Branded as Trouble (Rough Riders 6)

Or are you givin’ me back some of what I gave to you? I said I was sorry.”

The blindfold was ripped from his eyes. He blinked until Bert’s face came into view.

“Bert? What are you doing here? Where’s India?”

“The time has come for you to face your fears.”

“But I have faced them. I haven’t had a drink in years!”

Colt looked around. He was in the middle of a circle. The circle of trust, just like the A.A. meetings. Except this circle was composed of his family, Cord, Colby, Carter, Keely, his mother, his father, his uncle Harland, his cousins Dag West, Quinn and Bennett McKay, not his fellow A.A. members.

He looked at Dag. Then Uncle Harland. “But you’re both dead.”

They just stared at him with vacant eyes.

“You ready, Colton West McKay?”

“Ready for what?”

“To let go.”

His gaze zoomed around the circle. Where was Kade? Cam?

Chassie? Trevor? Edgard? Buck? The people he counted on?

Where the hell was India? The one person he trusted most in the whole world?

She’s not here when you need her. She’s just like the rest of them. She will let you down.

“He’s not ready yet.”

Colt’s head whipped around because every other part of his body was immobilized.

Blake West grinned at him. “But I’ll give you a little push in the right direction, cuz, to get you started.”

“No.”

“Trust me.”

“I don’t trust any of you!”

Blake shoved him hard.

Without the use of his arms or legs, Colt braced for impact, knowing not one person in the circle would jump to catch him.

They’d just let him fall. Like they always had.

He jackknifed up, throwing his hands in front of his face to protect himself and connected with nothing but air.

His eyes opened. He was in his bedroom. The alarm clock read four a.m.

It took a second for him to get his heart rate back to normal and realize it’d just been a dream. A weird f**king dream, but a dream nevertheless.

Rather than dwell on all the hidden meanings any counselor would have a field day with, Colt focused on one thing: India. She was missing from the dream, missing from his life and he missed her something fierce. He needed to talk to her as soon as possible.

Chapter Twenty-two

The next day, India’s Ink had a customer. Not India’s favorite person by any stretch, but she was so bored and lonely she welcomed the diversion.

“So where’ve you been, Cat? I haven’t seen you around.” India lined up the ink cups and wiped an alcohol pad across the faded pink rose tattoo on Cat’s ankle.

“Oh, I had family stuff in Denver. Then I worked in Canyon River while Macie was flitting off to another one of Carter’s art shows. I can’t believe she’s pregnant again. Three kids in five years is crazy.”

India didn’t point out her sister had three kids in three years and she didn’t find it crazy in the least.

“Sometimes I wonder if Carter doesn’t keep her pregnant because Macie will wake up and leave his poor artist’s ass if she wasn’t tied to him in some permanent way.”

Not a flattering comment for Cat to voice about her friend and boss. “It’s a good thing Domini fills in for you.”

“A good thing? Right. I’m lucky she doesn’t lock the damn door and hide in the storage room when I’m gone.” She sighed dramatically. “Dommy is sweet and all, but she should not be Branded As Trouble

allowed out of the kitchen. I can’t believe Macie made me train her for front work. What a waste.”

India figured Cat’s pronunciation of “Dommy” as dummy wasn’t accidental. “I still think it’s lucky for you or else you couldn’t flit off to Denver every month.”

“My great aunt was in the hospital. That hardly counts as flitting off,” Cat huffed.

Cat’s weeklong trips to Denver had been going on for over a year. Who picked up the slack? Domini.

Domini complained to India, well, as much as Domini complained about anything, which was almost not. Since Domini grew up in a different culture, making waves as a lowly employee had been frowned on. So India’s suggestion that Domini take her concerns to Velma and Macie was met with a horrified and vehement no.

“My aunt had knee replacement surgery. There were orthopedic patients up the wazoo. She said some were diabetics there for amputation. Yuck. Which makes me glad Cam McKay keeps his fake leg covered up, because I’d barf if I ever saw it. I mean, can you imagine? Eww.”

“Cam McKay is a decorated war hero. Eww, doesn’t exactly come to mind when I see him.”

“He is a total hottie, too bad he’s a cripple.”

A cripple. India’s tongue would be bloody by the time she finished this job. Why had she taken it?

Right. Rent was due. Again. And she was short of funds.

Again.

“Anyway, I can’t get past how icky it’d be to get naked with him and see that…stump. And he’s missing part of his hand.” She shivered. “It’s uncomfortable since he has a thing for me because he’s always in the diner.”

Talk about cocky. Cam had a thing for Domini.

“I’m just re-inking this tat, right?”

“Yes. I debated on having you do it at all, since it is a Kat Von D design. The guy who originally did it worked with Kat before she became famous.”

Please. If she had a buck for every time she’d heard that line in the last few years, she’d be flush with cash. After dipping the needle gun in black ink, she stepped on the pedal and her hand started to vibrate. She gently set the needle on Cat’s skin.

India was grateful conversation stopped for a few minutes, even when she knew it wouldn’t last.

It didn’t. Cat chattered on about her life. What she did, who she did. All gossip, all mind-numbingly boring to India, but Cat didn’t notice. She must’ve taken India’s silence for rapt attention because she kept going.

She mostly tuned her out until she heard Cat say, “So rumor around town is you’re dating Colt McKay.”

India slid her hand a fraction of an inch to thicken the outline.

“Who’d you hear the rumor from?” She concentrated on keeping the line the same diameter and not letting the black bleed into the pink.

“Macie. Is it true?”

“That Colt and I are dating? Yes.”

“Friends with bennies now, huh?”