There was silence for a moment as Colt stared at him, and for a brief second, I could see my father in that look. It was the look he had when was absolutely done with your shit, and you had two choices. Either straighten up and fly right, or prepare for the entire army of hell to have absolutely nothing on the beating that was to come.
He never had to raise a hand to any of us. The look was enough.
“Anyway, we will let this go for the night,” Colt continued. “Walter, I can understand you being upset, and you have every right to it.”
“You’re goddamn right I do,” he said, his eyes not leaving me.
“You do,” Colt said, still trying to diffuse the situation. “And because of it, I think that perhaps tonight—and I believe Sawyer will agree—you two should have separate bunking areas.”
Shit. I had a feeling this was coming. Sleeping by the firepit was going to be my punishment for the night, and though it was my show and I could just tell everybody to deal and they would have to, I tried the diplomatic approach Colt spoke of.
Letting them think Colt had some authority meant they could trust him even if they didn’t trust me. It was smart, even if it hurt my ego a little, and meant I would have to agree to some things I didn’t want to do—and frankly didn’t have to.
“Yup,” I said.
“Yup,” Walter mimicked. I was sure it was meant to be mean and nasty, but it just came off comical.
“All right,” Colt said. “Sawyer, you can sleep in the tent with the cooler or out here by the fire. Your choice.”
“I’ve got blankets,” I said. “I’ll sleep here.”
Colt nodded. “All right, everybody. Walter, I think it’s time to retire for the evening.”
It took a few moments, but finally, Walter stood and followed Colt back to the bunkhouse. Lucien followed him quickly after that, making sure to eyeball me as he walked away. With the drama all over with, Cecelia quickly grew bored and left too. That meant it was down to just me and Rubin.
The only person in the group I wanted to punch.
We sat in silence for a few minutes and then Rubin smirked. I could see him out of the corner of my eye as I stared at the fire, and when he cleared his throat to get my attention, I didn’t acknowledge him. Not that it stopped him anyway.
“Man,” he said as if he had just been through something difficult. “Drama just always seems to follow my cousins around. I’m just glad I was here to watch it this time. Always good for an interesting night, they are.”
There were a few more moments of silence, and I realized he was waiting on me to weigh in on it. In a way, it was his attempt at absolving himself of guilt, by blaming it on the women being hysterical or stirring up drama. I had no intention of feeding into it.
“Glad you enjoyed the show,” I grumbled.
There was an exasperated sound like he was hurt by my noncommittal response to his non-apology. I continued to stare at the fire. As long as I didn’t look directly into his smug face, I didn’t have any overwhelming urges to shove his nose deep into his skull.
“Yeah,” Rubin said, shifting uncomfortably. Then he leaned back his head and let his lips raspberry as he exhaled. “Lordy, lordy, lordy, what a day.”
He was trying to make small talk. Trying to act like all this was just a normal occurrence and something I should just let go of. But I was looking at a night of sleeping in the kind of cold that even I usually went inside for, instead of the bed that I nicely prepared for myself which had a comfy mattress and pillow. He could eat dirt for all I cared, and I had several other suggestions for what else he could eat.
“I think you ought to get to bed,” I said instead. “Going to be a long day tomorrow.”
I expected that to be the end of it, for him to get the hint and move on. But instead, he just leaned back against the log and tipped his hat over his eyes. I’d be damned if he slept that close to me, but I didn’t figure he’d make it long anyway. He just wanted to annoy me first.