Page 130 of The One Who Never Left: Colter

Boone: I'm calling him

Boone: Straight to voicemail

Eli: Try again

Boone: Same

Eli: I'll head over there

Boone: Already in the truck

Eli: Meet you there

CHAPTER 49

Colter was so furious he could barely breathe, because anger was easier than admitting his heart had just been split open by the two people he wanted most in this world.

He sat on the back porch with a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black and an empty mason jar he’d stopped bothering to use. The night was thick, cool enough to raise goosebumps on his forearms, but he barely felt it. Every swallow burned less than the one before.

“How long you been out here?” Boone asked, settling into one of the porch chairs like he planned to out-sit Colter’s stubbornness.

Colter took another pull from the bottle. “Long enough.”

“Long enough to pickle a kidney,” Eli said, taking a seat on the other side of Colter, boxing him in. Fuckers.

“Long enough to forget how to use words,” Boone added.

“I’m using words just fine,” Colter muttered.

“Grunts don’t count,” Eli said. “You’re the emotional equivalent of a barn animal right now.”

Colter flipped him the bird.

Boone grinned. “There he is. That’s the brother we know and love.”

At the word love, something in his chest pulled tight. Jagged enough to notice but familiar enough to ignore. Love had a way of doing that—slipping in quietly, then leaving damage behind when it went. He’d believed in it once, without hesitation or armor, and it had shattered him for it. Left him standing in the aftermath, trying to piece together a version of himself that still made sense.

Tonight, he wasn’t sure he believed in love anymore. At least not the kind that didn’t hurt. Not the kind that didn’t ask for blood before it gave anything back.

Colter scrubbed a hand down his face. The wind cut across the property; the barn sat as a dark silhouette against the stars. “She made a whole damn dossier on us. Like we were enemy combatants.”

Eli tapped a page with his knuckle. “To be fair, this is impressive indexing. She should’ve joined intel.”

“Stop admiring the enemy’s work.”

“I’m just saying, if she wanted to build a case file, she built a damn good one.”

Colter glared. “You both suck at comfort.”

“Good, because we’re not here to comfort,” Boone said. “We’re here to stop you from drinking whiskey like it’s electrolytes.”

“She lied, Colt,” Eli said. “She was scared and young and that’s a bad combination.”

Colter slammed the bottle down. “No shit. She chose this route because she wanted control. She wanted leverage to engineer the narrative. She wanted⁠—”

“A dad,” Boone cut in quietly. “For her kid.”

“She had one. She just didn’t tell him.”