Page 13 of Unbroken (Amber Ridge #4)

T he music was loud in CJ’s bar and the crowd thick. Colt didn’t want to be here. Hell, he didn’t want to be anywhere other than with Indie, but she was having a night with Clara, and he said he’d give her the time she needed, so that’s what he had to do.

In the last week, they’d talked every day. It felt good. Right. But it also wasn’t enough. He wanted to hold his wife. Kiss her. Remind her multiple times a day what she meant to him.

“You okay?” Noah asked, lifting the beer to his mouth.

“No. And I won’t be until my father gets the hell out of Amber Ridge.”

“Hey, this is supposed to be a night off from all that. You’ve been exhausting yourself, pulling twelve-hour days at the park. You need a break.”

“He could be a threat to my mother and my wife. Hell, he could be a threat to you, as my friend and business partner.”

“I can take care of myself. And your mother has security, and Indie is making sure she doesn’t go anywhere alone. So far, there hasn’t been any trouble.”

“I still think he was at her shoot last week.” He drank more of his beer. “Distract me. How are you doing, being back?”

There was a flicker of a frown across Noah’s brow. “Good.”

Colt studied him. His voice. His features. Was there something he wasn’t sharing? “You sure?”

“Of course. I’ve got my own place that Holden’s helping me fix up. I finally emptied the last box of shit. Life’s good.” He swung the beer back. “You and Indie still making progress on your relationship?”

Was he changing the subject because he didn’t want to talk about himself? “I brought her coffee this morning. She kept the kitchen island between us the entire time, like she was scared I’d touch her.”

“She just needs time. She went through a pretty rough patch. She wants things to be different this time.”

“And they will be. I’ll make sure of it.

” He knew he couldn’t promise that she’d never go through the same thing again, when it came to pregnancy.

But he was committed to doing everything in his power to make sure she was safe and happy, not just today or tomorrow, but forever. “You know she’s having money problems?”

“She tell you that?”

“No. I figured it out.”

“I know she hasn’t been booking a lot of shoots, but I assumed she was still doing okay. But now that I think about it, she has been cutting costs. And what the hell’s with that car?”

“You mean that piece of shit she’s driving around?”

Noah’s jaw clenched. “I don’t like it either.”

“She has money. Our money. But—”

“She won’t touch it. I’m not surprised. She sees it as yours.”

“It’s both of ours. I wish she’d use it.”

“I agree with you. I—” Noah stopped, looking at something behind Colt. “Is that Randy and his crew?”

Colt turned, spotting Randy and his guys standing around the pool table.

When Randy met their gazes, his mouth cracked into a wide grin, and he waved them over.

“Guess we’re joining them,” Noah said with a chuckle.

They wove through the crowd to the pool table.

“Hey, we didn’t know you guys were coming here tonight,” Colt said, as he shook Randy’s hand.

“It’s Waldo’s birthday.”

Waldo, a young guy in his early twenties, waved his hands. “Hey! It’s my birthday!”

Randy shook his head. “He’s had a few to drink.”

“True.” Waldo grinned, joining them. “But doesn’t mean I’ll show up to work hungover tomorrow. Cross my heart.”

Colt didn’t believe him for a second. The guy already looked plastered.

“Maybe you can just take the day off,” Noah said with a chuckle.

“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll just go camp in one of those cabins tonight with Milo, aka Sky Jerky.”

Colt frowned. “Sky Jerky?”

“He’s been leaving a lot of Big Sky Jerky wrappers lying around,” Randy said. “The old guy’s getting messy.”

“Have you seen him?” Colt asked.

“Nah, but Milo’s good at evading people so he’s not forced to leave before he’s ready.”

“He’ll get out of there once we start doing the cabins,” Waldo said, before laughing. “Or he won’t, and we’ll just gut and renovate the place around him.”

The guys continued to talk, but Colt’s mind went back to the same place it always went…Indie.

His hand twitched to pull out his phone and text her. He wanted to know what she was doing with Clara. To make sure she was okay.

It felt wrong to be anywhere in Amber Ridge and not be with her. They’d dated since high school. He barely knew how to exist in this town without her.

Fuck it.

He pulled his cell from his pocket and typed out a text.

Colt: Hey. Just checking that you’re okay.

He’d just hit send when Waldo whistled. “Well, well, who are those pretty ladies? Guess it really is my birthday.”

Colt turned his head—and his cock turned to stone.

Indie. She stepped into the bar with Clara by her side, wearing a floral wrap dress with a fringed hem. The dress emphasized her ample breasts, and the ankle boots with the heels drew his gaze to her shapely legs.

“Wonder if the girl in the flower dress is single. She’s not wearing a wedding ring.”

Colt’s body tensed at Waldo’s question. “She’s not single,” he growled.

