LIKE A RITUAL

𝕒𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔

50s ford bronco with the top down. collared shirts and boots. black coffee. animals that flock to him. the smell of horse sweat. clouds of smoke from hot shodding. iodine stained fingers. bruises. dancing in the kitchen. singing country songs. fixing broken things.

𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪

Colt was raised Iron River, and he was rather unremarkable. His father was a single dad, and Colt ended up taking on more responsibility for his younger brother, Wesson. He was smart yet rather unremarkable kid growing up. He was good at science and math, and his father feared that his son would be bullied, so he started Colt in jujitsu. Colt went to UGA on a fighting scholarship and academic merit. He fought for three years during college and went on to vet school. He specialized in exotics and equine and ended up working for Zoo Atlanta. He met Alara around this and they quickly got married. They were together several years, and attempted to survive the tragedies they went through. Ultimately, it was Colt that ruined their marriage with an affair. He ended up divorcing Aly after he told her. He’s back in Iron River due his father’s illness. Recently, his brother passed away and in that grief and the grief of his father’s incoming passing, he is trying to navigate figuring out how to get back to the woman he loves.

𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕤

Full Name: Colt Alexander Winslow

Nickname(s): Colt, Doc

Age: Thirty Four

Birthday: April 1st

Hometown: Iron River, GA

Length of Time Back: Since Aug 2021

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Orientation: Heterosexual

Current partner: Alara Kozen

Occupation: Equine Veterinarian

Accent: Very slight southern accent

     He won the bet, they were moving before Christmas, news that came the week before with a move in date that fell at the beginning of their holidays. It promised a fresh start, more space and the time to be together as a couple, as well as a new family. Alara wasn’t completely prepared, but most of their things had been packed away; she took charge of organising everything, leaving just the bulky furniture and Willa’s things to go. Her’s would be taken first and set up, she was Aly’s only real concern aside from Pike who would be returning home to a different environment. That was a worry for a different day though, she was meeting Colt at the house and packed the car with some smaller boxes, making the familiar journey to their new home. 

Her smile grew at the sight of him against the truck, each time sending butterflies exploding through her stomach. Colt opened the door and she switched the engine off, “Hey, baby—” Her hand pulled a sweater over the present wrapped on the passenger side, something little for his housewarming gift and jumped out to give him a quick kiss. “Okay, I’ve got some boxes to take inside once we’re done.” Following until she caught up with him, Aly grabbed his hand and felt like something was off. She looked at him from the side, trying to work out what it was, distracted when he showed her the planter that Fallon was in. “Our baby, always with us wherever we go.” In that moment she squeezed his hand harder, wishing every day that Fallon could be there with them. “Pike won’t be able to get to her here,” She laughed to cover the pain of missing him too and then, turned around so she could look at him. 

“I’m excit—” She began, but promptly cut herself off as her ring box was pulled from behind his back. “Where did you get that …” Alara whispered, voice getting caught in her throat. She reached out as he went down on one knee, awkwardly and trying to hide discomfort, but by the time he was on the ground she could feel the tears begin to fall. Unlike last time, she didn’t stand in shock unable to respond, Alara just nodded and smile before finding her voice. “Yes,” Alara laughed through the tears and fell to her knees so they were almost eye-level, “A million times yes. It’s always yes.” Kissing him, her shaky hands moved over his and she laughed again, “Did you hurt your knee?” Aly whispered, kissing him. “I knew something was up.”

—

“I stole it outta your nightstand,” Colt said with a grin. That was after he got the intel from Liv on that she was good with her old rings. But, he wasn’t gonna tell her that, his secrets could be his own secrets. “We’re off to a good start that you can speak, this time around,” he said with a wink and pulled the ring outta the box, and place it back on her finger. He’d gotten it resized to fit too, so it was right. Another tip of the hat to Liv for that as well. Otherwise it would’ve been a little — actually, a lot — embarrassing. Standing up was easier than getting down, believe it or not, so he was on his feet without so much as an ounce of pain. 

