Colton spoke without hesitation. “I don’t give a shit about my career right now.”
Buck’s face shed its color.
Colton gripped the man’s shoulders. “You asked me if I still wanted to do this, and the answer is no. Not without her. So if doing this thing risks my career, so be it. It’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means getting her back.”
He met his mother’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know this affects you too. But I can’t lose her.”
She smiled and approached him. “Colton, you have spent far too much time worrying about us. It’s not your job to protect us. It never was.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. You think we don’t know why you’ve done all this? Why you’ve worked so hard, why you think you have to be the happy one in the room all the time?”
Shit. She was venturing into glare of your own past territory. And she was doing it in front of everyone.
“I said some awful things to her. What if she won’t forgive me?”
“She will. Because she sees the real you. The one you think you have to hide from the world. The one you think no one could possibly love if you showed it to them.”
“Damn.” Malcolm whistled behind them. “Is that true, Colton? Do you really feel that way?”
He gulped and ignored his friends. If he looked at them, he would cry. He didn’t have time to cry right now.
His mom patted his chest. “You deserve to be happy, Colton. For you. So do whatever you have to do. Go get Gretchen and bring her back.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Colton showered quickly and walked out to find all the guys waiting for him in his bedroom.
“What’s the plan?” Mack asked.
“First, Jack and I are going to deal with Evan. Then we’re going to bring her back.” Colton pointed at Vlad. “I need you to call my pilot to get the plane ready.”
Vlad nodded.
“The rest of you, meet us at the airport in two hours. Bring the girls too.”
“You want all of us to go?” Noah asked.
“Gretchen needs to see that her entire family wants her to come home. And you are all her family.”
“I will bring my Santa suit,” Vlad said.
“Um, why?” Noah asked cautiously.
“Because this is a Christmas grand gesture. There must be a Santa suit.”
Colton couldn’t really argue with that logic. He opened his dresser drawers and pulled out jeans and a T-shirt. Then he dropped the towel around his waist and bent over to pull on some boxers.
“Gah, warn a man!” Noah clapped his hands over his eyes.
“Not your best angle, brother,” Mack said.
“That is no one’s best angle,” Malcolm mused.
“Colton, let’s go,” Jack called up the stairs.
He threaded the T-shirt over his head and hopped into his jeans, buttoning them as he left the room. He spun back around with a curse and grabbed a pair of socks.
“Colton!”
“I’m coming,” he called, jogging down the stairs, the guys right behind him.
Desiree and Buck flanked the front door wearing matching expressions of This is such a bad idea. “You should let me come with you,” Desiree said.
“I thought attorneys couldn’t be party to anything illegal.”
Desiree pressed her hands to her ears. “I didn’t hear that.”
Colton dropped to his butt on the bottom stair to pull on his socks and shoes. When he stood, his mom handed him his fleece coat and a hat. “Your hair is wet. You’ll catch a cold.”
He kissed her head. “Thanks, Mom.” He turned his attention to Noah. “Have Alexis call Addison and get whatever information she can.”
“I will,” Noah said.
He turned to Buck next. “I’m sorry, Buck. I know I’m putting you in a tough position.”
“No, you’re not. My job as your manager is to make sure you’re happy, not just in your career but in your life. I haven’t done a good enough job of that lately.”
“What are you going to tell Archie?”
“What I should have said before. To go fuck himself.”
* * *
? ? ?
It would be a miracle if Colton made it through the next few minutes without decorating Evan Winthrop’s face with another black eye. When he and Jack burst through the door to the man’s office—his secretary Sarah protesting loudly behind them—Evan leaped to his feet with all the bluster of a comic book villain.