“You know her?”

“She’s my wife.” He downed the rest of his beer before setting the bottle on a nearby table and moving across the bar.

Indie watched the wind move through the trees from the passenger seat of the car.

“Are you thinking about him?” Clara asked, breaking the silence.

Of course she was. She was always thinking about him, whether she wanted to or not. “Maybe. This morning, I tried to use the kitchen counter as a barrier between us.”

Because any time he touched her at all, she turned into a freaking mess. Her heart rate shot up. Her skin tingled. And she was about ready to fling off her clothes and drag him to bed.

Yeah, she really did feel that desperate.

“Why?” Clara asked gently. “You told me the kiss was good.”

“It was better than good.” A million miles ahead of good.

“Okay. And you’ve decided not to go through IVF without him. You’re not doing IVF at all . So that stress, plus the stress of him being in the military, isn’t there. It’s just—”

“His mother.” She turned to look at Clara. “You know she asked me to come over for dinner on Sunday night?”

“When?”

“Well, she didn’t ask me. She asked Colt to ask me.”

“Uh-huh, she’s trying to play the good mom in front of Colt.”

“Maybe. After finding out about Colt’s dad though, I kind of feel sorry for her. Not enough to forgive her for all the unkind things she’s said, but…I don’t know. Her husband was a drug-addict alcoholic who used to hurt her.”

Clara’s eyes softened. “Being married to a man like him would have been awful.”

“And with a young kid? She needed to protect her son from his own father. And despite everything, she does love Colt.”

“But if she loves Colt as much as she says she does, and Colt loves you, then she should welcome you.”

“Unless she thinks I’m not good for her son.”

Clara glanced at her, then back to the road. “That’s ridiculous. You started dating in high school, and he hasn’t looked at another woman since. Sylvia should love Colt enough to love you too.”

“Maybe to her, I’m unlovable.”

Clara scoffed as she pulled into the parking lot beside CJ’s. “No, you’re not. Maybe she’s unhinged.”

Indie climbed out of Clara’s Volkswagen. “She liked me for the first few years. Or at least, I think she did. It was after we got married and started trying for a baby that she got cold.”

Which had kind of felt like a kick in the gut. Because that was when the fertility struggles had begun, and she’d needed support. She certainly hadn’t gotten it from Sylvia.

“Maybe we should buy her something,” Clara said, as they headed toward the entrance of the bar. “Soften her up.”

Indie snorted. “That woman has a hell of a lot more money than me. I doubt there’s anything I could buy her that she’d want.”

“Actually, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that.”

Oh geez, first Colt, now Clara. “I’m fine.”

“I know. You’ve told me. But if you’re not, I want you to let me or my mom help you.”

“I am not taking your money, or Aunt Pam’s money.” Absolutely not. Even the thought made Indie feel sick.

“Well, you can’t keep driving that thing you call a car. Every time you get in it, I don’t know if I’ll see you alive again.”

“I’m going to replace it.”

“Good. But—”

“Nope. You’ve said what you needed to say. I appreciate it, but I’m okay. Now, we’re stepping inside the bar, and we’re going to drink and have a good time.” Then, as if to prove it, she gripped Clara’s wrist and dragged her inside.

She’d only gotten two steps beyond the door when she saw him.

Colt. He was with a group of people, one of them being her brother.

Good God, this town really was the size of a shoe. She smiled at them before directing Clara to a table.

Clara grinned. A big-ass grin that made Indie’s jaw tense.

“Say it,” Indie said.

“It’s like the universe wants you two to be together and happy.”

“Maybe. Or maybe the universe is out to get me.”

“Nope. I’m right. And your destiny is walking up to us right now.”

She turned just as Colt stopped at the table.

“Hey.”

Sexy voice. Sexy tight shirt over his too-hot-to-look-at muscles. Life really was unfair. “Hey yourself.”

“I didn’t know you were coming out tonight.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Last-minute decision. But I’m not alone. I brought Clara.”

Noah arrived at the table next and bumped Clara’s hip. “Hey, cousin.”

“Well, if it isn’t Noah Hayes.” She bumped his hip back.

“Can I get you a huckleberry martini?” Colt asked her, voice low.

Her heart gave a little thump that he remembered her order. But of course he remembered it. He knew her better than anyone else in this world.

Noah smiled at Clara. “Want me to get you an apple juice?”

She grinned at him. “Aw, you remember that I don’t drink!”

“Of course I do—you’re my favorite cousin.”

Clara rolled her eyes. “Bet you say that to my brothers too.”

“Uh-huh, but I only mean it with you.”

Clara chuckled and started talking to Noah about her brothers, as Colt lowered his lips to Indie’s ear. “Dance with me.”