In a fluid motion, one they’d practiced a thousand times on the dance floor, he spun her and dipped her into a kiss. There was something about a yes, both times around, that made him feel like he was an invincible giant. He liked to feel like that, because he didn’t often feel like it. At her question of his knee, he looked down at it. “Feels good now,” then, he was running high off the yes, so, that was suspect at best. “Horse kicked me at the practice. Was a bit of a rough day for the mare,” he said with a nod. “She was barefoot, and it was a graze. Better me than Trevor.” Colt didn’t like it when his employees got hurt, no matter if they knew that came with the job. He’d always been like that though. 

Taking the keys out of his pockets, he moved to unlock it. “Locked the door so you couldn’t foil my plans,” he said with a grin. Opening the door, he turned around and before she could protest, he scooped her up into his arms, and walked her through the door. “New living room,” he said, not giving her up. “We need a new couch too,” Colt said with a nod, and looked up at her. 

“I think she’s still on birth control.” He said, brow furrowed, “I don’t know. She hasn’t said anything about it. Unless her asking was her saying something about it.” He looked at Colt, or really, looked through Colt. Maybe they hadn’t had the same conversation, maybe she was telling him. He shook his head, he couldn’t think that deep into it now. “No, you’ll talk to your crazy girlfriend.” He said, laughing, “then she’ll get annoyed with you, and then tell me that I have to babysit you, and then I get to stand there and be confused with the concept.” That whole conversation still threw him a bit. “I’m sure theres some college athletes low on money. A nice beer pong champion four frat parties running. Smart men, tall men?” Vann kept rattling off options, “way better than me.” He said, she could make a good complement, make the best kid possible. “It ain’t been wild.” Vann almost instantly disagreed. “She takes so many naps, litters all around the house. She doesn’t cook, she doesn’t clean.” He rolled his eyes, “probably the most relaxing time if her life. “Told me so what?” He asked, that’d been so long ago, he’d slept a lot since then. “She’s lookin’ at houses that cost more than some people will make in a lifetime, I mean, regular stuff.” 

—

“Babysit me?” Colt said with a raised brow. “If she knew what that really looked like, she’d never suggest you babysit. Anyone. Ever. In fact, she’d probably start drafting the papers to have you fake kids taken away from you. Your kid problem would be gone.” He laughed, thinking of some fond memories. “Professor Richmond, teaching the ways of Richmond Ranch were the interns get on bulls and the vet interns get their hands crushed in the chutes,” Colt said with a snicker. It was the best of the times, back when they were young and on that ranch, young and dumb and drinking. “I ain’t your wife, so I ain’t gonna sit here and tell you you’re better than all that noise, but I will say, if you really want another man to impregnate your wife, she’s probably got friends, which would guarantee you’d end up like the Von Trapps.” He laughed at his joke, even though it probably wasn’t funny. “Oh you, know, that you’d end up with her, all my speal out there,” Colt gestured vaguely to the barn. He changed the subject, “So, new truck means going on the road?” 

“I could very well die at 35.” He said, rolling his eyes. His career was inherently dangerous, more so than most peoples. “I live my life on borrowed time, dude.” One day he wouldn’t, but the wear and tear on his body now would haunt him forever. “So says you. If I make it to 60 everyone is gonna be surprised. And my hypothetical children ain’t gotta have a dad see them graduate high school.” Maybe the math was a little off, but the dramatic effect was still on point. Vann watched as he fucked with whatever he was doing, “what, you’re so old you can’t even do that.” He pointed to the machine and laughed. He was techinally older than Vann, he should have been more worried. “Maybe she should pick a sperm donor, make a smarter kid. A taller kid.” He laughed, though he knew good and well that would never happen. “She’s allowed to do whatever she wants. What makes you think I make the rules?” He shook his head, “she could get married again tomorrow if she wants, that’s up to her.” 

