Always

Chapter 58

My blood turned to ice in my veins as his eyes glared into mine, freezing me in my place in front of Harry. The only thing keeping me tethered to the ground was the weight of his hand in mind and the pressure of his chest against my back.

I could feel it rising and falling quickly as he took shallow, quick breaths. How long I gaped at Colt, I didn't know, but another bout of shouting finally snapped me back to the present.

"Colt, I'm serious, get out," Lydia said firmly, voice clear now because someone had turned off the music. The room was eerily still, nobody daring to move to interrupt such a tense encounter. It was painfully quiet, too; the only noise was from those who dared to speak, which so far had only been Lydia and Colt, accompanied by the quiet choruses of breathing emitted from those gathered around.

Colt ignored Lydia and continued to glare at me, not moving any closer but showing no signs of leaving, either.

"Colt, you need to get out of here, man," Will spoke up, backing up his girlfriend as he took a tentative step toward him. Everybody was aware of how volatile Colt could be when he was drunk; most of them had probably witnessed it at one time or another. His red gaze tore from me at Will's movement, his head jerking uncoordinatedly towards him.

"What?" he hissed.

"You need to leave. Joey doesn't want you here and neither does Lydia, and it's her house. You gotta go," Will said calmly, careful not to set him off.

"You're fucking kidding," Colt said flatly, malice evident in his tone. "You're choosing that bitch over me?" he said, throwing an arm in my direction. The tension in the room was so thick it was impossible to ignore.

Will didn't say anything, only pressed his lips together, letting the silence confirm what Colt had said. I felt a jolt of appreciation for Will.

Colt scoffed. "Wow, never thought I'd see you so fucking whipped. What about you, eh Jack? You want me to leave, too?" he jeered, wavering on his feet and turning his gaze to Jack, who was still seated on the couch. Colt had to have been incredibly drunk.

Jack gave him a pained look before smoothing his hands out on his knees and pushing himself up. He walked evenly over to Colt, standing in front of him.

"Look, man, maybe it would just be best if you took off for a while," he said gently, trying his best to diffuse the situation while finally openly declaring whose side he was on. Colt looked at him incredulously.

"You, too?" he asked in disgust. "Jesus, what happened to you guys?"

The three guys stood in the middle of the room, studying each other with varying degrees of disgust as the rest of the party looked on with bated breath. I felt someone move next to me and was surprised to see Haley standing there, giving me a tense, wary glance as she observed her boyfriend interact with my ex.

"Fuck this, you guys are fucking pathetic. You don't even have enough balls to stand up to your stupid girlfriends anymore," he sneered, stepping closer into Jack's face. All three of the boys were tall and muscular, creating a very potent, potentially dangerous mix.

My hand gripped Harry's tighter as I watched, for once not the center of what was happening with Colt, even if it had started because of me. Harry's other hand came to rest on my lower back, giving me a reassuring touch and reminding me to breathe.

"You should go," Will repeated as he tried to wedge himself between Colt and Jack, who were practically nose to nose as they glared at each other. As soon as Will's hand touched his chest, Colt seemed to snap.

In a lightning quick movement, both of his hands connected to Will's chest, shoving him impossibly hard backwards. Will stumbled over the table he had run into before straightening himself out and standing up straight.

"What the fuck, man?" he shouted at Colt, staring at him disbelievingly.

"You deserved it," Colt scoffed, squaring his shoulders to Will.

"Leave, now," Will said firmly, breathing heavily as he tried to keep himself calm.

"Will you stop telling me to leave?!" Colt yelled, raising his voice higher than he had yet. His eye twitched in anger as his face contorted with rage and he started toward Will, fist raising back, aiming for his face. Taken by surprise, Will just stood there, mouth falling open as he gaped at the quickly incoming fist. Colt had just started to swing, about to connect with Will's face when he was knocked out of his path by another body slamming into his.

How he had managed to make it all the way over there without me realizing, I didn't know, but I was quickly aware of the hand missing from mine, the empty space left on my back. In a panic, I whipped around to look behind me, and sure enough, he wasn't there.

Terror flooded through me as I turned my gaze back to the center of the living room. My heart plummeted to the floor when I saw Harry, arms wrapped around Colt's torso as he had tackled him, in a pile on the floor as Colt tried to swing at him.

"No!" I shouted, unable to move my feet as I gaped in horror at the sight in front of me. Both of my hands rose to cover my mouth, unable to do anything helpful. Colt didn't manage to land a solid hit, however, because his arms were quickly restrained by Jack and Will who apparently weren't experiencing the same crippling paralysis I was. Relief coursed through me as Harry drug himself off the ground, appearing to be unscathed, if not a little ruffled.

Finally my feet tore away from the floor as I launched myself toward him, hurrying across the small space. He shoved his hand through his hair, watching the three boys struggle against each other before Jack and Will got Colt under control. I came to stop in front of him, wrapping my hands round his cheeks and forcing him to look at me.

