“It’s disgustin’, isn’t it?” I asked. “Like, it needs some sort of sugar or creamer or milk.”
She laughed, pressing her mug to her lips. “I wouldn’t know. I can’t stand it even with those things in it. I’m a hot cocoa or energy drink kinda girl.”
“Not an energy drink girlanymore,” Ryder added, offering her a stern look. She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, though a smile toyed on her lips.
We cleared the table not long later, but when I’d silently begun drying some of the dishes, Maverick shooed me out. I think he’dpeopled enough for a bit and needed a moment to himself. I’d tried to fight him on it, but given up in the end. Ryder and Charlie went to go get ready to pick up Cason from Charlie’s mom’s house, which left me with nothing to do.
The sound of rope against plastic cut through the painful silence and I remembered Cash. He hadn’t stopped roping since he’d gone outside half an hour ago. With a sigh, I found my boots and made my way outside.
Cash threw with perfectaccuracy. He handled his rope with the finesse and comfortability of someone who’d been doing it their whole life. I sat on the bed of an old, falling apart pickup truck that I questioned could even run, watching him in silence for a few moments.
His right hand was stained red, crimson droplets falling to the dirt. He didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he just didn’t care.
“You’re bleedin’,” I called out as he roped the horns once more.
He paused, looking down at his hand for a moment. A surprised frown tugged on his mouth, a grunt of disbelief escapinghim. “Well, shit.”
He rolled up his rope and readied for another throw. Completely unfazed.
God, it was almost harder dealing with his silence than Maverick’s. Cash wasn’t quiet. He wasn’t sullen, or broody. He was loud and talkative and the center of attention.
Maybe I should leave. Coming out here had been a mistake. I didn’t really know why I’d decided to check on him anyway. Maybe because he’d gone through this with Maverick before and possibly had some insight on how to navigate this… Though, from the way he was acting, that proved otherwise.
I should go get my things and…and what?
My trailer was gone. All my things were little more than ash. I had Brandy and I had Country Road, but she was back in San Antonio, so it’s not even like I could just hop in my truck and go ride her for a little bit then come back. That would be an all-day excursion.
But anything beat being here right now. Charlie and Ryder were leaving. Maverick wasn’t going to be talking anytime soon, and Cash was even worse company than his cousin.
I was about to hop off the back of the tailgate when he turned to me, cradling his bloody hand. “I’m sorry, I know I’m bein’ a dick…”
I shrugged, glancing toward the house and spotting Maverick working at the kitchen sink before looking back at Cash. “You’re worried about him. I get it.”
I was too.
Cash tossed the rope into the bed of the truck and took up a seat beside me. “I’m worried about how long he ain’t gonna talk for again.”
Well, that settled my question. “It happened before?”
He nodded. “After the accident. He just stopped talkin’.”
“How long did it last?”
Cash blew out a breath, his gaze glazing over a bit as he stared unseeingly ahead. “Almost a year.”
“Fuck,” I breathed. A year? I couldn’t imagine not talking for more than a day…let alone a year.
Cash nodded, rubbing absentmindedly at his hand.
“What pulled him out of it?” I asked.
“I ain’t really sure,” he said with a shrug. “I think a lotta different shit played into it, ya know…” A soft smile came to his lips, that glassy look in his gaze deepening. “I remember his first words, though.”
I smiled, turning towards him. “Tell me about it?”
I got the feeling he needed to talk about it as much as I wanted to hear it. Brandy hopped up beside me and I began petting her absentmindedly.
“It was the weekend of my eighth birthday. We were at a youth rodeo in…well, I guess it don’t matter where. Some kids in his age group were bullyin’ him. Particularly this one asshat.” Cash’s lip curled up into a snarl. “Bodi fucking Johnson…shithead couldn’t rope then, and he sure as shit can’t rope now.”
