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He nodded and leaned his head back, the shift in the conversation palpable. “I wish it would stop raining. I wanted to sleep ’neath the stars tonight. I wanted Keaton to have that for his first solo drive.”
My eyes drifted out across the stormy night. Man, this was life. Even though we couldn’t sleep beneath the silver canvas that stretched a deep purple tonight, it certainly would happen at some point. I could never give this life up. Riding across fields of grass set my soul free. Everything in me churned with excitement at the possibilities that lay out upon the hundreds of thousands of wild acres of these mountains.
Tomorrow, the Earth would be new; the rain washed the ground fresh, sifting through what wasn’t steady enough and what was. And whatever storm was following Briar, whatever she was running from, would be something I could weather.
But could she?
“Cash?” I asked, staring past the tent canvas that billowed in the wind.
“Hmmmm?”
“Am I crazy?”
“Absolutely,” he answered, and I glanced at him.
“What if I wanted…more?”
Cash furrowed his brows and sat up as I rested my now empty plate on the stones in front of me. The flames of the campfire flickered, dancing brightly against the unusually dark night. “More than what?”
I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn’t really sure how to explain it, and something like this was normally a conversation I’d have with Weston. It wasn’t that I wanted anything other than this life. I just wanted…more. Something else. A new adventure. Something that I’d forgotten I once longed for. Something I didn’t think I really deserved.
“Never mind. I’m gonna hit the sack,” I said and stood up.
Cash narrowed his gaze, studying me for a moment before pointing at my chest. “I wouldn’t take that muddy shirt in that tent.”
“Right,” I mumbled and tugged it off, draping the shirt along the wire that held Briar’s clothes. The moment the breeze danced across my bare skin, goosebumps erupted, prickling along every inch of my body.
“Oh, and Cassidy?”
“Yeah?” I glanced at him, running my calloused hands up and down my arms.
“Nothing wrong with that.” He smiled. “Nothing wrong with that.”
I watched him for a moment, wondering how much he actually understood from my question. Wondering if he realized what I’d truly meant. Wondering if I’d ever feel like my debt was paid and I could actually pursue it. Wondering if I would ever build up enough courage to actually go for it.
Quickly dashing out from beneath the canvas, I raced toward my tent and tugged back the flap. I ducked inside and immediately kicked my boots off as I zipped the tent closed, then left them beside the pair already lying at the entrance. When I glanced at the two bed rolls, I paused, staring at the lone figure barely illuminated in the dark.
Dropping my hat on top of my boots, I studied her as silently as I could, the rain pattering against the tent walls. Every so often a flash of lightning brightened the sky, and I could make out the rather long, pale lashes that were closed over her eyes.
Her eyes expressed everything she was thinking. She really wasn’t that good at hiding her emotions, which was how I knew she was running from something. But those blonde lashes, curling upward like her own individual lightning strikes, fluttered. Whatever dream she was having laid a blanket of peace across her features.
It was a peace I had yet to see in her. I understood why—her fear, grief, pain wasn’t just from whatever brought her here. Her dad had died only six months ago. I remembered exactly how much it had destroyed Tenley when her father passed only a couple of weeks after she and Weston got engaged. I remembered how withdrawn she’d become, how closed off. And how the grief and pain lasted longer than she would ever admit.
No matter how strong and sassy Briar tried to be, she was still wrapped up in that grief. Something that I doubted would ever fully go away. She had no parents whatsoever, and if her mother died in childbirth, I doubted she had any siblings either.
She was alone.
Other than Rooney. Though, maybe they weren’t as close as I hoped they were. Because if she at least had him, then she wasn’t entirely alone.
“Are you just going to stand there like a creep?” Briar said and suddenly sat up, her eyes pulling open.
I swallowed stiffly, startled. “Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “Just lost in thought.”
“Shirtless?”
“I-I—” I glanced down at my torso and wrapped my arms around my body.
“Self-conscious are we?”
