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Porter straightens. “Something happen?”
I trail a hand down my face. “Randy happened.”
His eyes turn dark. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing like that.” I lift a thumb over my shoulder. “My parents had him over for dinner, and Dad gave him a good talking-to.”
“Yeah?” His eyes find mine. “Think it’ll do any good?”
I kick at a stone. “Suppose we’ll have to see.”
“Well, for all our sakes, I hope so.”
“Uh-huh. It sure took me by surprise, though.” My gaze snags on Midnight nudging his nose in my direction over his stall door. “I planned on telling my parents something different… Hey, you willing to go for a ride with me?”
“Where to?”
“Our stream,” I lob back as I head toward my horse. “Where else?”
Chapter 30
Porter
“You wanna get fucked by our stream? Is that it?” I tease Sully as I ride Arrow out to our spot. I would’ve loved to take Storm. Not that Arrow isn’t a great horse, but the part of me that always feels an affinity to horses, feels an extra special one with Storm. But I know the mustang isn’t ready for that. It’ll happen soon, though. There’s no doubt in my mind about it.
“I mean, I wouldn’t complain, but that’s not why I’m taking you out here.”
Curiosity burns through me, but I can’t help feeling a kick of nerves too. I trust Sully. If he’s taking me somewhere, it’s always for a good reason. He wouldn’t bring me to a place that’s always been special to us for any kind of bad news, but it’s been my experience that I should always expect the worst because it will likely happen. I haven’t had a lot of good, and when I do, it always gets taken away from me. Not sure how I would deal with it if I lost Sully again. It would be like losing my heart. A man can’t live through that.
“Finally gonna get rid of me for good and hide the body?” I joke. “Gonna tell me you found a portal to some other dimensions like in those books you read?” I can’t seem to shake the feeling of unease tonight, and I’m not sure why, but distracting myself helps.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Your idiot,” I toss back, a hint of vulnerability in my words.
He turns to look at me, shadows dancing around him, but with the lights we both carry, I can see his smile. “Yeah…yeah you are.”
“Then why you trying to feed me to the wolves?”
We laugh together, which is one of my favorite things to do with Sully. It’s a whole lot easier to do with him than it has ever been with anyone else. I think that’s one of the ways it was always different with him from the start. When I was angry at the world and didn’t even want to smile, Sully could make me do it.
Damn the man and the way he charms me.
“What?” he asks, like he can see the wheels spinning in my head.
“Nothin’.”
It’s near black outside, but the lights we carry help illuminate the way. He keeps going past the stream a bit, to the far side and over toward the back. I haven’t gone this far since I’ve been back at the ranch. I can’t pretend my interest isn’t piqued. Where the hell is Sully taking me?
We keep going, when I notice some kind of low structure amid the overgrown grasses. Is that… I pull Arrow to a stop and climb off, just as Sully dismounts Midnight.
Sully doesn’t speak, just follows me over, shining the lantern along the way, while I push the tall weeds back. “You had the foundation poured for a house?” My pulse races, chest getting tight.
“Yeah…my parents said I could pick anywhere on the property, and this is where I chose.” He kneels beside me. “We got this far before I pulled the plug because…well, hell, Port, ’cuz I didn’t have you. It didn’t feel right to live at our stream without you, like I would always feel a piece of me was missing. Can’t look at it without seeing your smiling face or hearing those soft words you used to whisper when you thought I was sleeping in the grass.”
My hands shake, which is an embarrassing response, but I can’t seem to stop it. My head is spinning, all those moments he’s talking about running through my head. All those times he set me free of my pain and the weight I always carried…and he never knew he did that for me.
“I wanna finish the house. I wanna finish it with you…for you…for us. I wanna live here with you, and I want everyone to know you’re mine. I don’t care about the consequences…not anymore. All I care about is you.”