"Are you okay?" I asked, voice coming out in a gasp as I searched his face intently for any damage. I could see none.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said reassuringly. His hands came up to wrap around my wrists, pulling my hands off his face as he pressed a kiss to one of my palms. "I'm okay," he repeated.

"Thank god. What were you thinking?" I hissed, relieved that he was unhurt and now in disbelief he had put himself in that situation.

"He was gonna hit Will," he said simply, as if that explained it.

"So you throw yourself into him like a bus?!" I gaped, aware that my eyes were probably extremely wide in my shifting moods.

"What else was I supposed to do?" he said innocently, eyes widening as if he really could think of no other solution. I sighed as I looked at him, calming down slightly now that he was in front of me, looking perfect in one beautiful, single piece.

"Nothing, babe," I resigned, leaning into him to wrap my arms around his waist and hug him to me. His arms wove around my shoulders and he buried his face in my hair, hugging me tightly. "I'm just glad you're okay, you scared the shit out of me," I told him, my words muffled by his chest.

"I know, love, I'm sorry," he whispered. Once again, it was if we were the only ones in the room. I closed my eyes as I held onto him, reminding myself over and over that he was okay. His hand stroked through my hair in the soothing way he had on so many other occasions, calming me further.

An enraged growl from Colt broke me out of Harry's spell. I turned my head against Harry's chest so I could see him being firmly restrained in the corner by Jack and Will, who wore disappointed looks on their faces.

It wasn't that they were shocked by Colt's behavior, more that they were sad, embarrassed, and disappointed that he had gone this far as to try and physically fight them. You could practically see what was left of their friendship crumbling at their feet.

As much as I hated Colt, I was sad for Jack and Will for losing their once wonderful friend. Something had changed in Colt, and I wasn't sure what had caused it or why he had gotten so far gone, but I don't think he was ever going to go back to the Colt we had once known. He was lost to us forever.

"Let me go!" he shouted, practically steaming in anger as he glared back and forth between his former friends. They exchanged a look, judging whether or not it was safe to release him.

"Will you leave if we do?" Jack asked firmly, making it clear he had no other choice. Colt jerked his arms against their hold, but they didn't budge. He let out a heavy exhale.

"Yeah, I don't want to hang out with you assholes anyway," he said, digging even further into the wounds he had already caused on his friends. Ex-friends.

Jack and Will exchanged another look before nodding slowly at each other and gingerly releasing Colt's arms. It was scary how intimidating he still looked, even when he was uncoordinated and drunk off his ass.

He took a sloppy step away from them, jerking his arms in front of him to accentuate his release. His heated glare seared around the room, singing every single person it landed on, taking extra time to stare at Haley, Lydia, Will, Jack, and finally, Harry and I.

"You fuckers can go to hell," he said, pointing at his former group of friends, ending on me. I tried desperately to keep my breathing even as I clung to Harry. As much as I hated to admit it, I was scared of Colt. His actions lately showed me how dangerous he really was, and I wanted him gone. With a final hateful glare around the room, he stomped off, amazingly not stumbling over anything as the crowd parted for him, allowing him to make it to the front door.

He practically ripped it off its hinges as he tore it open before throwing himself out and slamming it with a loud crack behind him. An audible sigh whispered through the room, as if the entire party had exhaled at once. The tension immediately lifted now that the dark, malevolent presence was gone. My chest collapsed as I let out a huge breath I hadn't realized I had been holding, and Harry tightened his arms around me.

"You're okay," he whispered, his lips pressing to my ear as his arms cradled me. I took in a shaky breath against his chest. "You're fine, babe, you're okay," he repeated over and over until I caught a solid enough breath to open my eyes, which I hadn't realized I had been clenching shut.

I pulled back just enough to look up at him. He looked down at me, concern evident in his green eyes as he held me.

"You're okay, yeah?" he urged, nodding at me reassuringly. I nodded slowly, never dropping his eye contact as I took another deep breath.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, feeling better every second I was in his grasp.

"That's my girl," he said, smiling softly at me before pressing a kiss to my forehead. I smiled happily, beyond thankful that he was here and that he was mine.

"Well, now that that's over, let's party!" Haley shouted, standing on the couch behind Jack and raising her drink into the air, grinning wildly as she toyed with Jack's hair with her other hand. The crowd cheered, raising their glasses in a cheers before taking long sips from them.

I grinned at Harry, which he returned happily before joining them and raising our glasses as well. Someone turned the music back on and just like that, it was as if the nightmare of an interaction with Colt had never even happened.

Thank you everyone for reading and voting and commenting, it means so much to me :)

Also, I really, really appreciate everyone who has been recomending "Always" to people! Feel free to do so, I swear I won't mind ;)