Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men Book 9) (26 page)

I began to smile, glad his sister-in-law had experienced a good night. A second later, Caroline messaged him with another text that popped up while he was still letting me read the first.

I blinked. “A chainsaw?”

“What?” He turned the screen to himself, only to grin. “Oh, sweet. I was having no luck.” As he typed out a reply, I stared at him.

“Do I even want to know why you and your sister talk about chainsaws?”

“Hmm?” He glanced up, only to say, “Oh,” and shrug. “We’re Viners.”

To me, that explained nothing. So I stared at him longer. “You’re…what-ers?”

“I’m a Viner.” He set the phone down and gave me an odd look. “Don’t you have the Vine app?”

“No. Sorry. What’s the Vine app?”

His mouth fell open. “You don’t…wait, you don’t even know what Vine
is
? How is that possible?”

“Hey,” I muttered, “you didn’t know what a hair wrap was.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll explain. Vine is just another social media sharing service, this one for short three-to-seven second videos. People use it to post pranks, music, journalism crap, comedy, political stuff and shit like that. My profile is strictly comedy skits. Actually, it’s not just my page. My sister, Caroline, and I share it. She learned a bunch of neat editing tricks in college and taught me some, so a year ago when I got started in it, I asked her for a little help, and…” He rolled his eyes. “You know sisters. She butted her way in until we were splitting the page, fifty-fifty.”

“Wow, you sound…really serious about it.”

“Yeah, well…when we hit two million followers, we picked up a couple sponsors and started making some cash from it.”

“Wait,
what
?” I lifted my hand to stop him so I could catch up. “Did you say two
million
followers? How the hell do you have that many followers in something I’ve never even heard of?”

“I don’t know. I’m just that awesome, I guess.” When I only gaped at him, he winked. “Do you want to see some of our Vines?”

“Hell yes.”

As he flipped through his phone and opened an app, I shook my head. “Wait. You’re logging on to YouTube. I thought you said it was on its own Vine site, or whatever.”

“Yeah, but we put compilations of our best Vines on YouTube so you can see more than one together. Here. Just watch.”

He typed in a few search words, then scrolled through a screen until he came to something called
No-Colton-No
. “That’s our screen name for our profile. Caroline used to read me this book called
No, David!
when I was little, and it was my favorite because my middle name’s David. Plus, I misunderstand things in a literal way a lot in our Vines, so it just seemed to fit all the way around.”

I nodded, loving the explanation of how he’d come up with their screen name, as he pushed play. What popped up was the strangest mix of mini videos I’d ever seen. Some were just odd, but then others made me crack up until we hit one where his sister told him to grow a pair, and a literal pear started to sprout from his forehead from a branch, and I lost it. I started laughing until tears fell.

Each skit was pure silliness, clean enough for kids to watch, and totally not something I would’ve expected the suave flirt I’d met almost a year ago to take part in. He basically made fun of himself in each Vine. I loved it; I loved learning about this new dimension of my man.

“And you make money from this?” I asked, glancing at him before I settled close enough to rest my chin on his shoulder and continue to watch him do the most bizarre things on the tiny screen of his phone.

“Yep,” he answered, sounding proud of himself.

“How much money?” I hedged.

“Enough to put me through college and let Caroline stay home with her daughter.”

Shit. That was impressive. I grew proud of him. But I murmured, “Weird,” and shook my head as I enjoyed watching his Vine compilation.

J
ULIANNA’S
C
HAPTER
|
23

I
woke the next morning to Colton kissing his way up my shoulder.

Mumbling incoherently over the fact I was now awake and didn’t yet want to be, I rolled toward him and reached blindly until I found his chest, which was covered by the cotton material of his shirt.

Yes, that made waking up better. Except, wait.

My eyes came open. He hadn’t worn a shirt to bed.

Finding him fully dressed, I immediately pouted. “You have clothes on.”

“I know, I know.” He expelled a dramatic sigh. “You want some really fun morning nookie, I get that. I mean, hello.” He waved a hand over his chest. “Why wouldn’t you? But I’m sorry, baby doll. I’m already running late. I need to get home and shower and change. My first class starts in half an hour.”

He pressed his lips to the base of my neck, kissing me noisily before he pulled away to hop off my bed. “When’s your next night off?” he asked as he tugged on his shoes.

