A Very Merry Bromance (Bromance Book Club #5) (89)

Colton rattled off the address to Gretchen’s house. If she wasn’t there, he’d go to her office next. And if she wasn’t there, he’d go back to the place where this entire nightmare started and finish the job until her fucking family told him where she was.

The driver pulled a U-turn at the next light, ignored the honk of an annoyed motorist trying to turn right, and sped through the intersection. With the last ounce of power in his phone, Colton tried to call her again.

Still no answer.

The SUV had barely stopped before Colton leaped from the back seat and jogged up the front walk to her house. He pressed the intercom button and leaned into the microphone. “Let me in, Gretchen.”

No response.

“My car is here, Gretchen. That means you’re here.”

Silence.

“Dammit, Gretchen. I know what you’re doing, and I am not letting you run away again.”

The intercom finally crackled with her voice. “Can you please stop yelling?”

“Let me in, and I’ll think about it.”

He heard the lock release on the stairs to her apartment. He burst through the door and took the stairs two at a time. By the time he reached the top, he was winded and sweaty. Long, hurried steps took him to the end of the hallway, where her door remained shut.

He pounded on it with the palm of his hand, sending the wreath he’d given her crashing to the floor. The door flew open, and she stood before him still wearing his sweatpants and T-shirt. His too-big socks had stretched out and hung off her toes like two floppy flippers. Her hair was piled atop her head in a messy bun, and her face bore the streaks of tears. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Let me in.”

“No.”

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the floor. She protested with a fist on his shoulder. He kicked the door shut behind him and set her down. She hit him again in the middle of his chest. “What kind of brutish bullshit was that?”

“The I just got out of jail kind.” He stormed toward her tiny kitchen.

She followed with quick, padded footsteps. “What are you doing?”

“I’m starving.”

He opened her fridge, perused the sad, meager contents, and settled on a single wrapped piece of string cheese. He ripped open the plastic and bit into it like a banana. Three angry bites, and he’d devoured the whole thing.

She crossed her arms. “There. You’ve eaten. Now go.”

“Not without you.”

Colton tried to draw her close, but she stepped away, her hands covering her face. “Stop, Colton, please.”

“For God’s sake.” He jerked his hands through his hair and laced his fingers on top of his head. “I understand what you’re doing, because it’s what you do, but dammit, I can’t do this right now. I’m exhausted. I’m still hungry. I am in desperate need of a shower because I was forced to sit for two hours next to a sweaty hipster named Jacob—spelled Jacob but pronounced Jah-cobe, which he told me no fewer than four times—and there are about a thousand reporters foaming at the mouth to get to me. All I want is to go home, crawl into bed with you, and sleep for about ten hours. So, please. Get whatever you need because there’s a car waiting for us outside.”

“No. I’m breaking up with you.”

He snorted. “No, you’re not.”

“I’m leaving Nashville.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m taking the job in D.C.”

“No, you’re not.” He hastened to where she stood with her arms crossed and her lips thin. He traced them with his thumb. “And I’m not letting you break up with me.”

“That’s not how this works. If I want to break up with you, then we’re broken up.”

He quirked an eyebrow and gazed down at her pouty, upturned face. “Wow. Kick a man when he’s down, why don’t you? I was just arraigned on assault charges for you, and now you’re dumping me?”

He meant it as a joke. She didn’t take it as one. She unfurled her arms, only to toss her hands in the air. “I’m dumping you because you were just arraigned on assault charges for me!”

“I’m the one who hit him, Gretchen. You didn’t ask me to. I did this all on my own.”

“Because of me.”

At his growled argh, she stomped to her small kitchen table and spun around her laptop. “Look at this.” She pointed to an article on the screen detailing his arrest with his mug shot front and center. “This is going to follow you forever.”

“You’re a real comfort, you know that?” He winked to let her know he was, once again, kidding.

But once again, she didn’t get the joke. “I am poison to you, Colton.”

He tipped his head to the ceiling and ground the heels of his hands into his tired eyes. “We’re really doing this right now?”

“The sunshiny one doesn’t fall for the grumpy one. The grumpy one corrupts the sunshiny one. That’s what I’ve done to you.”

Her words and the tremor in her voice brought his gaze back to hers. He didn’t like what he saw there—sad resignation and dogged determination.

“You asked why I ran away from you after the wedding. It wasn’t because I didn’t want you. It was because I did want you. I fell for you, too, that night. But I knew even then that someone like you deserves better than someone like me and my particular brand of chaos. Trust me, you’re better off without me.”