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He swept her aside with a swipe of his arm. She made a choked sound in her throat, but he didn’t turn to see the look on her face as he hurried away.
When he reached the bunkhouse, he stopped at the door, hand braced on the wood, chest heaving. The things Forest said in that letter echoed through his mind. Friendship. Kin.
Jesus Christ. The man thought of him as a brother in all ways. But he was wrong—Colton was not the right man for Forest’s sister. He was no good. Despicable. He couldn’t be there for her. Wasn’t he running from that pain on her face right now?
Nor could he deal with the ranch life. What did an unwanted problem child who’d been tossed into military school before doing a stint in the armed forces know about ranching? Nothing.
He shoved open the door and slammed it behind him loud enough that Dude, who’d fallen asleep on the couch again, jerked awake.
“Oh. Nox. Everything all right, man?”
“Everything’s fine,” he bit off in clipped tones. “Go to your bunk, Dude.”
The door burst open and a ball of blonde fire blasted into the bunkhouse. Meadow stood in the doorway, her eyes shooting bullets. “You’re not getting out of this that easy, Nox.”
Dude scrambled to his feet, looking between them.
“What’s going on here?” Webb’s low voice came from behind Colton.
Fuck. The last thing he needed was that man getting involved.
He tossed a look over his shoulder. “Keep your damn nose out of this, Webb.”
Meadow ignored him too and stepped into the bunkhouse. She walked right up to Colton and jabbed a finger into his chest. “You’re the one who came into my house. You’re the one that—”
Before she could hurl the full accusation at him, Webb barreled between them. He was half-dressed in jeans and no shirt, and his balled fists were a challenge Colton wasn’t going to back down from easy.
He reached around the guy, gripping Meadow by the arm. He dragged her all of two steps outside before one of those curled fists struck him in the middle of the back.
Releasing Meadow, Colton whirled on the guy. The knotted muscles between his shoulder blades tried to keep him from taking a full breath.
“You wanna do this, Webb?”
“Oh yeah.” His drawl was sand and grit. The determination on his face fueled Colton’s anger even more.
“Fine. Let’s see what you got, asshole.” Colton waved his fingers in a come-get-me motion.
“What the hell?” Meadow’s question rang out just as Webb rushed him.
He took the hit the way he’d been taught in hand-to-hand combat training, glancing the impact away from his vitals and tossing Webb off. The man hit the ground and rolled but by the time Colton spun on him for more, Webb was already scrambling up.
“Stop this! Dude, do something!”
“Stay out of this, Dude,” he warned. The guy was young and strong but getting between him and Webb, who was as strong as a bull, would only result in a trip to the emergency room.
Webb shot forward again, fist swinging in an arc toward Colton’s jaw. He ducked the blow and punched the ranch manager in the stomach. The air rushed out of Webb, but even that didn’t slow him down.
He threw himself at Colton, and they hit the ground with a hard thump. Meadow’s screams pierced the air. At the commotion, everyone in the bunkhouse rushed outside to see what was going on.
Webb had some moves, Colton would give him that. Using his forearm, he pinned Colton to the ground by the neck.
“Stop! Zach, stop it! Don’t hurt him!” Meadow danced around them, fingers splayed over her skull.
At the idea that she even thought this man could hurt Colton, he saw red. Blinding fury shattered his control, and through a haze he saw Webb’s look of surprise when he threw him off and wrestled him to the ground.
A shotgun blast rang out. Meadow screamed again, and then she let out a whimper. “Daddy! Don’t do anything stupid.”
Colton released his grip on Webb’s neck and stopped short of slamming his head off the ground. The man seemed more reluctant to unwrap his fingers from Colton’s throat but the boss of the Gracey Ranch had enough sway to make him see reason.
