Chapter 7

• Colton Royal finally opened his eyes after a very long sleep. He felt a pang in his chest upon seeing the empty space beside him. The last thing he remembered before they fell asleep was him and Mia, cuddling in a spooning position.
• Colt sat up on the bed, he took a glance at the room but saw no trace of Mia or any of her clothing. It was just his clothes that were on the floor. 
• Beyond disappointed, he rose to his feet (naked since he slept naked) and went in the direction of the bathroom. Colton opened the door but saw no one. He slammed the bathroom door then left for the minibar area
• where he poured himself some alcohol which he gulped down at a go. Colt refilled the cup. He proceeded to the bedside and sat on the edge of the bed. He sighed, ran a hand through his messy hair, then took a sip of his alcoholic drink. 
• Colton sighed, running a hand over his face. He was clearly pissed. Pissed at himself, pissed at Mia, pissed at the whole world. He and Mia had a wonderful time last night, he felt as though what they had meant nothing to her, and that annoyed him. He couldn't help but think that she should have at least said goodbye before she disappeared. A part of him also wished they could have at least been friends.
• "Gosh, Colton, stop being such a baby. It was just a one-night fling. Why the hell are you so concerned and being cranky about a stranger?" He grumbled while massaging his temple.
• "I will never understand women. One moment, you let your guard down and what follows is being crushed by them." Colt had no idea what came over him. He rose to his feet, not minding the fact that he still had some alcohol in the glass cup, he smashed the cup against the wall, making everywhere messy. 
• Colt reached for his clothes and shoes, put them on. The moment he laid his hand on his phone, he dialed his assistant who picked up after a few rings. 
• "Good morning, Sir." Her voice came through.
• "Morning! Get in touch with the PR team to monitor any news touching and concerning me. Most especially any future rumors. They mustn't be published. And tell Chad to see me at 12. I'll be in the office soon." He ended the call. 
• Colton tucked his phone and wallet in his pocket. With one last glance at the room, he took his leave. 
• From the hotel, he made his way to his penthouse where he showered and got ready for work. Getting into his office, he buried himself with work until he was informed that Chad had arrived. 
• "Good afternoon, Boss!" He greeted as he entered the office.
• "Hi, Chad," Colt said, looking up from his desktop. 
• Chad took a seat opposite Colt. He had the looks of a bodyguard. 
• "Who has offended you this time around, Boss?" He asked.
• Colton reached for a colored sticky note which had something written on it and handed it to Chad. Chad took a look at what the note says. He frowned. 
• "What's the matter?" Colt asked. 
• "Mia Edwards? Since I started working for you, you've never asked me to investigate a woman." Chad said. Background checks are usually done on every employee of Royal Empire just right before they were given jobs. But other people were in charge of doing those background checks, not Chad. He only carried out investigations concerning Colton's personal affairs. Mainly business partners and other related suspects. "She hurt you. Didn't she?" Chad asked.
• Colton ran a hand over his face. "Stop jumping to conclusions. She's no one to me. I just need you to keep an eye on her for a few days."
• "She's no one, yet you want me to keep an eye on her?" Chad mumbled. He was already 100% interested in this case because it involved a girl he presumed Colt was into. 
• "God, Chad, you talk too much. Can you handle this or do you want me to get someone else to do it for me?" 
• "Sure, I'll handle it. I'll also give you daily reports. You can trust me on this." 
• "Thanks. You can take your leave!" 
• Chad was about to open the door when Colton's voice came through. "Don't just spy on her from afar. Protect her when you have to." He said, typing away on the computer.
• "Sure, Boss!" Chad smiled, then took his leave. 
• ................
• After being cranky for most of the day and burying himself with work, Colton decided to leave work earlier than usual. Besides, today was a Friday and he was meeting up with Theo. 
• Colt was on his way to the elevator when he heard a familiar voice call his name. He reluctantly stopped and turned around. He came face to face with his younger brother, Caleb, who was walking towards him with a smile on his face and one hand tucked in his pocket.
• "Hi Bro. How was the party yesterday? Did you meet Someone?" Caleb asked as he came to a halt before Colt.
• "It was fine. I didn't have time to mingle. I left early." 
• "What a boring brother!" Caleb scoffed. "I heard there were a lot of sexy girls at the party. I was hoping Sammie would have hooked you up with one."
• Colton shrugged. "How was your date? Was it worth all the sexy girls you ditched at Sammie's party?" 
• Caleb smiled. "It was worth it. We had a really good time after dinner at the restaurant. Seems I'm going to be with her for a while." 
• "Good for you. Enjoy whilst it lasts." 
