Always

Chapter 56

There couldn't be anything really serious that he was worried about telling me. I wiped my mouth with my napkin, and stood up. "Excuse me." I said, smiling. "I'm going to go check on Colby." His mother smiled and nodded at me. Walking through the double glass doors, I felt the change in the temperature from earlier. The sun was down now, and there was a chill in the air that made me shiver. As I rubbed my arms, trying to quell the goosebumps, I looked towards the deck area to find Colby, kneeling down, hammering. He had an intense look of concentration on his face, his dark brows knitted together, biting down on his full bottom lip, attacking the wood in front of him with a vengeance. Mentioning this Johnny guy must have really hit a nerve. I slowly walked towards him, wondering what was on his mind. I watched as his muscles bunched and then released with each swing of the hammer. Damned if this carpenter shit didn't really do it for me. His eyes snapped up to my face, like he heard my personal thoughts and I felt my cheeks flame again. Colby dropped the hammer on top of the wood, and ran his hands through his hair. He rummaged in his pocket and dug out his bulky, silver rings, sliding them back onto his long, narrow fingers. "Hey," I said quietly, feeling like I was intruding on something. He held his hand out to me. "Hey," He said back, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. I took his hand and he pulled me to him, leaning down to kiss me softly. "Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded, but I could still see the shadows in his eyes. "Yeah. Just stressed, I guess." "About that Johnny guy?" He let out a heavy breath, and looked up at the sky. "Yeah." "Can I ask why?" He ran his hand through his hair again, still looking at the sky. It was so quiet for a moment, and all I heard was the insects around us. So much different from the night life of the city. "He's the guy that Tessa cheated on me with." I sucked in a sharp breath, but he kept talking, needing to get it out, I suppose. "Before that, I kind of looked up to him. He's older than me by a few years, and I always thought he was cool, in the way that stupid kids do. He drank, he did a few drugs, stole little things, beat up people that he thought wasn't cool." He shrugged, but I could see that whatever this was, was really bothering him. I wrapped my arms around his sweaty body, trying to comfort him in some small way. He kissed the top of my head, and continued. "I suppose he was the leader of our friend group in a way. We weren't bad kids, but we did bad things when he told us too...even if we didn't want too. I don't know, your typical neighborhood bully I guess. He even got us to help him rob the little liquor store across town once...I'm surprised we didn't get caught doing that. I thought he was my friend though, until I found him on that couch with Tessa. Then he kept rubbing it in my face afterwards, letting me know that he could take what I thought was mine." If he keeps tugging on his hair like that, he's going to rip it out. "I didn't have many friends so when he betrayed me so completely, it crushed me but I continued to hang out with the group, pretending that it didn't bother me, while he and Tessa sucked each other's faces. One of the reasons that I was so glad to finally leave here." My heart broke for him as I watched his face, his memories replaying behind his eyes. "I'm sorry love." I said, reaching up and trailing my fingertips down his jawline. "Just ignore him while we're here and we'll be gone soon enough." He shook his vehemently. "No. I won't keep running from him. I'm going to show him that he didn't ruin my life, and that I'm glad that he showed me who Tessa was all those years ago." He pressed his fingers down against the small of my back, bringing me closer to his his bare chest. "I'm going to show him just how perfect my life is now." He replied, smiling down at me. "Actually, I'll text him right now to let him know that we're coming to his little kick back." He took one arm from around me, reaching into his pocket for his phone. As he scrolled, his tongue traced the inside of his bottom lip, and my eyes followed it. What is wrong with me? I'm like a freaking hormone riddled teenage girl. "Okay, I'll have to wait until I get the number from Gage. I forgot that I didn't have it." He looked at me, his eyes just noticing that I had chill bumps. I don't think that they were from the cool air anymore though. "Let's go inside. It's chilly out here and you don't have a sweater on." I poked at his side as he turned us towards the house. "You don't have a shirt on." He glanced at me, and smirked. "I was working up a sweat. Didn't need one." He leaned closer to my ear, where I could feel his warm breath brushing my chilled skin. "Seemed like you liked that earlier." My cheeks flamed up again, and I covered my face, groaning. "How the hell do you still manage to make me blush?" I muttered out, from behind my hands. He stopped and turned me towards him, reaching up and enveloping my wrists in his large hands, pulling them away from my face. I looked up at him from under my lashes, to see that cheeky little grin that he has playing across his lips. "It's a talent." He replied before planting a rough kiss on my lips and pulling me through the sliding glass doors. His mother was cleaning the kitchen when we entered the house, both of us giggling. "That's a sound that I've missed," she said, a smile on her face as she turned to us.