Chapter 2 Colton
COLTON
Ihate small towns.
Everyone romanticizes it—the community, the roots, the way people look out for each other. That’s the postcard version. The real version is a place that decides who you are at fourteen and never lets you update the file.
The Cedarbrook city limit sign looms ahead of me like a death sentence.
A noose waiting for the right moment to tighten around my neck every single summer.
The constant reminder that I will always have to fight to get away from this place and the people who give sideways glances and whisper behind others’ backs.
Is it so wrong that I want to be somewhere that I can be more than a problem? When I’m at college, nobody sees a black sheep they can judge. They just see me.
Passing the sign, I twist the throttle, zooming through the streets that look identical to how they did when I was a child. As if nothing here is allowed to change or it will become too difficult to fit in.
Turning left off the main road, I pull into the parking lot and kill the engine, scanning to see if I recognize any cars or anyone inside. Seeing a couple I might know, I mentally prepare myself, taking my helmet off and placing it on my bike.
Before I can turn around, arms wrap around me. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, and in one piece? It has to be some kind of record!” My sister’s voice startles me. While, technically, Halle is my half sister, you’d never know with the way she’s always been there for me.
“Hey, Halle girl. I missed you something fierce,” I say softly, turning to hug her back.
She holds me hostage in her arms for a few more moments, squeezing me tight, as if she can keep me from slipping out of her arms and running, before she finally lets me go.
She’s not wrong to assume I might run, but I have a healthy fear when it comes to Aunt A. I wouldn’t take those chances.
“Come on. We better get you inside to see Aunt A before she comes out looking for you. She took tonight off to see you but is covering for me so I can also have a second.”
She ushers me inside, and I take in her new appearance, ignoring the wary glances I get when people see me come in. Her normally long, light-brown hair is now a bright shade of pink and significantly shorter than last time I saw her.
I guess we all cope in different ways.
We make our way to the end of the bar where Uncle Matt is, and I sit down next to him.
“Long time no see, don’t you think?” I grin, unable to contain my excitement at getting to see my favorite family members all in one place. Uncle Matt slaps an arm around my back.
“It’s good to see you home. Staying out of legal trouble I hope?” He chuckles, though his voice carries a subtle weight of concern.
I run my hand through my hair.
“I’ve been good this year.” I make an X over my heart in an attempt to convince us both that it’s the truth.
He just rolls his eyes as my aunt comes around the corner of the bar, engulfing me in her warm embrace.
“You? Behave? You are literally me reincarnated. I find you not raising some hell to be difficult. You always find trouble.” She squeezes me a little tighter, whispering, her voice full of quiet affection, “We missed you, hellion.” She lets me go, handing me a beer.
“I missed you too, Aunt A. I know it’s been a year, but how’s everyone been? Mom said you were able to find something for me out here, but she’s been so wrapped up in her own world, trying to start up that rescue farm, that she didn’t have much time to tell me the details.”
“Yeah. I thought she already told you. You’re working at Thornwood Ranch, just like your dad did when he was younger. You’ll get hands-on vet tech experience for your resume, you just have to keep your hours logged. Your dad seems to think it’ll keep you busy.”
Thornwood Ranch.
“That’s a—uhm…choice.” I clear my throat. “Is there anything else I can do besides work there?” I’m treading as carefully as I can, but Aunt A still catches onto the hesitation I’m trying to hide.
“There’s nothing wrong with working at that ranch, Colton. Not a damn thing. And you know it. So, what’s the real hang-up?” Her voice gets a little louder as she feels the need to defend her best friend.
Her eyes pierce me as I take a moment to find the right words.
The Thornwoods and my family have been close since before I was born. They are a founding family in Cedarbrook—your typical picture-perfect ranch family. I grew up with them, but that doesn’t mean I want to work for them this summer.
Proceeding with caution, and keeping my voice as even as I can, I say, “I know that it’s a good job, Aunt A. I know they all work so hard, but you know my history. I don’t think it’s smart for Rhett and me to work together. You guys have met me, right? Shit, they know me too.”
In offering up a solution, I hope she sees my effort.
“So, you think you’re going to fight, is that it?” Her eyes soften a fraction. “Colt, honey, you can’t write everyone off in this town for how you were treated in high school. People do change.” She gestures to me. “You’ve changed.”
