Page 66 of Unruly

The table goes still. Tierney glances between them, worry etching her face, and Colt shifts beside me, ready to intervene.

“I checked the day I asked,” Rhett says, voice low and controlled. “It should have been done then, not a day later. You’ve been half-assing everything since the funeral, Cash. We’re all hurting, but the ranch doesn’t stop.”

Cash’s eyes flash. “Half-assing? I’ve been out there from dawn to dusk while you play the doting boyfriend and hurt grandson. Maybe if you got your hands dirty instead of riding my ass⁠—”

“Enough,” Dawson mutters, but it’s too late.

Rhett stands, chair scraping back. “You’re the one acting like a damn child—showing up drunk at the bar, making a scene, forcing Halle to drag your sorry ass home. We all lost Grandpa. The rest of us are trying to hold it together, but you’re just making it harder on everyone.”

Cash surges to his feet, fists clenched at his sides. “At least I feel something. You’ve been walking around like a robot since the funeral—barking orders, pretending everything’s fine so you don’t have to deal with the fact that he’s actually gone. Some of us aren’t that good at pretending.”

Eli tries to step in, hand firm on Cash’s shoulder. “Boys, sit down. This isn’t worth it, Cash.”

But Cash shrugs him off hard. “I’m going to go take a fucking walk.”

Rhett rounds the table, voice rising. “We’re having dinner. Sit the fuck down.”

“What are you going to do? Make me?”

The scuffle erupts fast. Rhett grabs Cash’s shirt, not hard enough to swing, but enough to shake sense into him. Cash shoves back, their bodies colliding in a tangle of muscle and frustration. A glass tips over, spilling water across the tablecloth, and Colt jumps up, wedging between them with Dawson’s help.

“Back off!” Colt barks in Rhett’s face, pushing him toward his seat. “Both of you. This isn’t helping anyone.”

I stand too, heart hammering, moving to Tierney’s side as she watches with wide, teary eyes. Her hand finds mine, squeezing tight. “Boys,” she whispers, voice cracking. “Please. Not tonight.”

The struggle lasts only seconds—Dawson, Makai, and Colt strong-arm them apart. Then Cash wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, glaring at the floor, and Rhett finally drops back into his seat, rubbing his temples.

Everyone settles uneasily, the roast beef now cold on our plates.

I watch Cash across the table, but he won’t meet my eyes.

I feel the pull anyway.

“You boys are brothers. You will be brothers whether or not your grandfather is here,” Aria snaps at the boys while rubbing Tierney’s back. “I know it’s hard right now, but don’t tear each other apart any more than you already have. Grief does things to people that don’t make us proud, but you can’t let it consume you like this.”

The truth in her words sinks into each of us, and conversation finally restarts in fits. Eli shares safer stories about fishing trips with Grandpa Ben, and after dinner is done, we migrate to the living room. The big stone fireplace crackles with a fresh log, casting flickering light on family photos lining the mantel—one of Grandpa Ben front and center.

Colt pulls me aside, near the window, while others settle in.

“Feels weird for this to be my last weekend this summer. Can you keep an eye on this shitshow for me? Rhett’s going through it, and I don’t want him to go back into his box of safety. I love him.”

“I promise,” I say, bumping his shoulder. “But you better come visit more now that your man’s here too—no excuses.”

He grins, the real one this time. “Deal. Have you talked to Cash since he stayed over?”

“No.”

“Are you going to explain to me what’s going on between the two of you?” Colt asks.

I shake my head. “No. Because it’s nothing. We’re just friends.”

He studies me for a second, then asks, “Has he tried to talk to you at all? He needs a friend right now.”

I shake my head. “No. I’m the one who looks lovesick; I’ve been double and triple texting like an idiot.”

Colt snorts. “Lovesick isn’t how I would describe my friendship with someone. I guess that means he’s more of a friend with benefits?”

I elbow him. “Gross. I’m not talking about my sex life with my baby brother.”