Crashed (Driven, #3)(130)

My hand presses to my chest from utter shock and absolute adoration at Colton for including my boys in his scavenger hunt. For allowing them to help him do something nice for me. “You guys!” I exclaim as I jog over to where they stand and take in the mischievous looks in their eyes. “You kept this from me?” I step forward and hug both of them tightly as we all laugh.

“We were sworn to secrecy,” Shane says, blushing.

“Colton said we wouldn’t get in trouble for lying to you either,” Connor adds, shaking his head.

“No.” I laugh, completely overwhelmed by everything. “You’d never get in trouble for something like this.”

Shane clears his throat and I look over to him. “We have your next clue.”

“Oh, okay,” I say with a laugh, my nerves returning.

“You have to answer this question right in order to get the next clue, okay?” I nod. “When you see this item, which Con is going to hold up, what one word answer comes to your mind?”

Connor holds up a yellow, rubber ducky and I erupt into a fit of giggles, fresh tears appear at the corners of my eyes. I shake my head trying to staunch my laughter but can’t when I say, “Quack!”

And more recollections hit of shouting and hurt cutting through the morning chill on the front lawn of the Palisades house to a hotel room in Florida and my menagerie of animals I threw at Colton when trying to preserve my heart from misconceived truths. Of being so stubborn I didn’t really listen, didn’t hear what he was telling me.

But I’m listening now. He’s not the only one who’s learned during our time together.

Connor and Shane let out a little cheer and they hand me another envelope in which I hurriedly tear open. It says: The memories this next clue remind me of are burned in my mind just as much as the ink of my tattoos. And you were sexy as f*ck. Damn! “In case you need a little sweetener after I dirty you up.” Where exactly would you buy that?

Everything below the waist tightens at the memory of Colton and cotton candy and I smile at the thought and then feel weird thinking those thoughts near the boys. “Are you guys going to be okay?” I ask them immediately.

They roll their eyes. “We’re not here alone,” Shane says. “Now go figure out the clues!”

“Okay,” I say as my excitement mounts. I kiss both boys on the top of their heads and jog through the fair looking everywhere for a vendor cart that has cotton candy on it. And with every step, I look for and expect to find Colton and his impish grin waiting to surprise me.

But there’s nothing.

I start to get panicked at the quiet calm of the grounds. After a bit of wandering I turn a corner and look up to see a lone funnel of cotton candy hanging from a stand. As I get closer I cry out when I see Ricky and Jackson standing in aprons and smiles.

“I can’t wait any longer!” Ricky says, fidgeting behind the counter and handing me another box as both Jax and I laugh at his excitement to be a part of this.

I set the box down and open it to find an auction paddle that says: Go back to where it all began. Where I learned defiance can be pretty damn sexy.

I shake my head again, feeling like I’m having an out of body experience as I say goodbye to them. I walk as fast I can out to the parking lot, to where Haddie is sitting behind the wheel, eyebrows raised and fingers drumming in anticipation.

I slide into the car to her repeating “Tell me, tell me.” Over and over. I tell her to drive where the date auction charity gala took place and then fill her in on the two clues I’d received at the carnival. She’s bouncing in her seat with enthusiasm while I sit here wide-eyed and shocked at Colton’s sweet surprise.

“Well shit, that bonk on the head at the race in Florida sure as f*ck helped him in the romance department.” She laughs. “I think it might become a mandatory thing for the penis-poking gender!”

I laugh with her. “You really didn’t know about this part?” I ask Haddie several times.

“Ry, he told me he had a cool date planned for you and asked if I’d be your chauffeur for part of it. So I’m here, and I so can’t wait to see what else he has in store for you!” she says, reaching over and running her hands over the words of the auction paddle. It’s sitting on my thigh and I can’t stop staring at it.

The stars must be aligned because we avoid Los Angeles traffic and make it to the old theater in record time. “I’ll be waiting right here!” she yells as I climb out of the car with the paddle in my hand and jog to the grand front doors of the old theater to find one of them ajar.

I enter the familiar foyer and look around as I walk toward the door to the right of the stage like I did that night so many months ago. I start humming out of habit to Matchbox Twenty’s Overjoyed playing softly on the speakers overhead. It has to be a complete coincidence because even Colton couldn’t time my arrival this perfectly, but it makes me smile at how perfect it is that my group is playing. I blink back tears as the significance of this moment takes hold—Colton leading me back here after all this time where something I never really wanted to happen, actually started.

And look at us now.

I swallow the burn of tears in my throat as I push through the door and into the lit backstage hallway. And suddenly my tears are replaced with an uncontrollable fit of giggles when I see caution tape over the little alcove where Bailey tried to seduce him. And more hilarious than the caution tape is the little sign that says “Beware, piranhas lurking.”