Sighing, I push forward. “I know we’ll fight, Aunt A. This town has never exactly rolled out the welcome mat for me, and working with the Thornwoods isn’t going to change that. You know better than anyone why that ranch is the last place I should be.”
But she only doubles down. “Colton Lee Dawson, you listen to me. Quit letting what happened back then decide everything that comes after it. That’s not strength, baby, that’s just a different kind of hiding.
” She holds my gaze and doesn’t blink. “This job is good for you—more than you know. So you’re going to walk onto that ranch, you’re going to do your job, and you’re going to stop letting one person have that much real estate in your head. ”
Conceding, I raise both hands in defeat. Fuck it. If they wanna see it all crash and burn to understand how right I am, so be it.
“Fine. I’ll try. But if you could talk to Tierney about keeping some distance between me and a certain someone, I’d appreciate it. And when a fight comes—because it will— I’m out of here. I’ll crash with a friend before I stay somewhere I’m not wanted.”
She gives me a soft smile and nods, like the conversation is settled whether I agree or not. “So. How are things with Derek?”
“Derek ended things a couple months ago. Two years, Aunt A…I thought we were fine. Turns out I’m ‘argumentative.’” I let out a short, humorless breath.
“I got into my first bar fight in two years defending him, and that’s what I get.
I almost called Halle to vent, but stopped.
How do you even complain about something like that?
It’s trivial compared to what that fucker is putting her through—”
Matt cuts in. “Your sister’s strong—she’s had to be for a long time. Don’t underestimate what she can handle.” He pauses, then adds, “And as for both of your choices in men…none of us liked them. I’m glad they’re both gone.”
The bluntness catches me off-guard, but grounds me in a way I didn’t expect. Matt doesn’t usually share his opinion, which usually means when he does share, it means something.
“I appreciate the honesty…I think.” I shrug, taking a slow sip of my beer, letting the noise around us fill the space.
Halle flits around behind the bar, slinging drinks and losing herself to the music playing through the speakers, and Aunt A jumps up to help her during the rush. The two move in sync with so much grace it looks like they’re dancing—looking so at peace in this town. It’s almost unsettling to me.
A whistle pierces the air, drawing my attention away from the girls.
“Well, well, well, it seems Cedarbrook’s favorite stray has come back for another visit,” says a voice loudly, from behind me.
Squaring my shoulders, I turn to face the person I know is talking to me. “Last stray before me was your mom, wasn’t it? So what does that say about you, Thornwood?” My comment silences everyone around us as I slide off my stool to go toe to toe with the man in front of me.
Signature red hair peeks out of his backwards ball cap, and the smirk he wears would be menacing to most.
Instead of waiting for him to strike back, I beat him to the punch. “Are you even old enough to be here? Last I checked, we don’t serve underage boys.” My tone is laced with a hint of amusement, but I see everyone around us tensing.
They all expect a full brawl to happen. My sister is tense, ready to go over the bar, and my uncle sits stiffly behind me, waiting to intervene before it really begins.
Instead of the punch they expect, though, he laughs, breaking the silence and tension. “Colt, we have got to work on your comebacks, man. The first one was good. That one? Dude, that was shit.” He keeps chuckling as we hug, slapping each other on the back.
“It’s good to see you too, Cash. How are you?” I laugh, while the room lets out a silent exhale.
“I’ve been good. Come play some pool with me.”
I nod, grabbing a beer for each of us, and make my way over to the pool table where he’s already racking the balls.
Peering up, he cracks a smirk, and I know nothing good is going to come out his mouth. “Sorry, I know you like playing with balls. Did you wanna rack them?”
Arching my brow, a laugh threatens to slip out. “Nah, it looks like you’re just as good with balls as me now. You can keep going.”
He rolls his eyes, chuckling, and finishes.
Grabbing a pool cue and chalking up, I ask, “You breaking?”
“I didn’t rack it just to give you the glory of breaking my balls, dude.” He shakes his head and lines up his pool cue.
Being as colorful as ever, he mutters a thousand variations of “fuck” under his breath when nothing lands in a pocket.
Shaking my head, I line up my pool cue and sink two different striped balls into the same pocket. “Guess that means I’m stripes. You’re solid.”
He nods, and the game gets underway, both of us bullshitting and catching up over cold beers.