Page 90 of Honey Bee Hearts

Iwatch as Colt comes back downstairs from where he’d carried Fable up. She’d been passed out in his arms, covered up with only his shirt. He’d been as naked as a jaybird, and I’d scolded him, but he’d reminded me that he knew Callie wasn’t home and that it’d be safe. He’d sent me back into the kennels for Fable’s prosthetic and clothing and it sits on the table right now, folded and organized. When he comes back down, I level him with a glare.

The fact her prosthetic is off makes me question how fucking stupid Colt is. There are things too far, and that’s one of them. I know his tastes, and I have no doubt Fable will need to sleep it off.

“You mad?” Colt asks as he comes back down, his eyes on me.

“No,” I say, but it doesn’t sound convincing. Apparently, it doesn’t to him either.

“Then what’s wrong?” he asks, scowling. “I didn’t do anything she didn’t want to. I gave her an out. I was responsible.”

“Good,” I say, sighing in relief. “I was worried when?—”

“I asked you to bring her prosthetic in. Yeah I get that,” he says, watching me carefully. “I know I’m a piece of shit, but at least give me some credit.”

I run my hand across my scalp, my thoughts a whirlwind, my heart raging in my chest. There’s nothing I’d like more than to go wrap myself around her upstairs, but she needs the rest.

“She leaves in five days,” I say, glancing up at the stairs. “That’s no time at all.”

“Ask her not to,” Colt replies, watching me carefully.

“She has a whole life back in Florida,” I point out. “She’ll say no.”

“Then don’t let her say no,” he responds, as if that’s the simplest answer in the world.

I scowl at him. Of the four of us, Colt has always straddled the line between good and bad. He skirted too close to the dark side when he wore a badge. Sometimes, I forget that until moments like these.

“If she wants to leave, she can,” I tell him, but it sounds like a threat. “We can’t be a cage.”

He grins. “What you call a cage is freedom to some people.” He pats me on the back and moves toward the stairs. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go cuddle the woman I may just beg not to leave.” He winks. “Or demand she doesn’t.”

I stare after him, worry needling my inside. “Whatever you say, man,” I reply, but part of me thinks I need to watch closer.

Part of me worries we’re all getting in just a little too deep, and if we’re not careful, we’ll drag Fable down with us when we fall.

Chapter 48

Fable

The next day brings the first fall frost in the Green River basin. There’s excitement in the air as I step out of my cabin after changing, and it isn’t until breakfast that I understand what it means.

The cows come home.

“So, they just know to come home?” I ask, listening intently as Gunnar explains the Green River Drift. We’ve talked about it before, but he goes into deeper detail now.

“With the first frost,” he nods. “They slowly make their way back, or drift back. They’ll cluster up at each gate and be directed back home. If we accidently get a cow that doesn’t belong here, we just send them to their own ranch, but it doesn’t happen often.”

“Sometimes a cow will make a new friend,” Rhett adds. “And they’ll refuse to go back home.”

“That’s only happened once since I’ve been around,” Gunnar adds. “We ended up letting the cow stay with her friend on Steele Mountain.”

“That’s sweet of y’all,” I reply, smiling. My eyes flick over to Colt where he sits staring at me, his eyes on my neck. I’dcovered up the marks with a scarf today that goes with my outfit, but I can tell he knows they’re there. He looks for them, as if reminding himself he’d marked his territory. It takes everything in me not to reach up and touch there, not to bring attention to it. To the marks or the collar I’d found locked around my throat.

Oh my god! Is that a hickey, Everhart?

The one and only time I’d come home with one when Jinx was alive and she’d seen it, she’d made such a big deal. I’d gotten embarrassed but she’d only laughed and pulled down her collar to reveal her own.

Don’t worry. I’ve got one, too.

She’d have acted the same way if she were here now, tease me about it, and then make sure I was okay. We were always teasing each other about stuff like that.

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