Claws // Colby Brock

💫 23 💫

"And I'll heal right away and just keep following you."

I groaned. "Colby, seriously, I've got like twenty minutes to get somewhere, I don't need this shit."

"I'm not stopping you from going," he pointed out, his voice lowering as he took a step closer to me. I startled as his cold fingers wrapped around mine. "I'm just asking you don't go on your own."

Looking down at our contact, I murmured, "That's called babysitting. For children."

"It's called not letting my One get killed because she's too stubborn to realise maybe she can't always handle herself." His other hand raised to my chin, lifting my face so he could stare directly into my eyes. It was utterly unfair, the butterflies in my stomach from our contact.

"Fine," I growled under my breath, failing to sound as angry as I wanted to. "Until Aiden is dealt with, fine. But as soon as that asshole is dead, I'm not letting you follow me around like a puppy."

"Ironic," he muttered back, his lips twisting up at one corner. As I glanced down at them, I decided to make this little endeavour as difficult for him as possible, and reached up standing on my toes to kiss him. Holding the back of his head, my fingers running through his hair, I slowly backed up until my back touched my car, and with my free hand, took a hold of the door handle.

Though, my distraction attempt was working a little too well — so well that I momentarily forgot what I was doing and the time constraint. Feeling him trail up my sides holding me close was embarrassingly intoxicating. 

But eventually, I made the move, opening my car door and simultaneously breaking away. I slid onto the driver seat as quickly as possible, slamming the door and clicking the locks. I heard Colby sigh outside, standing casually next to my car as I backed it up and spun it around.

I knew he'd be able to catch up, but I wasn't giving in so easily.

By the time I had parked hastily outside a Chinese fast food restaurant, with barely fifteen minutes to spare, Colby was leaning against the building with his arms crossed and his head laid back. I casually slid out of the car, through the door and rushed up to the counter where there was someone else making a last-minute order. Both of us apologised profusely for being such a burden.

Colby seemed to wait outside.

When I reached my car door, a paper bag in one hand, I realised he'd taken it upon himself to sit in the driver seat, and no matter how much I wanted to stand there in the street arguing with him, I was so hungry I couldn't wait to get started. So instead of bickering like usual, I slid into the passenger side and pried open the paper bag.

"Keys," Colby said simply, one hand held out toward me. I passed them over in silence, happily breaking apart chopsticks to begin eating.

I'd never seen Colby drive before. It was strange that I'd been around these people for a month almost now and yet barely any of them had driven more than once. I supposed when you could run faster than a car, there was no point in driving and getting stuck in traffic, but still. It was a major part of regular life for me, and seemed completely alien to them.

We walked into the house a few feet apart. Despite having my hands almost full, I gladly left him behind while he parked the car, hopping out the moment he stopped to begin turning, and naturally he managed to catch up. I scarfed down the last few bites of my food, walking slowly into the kitchen as my senses picked up on where everyone else was. Of course they had to still be there, still gathered around the island.

Cassie's gaze found me immediately. "Nice?" she asked, nodding at the little cardboard box I might as well have inhaled alongside my food.

"Unbelievably," I replied. I threw my trash away, choosing not to notice the obvious blood bags at the bottom of the trash can, and casually dropped my elbows to the island. "What happened while I was gone?"