Hold On

He crossed his arms on his chest, held Colt’s gaze, and kept going.

“I have no clue how this is gonna roll. I got shit I gotta deal with. She does too. But right now, we’re lookin’ at doin’ it together. We can tough it out, I see good things. We can’t, we can’t. But that’s ours. Not yours because you want to cushion her from any hits life might land. Not anyone’s. I gave it time because I needed that time to know exactly where I was before I took it further. I gave it time because she needed to know I gave it that time for her and her kid. I’m all about doin’ this right and that’s also for Cher and for Ethan. That’s said, so now you need to stand down, Colt. If not for me, wantin’ me to have good in my life, then for her.”

“You better—” Colt kept trying.

But Garrett was done with this shit.

“Don’t say more. Don’t threaten me. Don’t warn me. Don’t do shit, Colt,” Garrett interrupted him again. “Not shit you can’t come back from. You know I’m only givin’ you what I just gave you because of what she means to you. You don’t cut me some slack, we got problems, and straight up, man, I do not want problems with you when my attention needs to be on sortin’ my shit so I can bust my ass to make a good woman happy.”

Garrett knew he finally got to Colt before he watched his friend’s eyes narrow as he asked, “Some asshole walked right up to her door to get to her about Lowe?”

Garrett nodded. “She says it doesn’t happen much anymore, but it happens.”

“He didn’t call first?”

“He called. Cher didn’t take his calls, so he decided on a face-to-face.”

“Fuck,” Colt hissed.

“Rumor’s spreadin’, seein’ as this guy probably has a hit list and Cher was just his first, and Ryker’s heard.” Colt’s face froze, but Garrett kept talking. “You know how protective Ryker is about the citizens of this ’burg, so I think Walter Jones might soon feel induced to find his way to the town limits.”

“Shit, Cher’s never learned, you got a problem, you court it gettin’ bigger if you don’t tell somebody. She could have told me about the calls and I could have had a chat with this moron over the phone and convinced him a trip to the ’burg would be a waste of his time. Instead, she didn’t take his calls, you were there when he made his play, and now I don’t know what’s worse, whatever Ryker’s gonna do to ‘induce’ this guy to take a hike or you bein’ a bigger lunatic than Ryker because you know he’s a lunatic and you set him on this guy.”

“And you would have played it how?” Garrett prompted.

“My play would have been personal,” Colt returned.

And that was why Colt and February didn’t catch this shit.

“Yeah, and that gets messy. The cap, every one of your brothers, every man and woman in this county, and every judge at the courthouse would see your play because they’d play it the same way. Lowe spent decades where he existed only to destroy your life. He nearly succeeded in that. They’d get that. Me actin’ for a woman I haven’t even taken on our first date? Not so much.”

Colt said nothing for a beat before he sighed.

That meant he saw Garrett’s play.

“We done with our brief?” Garrett asked. “I got cases to close.”

“We’re done, brother,” Colt muttered.

That also meant they were good.

Garrett nodded and started to turn away when Colt called his name.

He gave the man his attention.

“Would be good, you got some happy. Would be good, Cher did too. But you couldn’t have picked a bigger challenge, Merry. I hope you know the work you got cut out for you, man.”

“It’s taken me nearly two weeks to get her to a place where I could even talk to her about a date, Colt. I think I know that.”

Colt grinned.

Garrett shook his head. They were done. They were good. Time to get to work.

So he left Colt to do that.