Page 167

He bends down, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I couldn’t have even dreamed a version as good as the reality.”

The barn doors open, and I’m greeted with quite the scene. Inside the metal railings, there's a small wooden table and four seats. Tied down to two seats are Cesare and Levi. Bound and gagged.

Two bulls are trying to fight their way out of their pens, with two ranch hands doing their best to keep them in there.

“Nice. We brought out Gravedigger to play,” Ace mutters, tipping his hat to one of the guys straddling the fence.

“Gravedigger? One of the bulls?” I ask.

Colt visibly pales. “I told that little shit not to buy that bull. Nearly gave me a heart attack last time he rode him. I’m sure he wants to put me in an early grave.”

I squeeze his hand. “He’s a big boy, Colt. Stop worrying about him. He seems to be doing fine, and Harper can do all the worrying for you now.”

I saw the devastation on Colten’s face when he held Ace’s dying body a few weeks ago. And I felt his pain right into my soul, because I resonated with it. That agony mirrored my seeing Max in the morgue for the final time. Except Colt got his brother back. I never did. I’ll never see Max’s face again. All because I couldn’t stand up to my father sooner. I let him manipulate me. And now, I’ll never see my brother again.

I rest my head on Colten's bicep.

“Are you thinkin’ about Max?” Colt asks quietly.

Tears slip from my eyes and roll down my cheek. I don’t fight it. Not this time. I embrace it instead. Because, above all else, I loved Max. And that makes me human. Feeling the grief, the pain, the guilt. It’s what makes me, me. And it’s what's going to forge the future me into being something better.

Someone worth loving. I want to have kids. I want to be a parent who knows how to love. But I also still want to be me. Because not everything about me is bad. Being able to fight, being able to kill—it’s what’s kept me alive.

“I miss him. That’s all,” I admit.

He wraps his arm around my waist and hugs me tight against his side. “Remember, sweetheart. Feeling pain doesn’t make you weak. Use it, and let’s find out why that asshole followed me to an auction, and see what Levi put such a high price tag on for intel.”

He taps my ass, and I snap back into the zone, wiping my cheeks. Popping off the lid to my lipstick, I pull Colt’s phone out of his back pocket and jab in the code. He never told it to me, but I’ve seen him enter it enough times, and he’s never hidden away from it.

Turning it to the front camera, I use that as a mirror to sweep the red perfectly across my lips. And once I’m done, I hand them both back to Colt. “Don’t lose this; they discontinued it, so I’m going to need to take it somewhere to replicate it exactly.”

He salutes me, shoving it in his pocket. “Yes. Boss.”

“Now, what the fuck is cowboy poker, Colten?”

He swipes his thumb across his bottom lip. “Oh, just you fuckin’ wait, baby. You wanted to see a fun torture technique; sit back and watch the cowboys do their jobs.”

I physically have to squeeze my thighs together to hold off the ache between my legs. When Colt talks like this, that deep voice vibrates right through me.

“Teach me your ways, il mio polpettino,” I purr, grabbing a fistful of his black T-shirt.

“I thought we’d moved past the meatball nickname,” he murmurs.

“Nope. Never. You will always and forever be my little meatball.”

“I’ve bought Seven in; he’s good to deal with Gravedigger. You wanna handle the rope? I’ll head in the ring with Jett?” Ace asks as he approaches, ruining our moment.

Colt clears his throat. “What the fuck do you mean? You ain’t fighting off the bulls. You’ve just about recovered from a fucking stab wound.”

Ace shrugs, clearly not giving a single shit. “I know what I’m doing. And we’ve got Tate. And lasso the fuckin’ bull if it tries to kill me, bro.”

Okay. Hot. A lesson in Colt with rope.

“I am going to need you to tie me up with some rope, Colt,” I whisper as Ace heads back to Jett.

He groans in response. “Don’t do this to me when I have to go keep my brother alive.”

I tap his cheek lightly. “Go give me a show and get the answers we need. But don’t let Levi die; that asshole is mine.”