I groaned because I had a pretty full schedule this week. “Thursday.” That was ladies’ night at Forbidden, and only guys worked on ladies’ night.

“So the countdown begins anew.” Pausing to check his phone and type something quickly, he grinned and winked at me before slipping it into his pocket.

My cell chimed a second later as he started for the door.

Frowning, I checked it to see that he’d texted me, saying:

My insides warmed, and my face split with a grin. But just to be contrary, I lifted up and called, “Fifty-eight.”

He laughed and volleyed back, “Fifty-seven and a half.”

And then he was gone, his footsteps echoing down the hall before I heard the front door open and close.

I lay there, depressed a moment, before I checked the time. Eyes shooting wide, I leaped up off my bed, screeching, “Holy shit.” I’d forgot to set my alarm. Like him, I also had half an hour to get up and around before class.

I yanked open my closet and automatically began to reach for something typical and appropriate, but then paused when Colton’s words from the night before echoed through me. Shoving the beige sweater back inside, I reached for the boisterous turquoise top with a huge dream catcher printed across it so that it appeared to be draped over my shoulder. And when I did my hair, I poufed it a little spikier in the back so it looked a bit more like a spirited mess. Then I put a little more color into my makeup, and when I was done, I stepped back and looked at the overall picture.

I liked it, I thought I looked cute, and that was all that mattered.

Unable to stop grinning, I began to leave the apartment until a phone call stopped me.

“Oh my God,” Sasha screeched into my ear. “I left my book bag at home and I have a paper in there to turn in to my English professor in an hour and twenty minutes. Please tell me you haven’t left the apartment yet.”

“You are so lucky,” I told her. “I was just about to walk out the door. Is it in your room?”

“Yes, right on my bed. Thank you, Juli. I owe you so big.”

“No problem,” I answered, backtracking to her room. I was actually honored to get her things for her. She’d called
me
for help, not Tyla. I was pathetically pleased by that until it struck me, she might’ve called Tyla first only to discover Ty wasn’t home.

My eagerness to please her deflated a little at realizing I was probably second choice, but I was still happy to help.

“Where do you want to meet?” I asked as I scooped her bag off her unmade bed and hurried from the apartment with both our things.

“How about by the Viking statue in the quad right before my eleven o’clock class.”

“Okay.” That meant I had to carry around both her and my things through first hour. “I’ll see you then.”

My nine thirty class lasted only an hour when it was supposed to run closer to an hour and a half, so I made it to the quad almost half an hour early. I sat on the bench next to the statue of Victor, ESU’s school mascot, and I tried to read a little from my Kindle, but Colton had ruined the story for me. When I got to the part where the hero said he could see heaven when he looked at her pussy, I snorted and put the book away. I was tempted to text him and call him a reading ruiner, but Sasha showed up, gushing her gratitude as she swiped up her bag and unzipped it to make sure she had her paper inside.

Then she hugged me, and we talked a few minutes until she decided she needed to go.

We’d just parted ways, Sasha heading one direction and me starting the other.

When I caught sight of Colton up ahead, I slowed to a stop.

He stood just off the sidewalk in the grass with one foot propped up against the seat of a nearby bench, while some tiny blonde bimbo preened in front of him, twining a piece of hair around her finger as she freaking flirted with him.

Flirted with
my
man.

Shading the sunlight with his hand, he nodded at something she said and then laughed.

The bastard laughed.

He hadn’t laughed or smiled on the first day of class when that other floozy had flirted with him. But here he was now, laughing with the blonde, while he had something going on with me on the side.

That just wasn’t acceptable. Bitch better keep her hands off.

Before I could rationally think past anything but claiming him so she would disappear, I stormed into action, marching forward, straight up to him so that I had to brush past her to get right into his face. And then I kept going, grabbing the front of his shirt and fisting it into my hand as I stepped up onto my toes and jerked his face down to my level.

“Wha...?” His gaze registered shock that whole split second before my mouth collided with his. And then he kind of tightened against me before he seemed to realize who was kissing him.

At first, I was hard and demanding, my mouth punishing him for even looking at another woman. But then he relaxed against me. His fingers grazed the side of my neck. And his lips softened against mine before parting and sweeping his tongue into me.

When a strangled, hungry groan rose from his throat, I felt settled and infinitely calmer.

