Educational Experience

Chapter Twenty-Six

Okay...finally...Colt and Wyatt "hook up." But as only Colt could describe it. So if you're looking for that "50 Shades" sex scene...sorry. You know your boy Colt is going to take you a lot higher than that!

It's not just a ride...it's a journey. Ready to go? Read on...

26.

“Whatchu doin’?” Aisha asked. Like she didn’t know the answer.

I’d been sitting in the same chair with my ITouch on for a long time that morning. I wasn’t listening to music, I was listening to this Cormac McCarthy book that he wrote ‘way before the ones they made into movies. It was some scary dark shit, like most of his books—I’m a fan, obviously. That’s why I chose him to help me take my mind off things.

And I was into it, right along with the characters—the lead was about my age, first of all. And he was caught up in this group of white vigilante types who had been killing Mexicans and Indians for so long and in such psychotic ways that they were almost inhuman by that time. Talk about taking no prisoners, these guys even killed all the livestock and whatnot, when they came to town. Just to watch them blow up, more or less.

Not exactly the kind of thing you should be reading after a day like we’d had, but then the world looked sort of bleak like that to me that next day, to be honest. So I was taking no calls, all appointments cancelled. I just wasn’t up to talking about anything, not just Maddie.

But I was really happy how many people took the time to get in touch. Big Man tried to convince me he should come back, but I told him it wasn’t necessary. I mean, there wasn’t any service or anything so I didn’t want him to mess up his time with his family. Except I think just knowing it had happened when he wasn’t here to help had already messed it up for him. He sounded soooo sad.

We’d also gotten enough flowers and whatnot to fill up the whole building, it looked like when I went out of my little cocoon once in a while. Which was amazing given that Christmas was only a couple of days away and I had figured people would be too busy.

So I gave instructions to have them distributed to hospitals or whatever was appropriate. You don’t want to give a patient the kind of flowers you only send if someone dies, right?

But mostly, I just sort of locked myself away. It’s easiest for me to do because I’ve got the top floor of the building—there’s some offices and a studio and all, but over half of it is just my place. It has roof access, too, so it’s like having a split level house in a way, with The Dome up there to lounge in, too.

Wyatt had gone on her own to deal with her landlord, which wasn’t how I wanted it. But I was pretty much putty in her hands those days. Her wish, my command. No questions asked. Couldn’t wait for her to get back, though.

She was still the best medicine on the shelf. Good talk. Lots of laughs. And she got more beautiful every day, too—wasn’t just me who noticed, either. I was hoping that was at least a little bit because of me, but…whatever it was, I was grateful for it.

After I’d been out of sight for a good while, Aisha peeked in to make sure I wasn’t trying to hang myself or something. They were worried, the girls. And when they worried about me, they always took things ‘way over the top.

So I took off my headphones and greeted her warmly. I never turn them away. Never.

Oh, yes, there was “the other woman,” finally. But I’ve said this before. I owe them my life. And whenever I see them, I feel a kind of happiness and “one-ness” with them that is totally unique. In fact, I couldn’t have “recognized” Wyatt the way I did if I hadn’t lived with them first—you feel me? You “recognize” your mate. Like an old friend you’ve been missing real bad.