—

“Then you better give that woman a baby like yesterday,” Colt said with a shrug. “But, the devil ain’t want your ass, that’s why you’re still walking around,” he laughed to himself. “Which is good news for me, really. Otherwise I’ve have to talk to the dog and she’s sick of me.” The black lab was nowhere to be seen. Which was like her. She’d given her hello sniff and collected a single pet from Vann and then made off to where. At the sperm donor remark, Colt actually did let out a laugh. “We both know ain’t no one of worth donating sperm.” The mention of not making the rules made Colt give a sage nod. Get married and suddenly everything you ever did was wrong and had to be done a different way, it was like, there were no free decisions these days. Which was a different thing he was battling with more and more and he didn’t bring it up. “Eh, she’d probably say marrying you has been wild enough, and she’d not fucking crazy enough to do it again. Except, it would come more sweet. Also, I don’t think I ever said I told you so about her, so I am saying it now. Told you so.” They were apparently in a fight when that happened. Colt never really fought with Vann so the silence wasn’t something he picked up on. “Anyway, is that all that’s new? She wants to make you a Dad soon?”

“I wouldn’t say that.” He said almost with a laugh, “I think Jesus has one up on her. I know a lot of people who have no idea who she is outside of me, which is strange, but it is what it is.” He shrugged, okay maybe it wasn’t a lot. They held court in almost the same circles, but there was a handful. “Wished the boxes wouldn’t magically leave, she ain’t even like half the shit in ‘em.” Maybe it would have been different if the stuff that was sent was good, instead it was just a lot of stuff they ended up throwing out. “I’m old.” He said with a shrug, “and if we do the math, if the kid goes to college, I’ll be in my 60s when it finally like, can grow up and be on its own, and fuck man.” He shook his head, “that’s so old.” A lifetime ago they’d talked about kids and how many they wanted, hell they’d named them. It was a blessed life, but that was ten years ago. “I’ve been called not funny a lot lately, which is a real shame, because you’re right, I am funny.” 

—

“What are we? In the fucking— colonial times where we died at 35?” Colt rolled his eyes. Did he feel old? Yeah, every fucking day, especially when a horse kicked him for doing work on it. Did his knee suck from years of training? Yeah. But that was a fact of life. It was just aging. “We’re a third of the way through our lives, probably less given how the medical industry is advancing. Just because we feel like old fucking men, doesn’t mean shit.” Colt went back to dicking with the weather station, trying to adjust the wheel to measure the windspeed on it. “Over here acting like we’re halfway through our lives, tired of you,” Colt said with a snort and a small grin, once he got the wheel where he wanted it to be he returned his focus back to Vann, the goofiness was gone and he was more muted and then asked, “Is that really what you’re worried about? Because being old is a gift, my man. Give your wife kids, because she’ll need someone to take care of her when you croak at 97 in two years.” He did laugh at his joke, because it was half the fun, was to joke about. “Question, when you die in two years at 97, is she allowed to marry again or gonna make her be a widow for the next seventy years?” He was being a bit of an asshole comedian, entertaining himself, but something had to amuse him these days, and fuck this was it.

The house was finally done. He’d done a walkthrough earlier in the day. Rhett said it would be done before Christmas and he was correct, it was done. Now, it was time for phase two of Colt’s plans. Being the shit head, he was, he discreetly locked the door to the house so that Aly couldn’t actually get through the door before he had a chance to say and do what he wanted. So he was leaned up against his work truck, waiting on her. Willa was with her mom for a few hours this evening, so it was just them. As she pulled in, he pushed off the truck and then moved to open her door of her little car. 

“The house is done, but I wanted to show you something around back,” he said, not giving away anything and waited for her to walk with him as they walked around to the back of the house. There were a few things he had prepared and staged on the back porch. A few of their old photos that he managed to dig out and put into real frames. He also moved Fallon into a proper planter, the one that was hung up by an old halter of Loopy’s and put her there too. As they crested around it, he stood behind her. “So,” he said, he was little more romantic the first time around, but this was an important step. “I wanted her to be here too,” he said with a nod. “I realized something, that I wanted to carry you over the threshold of the door to the new house, but I don’t want to carry you over as my girlfriend.” He pulled out the box with her old rings that he stole this morning, “I’d rather carry you over it wearing this ring, as my bride to be,” he said with a smile. 

It felt weird doing this again, but it required a formal ask, and Colt was nothing if he wasn’t something of a structured. Plus, he’d never live it down if it wasn’t something of a big deal. He gingerly got down onto a knee, “Would you like to marry me?” He prayed he’d be able to stand back up because he was kicked by a horse in the knee that morning, so he was doing his best to hide a limp.

