Page 216 of Ride the Sky

After her accident and the kidnapping, I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.

We both have our fucking traumas from that night. But strangely, I think it healed something in Fallon. She won. She needed that.

But me, I feel on edge.

I don’t like her being out of my sight. Whenever she’s gone, my mind drifts. To that basement. Tripp with his hands around Fallon’s throat. That fucked-up night haunts my dreams.

But that’s why I’m here.

Fallon’s in town at The Huckleberry currently breaking the same news to Dakota and Stede that I’m about to tell my brothers.

She and I have made a lot of decisions in the last two weeks, but they’re the right ones. Life is short, and Fallon and I won’t stop living it. That night forced us to look at our lives. At how quickly they could be taken. No more waiting.

My wife will always come first. What Fallon wants, she gets.

Here goes nothing.

I whisk my sweaty palms together. “I gotta talk to y’all ’bout something.”

My brothers’ hawk-like gazes settle on me.

Ford eyes me in suspicion. “You didn’t knock Fallon up, did you?”

Davis groans and needles his brow.

I inhale a breath then announce, “Fallon and I…we’re goin’ back on the rodeo.”

Silence. Charlie crosses his arms, shares a glance with Ford.

They’re worried about us. I get it. Hell, I’ll worry about Fallon every day for the rest of my life, but it’s what we both want. Fallon’s antsy, I’m antsy. We need that open road.

“It ain’t permanent, but we won’t be around. We’re plannin’ to buy a camper and follow the rodeo. See where the road takes us.”

Voice tight, arms crossed, Davis asks, “When are you takin’ off?”

I push off the couch and move to Lainie’s bassinet, running a finger down her yawning cheek. “Next week.”

My brothers go quiet again. Too soon for their liking.

“You don’t gotta worry about us,” I tell them, because it looks like they need it. “I got her. And she’s got me.”

The truth. Fallon’s the most terrifying, beautiful woman who forced me to change my life in the best possible way. She makes every damn day I live better. My heart and all my dreams are for her.

Charlie swallows hard. “So, you’re leavin’?”

I extend my arms. “So, I’m leaving.” I shake my head. “If you need to do somethin’ with the land, sell it—”

“That land is yours,” Charlie says in a tone that broaches no argument. “You earned it.”

“Then keep it for me. We’ll be back. We’ll be home,” I amend. “Before you know it.”

“Fuck,” Ford swears, looking disgruntled. “We’ll miss you, you little shit.”

“We’re happy for you.” A faint smile curls Davis’s lips. “You two ever need anything, we’re just a call away.”

My heart hammers. “Yeah, I know.”

“It’s bittersweet, kid,” Ford says, reaching out to affectionately rub my hair. “But I get it. You make that girl happy.”

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