Page 5 of Sweet Whiskey

brOOKS

Watching the bombshell walk away, I have a sense to follow her, make sure she doesn’t get out of my sight. Colt lingers on the sidewalk for another moment before storming back to the truck. As soon as the door opens, he shoves my coffee and muffin into my hand with a grunt.

“By the way, you paid for hers too.”

I glare at him. “Does she know that or does she think you did?”

He grins as he pulls out of the parking spot and heads back to the ranch.

Flipping him off, I take a sip and sigh, already feeling the caffeine’s calming effects. “Who is she anyway?”

Colt clutches the steering wheel tighter. “I don’t know. Trouble, maybe. She was at the bar last night asking about Levi.”

The muffin is rough down my throat as I harshly swallow and take another drink. “That mean old son of a bitch? Why?”

He shrugs. “She didn’t say. That’s what I was trying to find out.”

“Oh yeah, you were working real hard finding that answer.” I grumble, sipping my coffee. He snatches the muffin out of my hand, taking a big bite.

“Tax for dealing with your grumpy ass. I should have brought Dallas.”

I snort, shaking my head. “He would have been out of the truck at the first glance of her.”

Colt grunts, not answering as we turn onto the gravel driveway of the land we call home. The humor evaporates, the air turning more somber.

“Do you think she’s bringing trouble? Maverick is already an asshole without any more stress,” I say, gulping down the rest of the coffee and muffin.

If the boys see me eating it, they’ll give me shit for hours about it, patting my softer belly and saying I’m gonna tire out the horses. Fucking bastards.

Colt lets out a curse, and I grimace when I see who’s waiting for us at the barn. Maverick stands with his arms crossed, staring at us with cold eyes. Glancing at the clock on the dash, I realize how much time we spent in town, and now we’re about to get our asses handed to us.

Jumping out of the truck, I pull my jeans up by my belt on my sides with a quick tug. Gravel crunches under my boot as I nod at Maverick and try to turn to the truck bed.

“Where the fuck have you two been?” his deep voice rumbles out. His alpha bark makes the hairs on my neck stand up. I’m not as strong of an alpha as Colt, and my knees are already wobbling to submit. Colt lets out a growl before the tension in the air dissipates.

“I warned you if you did that again, I’d fucking quit,” Colt grits out, and I silently move to the front of the truck, putting a body between them.

Regret flashes across Maverick’s face, his jaw working back and forth as he grinds his teeth. We all know that Maverick doesn’t recognize the strength of his alpha bark sometimes, but nothing compares to Colt’s.

“I can’t find Duke, then I come to help you two unload the supplies, and you’re almost an hour late,” Mav says.

It’s only an explanation of his anger, not an apology. Colt stares at him for another minute before shaking his head and making his way to the trunk. Maverick looks at me, and I raise my eyebrows.

“He’s the manager, Mav, and he has been for years.

You gotta trust him like your dad does,” I say, shrugging my broad shoulders.

Ever since Levi, Mav’s dad, retired two years ago, Maverick has struggled to fully let go of working with the ranch hands.

His daily life went from being outside with the horses and nature to behind a desk pushing paperwork, and I know he hates it .

I sigh, scratching at the back of my neck. “Did you check Delilah’s cabin?”

Maverick glowers. “For Duke? No.”

Holding up my hands in surrender, I slowly back away. “Just a suggestion.” Delilah came to us a few years ago after running away from home. She’s Maverick’s younger cousin on his mom’s side.

“Him and Delilah? Since when?”

I shrug, pressing the grimace on my face down. “You’d have to ask them.”

“Are y’all done gossiping like a bunch of schoolgirls or can we get some work done?” Colt gripes as he walks by, his shoulder loaded with a bag of feed.

“We ain’t fucking gossiping,” Mav mutters under his breath. I fail to hold my smile as we walk to the back of the truck, grabbing the rest of the bags.

He grunts when he grabs two, and I roll my eyes.

“Also, we were late because some smokeshow of a woman is going around town asking about your dad,” I say .

Mav loses his footing at my words, and Colt shouts, running to keep him from falling. “What the fuck you just say?” Mav growls out.

Colt glances between us and swears. “God damn it, Brooks. Why can’t you just keep your mouth shut for once?”

“I didn’t know it was a secret,” I say with raised hands, hiding my grin.

Colt steps toward me, and Mav pushes the feed bag into his chest to hold.

“What do you mean she was asking for my dad?” Mav asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know. I didn’t get any details. Ask Colt.”

Mav turns toward the man, who is already walking away, and we follow him into the barn. Dallas is mucking out the stalls when I leave Colt and Mav to talk.

He looks up at me with a furrowed brow. “Why do you look like that?”

“Like what? ”

“Like you found where your parents hid all the presents before Christmas morning.” He wipes his sweaty forehead with his bicep, pushing away the longish black hair hanging down in his face.

Glancing over my shoulder, I move closer to him. “There’s a new omega in town. Colt met her yesterday at the bar. She’s the one. I feel a tug toward her, and he’s obviously intrigued.”

Dallas perks up, his blue eyes twinkling. “When you say she’s the one, you mean you think she’s for us? You know he thinks the idea of a pack is ridiculous.”

I scoff. “I know, but that’s his problem. Just because he grew up with only a beta mother doesn’t mean there isn’t an advantage to packs.”

He nods. “You don’t have to convince me, brother. I just know if you think she’s the one and Colt is already attracted, it’s going to be a two-sided battle to get him there.”

Helping him shuffle some new hay into the stall, I think on it before pausing in front of Dallas. “What if he sees the connection between us? ”

“All of us? Like irrefutable proof kind of thing? We’d have to pray the omega is interested in us as well,” Dallas says, nodding.

I shrug. “If she isn’t, then that’s that and we drop the idea of a pack. But if she is…”

Dallas grins with bright excitement. I know that since he stopped joining his twin brother, Duke, on the rodeo circuit, he’s been more interested in settling down. Most men on the ranch shudder at the idea of a wife and kids, but Dallas fantasizes about it.

“How do you feel about convincing Colt to get a drink after work?” I ask, moving to clap him on the shoulder.

The man may be in charge, but most of us have learned quickly how to ease our ways around Colt.

If there’s one thing for certain, convincing the man an idea is his own is a sure way to make it happen.