“Oh no.” Vann shook his head, interrupting him, “you don’t even understand the package thing until you look in my damn dining room.” He said, rolling his eyes. “She doesn’t even order half the stuff she gets, and then she never opens anything. She just leaves it to sit and accumulate. Its like your box room, but it grows and breathes.” it was a lot. There was more than either of them knew what to do with, and even when they spent hours opening, there were still more to open. “Yeah, it’s better that way.” He agreed. He’d put something somewhere June didn’t want it, and she’d end up moving it anyways. That bugged him to no end, him doing something only for someone else to change it later, so why waste the time? “I ordered a new one a little over 3 months ago, asked her if she wanted to do the interior, she did and never told me what she picked.” He didn’t care about that sort of thing, but she did. “I didn’t really get a say.” He never said yes or no, he just existed in the same moment with the question. “I could go get a sneaky vasectomy.” He laughed, “she’d probably be upset about that though.” 

—

“Well, she’s more famous than Jesus, so you got a lot of fringe problems, the packages being one of them,” Colt said with a snort of a laugh. If he was honest, he did feel for Vann. All the cardboard, things just lined up and in the way... it made him annoyed just thinking about it. Annoyed was the common feeling he was having lately, which was a different crisis, that he was losing the fun side of himself in all this, but that was on him. Pretty soon he’d need to come to grips with the world not ever evening out again it just being like it is, and carry on. But right now, he was gonna be annoyed about it. “What’s the hesitation?” Colt asked. Vann wasn’t really afraid of much. Losing June, maybe. Colt knew that getting on a bull made him feel something of scared but he still did it. Vann was joking but there was something to it, and Colt tended to cut through the fat of it when it mattered. “You and I both know anyone who says raising kids is easy is full of shit, but also, anyone who says it’s hard is also full of shit. It’s just different.” Colt nodded to down the hall where Willa was running back and forth with toys to show Midnight. The black lab seemed to look on with an impressed stare. “You’d be good at it. Need a sense of humor and a good work ethic,” Colt said with a grin. “And no one ever called you lazy or not funny, so.”

“Anyone bringing presents is worth lettin’ in.” He said rather matter of factly, “and I think the Amazon guy is bringin’ good stuff.” He continued, not that he’d ever ordered anything from Amazon but June’d gotten boxes of stuff and she always seemed pleased. Maybe one day he’d get into online shopping, but a lot of things would have to change for him to even have access. Sure, he stole June’s computer every once in awhile, but even then, that wasn’t anything that happened often. “Damn.” He said with a long whistle, “you get a fancy job and get a fancy staff to go along with it.” He laughed, “too expensive for my blood.” Which was kind of ironic coming from his mouth, but he was little more than a glorified hobo. “Funny you think I know where anything is.” Here, June’s house– he knew where the glasses were in his ghetto house, that was easy. People moving shit, expecting him to know. But he started to look around before ultimately changing his mind and going to the fridge for a simple bottle of beer, wouldn’t need a glass for that. “Nothin’ special.” He said with a shrug, popping the top of the beer, “she got me a pocket knife, finally showed me the interior samples she picked for my new truck.” He shrugged, taking a drink, “I didn’t want anything.” He was hard to shop for, mostly because if he wanted something, he just got it, there wasn’t anything that he wanted for. He was cheap, expensive things didn’t impress him. “Told me she wanted a baby, you know, regular Christmas stuff.” 

—

“He’s bringing Aly’s fucking package addiction,” Colt said under his breath so that only Vann could hear. What was it with people and Amazon prime? It was like, whatever they could order they ended up getting. He had special ice cube molds that he didn’t need. Putting the screwdriver down, he added, “Bold of you to think that I know where things are. I just open all the cabinets until I find what I need. I built the house but I won’t claim I own any domain over it other than my name on the deed. She unpacked and organized it all, which is fine.” Colt had been in charge of putting together all the furniture and otherwise lifting more of the heavy stuff and making beds. “New truck? Same as the other but nicer?” Vann was a Ford guy, and Colt didn’t really have an allegiance to a truck as long as it had the right capacity he needed. He was in a Dodge because that was what came with the practice but he drove that old Bronco long before anything else. He put the weather station down when he watched the Vann equivalent of sputtering take place over his wife wanting a kid. He cracked a smile. “They always know when to ask us for shit, usually when we’re all content, relaxed, having a slice of peace, and such and then bam, hey baby, I want this, or hey baby can you build me that...” Colt shook his head. “You gonna give her one?”

