Branded as Trouble (Rough Riders #6)(28)

“I’ll be in Hawaii.”


His dad demanded, “For how long?”


“For a month.”


“What are you doin’ over there for a month?”


“Sittin’ on the beach, whale watchin’, surfing. Maybe I’ll learn to scuba dive. Or golf. Whatever people do when they’re on vacation.”


“Very f*ckin’ funny,” Cord said.


“Might be if I was kiddin’.”


They all stared at him.


“You can’t just schedule a damn vacation durin’ the most important time of the year in the cattle business.”


Colt shrugged. Maybe it was childish, but he felt the need to push them. See if anyone would voice the questions and contempt he saw in their eyes. If he’d ever truly be forgiven or if they were waiting for the other boot to drop. Or for him to revert to his formerly destructive behavior.


Cam scratched at the label on his beer bottle.


Colby spoke first. “That’s just great, Colt. Once again you’ll be off f*ckin’ around while the rest of us are bustin’ our asses.”


“Man, I thought you’d changed,” Cord said. “But we’re back to the same old bullshit.”


There it was. The word that damned him either way—change.


If he did change, it was wrong. If he didn’t change, it was wrong.


“Why’s it such a big deal for you to stay with Cam or at Carter’s? It ain’t like you’ve got a family to go home to every night.”


A beer bottle flew and crashed into the side of the barn, shattering the illusion of stillness.


All eyes zoomed to Cam.


“I’m so sick and tired of the ‘holier than thou’ attitude in this family. So Colt screwed up. Every one of us has screwed up at one time or another. How long are you gonna make him pay for it?


Jesus, he hit the skids over four years ago. He’s been on the straight and narrow for the last three. During which time, he’s been busting his ass on this ranch, despite having to listen to you berate him and complain about him, or ignore him, or belittle him. None of you have ever been lily white and you’ve got no business judging him.”


“You weren’t here, Cam.”


Cam whirled on Colby. “Guess what? Neither were you! You were off rodeoin’ and playin’ cowboy while Colt was here, actually being a goddamn cowboy, day in, day out, for twelve f*ckin’ years.


Don’t forget you couldn’t do shit for months while you recovered from your rodeo injury—months in which, once again, Colt had to do not only his work, but your work.”


Holy shit. Colt had never seen Cam so furious.


But Cam wasn’t finished. He turned his ire on Cord. “Didja forget you got pissed off at Dad and left for a coupla years? Who picked up the slack then? It sure as f*ck wasn’t Colby the rodeo king, or Carter the college boy, or Keely the baby girl or me.”


Without moving his angry gaze from Cord, Cam pointed at Colt. “It was him. But you forgot that little factoid, didn’t you? And isn’t it convenient that you all expect Colt to stick around, year in, year out, and do every shit job you don’t want to, because he doesn’t have a…family?” Cam faced Colby again. “That ‘you don’t have a family’ comment is the single shittiest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say. Ever. You’re supposed to be his family. So are you.” He pointed to Cord. “And you,” he said to Carson. “And me. But when Colt really needed his family to support him and help him? Were any of you there? No. The only person who gave a shit about him…was Kade.”