I narrow my eyes at Cole. “Not technically.” I look down at my hands. “It’s complicated.”

Especially right now.

I never thought Cole would freak out on another guy for hitting on me.

“They aren’t together,” Dylan tells Ivan. “Sawyer’s just being a good friend and helping him out. She’s totally single.”

Cole turns his death glare on her. “Do you like living with my brother? Because I can change that real quick.”

“All right, everyone calm down.” Jace places a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “There’s an ice cream shop a few doors down.” He looks at us. “Meet us there after you two finish up here.”

Cole sulks. “I don’t want ice—”

“It’s your birthday,” Oakley cuts in. “Let me buy you one of those cones with sprinkles on top.”

Cole glowers. “I didn’t turn five, asshole.”

“Could have fooled me,” Jace snaps. “Let’s go.”

Begrudgingly, Cole follows them.

I look at Dylan after they leave. “Jace is going to make a really great dad one day.”

“I know.” She smirks. “It’s an added bonus that his dad voice is kind of hot.”

Ivan goes back to concentrating on my tattoo. “I should be finished in five.”

His cheerful, upbeat tone from before is long gone.

“I’m sorry—” I start to say, but he shakes his head.

“Don’t be.” The buzzing starts up again. “Everyone has baggage, right?”

True, but Cole isn’t baggage.

He’s a landmine.

And it’s only a matter of time before he goes off.

“It’s not really that deep,” Oakley tells Dylan. “Morgan and I are just having fun.”

Dylan scoops some of the sundae she’s splitting with Jace onto her spoon. “Does she know that?”

Oakley takes a long sip of his milkshake before he answers. “She should. I told her from the get-go it’s money over bitches.”

Dylan and I glare at him.

Rolling his eyes, Oakley sits up straight. “I’m sorry, I meant money over humans with two X chromosomes. Better?”

Dylan looks up at the ceiling. “No—”

“Yes,” I exclaim, glad our studying is finally paying off. “You got it right.”

He grins. “Really?”

“Yup. And if you keep up the good work, you’ll be on track to graduate this year.”

Dylan’s smile matches ours. “I’m really proud of you, Oak.”

She squeezes my hand under the table.

Jace looks around the ice cream shop. “Cole’s been gone for a while now.”

The moment Dylan and I showed up, Cole said he was taking a walk.

Like he couldn’t get away fast enough.

We haven’t seen him since.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Dylan says. “He’s probably still cooling off or whatever.”

Jace stands up. “I’m gonna go check on him.”

“I’ll do it.”

Before anyone can protest, I grab my bag off the table and head out.

After the words Cole and Jace had earlier, I’m not sure Jace is the best person for the job.

I’m probably not either considering I was the reason he blew up on the guy at the tattoo shop, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to clear the air between us.

I peer through the window of Jace’s car, but he’s not in there.

I dip inside a few stores on the strip after that, but no dice.

He’s nowhere to be found.

I’m starting to get worried when a thought occurs to me. There’s only one place I haven’t checked, and it’s because we were already there.

I highly doubt Cole’s inside, given what happened earlier, but it’s worth a shot.

Awkwardness ensues when I walk in and see Ivan at the counter.

“Hey.”

“Let me guess, you’re looking for your boyfriend who’s not really your boyfriend?”

He’s either psychic, or my guess was right and Cole is here. “I take it he came back?”

“Yeah.” I don’t know what to make of the look he gives me. “He’s in the back with Candace. They should be finishing up soon.”

“Oh.”

I’m not sure if he’s actually hinting that something is going on between them, or if I’m just being paranoid.

Either way, I hate the way my stomach knots.

Maybe Dylan was right and I’m fooling myself into believing I can handle this situation with Cole when it’s obvious I can’t.

Because if I could…I wouldn’t be barreling toward the back room like a woman on a mission.

The door swings open when I reach it and Candace slithers out, closing it behind her.

Like the other artists who work here, she’s covered in piercings and tattoos.

She’s also beautiful…and thin.

Just the way Cole likes them.

“Is he—”

Words lodge in my throat because the only thing I care about is whether she fucked my boyfriend or not.

“He’s getting dressed.” She smiles. “You can go in there if you want.”

Getting dressed.

Heart on the floor, I turn the knob and walk in.

Cole has no right to ask me to help him and then turn around and hurt me like this.

“How could—”

My sentence dies the moment I see him.

He’s sitting shirtless on a black bench with his head in his hands…looking so dejected, it tears my heart wide open.

“Talk to me,” I whisper.

I don’t care what he says.

I just need him to let me in.

Because all the pain he keeps bottled up inside is slowly killing him piece by fucked up piece.

And I refuse to let that happen.

Because no matter how ruthless and damaged he is…a world without Colton isn’t a world I want to live in.

Slowly, he lifts his head.

His eyes—those beautiful green pools of depth which are usually so full of intensity—look dull and lifeless.

Like he’s trapped inside something that’s sucking the life out of him.

I don’t think…I follow the impulse beating through my chest like a drum.

The second my arms wrap around him, something inside him unhinges.

He hugs me so tight it steals every ounce of air from my lungs.

He can have it.

He trembles against me, shaking like a tree in a hurricane.

There are so many questions I want to ask him, so many things I wish he would tell me.

But I know if I push him too hard, too fast, he’ll recoil back into his shell and his protective armor will slip back into place.

All I can do right now is hold him.

Let him know he’s not alone.

After what feels like an eternity, he speaks.

“I thought it would help.” He lifts his gaze to mine. “But it didn’t.” His voice drops to a painful rasp. “Nothing does.”

I want to scream that of course fucking some random woman in a tattoo shop won’t help, but I don’t.

I grab his face in my hands. “That’s because Band-Aids only cover up a wound…they don’t heal it.”