who → @coltwinslow​ where → colt house 

While traditionally, December seemed to be his least busy month, what extra time he might of spent drinking or doing literally anything else, he found himself spending that time with June. He assumed that was what it was to be married, to like to spend time with your wife, and he assumed that would fade, but in the months they’d been married or the years before that, it’d never happened, he wasn’t sure it ever would. He knocked once and the door was flung open with all the strength you’d expect from a small child, “who are you?” She asked, and Vann looked down at the little girl, his existential crisis looking up at him in the form of a child that was not his own, “Vann.” He said, looking down at her. She returned his gaze for a second, before nodding, “you can come in.” He nodded back at her, and she swung the door with way too much force for a baby. causing it to slam and coincidentally rouse Colt from wherever he was, Vann could hear the man’s foot steps a little thundery down the hall. Colt saw him, and his eyes switched back and forth between him and the kid, and all Vann could do was shrug, “your maitre’d let me in.” 

—

He was, as it stood, about to lose his Dodge Ram mind. The crisis had eased off some with Pike going to Eddie’s, which was one less thing to handle, but a lot of Colt’s sense of humor had melted away. He did too much too soon, really, and there was no one to blame but himself. He figured he’d ease up sooner, and the larger house and less things and people had eased off the breaking point for Colt, but he was still feeling like he was close to it. He was structured, always, forever, and that was part of the problem. At the sight of Vann, Colt put down the new weather station he got for Christmas and actually chuckled. “At least you weren’t the Amazon driver. She wanted to invite them in the last time.” He walked to the front door, glanced at the sheetrock, and sighed. The doorstops saved them. He’d probably have to walk to outside if the sheetrock was damaged, but Colt was actually smart and prepared well. “Very expensive maitre’d, way more than a normal maitre’d salary, if you ask me.” He moved to gesture to the fridge, and then the cabinet and he went back to fiddling with the weather station he’d need to climb onto the roof to install later. “Beer and tea in the fridge, glasses in the cabinet, make yourself at home. How was Christmas with the Richmonds? Get anything nice?” 

     Shocked didn’t quite cut the emotion running through her body, but neither did hurt; somewhere in the middle, a pendulum swinging from extreme to the other until everything inside had become a festering pool of hormones designed to protect and defend someone she loved. Aly repeated his words quietly in her head, over and over again to see if they hurt less with each cycle, but they didn’t. They just added fuel to a small fire that was beginning to spread, “In which case you don’t get to do this with me,” Her jaw tightened. “I am not your employee, or your client. I am your girlfriend. No—” Aly scoffed, “You tell everyone that I’m your wife. So, I would appreciate you listening to what I’m saying and speaking to me as such.” Pinching the end of her nose, Aly looked over to him and shrugged. “You decided this without so much as talking to me?” Head shaking, she muttered some Turkish frustrations under her breath. “Do you even see how hurtful that is?” She could feel the body shaking, so much so that she left the couch to move away from him, closing the door between the living room and the rest of the house. 

Turning around to lean on it, Alara folded her arms and made her point known. “Pike is my family, so he’s yours and we don’t make decisions for our family alone. Do you even remember why you brought him home?” Alara asked, hoping that piece of her husband was still intact. “Second miscarriage, we were devastated. Pike’s litter came in while I was on leave and nobody wanted him. You said he had this ear fold that he only did when you spoke to him.” Maybe he didn’t remember, but Aly did. She remembered how gentle and caring he had been, but more so, Alara remembered how it was him that had to convince her they could raise him. Together. “I don’t even know who you are sometimes. The man I married wasn’t ever this cold. He respected me. He trusted me.” Alara dried the wet patches under her eyes and moved again, this time to pick up a couple of Willa’s blocks from the floor. “He’s not going into kennels. You don’t get to make that decision because it’s more convenient for you.”

