I watched as his smile faltered slightly, causing me to scrunch my brow with confusion. "What's wrong?" I asked as he shook his head.
"Nothing, I just haven't seen you smile since I rescued you." He said as I looked down.
I knew had been miserable and clearly very broken, but had I not smiled once?
The more I thought about it the sadder I got.
"I'm just happy to see it. I missed that beautiful smile." Colby said then brought his hand to my cheek.
"I'm sorry I've been such a downer.." I said as he shook his head. "You're not a downer, Jules. You've been recovering. It's different." He said then pulled my chair out for me.
"Did you cook all this?" I asked causing him to laugh. "Yeah. I got a part time job at Rio's steakhouse." He teased them sat across from me.
"So, that's why you've been gone so much." I said and started cutting the steak in front of me. "I'm really sorry about that, Jules. I know it's hard on you." He said with a sigh.
"I know you're doing it to keep me safe but I just worry so much about you." I admitted.
"I know. There's really nothing I can do to change those feelings." He said and reached over to take my hand.
"Tell me what you've been up to." I said as he sighed. "I don't know if really want to know." He said and rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.
"Why is that?" I asked and looked into his eyes. "Because I think it will just freak you out even more." He said as I shook my head.
"Please just tell me." I said causing him to close his eyes.
"I've been working through the secret society, testing peoples loyalty to me." He explained then opened his eyes.
"Why would that make me upset?" I asked as he sighed. "Because they're angry with me, Jules. I locked them in base for almost a month." He explained causing me to chuckle.
"Same." I said then looked up at him. He had a small smile on his face then shook his head and looked away.
"Some of them tried to kill me but obviously I won those fights." He said then looked out to the horizon.
"I trust all of the men I have now though, so that shouldn't be an issue." He said with a sigh. "What else have you been working on?" I asked then took a bite of my mashed potatoes.
"Since there aren't as many members in the gang I have to pick up a lot of slack. That's why I have such long days." He explained with a sigh.
"And what about Will?" I asked and looked up at him. "I got all the information I needed from him." He said simply then looked back at me.
"No more talking about this. What have you been up to here?" Colby asked with a grin.
"Oh, it's been so fun. Painting, worrying, eating. All the fun things." I said then sighed. "Kat is losing her mind having to stay in this apartment." I said with a laugh.
"Yeah, she's not built for the captivity life." Colbh said as I nodded. "Apparently I am though." I said as he shook his head.
"No, you tolerate it though. You've never been a big partier and shopping isn't your favorite thing to do. For Kat and the other girls, they've never had to be secluded or really scared." Colby explained.
"Sure, they were always in some sort of danger being with the guys. It's just never been this intense. Nobody felt the need to hurt those girls because there was no reason to." He said with a shrug.
"What about now? Since Sam is in charge of your old gang." I said and tilted my head to the side.
"I guess maybe they've had to take a little more caution, but Kat has never been shunned from the outside world like you have. And I'm sorry that you have to live like that." He said with genuine sadness.
"It's okay, Colby. It's all worth it when I see you walking through the front door. I'm just terrified there will be a day where you don't." I said as he reached over and caressed my cheek gently.
"I will fight every day to come home to you. Nobody can take me away from you." He said as I nodded.
I wanted to believe him.
I wanted to think that he would do anything to protect himself but it was hard to believe. He really couldn't control what other people would do.
I knew he wasn't telling me the whole truth about what he's been up to. I don't know how I knew, but it just felt like he was leaving something out.
Was it possible that he was looking for the people who were out to get him?
Was that his way of making all of this go away?
I had to just hope and pray that that wasn't the case.
I had to hope that he was being safe and that one day we would get to live in a world where I could at least leave the apartment every once in a while.
