Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“What happened with your dad?” I couldn’t wait any longer for answers. Maverick had been in a mood since he’d shown up, and my stomach was unsettled as a result. I could feel him slipping further and further from my grasp.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Sullen, he sat on a low rock that served as a bench for us.
“We should eat.” I had a long history of coaxing Maverick to talk by feeding him. I fetched the cast iron skillet from the truck along with butter, bread, slices of cheese, and lunchmeat. “I’ll make us some sandwiches.”
“Eating doesn’t fix everything.” Maverick was in full-on pout mode. Whatever had gone down was bad, likely worse than usual, which was saying something for the man who could piss Maverick off like no other.
“With you? Usually.” I kept my voice light, avoiding the urge to snap back. I’d been around the ranch enough to know Maverick’s dad was a mean bastard who rode him hard. I’d never seen them come to blows, but words could wound plenty. “Or you could try telling me what happened.”
“How do you know something happened?” He stared at the fire, watching the flames dance.
“You’re my best friend, Maverick. I can always tell, and it always starts with your dad.” I assembled two sandwiches while I preheated the skillet over the fire.
“Fuck him.” Maverick wore a flannel shirt over a T-shirt in deference to the cool night air. He rolled back the sleeves to reveal angry scrapes along both forearms. “Had me out throwing hay bales again last night. Knows I’m allergic, doesn’t care. Every scar I have is because of him.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. He meant far more than physical marks, but he’d also had any number of ranch injuries over the years, including a broken arm during our sophomore year.
“There’s strict parenting, and sure, every kid in town has chores, more than in some big city, but most of the parents in this county love their kids.” Maverick’s voice picked up in intensity as I placed the sandwiches in the skillet with a loud sizzle.
I took a breath and tried to channel how my mom would respond to Maverick’s assertion that his father didn’t love him. “I’m sure—”
“Deep down he loves me?” He cut me off with a scoff. “He’d trade me to get Mel back in an instant, and if it were me or the ranch, well, I think we know which he’d choose.”
“I’m sorry.” I flipped the sandwiches with a metal spatula, fire heating my face. I wished I could hold Maverick’s father to the fire. Some people would never see reason, though, and he was likely one of them. “I wish it were different.”
“I know. And this is why I have to leave.” Maverick’s voice hardened as I plated the sandwiches for us. I held out one of the metal camping plates, but he ignored it in favor of his rant. “I’ve gotta get away from him. Never gonna be happy under his thumb.”
Never gonna be happy. That hurt more than I would have expected. I plopped down next to him, shoulder to shoulder. “We’ve had some good times.”
“I didn’t mean you. I lo—” He stopped short of saying the words. We were eighteen, and many would say far too young to know, but every time we kissed, I felt the truth of Maverick’s unspoken words. We loved each other. I wasn’t sure I could do the sort of sexy fooling around we’d been up to otherwise, but also, after so many years of friendship, how could I not? Maverick seemed to feel similarly, eyes cloudy with emotion. “I’m happy when I’m around you. You know that.”
“But it’s not enough,” I said softly, already knowing the answer. Our love didn’t matter. What we had here was never going to be enough to hold Maverick somewhere he hated.
“It could be.” Continuing to ignore his sandwich, he turned to give me an earnest stare. “You could come with me.”
“Me? Go to California?” I stopped short of outright laughter at the idea.
“Sure. We could get a tiny place. Just us.” Maverick gestured so wildly with his plate that I rescued it from him and placed both plates on the other side of the rock. “I’ve got my scholarship. You could go to school too. We’d both get jobs. See each other every day.”
He painted such a pretty, pretty picture. And an utterly impossible one. “We can’t do that.”
“Sure, we can.” Maverick warmed to his idea, popping back up to standing, looming over me, eyes shining bright as the stars popping out in the night sky. “That show your mom watches? There are neighborhoods like that all over California. Two guys. Two girls. Some of them even have kids. Weddings. No one cares that they’re…together.”
“You deserve that life, Mav.” I exhaled hard. No way could I keep him from that glittering future.