I look at him and nod. “Yeah, it does. It also hurts that he’s having the baby with someone I feel betrayed by. Like, when I look at that photo of them, all I see is one big fat betrayal by both of them.”
“You need to delete that photo from your phone.”
My front door slams closed and Lilith’s voice floats through the air as she walks down my hallway. “I agree.” She comes to stand in front of us, places her hands on her hips, and eyes Colt up and down before looking at me and saying, “I’m not sure why you’ve relegated him to the couch when he could be in your bed with you. God knows you could do with some good dick, and seriously, this guy looks like he’d know his way around a woman.”
5
Colt
I have no fucking idea who the tiny woman standing in front of Echo and me is, but hell if I’m not fascinated by her. Between her long black hair; her pale, heavily made-up face with black lipstick and wings coming out from her eyes; her dangly earrings that have skulls, and stars, and what look like little knives on them; her knitted black, grey, red, and white jumper with cats, stars, moons, and snowflakes on it; and her black track pants with bones printed down one side, there’s a lot to look at.
However, it’s not really any of that shit that’s caught my attention. It’s the way she and Echo get on. I’ve never seen anything like it.
“I’ve had good dick,” Echo says defensively.
Her friend rolls her eyes. “You’ve had dick. Doesn’t mean it’s been good.” She raises her hand. “And don’t try and tell me now how good it was. You wouldn’t be talking celibacy if it was.”
“I’m not talking celibacy because of the quality of the sex. I’m talking it because it’s a safer option when I only ever seem to meet jerks.”
“Right, so the logical decision is to pack up your vagina and welcome in the cobwebs. Seems legit. Honestly, I swear when I see Heath next, I’m gonna punch the fuck out of him for what he’s done to you.” She looks at me again. “I’m Lilith by the way. Who are you?”
I stand and look down at her. She’s barely five foot three. “I’m Colt.”
“And you two are working together?”
“Yeah.”
“You work for Zane?”
“No.”
Lilith looks less than impressed at that. “Right, we have another evasive male in the building.” She turns back to Echo. “I changed my mind. Don’t fuck him.” She throws a glance towards the kitchen. “Did you put the coffee machine on?” Without waiting for an answer, she takes all her cats and skulls and gothic mood, and heads into the kitchen.
Echo stands. “Lil has no fucks to give. She just says it like it is.”
“I’m picking up on that.”
“You want some coffee?”
“We’re not getting any sleep any time soon, are we?”
“No.”
I jerk my chin at the kitchen. “Then yeah, I want coffee.”
We join Lilith who shoots Echo a death stare. “Coffee would have been nice.”
“Coffee will be nice,” Echo shoots back. She doesn’t roll her eyes, but I hear that sentiment in her voice.
Lilith looks at me. “She has the most expensive espresso machine known to mankind and we still have to wait for it to warm up.” She narrows her eyes at me. “Those bruises don’t instil confidence in me that my friend is safe with you. What happened? Also, aren’t you cold without a shirt on? It’s fucking cold tonight.”
“It’s not cold, Lil,” Echo says.
“It is cold,” Lilith argues.
“It’s Brisbane for God’s sake,” Echo says. “It doesn’t get cold here.”
“You’re just enjoying the opportunity to admire those muscles of his,” Lilith says.
“I’m not cold,” I cut in.
“Also,” Echo says, “Those bruises should instil confidence. Colt took two guys on tonight.”
I’m hit with more eye narrowing from Lilith before she turns to Echo. “What were you two working on that necessitated that? I know Zane’s involved in some crazy shit, but I wouldn’t have thought he or Liam would allow you in on any of that.”
“I’m helping Zane with his system security,” Echo says.
“Two guys broke in tonight while Echo was working on the system,” I say, catching Lilith up like she wants to be. “They’re not a threat any longer.”