I broke away, gently and slowly, backing off just enough to look into his heavy-lidded, aroused gaze. Then I let go of my grip on his shirt and smoothed my fingers down his chest.

“You’re still planning on coming over Thursday, right?”

He blinked once before breaking into a sly grin. “Nowhere else I’d rather
come
.”

“Good.” Unable to help myself, I glanced at the bimbo, the meaning in my gaze absolutely clear.

This territory was mine, honey. The flag had just been planted.

Receiving the message, she was already backing away, her shiny golden hair no longer in her hand. “Well, I...I’ll talk to you about the assignment later. Bye, Colton.”

He waved. “See you, Jess.”

I watched her hurry away, clutching a pile of books to her chest before I turned back to him and lifted an eyebrow. “Jess, huh?”

“Hmm?” He’d been checking out my cleavage before lifting his face. “Yeah. Jessica. She’s in my history class. I like your top. Very colorful, and tight in the most perfect places ever.”

I ignored the compliment. “You have history with her, huh?”

He stared at me a moment before a smile spread across his face. “You’re jealous.”

I sniffed because I had to hide the fact I was suddenly embarrassed to realize that yes, I was jealous. Extremely, blindly, irrationally jealous.

“Of Jessica the tiny blonde bimbo?” I said, though. “Honey, I don’t think so.”

With a chuckle, he slid his hands around my waist until he was sinking them into the back pockets of my jeans and tugging me forward against him. “She’s not a bimbo,” he murmured, his grin way too freaking smug for my liking. “She’s actually really smart. We’re on the dean’s list together.”

“Oh? So you’re in history
and
on the dean’s list with her?” Mad he was changing his story about just how well he knew
Jessica
, I tried to shove at his chest to make space between us, but the bastard only snickered and tugged me closer until my hips crashed flush against his, and shit, I felt the stirrings of a hard-on coming from him.

God! He was getting aroused about pissing me off. Not cool.

“Yep, we’re on the dean’s list together, plus we share a history class and English 101.” Lifting his brow, he widened his eyes and whispered, “Scandalous, isn’t it?”

“You are such a jerk.” I shoved at him again to no avail. “Why don’t you and your perfect, blonde genius just—”

“Do nothing together,” he finished for me, leaning in until our noses touched. “We do nothing together but talk about school. Like just now, we were talking about the history term paper the professor went over today. But, wow, I kind of like this hot, angry jealousy thing you have going on. Are you going to spank me for talking to another girl?” When he wiggled his eyebrows and added, “Please,” I slapped his chest.

“Shut up.”

He caught my hand and kissed the knuckles. “I actually meant a smack on the ass, not the chest, but...if this makes you hot, baby...”

I growled, upset because I wanted to swing at him again, except now I couldn’t after that comment.

“On a scale of the Sahara Desert to Niagara Falls,” he asked, his voice changing timbre. “How wet are you right now?”

“God, you never give up, do you?” A reluctant grin broke across my face, glad he was flirting with me despite my awful jealous outburst. But a second later, my smile fell and I looked deep into his brown eyes. “Be honest, though. You never fucked her?”

He choked on the question, sputtering out a surprised laugh. “What? No! Hell no.”

“But you want to?” I pressed, knowing my worry was showing in my eyes.

Gaze sparking with challenge, he tapped his chin thoughtfully before answering, “You know, now that you mention it, I guess I
was
debating whether to bend her over this bench here and take her from behind or back her into that tree and shag her rotten against the bark. Jesus, Juli. Get your head out of the gutter. We share a couple classes together. That’s all.”

“Whatever,” I muttered, scowling. “I
know
how the male mind works.”

His eyebrows rose, and I could tell I’d offended him. But a second later, he let go of me and took a step back.

“This may sound hard to believe, but I don’t fuck every woman I talk to. I mean, what exactly do you think happens? I get within five feet of a chick, smell pussy, and my cock just takes over my brain until I’m forced to chase her down the sidewalk, tackle her into the grass and mount her right there, pounding into her until the testosterone settles down and I can think like a rational human being again?” He winced before adding, “Yeah… I have a tad bit more self-control than that.”

I folded my arms before glancing away. “Well,
some
guys don’t.”

His mouth fell open before realization sparked his gaze. “Ah hell, baby doll,” he said softly, pressing his nose against my temple. “I’m not your ex-husband.”