Page 84 of When the Storm Breaks
I side-eyed him. “Do you miss her?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “She wasn’t the best mom in the world, but she was the only one I had. So yeah, sometimes I think about her. Pisses me off that she went back to drugs. She was doing so good for a while. I really thought she had her shit together.”
I knew how that was, wanting to believe in someone when they told you they were clean and sober and never going back to drugs and alcohol. They’d lie and promise and swear up and down that everything was going to be different. Dean was doing it again now.
“If you could do anything… be anything you want… what would it be? What’s your dream, Ridge?”
“What’s the point in thinking like that? Dreams don’t come true.”
“Sometimes they do. Just tell me. It’ll be our little secret.”
“I guess…” He narrowed his eyes, thinking about it. “I’d do something in the music industry. Like… I don’t know… I told Brody I wanted to be a roadie. But I want to do something with sound. Like mixing. Or a DJ or some shit like that.”
“I could see you as a DJ.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Totally.” What I could envision was him working at a hot club and all the women going crazy over him. But I didn’t say that.
Ridge chuckled under his breath. I followed his gaze. Brody was walking across the backyard toward us. “He’s so fucking jealous, it cracks me up. What a dumb shit.”
Brody stopped in front of us, his eyes narrowed on Ridge. “She needs to rest.”
“Which is why we’re just hanging out and chillin’, bro.”
“Is he bothering you?” Brody asked me.
I shook my head. “Not at all. I love hanging out with Ridge.”
Ridge snickered and moved his chair right next to mine then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “I’m her favorite McCallister. Get at the back of the line, dude.”
Brody scowled. “Get your fucking hands off her.”
I tried to suppress my laughter but failed.
“What’s so funny?” he asked me.
“You.”
He rolled his eyes. It made him look like a teenager. Jealous Brody was kind of adorable.
* * *
The night before I left,Brody stayed with me at the guesthouse. That morning, I stood by the round pen and watched him start a colt. I was there when he put the saddle on its back and rode it for the first time. I had said goodbye to Phoenix, the filly Brody brought into this world, who was running in the pasture with the other horses. And I’d ridden Rebel, the black horse with the white star named after Lila. I’d found out Rebel was Jude’s nickname for Lila which explained why Brody had laughed when he told me the horse’s name.
Earlier that evening we’d gone to watch the wild horses, this time from the truck as we drove across the land they lived on, leaving a swath of salt in our wake for the horses. It had been the golden hour and once again Brody had shimmered like gold. So strong and true and beautiful.
Later, we watched the sun set over the hills from the back of the truck, the land bathed in hues of purple and pink, Brody’s arms wrapped around me, my back leaning against his broad chest, and I thought about how much I’d changed and how much had happened in only six weeks. And how quickly Brody had become someone so special to me. I didn’t want to leave him. I didn’t want this to be the end, but neither of us had the power to stop time.
I’d already said my goodbyes to the McCallisters yesterday so now it was just me and Brody, sitting on the back porch steps watching the stars. They really did burn brighter here in Texas. This night was so bittersweet, and I couldn’t believe it was our last one together.
I’d come here looking for one thing and had found something completely different.
“I hate goodbyes,” I said. “There’s something so sad and so final about them.”
I was hoping and praying he’d say this didn’t have to be goodbye. But he didn’t. He just took my hand, laced his fingers in mine and led me up the stairs.
Then he undressed me in the soft light of the moon and caressed my skin with his rough, calloused hands before he lifted me up and laid me on the bed. So tender, so gentle I nearly cried. I watched him take off his clothes and then he climbed onto the bed and crawled up my body, his lips trailing his hands up my thighs, over my hips and ribcage. He palmed my breasts and sucked one nipple into his mouth. I grabbed his head and held it to my chest, digging my fingers into his hair. My legs wrapped around his back, and I angled my hips just right, cradling his hard length between my slick folds.
