I shake my head, my smile slipping. “I hate that he just left you, left us.”
Mom’s soft expression tightens, and she lifts a shoulder. “We all make our choices, and we all have to live with them. He missed out on some pretty amazing kids. That’s his loss, not yours.”
I nod, then my mom pulls me into a hug. I wrap my arms around her in return.
“I need you to promise me something, though,” she says after a moment or two.
“Sure,” I reply, pulling back to look at her.
“Whatever shit Kolter is caught up with. With the club and his dad and…” She sneers to herself, shaking her head before she rights her expression. “Promise me you’ll stay far away from it, that he’ll shield you from it. You’ll always be my baby, and I know how nasty club life can be. That’s one of the reasons I tried to get Kolter away from it when I did.”
I choose not to explain how I know what she says is true. That will only send her into a panic. Besides, we’re being careful.
“He’s keeping me safe and away from… that stuff,” I say cryptically.
Relief passes across my mom’s face, and she presses a kiss to my temple.
“Good.”
I called Kolter as soon as Mom left the room—he made me promise I would. He was just as surprised as I was when I told him how accepting she was, but reminded me that Nick wouldn’t come around so easily. Obviously, I know that from his reaction, but it’s still upsetting.
We stayed on the phone for another hour or so before he said he wanted to take me out to dinner the next day. I didn’t want to question why he felt it was suddenly okay for us to be seen together. Maybe his hesitation was more about Nick than the club, and now that everything’s all out in the open on that front, it’s okay?
So now it’s the next day, and I’m at Kolter’s apartment getting ready for our date. Originally, I thought he was going to pick me up at my house, but he showed up in the morning with flowers for Mom and apologized for not telling her about us sooner. She made some threats, the way a mother should, about not hurting her little girl, he vehemently swore he never would and then we went on our way.
Kolter told me to dress nice, so I brought a little black dress I haven’t worn yet, my favorite heels and my makeup bag. We spent most of the day just hanging out—when he wasn’t devouring my pussy, that is.
I’m doing my makeup in the bathroom when my phone rings—it’s the group chat FaceTiming me. I panic for a moment before I decide it wouldn’t be a terrible thing to tell them the truth. They’ve called me out repeatedly now, and I’ve brushed them off every single time, but now my family knows, it’s time, right?
I drop my makeup brush, accept the call and lift the phone up.
“Hey! Where are you?” Ari asks.
“Yeah, I’m in town finishing some stuff before I move and you’re nowhere to be found! I want a girls’ night!” Cassi adds.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I, um, have plans tonight. Can we do it tomorrow?”
Both girls look at me with suspicion.
“I mean, yes, but now we’re extra curious. What are you doing tonight?” Cassi asks.
“I’ve been seeing someone,” I admit.
Arianna laughs. “No shit—we know. You gonna finally reveal his identity or what?”
I open my mouth, struggling to find the best way to explain it—then Kolter strolls into the bathroom shirtless, cups my hip and presses a kiss to the side of my face.
“Sorry, baby. Just looking for?—”
He pauses and looks down at the phone to see my two best friends’ jaws are on the floor. He glances at me before looking back to them.
“Hey, ladies. It’s been a while.”
“Kolter?” Arianna asks.
“You and Nay are… together?” Cassi says slowly.
His grip on me tightens, and a proud-looking smile spreads over his face. He presses another kiss to my cheek before turning to them again, as if that’s all the explanation they need. Then he opens a drawer, grabs a comb and slips out of the bathroom like he didn’t just drop an absolute bombshell.