—

Convenient? He glanced to her, his eyes narrowing at her ever so slightly. She was being particularly nasty to him, and he didn’t appreciate it. He was quickly getting annoyed with the whole conversation, and if he was honest, he didn’t really understand it. “Nothing about this is convenient for me, Alara.” He was quiet when he said it. He wasn’t in the mood to raise his voice or really have this conversation. She wanted him to be a husband, but then wanted to have a conversation and second guess every decision he made. It was insulting, and sometimes, he just wanted to be able to make the choices that needed to be made without an hour long conversation about their feelings. This wasn’t a feelings thing, this was, the dog was a danger to their child, his child. He shook his head, he wasn’t sure where this all was coming from.

“Nothing about having an out of control dog that could bite and injure our kid is convenient. What would you say to any of the parents who had kids that you work with cases with if they had a dog that growled and bared its teeth at them and their child?” Unreal. That’s what this was. Frustrating, too. “Pike is not a human, Alara. If you think I am cold for placing the wellness and safety of our child,” Colt pointed a finger in the direction of Willa’s room, because that’s what she was, “over a dog...” He shook his head. He wasn’t going to finish the sentence aloud. but to call him cold when this was logical? No. His face spelled out the disappointment though. “I really think you need you take a step back and ask yourself if you rank the dog on the same level as our future babies.” 

He paused to look at her. She had wielded the miscarriages against him, like a weapon. For a half a second, she reminded him of someone he didn’t like in that moment. It was manipulative, and he saw it, and it gave him pause. She intended on hurting him, and she succeeded. “I need to step outside,” he said with a shake of his head. “I don’t necessarily appreciate you throwing the death of one of our babies into my face to defend a family member who is going to put our child into the hospital.” She was starting to cross lines that he wasn’t sure she wanted to cross, and lines that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to recover from, either. They’d been through a lot, but using the miscarriages and throwing them in his face? Not a great time. It was feeling all a tad like emotional manipulation, a more gentle version of his father, but the signature was the same. “I need a break.”

“It was work.” He hated it, that was for sure. Maybe it was the boringness of his job, or the fact that it was so repetitive, but he missed the thrill of what he used to do. There was a sense of unpredictability with it, but it also made him serve time. There were some pros and cons for sure but at least he wasn’t bored. That had to count for something. “That’s okay, that’s why we have socks.” He was just thankful to have a place to live. Anything was better than living in a cell. “Are you not happy with how it’s coming along?” 

—

“Just wish it was coming along faster,” Colt said with a smile and a nod. “You can’t tell me that small house is doing it for you. I personally would like to peel my skin off with a potato peeler, currently.” He looked back to the lock and finished it. “Keyless, figured that would be better, then you don’t need to worry about a key.” Colt stood up and brushed himself off and then looked back to Evren and then out onto the property. The horses were grazing on browned winter grass, and the air was still and crisp in the winter time. Loopy had a blanket on as it was getting chilly and he was and old man now. This place was becoming somewhere that Colt liked, slowly, instead of dreaded. “What are you plans this weekend?”

     As the relief washed off her skin, a thin lacquer of confusion began to replace it. She nodded and smiled, just like her mother taught her, but as the evening drew to a close it had dried into frustration; Aly put their niece to bed and she cleaned up after dinner, took the dogs for a quick walk to the park and returned feeling no better. There was dread in her stomach and she held onto Pike longer than she would usually, smushing her into the top of his head and reminded him that he was loved. “You’re a good boy,” Alara whispered to him in Turkish, “I love you.” Sweet nothings that she used to murmur through tears on those lonely nights after Colt left them. It’s why she already felt defeated walking back into the living room to turn on the television, watching mindlessly as the clock ticked forward and her bedtime came and went. By the time he was finished with work Alara was half asleep under the blanket, startled back to consciousness by the deep baritone that rattled the air. “That’s okay,” Sitting up slowly to stretch, Alara reached out to rub the back of his knee and yawned, “I don’t mind.” 

