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AIDEN
"What're you doing here?" Seth asked.
It was the same deep, steady timbre from the lake. Aiden was shocked he hadn't instantly recognized him from that alone. He heard that voice in his head practically every day—usually when he was about to do something stupid. It always made Aiden feel safe, no matter what brand of chaos was surrounding him.
"It was you, wasn't it?" Aiden asked bluntly.
Seth's expression remained stoic. He looked older, but not in a bad way. There was something appealing about the changes in his face. His jaw was sharper, and the sun had carved deep lines at the corners of his eyes that Aiden wished were from laughter. His mouth was hard now. He was no longer the boy Aiden remembered, the boy who'd been his savior a dozen times over, but Aiden supposed time did that to people. They'd all changed, and none had as good a reason as Seth.
The wind shifted, and Seth's cheek flinched ever so slightly at the sudden lash. He lifted one eyebrow as if he had no idea what Aiden was talking about.
It was one tiny little step away from the supercilious expression Aiden's mother had worn that morning. He hated that expression; it was like a cattle prod straight to his backside. Before he could think better, he'd already bolted forward and jabbed Seth in the chest with a hard finger. "Don't bother denying it. I know it was you. How could you just leave me there, you asshole?"
Seth's eyes narrowed. "The ambulance was on its way," he said coolly.
"What if I'd died before the ambulance got there?" Aiden poked at him again, aggravated that Seth could barely feel it through his weatherproof jacket.
"You didn't." Seth grabbed his offending finger, quick as a rattlesnake, and bent it just enough to make Aiden jerk his hand away. "But if this is your way of saying thanks—noted."
Aiden took a deep breath. This wasn’t how he’d wanted it to go. His mouth always ran away with him, blurting whatever was floating closest to the surface of his brain, and he almost always regretted it. "I did want to thank you," he said earnestly. "Seriously. I would've died out there if it hadn't been for you."
Seth's gaze caught and lingered briefly on his bruised face. He glanced away, looking conflicted, and bent to retrieve the hay bale he'd dropped. "You were stupid," he said gruffly, pushing past Aiden and heading into the barn.
"Is that why you didn't stick around? Survival of the fittest?" Aiden asked, trailing behind him.
"That's how life works."
"You don't believe that," Aiden protested, looking around curiously as he entered the barn, noting the broken equipment and dwindling feed supply. The warm, familiar scent of alfalfa and timothy grass enveloped him, better than catnip, relaxing muscles he hadn't even realized he'd tensed.
Seth was watching him closely, clocking his reaction. "How do you know what I believe?" he asked.
I did once. Aiden caught that one before it flew out of his mouth. Instead, he waggled his eyebrows and said, "You pulled that elk calf out after me, didn't you?"
"No sense leaving the job half done."
Aiden laughed, itching to loosen him up and bring back the smile that had always lurked behind his quiet eyes. "Mia thought you were a poacher," he said lightly. "Little does she know that you're the kind of guy who probably still wears Captain America undies in secret."
Seth scoffed under his breath. Call him an optimist, but Aiden figured it was a sound that wanted to be a laugh. He pointed to a rod and tackle box propped in the corner and grinned. "Let me guess—you were ice fishing?"
"With a license," Seth added wryly.
"Never doubted it." Aiden hopped on top of the meager haystack, carefully selected the greenest alfalfa straw, and popped it into his mouth. "How's Tessa?" he asked.
"Fine," Seth remarked, barely looking at him as he turned his attention to a busted saddle sitting on a workbench.
Aiden wasn't offended that he wouldn't look him in the eye. Seth was the kind of guy who liked to keep his hands busy, and with running the ranch alone, he wasn't a man with a lot of time to waste.
"Is she still away at college?" Aiden asked.
"Her financial aid fell through, so she's home for the winter."
"I haven't seen her around."
"She doesn't like to drive," Seth said without looking up, "and I don't have much time to bring her down the mountain."
They'd progressed to compound sentences, at least. That was progress. Aiden chomped his alfalfa straw, sucking the sweet green flavor onto his tongue, and refused to be discouraged. Seth had spent so much time alone he'd probably forgotten how conversations worked. Aiden wasn't an idiot; he knew he wasn't welcome. Seth didn't want him here. But the way he saw it, fate had thrust them back into each other's lives for a reason. He wasn't about to let himself be shoved back out in the cold—not until he'd repaid Seth for saving his life, anyway.
"What were you doing lugging hay back in from the pasture?" he asked, nodding toward the bale Seth had been carrying. "It's supposed to go to the cattle, you know."
