Page 217 of Zach
“I…fuck, it just feels like I would be too…”
“Exposed,” Jonas says flatly. “You would feel exposed. You have spent so many years trying to be
perfect that you can’t imagine not living that way. It’s become a habit.”
We all stare at him. “You’ve been talking to Colt?” Nick asks.
Jonas shakes his head. “No. But I read all of his textbooks.”
“For fun?” Kade asks, eyes bulging. Colton has a lot of psychology textbooks. A lot.
“No. I was attempting to figure out why I am fixating on Janey.”
“What did you learn?” I ask him.
“That I empathize with her. That I respect her. And that I appear to be in love with her.”
Kade sucks in a breath, chokes, and drops to his stomach, coughing. None of us bother checking
on him, all too busy staring at Jonas, stunned.
“You just…said it,” Nick says in awe. “Just like that.”
“Should I not?” Jonas asks with a frown.
“It’s fine,” Ransom assures him. “But you haven’t told Janey that, have you?”
“No. I have been advised that I must get into the friend zone first. Maybe, if she spends more time
with me, she might grow to have some affection for me.”
Kade opens his mouth, probably to spew some shit about the friend zone, so I kick him. I glare at
him, and he glares back, but shuts his mouth. I turn to Jonas, and open my mouth to tell him how lucky
Janey would be to have him, but the door flies open.
“There you are. Jesus, leave a fucking note next time.” Colton throws the door closed, narrowly
missing Maverick as he enters, then dives into the ring, scrambling towards me. I crab walk back, but
not fast enough. He hooks my ankle and drags me into him, wrapping his arms around my waist and
dropping his head on my stomach. He lays there on top of me and sighs. “It worked.”
Ransom’s gaze sharpens. “It did?” He whistles through his teeth. “Holy fuck.”
“What worked?” Nick and Jonas ask in unison.
“Johnny,” Colt mutters against my stomach. I can hear the relief in his voice. “We went today. He
agreed not to fuck up. He’s getting out.”
“Wait…like now?”
“He made a petition. Now we just have to wait. We’ve had the judge put in a good word. It looks
promising,” Maverick says.