Though, that statement might have changed had she heard what he would say next. Sleepy and only half-aware, Alara waited for the fatigue to clear before being certain that she wasn’t hearing things. “He told you…” Warning, she supposed. Guy code or whatever the masculine equivalent was, a little heads up that his message had sent to the wrong person. Her stomach twisted and chest ached, winded from the shock that he didn’t play coy or explain that it was a misunderstanding. Alara let him finish which gave her time to gather her thoughts and begin sorting through them; anger, vulnerability, but mostly sadness. “Y— You just … decided this, on your own?” Aly rubbed her eyes and looked over to him, searching for anything beneath his certainty. “Without talking to me?” Her gasp was exhausted, struggling to believe that he would keep this for her, desperate to find the man she had been married to. 

—

“Eddie is my employee, then I’m his client, of course he told me,” Colt said, his face turning into scrunched. She was reading into things that didn’t need to read into. There wasn’t a bro-code or some sort of allegiance there outside the fact that there was a literal business deal involved. That’s what this was all was, and further it was a dog. “I did,” Colt said, with a nod. “He’s out of control, and something needs to be done before it’s too late. If he bites someone, I’ll be forced to put him down the by the law. All that growling, that means something, Alara.” Colt crossed his arms. “If he doesn’t recall and runs out into the main road, he’s gonna get hit. Training is imperative to save his life.” Colt had walked down this road before, he wasn’t going to risk it. “I see this every day, I won’t let it be our dog. And he’s not our child, he’s a dog.” 

This was one of their dumber conversations. Pike was out of control, and the fact that she couldn’t see that was a but alarming to Colt. It poked at him. She only ever seem to see what she wanted to, including this, that everything was fine when it wasn’t. Colt looked away, he was suddenly in a mood. She either trusted him to do right by the family or she didn’t, and if she didn’t, he probably needed to reconsider a few things. He didn’t have much else to say. 

STARTER FOR: @coltwinslow​

LOCATION: The really small rental.

Pike greeted her first, followed closely by Willa who was running towards them both. She had crouched to the floor and laughed as he licked her face, even more so when Willa held Bluey out for her, “Hey —” Leaning down she kissed Pike’s head in relief and then took Bluey and turned him around, making kissing noises as she tapped it on the top of Willa’s head. 

They took her straight back to where Colt was, seemingly fine despite the messages she had from Eddie in the hours prior. She was confused, but brushed it off and kissed his cheek with a smile, “I missed you, hi.” Once Willa was out of earshot scrambling onto the couch, she caught Colt’s side and held him there, gently, for a moment. “Are you okay to talk when she’s gone to sleep later?” She asked quietly, trying to mask her concern. “I got some weird messages earlier, but they’re nothing to worry about.”

—

Eddie had told him, a little warning of the incoming. Colt glanced up from his paperwork. “Hi,” he said with a smile and then looking back to the paperwork. He was fortunate, he’d managed to get a neighborhood high school girl to help babysit a few afternoons a week for some cash, and it was helpful. Sally was good with Willa, and it took some of the pressure off Aly and Defne on shuffling around the toddler, who was settling in really well. “Mhmm, would you be able to put her to bed tonight? I really need to get some things finalized and submitted, and I need to spend a bit looking over the research results I got back.” Colt’s main focus had been on quality over quantity with the practice. He wanted bigger barns, with more high profile horses, rather than handful of horses with a bunch of different trainers. 

He was much more serious these days, he had an immense amount of pressure and things he needed to get done on the daily, and the small house and hectic schedule was starting to wear on him. Colt had always been pretty orderly when it came down to it. Structured. Even his chaos was structured for the right time and place. As the hours ticked away, Colt finally emerged, well after dinner and bedtime. He didn’t do it often, but he was running up on deadlines so it was a necessary evil. Ambling out, he went to get a glass of water, fingers pressing to his temple. He was tired. “Trying to get all the accounts settled before the end of the month, and we’re way behind,” Colt sighed. 

It was time to get to the rat killing, as Wesson used to say. “We gotta talk about Pike. He’s going to spend some time with Eddie.” Colt nodded. “He doesn’t listen, I don’t have time to retrain him the right way, he’s started to growl at us and I know the way this goes. If we keep him in this environment, specifically with me, and he bites you or Willa, I will put him down. We’re setting him up for failure right now unless we do something about it, so I’m doing something about it.” Colt was a little annoyed that Pike was back to being basically feral, he had the dog trained well, and now he was fucking basket case.