Chapter 263
Ellie’s POV
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Standing there on the shoulder of the road with the hazard lights blinking orange against the late afternoon sky, it was like looking into memories from an eternity ago and yesterday all at once. The same broad shoulders, the same dark hair, the same easy stance that somehow managed to look relaxed and capable at the same time.
In my past life, I had seen Colt maybe a dozen times total, mostly at pack functions, always from across a room. He had been more of a background character in my life, usually arguing with Vivian from afar and sending her into a rage at the worst moments. Back then, I had ignored it as much as I could, choosing to let them work on their own problems without my involvement.
Now, though, things were different.
Colt was Vivian’s fated mate. They had met at a banquet in my past life. It should have been simple; in finding her mate, she should have forgotten all about Dominic. She could have had her happy ever after with a man who truly wanted and cared for her
But she didn’t. Because Colt wasn’t Dominic. And she wanted Dominic. Clearly.
Vivian had never wanted Colt, not even from the first moment they had met and realized what they were to each other. In fact, from that moment, she did everything in her power to avoid, dismiss, and generally make Colt’s existence as inconvenient as possible, because accepting him meant giving up her pursuit of Dominic.
Which, of course, meant that every time Colt showed up, chaos followed, and Vivian’s attention went entirely toward making him go away until he finally did. Then it would be “peaceful” until he ultimately returned to try to win her over again, to no avail.
Back then, it had been more of a nuisance than anything, having to constantly deal with the fallout of their arguments.
But now, I didn’t have to deal with anything. I could hand Colt over to her and let him distract her for a while.
I almost smiled at the thought, although it sent a pang of guilt through me, too. Colt probably didn’t deserve to get thrown to the wolves like that. The poor guy was fated to one of the worst people-if not the worst-that I knew.
And yet, if history was in the habit of repeating itself, then he would probably show up eventually, right? What was the harm in speeding things up a little?
“Miss?” Colt tilted his head. “How do you know my name?”
“Sorry,” I said, collecting myself. “You just remind me of someone I used to know.” I gestured to his car. “Are you alright? You’re not injured, are you?”
“No, no.” He scratched his head and glanced back at his car, which was nose-down at an odd angle. “But I’ve had better afternoons, that’s for sure.”
I walked around to the front of the car and looked at the wheel. “Do you have a tow rope?” I asked.
He looked at me. “You’re going to pull me out?”
“My car can handle it,” I said. “Do you have a rope or not?”
He did. It took about ten minutes, but eventually his front end came up out of the ditch with a scrape of gravel and leveled out on
the shoulder.
Colt got out and inspected the front bumper. It had a new scrape along the bottom but was otherwise fine. He looked at me.
“Thanks,” he said. “Seriously. What do I owe you?”
“Nothing,” I said.
He pulled his wallet out anyway. “Come on. At least let me-”
112
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“Buy me dinner,” I said. “There’s a diner about two miles up. I was going to stop anyway.”
He put his wallet away and looked at me for a second, somewhere between amused and uncertain. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” I said. “I’ll meet you there.”
The diner was small and cozy, with a jukebox in the corner playing oldies. I got there first and took a booth by the window, and Colt pulled in two minutes later.
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