• "Thank you. You will meet her on Sunday." 
• "What's happening on Sunday?" Colton asked, confused. 
• "Mom didn't text you?" Caleb asked.
• "No. What's the occasion? Isn't she and Dad on vacation?" 
• "They are back. They returned this morning. Mom said we are having a family dinner on Sunday so we should be present. I'm sure she will still give you a call." 
• "I don't think I'll be able to make it," Colt said.
• "You know how persistent Mom can be but she might let go if you have good reasons." 
• "I'll surely come up with good reasons. I can't stand her nagging on why I should be married by now." 
• "Oh, that! I'm glad I'm not the first son." Caleb said. He wanted to say something else but was cut off by his phone which buzzed in his pocket.  "Anyways, I wish you the best, bro." He said, then walked away, answering his call. 
• Theodore's house was not far from Colton's office so he got there in no time. After exchanging pleasantries, they settled in the balcony where they made conversations over a bottle of whiskey and cigar.
• "You still haven't stopped this habit!" Theo said to his best friend. They were sitting side by side. 
• "What do you mean?" Colt asked as he took a sip of his drink, holding his cigar with the other hand. 
• "You tend to drink a lot when you're angry. Smoking is also not something you do regularly. Who pissed you off?" 
• "No one. I'm just stressed!" He brought the cigar to his mouth for some puff. 
• "Stressed? After having a good time last night?" 
• Colton scoffed.
• "There's no point denying, Colt. Sammie and I were told you stepped out with a girl. You guys never came back so, no doubt you all went to have fun." 
• "I don't want to talk about it," Colton mumbled. 
• "I guess you being stressed has to do with her and not work," Theo said after a while. 
• "God! I hate women! They treat you shitty and then leave you alone to nurture your heartbreak. I'm never getting involved with any woman. You all should never pair me with anyone again!"
• There was silence between the duo for a while. The last time Theo saw Colt like this was five years ago when his ex dumped him out of the blue.
• "I'm sorry you're hurt, Colt. But you can't keep bottling up your emotions. You've got to talk to someone. What the hell happened?" 
• Colton sighed, then decided to speak after a few minutes of silence. He told his best friend all that happened throughout the night with Mia. 
• For reasons unknown to Colton, Theodore had a small smile on his face at the end of the conversation. 
• "It was meant to be a one-night fling based on you guys' agreement. Basically what happened between you both expired the following morning."
• "Even though I'm not a fan of one-night stands, I'm aware of what it means. To be honest, I had the time of my life last night and I can say the same about her. Disappearing before I woke up was a very brutal thing to do. No notes, no goodbyes, She left as if all that happened meant nothing to her. I know the one-night stand was meant to mean nothing but come on, it meant something to me." 
• "To cut the long story short, you like Mia," Theo said. 
• "How can you come to such a conclusion? We only met last night!" Colton groaned.
• "It doesn't matter if you met her two hours ago. From what you explained, I can tell you both are attracted to one another. If you don't like her you wouldn't be mad that she left without saying goodbye. If you had no feelings for her, you wouldn't tell Chad to spy on her and protect her. If you don't like her, you wouldn't even be thinking of her at all."
• "Sending Chad after her is the most reasonable thing to do. I can't afford her doing anything that would hurt my reputation."
• "Deep down in your heart, you know she wouldn't do that. Don't you?" 
• Colt didn't say anything.
• "There's no point being mad at yoursel..." Theo was saying but Colt interrupted him.
• "Of course, I have every right to be mad at myself. If I hadn't given in to her request, I wouldn't be hurt." 
• "But you don't regret it. It's obvious you had the time of your life."
• "I'm not denying that," Colt responded.
• "If you want to be in her life, why don't you just approach her? You have all that it takes to get any girl of your choice." 
• "She doesn't want me," Colton spoke.
• "And how do you know that?" Theo asked.
• "It's so obvious, Theo. She didn't care about knowing who I was and She left before I woke up. You know I would never force myself on anyone. It's not just in me. Besides, She just got out of a nasty relationship. I'm sure she's not ready for any sort of friendship." Colton emptied the whiskey in his glass cup. 
• "All your assumptions may be wrong, dude. There's nothing wrong in approaching her for reasons why she left you. There's nothing wrong with making it known that you want to be her friend. Being angry at yourself solves nothing. You should put in the work."
• "If you truly want to go after her, I'll advise that you be patient. Her ex did no good to her so she's going to have a hard time trusting anyone else. That's why I'm saying that you can't blame her for leaving without a word."
• "There's no need for advice. I'm not going after her." 
• Theodore sighed. He had never seen anyone as strong-headed as his buddy.