“How?” I asked incredulously.
He shrugged. “Easy. The most important thing in his life is you, right? I just have to make him see you’re the most important thing in my life too. I can do that.”
I blew out a breath. Yes, he could. Colton had turned out to be the best person I knew. “Okay, you’re right,” I murmured, hugging him hard. “You can do anything you set your mind to. I trust you.”
He blinked at me suspiciously. “You do? Well, of course you do. I’m awesome. But, wait. You agreed with me too easily. What’s the catch?”
I smiled and kissed his cheek. “No catch. I love you and trust you. That’s all.” But inside, I had already started to think up a way to convince my dad to give Colton a chance too. And that’s what I really trusted. Us working together through teamwork.
COLTON’S CHAPTER | 32
I stayed with Julianna until morning, and I swear we held each other a little tighter all night long as if we both feared someone was going to barge into her room and physically tear us apart, namely her dad.
After her alarm went off, we knew we needed to get up and prepare for a day full of classes, but we didn’t want to move just yet. We lay there, staring up at her ceiling as we remained wrapped around each other in our safe little cocoon.
“Is it bad that I want to hunt down your ex and kick the shit out of him for telling your dad?” I asked.
She huffed out a laugh. “Honey, get in line. I would love nothing more than to punch him in the throat right about now.”
“I can’t believe he and your dad still talk. I mean, your dad knows why you divorced him, right?”
When Julianna swallowed audibly, I looked at her. “Julianna?”
With a sigh, she closed her eyes. “I just told him I felt like I was too young to be married at that time, which was also true. So, he still kind of thinks Shaun and I will get back together again someday.”
“What?” I sat up, outraged. “Why didn’t you tell him everything?”
“Because…” She cringed and then glared at me for pressing the issue. “Shaun insisted it was an accident, and it very well could have been. I didn’t want to falsely accuse him of anything.”
“That’s bullshit. You know it wasn’t an accident just as much as I do. He’s still keeping tabs on you, and he grabbed your arm, baby doll. Your instincts are not off. He’s violent. And what the hell, anyway? Why didn’t you tell your dad about the infidelity? Surely that would’ve made him never want to talk to his precious Shaun again.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, looking weary. “I was too embarrassed. I thought I should’ve done something better to keep his interest only on me.”
I took her chin and looked her straight in the eye. “You can’t get better than perfection. He fucked up, it’s that simple.”
She gave a flustered smile and rolled her eyes before kissing my lips and patting my chest. “Thank you, but…it still knocked down my confidence a couple sizes. And besides, he really wants that job with my dad after he graduates. I didn’t want him to lose his chance at his dream future just because I didn’t like him anymore. That seemed…awful of me.”
I blinked at her. “Jesus, you really are a bleeding heart softie under that tough shell, aren’t you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Am not.”
She was. And I loved that about her too. Grinning, I said, “Too bad your dad doesn’t have the same soft spot.”
As my smile dropped to worry, Julianna pressed her forehead to mine. “Baby, look at me.”
When I did, she smiled. “Don’t worry so much about him, okay? You and I are a team, remember. We can get through this together.”
I paused. She was absolutely right. So why was I worrying? We had this in the bag.
Relaxing, I laced our fingers together and squeezed her hand warmly. “I love you,” I said, not sure what I’d do without her.
Her grin turned playful. “Not as much as I love you.”
I laughed and kissed her full on the mouth before saying, “Not even possible.”
Her free hand crept between us and headed down. I liked where this was going and quirked an interested eyebrow, just as someone knocked on her bedroom door.
“JuJu?” Tyla called. “Can I borrow your black ankle boots?”
I met Julianna’s gaze and her shoulders fell as she removed her hand from my pants. “Yes,” she called back, quietly groaning and dropping her face to my shoulder. “Just a second.”
Dammit. With a sigh, I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling to control my hormones. “Rain check?” I guessed.
Juli stroked a couple fingers down my cheek. “Yes, I’m sorry. Tyla deserves some extra attention this morning. We kind of crashed her break-up party last night when my dad showed up.”
“Right.” I exhaled a bolstering breath. “To be continued, then.” I needed to get going to shower and change at home, anyway.
“Don’t worry, baby, I’ll see you soon enough again in philosophy class.” And then she proceeded to give me a very nice kiss goodbye.