58. Fable

Chapter 58

Fable

I find Colt in the barn, looming over the crates like he's the devil and these are his minions. He looks angry when I see him, but when I knock on the wide-open door, he turns and wipes the expression from his face.

"Hey," I murmur.

"It's best if you don't come in here," he replies. "The guys were right. I shouldn't have risked you the way I did."

"Is that an apology?" I ask, watching him carefully.

"No," he says. "I won't apologize. I've meant every word I said. If not for the others, I'd have already swept you away from here, if I thought we could escape this."

I sigh and slip inside. "You could come to Florida."

He shakes his head. "We can't leave Circle Bee, Annie Oakley. We belong here, and there's no runnin' from the mess we made. It is what it is. I just. . . I really fucking hate that right now." He glances at me. "Are you mad at me?"

"I was," I answer honestly, watching him carefully.

"And now?"

I shake my head. "No, though I should be."

I reach up and touch my throat, the collar that's still locked around it. I hadn't thought about what I was going to do with this, how I'd take it off, if I even want to. His eyes follow the movement, growing heated, but he doesn't move.

"I've had the urge for a week to slip into your cabin while you were sleeping," he rasps. "To tug that collar around your neck and jerk you awake." He tugs a chain from his own shirt, a tiny key dangling from it. "I can take it off, if you want me to. It doesn't matter. You belong to me, to us, no matter if it's there or not."

"But you don't belong to me?" I ask, with a raised brow.

He pulls his shirt open and grabs a knife from his hip. "Carve your name into my chest then."

I take a step back with wide eyes. "What? No."

Rhett appears in the doorway, and I glance at him, trying to figure out what the hell Colt means.

"Come on," Colt says. "I want you to. I want you to see how much you own me in return."

Rhett narrows his eyes. "What?"

"I was just trying to convince Fable to carve her name into my skin," Colt answers with a shrug, uncaring how insane that sounds.

"I'm not doing that," I growl.

"Aw, man," Rhett says. "We have a tattoo gun somewhere that Trent bought. She can just use that instead."

"Good point! That's perfect!"

"No it's not," I growl. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He flashes me a cocky grin. "The Pinedale Police Department could provide a list if you'd like."

"I swear to god, y'all are. . ."

My voice trails off as movement draws my eye to the left. Jinx appears, her eyes wide, her hands over her heart. Colt and Rhett follow my gaze, their brows furrowed, but I can only focus on the panic in her eyes, panic I've only ever seen a few times in my life. Jinx was always calm, always strong. It's surprising to know I can mimic the look still.

She opens her mouth. " Run, Everhart ," she shouts. " Right now! "

I stumble back, afraid, not understanding what's happening but knowing my instincts are telling me to run through my hallucination of Jinx. "We have to go!"

I turn toward the open door and rush out it, but before I go even a few steps outside the barn, black cars appear in the yard, screeching to a halt and kicking up dust and gravel. Rhett and Colt are behind me, their bodies tense as they see the chaos about to unfold.

Colt swears and immediately jerks me behind him and Rhett. When the car door opens, it's not Lennox like I expect. Instead, this is a different man.

"Rhett Thomas," the man says, his eyes hard. "I hear you're doing deals with The Crows, and I'm here to show you what happens to people who fuck with my kindness."

He pulls out a gun and all hell breaks loose.