Runaround

by Jay Crownover

  She wasn’t fooled by the flash of teeth.

  When she walked back to where I was waiting by the truck we’d rented a few days ago, she sighed heavily and wrapped her arms around my waist, leaning forward to rest her forehead against the center of my chest. “What do we have to do to get him to agree to come back to the ranch with us?”

  When we left New Orleans, we were going to take up temporary residence at the Warner Ranch. Cy agreed to let both of us crash in one of the plush, designer bunkhouses he used for his guests until we figured out what we were doing. I told Ten she was worth staying for, she told me I was worth leaving for. We were at an impasse, neither knowing the right answer. I kind of hoped Rodie offered her a job like I suspected, because that would take the choice out of our hands. I was happy wherever, as long as she was happy and doing what she was meant to do. I could survive anywhere. What I couldn’t deal with was watching her walk away from her dreams again.

  “I don’t think there’s anything we can do. We have to wait him out. He’s spent his whole life relying on only himself. Not an easy habit to break.” I slid a hand up her back and cupped my hand around the back of her neck, under her long ponytail. I rubbed my thumb up behind her ear and pulled her closer when her body immediately reacted. I loved the way she shivered against me and the way her hands tightened in the fabric of my shirt at the small of my back.

  “Today was harder than I thought it was going to be.” Her voice was muffled against my chest.

  “Yeah. But it needed to happen.” I literally laid my demons to rest.

  “He was your brother.” She breathed out the words, and her shiver turned to a shudder. I’d told her she had no choice until I lost my voice, but the words were useless. I found her crying in the shower a few times. When I asked her what was wrong, she cried harder and asked what would have happened if she hadn’t been able to tell the two of us apart. She had nightmares about putting a bullet through my heart, and all I could do was hold her while she cried and assure her I wouldn’t let go.

  “He was, but he wasn’t. Regardless of our looks, the only thing we shared was DNA. Let’s get out of here.” One door was closed, and I was ready to open another one.

  Once we were in the truck, instead of heading to Clara’s, I took us back to the shack on the edge of the swamp where Ten and I first connected, when I was trying to find my way home and to the man I was always meant to be. Once this place had held nothing but bad memories and even worse realities. Now, it felt like the place where my life actually started to have meaning and purpose.

  On the way from the truck to the ramshackle building, the sky decided to open up. A wall of water hit us, soaking us all the way to the skin. Ten’s pale hair clung to her cheeks and neck as she bolted for the doorway. Water ran down the back of my neck and made the ground slippery under my boots as thunder cracked with an alarming boom somewhere off in the distance. I put my hands on Ten’s shoulders and used the momentum of her body to push the door open. The interior of the building looked much like it had the first time we trespassed on my past, but the ghosts and cobwebs of regret and remorse no longer clung to every surface. I’d cleared them out of my mind, as well . . . or she had. It was hard to tell, and I agreed with Wyatt. I wouldn’t have made an effort to outrun the shadows I played tag with if it weren’t for the woman in front of me.

  I spun Ten around and continued to walk her backward toward the bed in the corner. The frame was wrought iron and old. The mattress was flat and entirely uncomfortable. But it was a flat surface and not the floor, so it would do in a pinch.

  I used my index finger to push some of the wet hair off her face and gave her a smile I reserved for her and her alone, just like all the pretty words wanting to roll off my tongue whenever I was around her. “You and me, Ten,” I sent her falling to the bed. She landed with a whoosh and spread her arms out on either side of her. She looked like an angel, except she had lived too much life to have an untarnished halo. Her experience and failures gave her a crown as sharp and pointed as a tangle of thorns. “We’re going to have a beautiful life together. Every day, even when it storms, we’re going to wait it out because we both know the sun’s bound to show up again. There isn’t anyone I’d rather run through the rain with than you.”

  She smiled up at me as she traced a water droplet cross my cheek and down the line of my neck. “I don’t mind getting wet when I’m with you, Webb.”

  I chuckled and wiggled my eyebrows at her. “You like my pretty words. I like your dirty ones. It’s like we were meant to be.”

  Her lashes lowered a fraction, and she lifted her chin a tad. “I’m glad I found you.”

  I dropped a kiss on her forehead, tasting rainwater and sweet woman. I dragged my mouth to her ear and flicked my tongue along the sensitive shell. “Didn’t know how lost I was until you found me. I like knowing exactly where I belong.” Far, far away from trouble.

  Deep in my heart, I knew that I finally kicked the habit of falling into trouble when it came my way and understood it was my responsibility to walk away. Trouble wasn’t some elusive, imagined thing. It was the easy excuse I used for all my poor choices. I always said I could never outrun trouble, that it followed me everywhere I went. It took some serious introspection and almost losing Ten and my brother to admit that I was trouble and trouble was me. There was no getting away from myself, so it was time to make some changes.

  I wasn’t going to leave all fun and spontaneity behind, though. After all, there was something to be said for being able to surprise your girl at every turn. The smile on her face when I proved time and time again I couldn't get enough of her, any time, any place; that smile was my whole life.

  She corded her fingers through the front of my hair, shooting water in a bunch of different directions.

  “Where is that exactly? I’d like to know.” She rubbed the pad of her thumb over my lips and cocked a golden eyebrow in question.

  “I belong wherever you are. I want to be wherever you’re happiest. I’d follow you to the ends of the Earth if you asked me. But, I’ll stay in one place until the end of time if that’s what you need me to do, as well. All you have to do is ask, Ten.”

  Her fingers tightened in my hair, and her eyes took on a serious cast, making them glitter like hard jewels. “I’m not the girl who gets what she asks for.”

  She was now. I kissed her below her ear and dragged my lips along the line of her jaw. I could feel her quivering underneath me. “You’ve obviously been asking the wrong guys. Ask me.”

  I watched her gather her courage, she bit her lip and moved her hands to my shoulders before the words came tumbling out. “Will you stay with me, Webb? Rodie offered me a job, and I want to take it. I want to work on the Search and Rescue team. I want to build a life in the place where I flourished and failed. I want Wyoming to finally feel like home, but I can’t do that if you aren’t there. I’ll let you go when you need to, but I’ll always expect you to come back to me. I love you, and I don’t want to live this life without you in it.”

  I growled at her and used my teeth on the curve of her chin. “That was almost perfect.”

  I felt her frown, and I did a push up to lever myself up and over her. “Almost?” Her tone was snippy, and her eyes flashed with green fire.

  “You don’t ever have to let me go. If I need to be somewhere else for whatever reason, then I’m going to ask you to go with me, and if you say you can’t leave, then neither will I. It’s not a choice anymore. It’s just the way it is, because I love you so much, I can’t remember what my life was like before you.” I lowered myself down, so the ends of our noses touched. “I love the idea of staying with you, Ten. I’m happy to do it. I never wanted to leave, but I wanted to make sure all your options were open.”

  She wound her arms around my neck and pulled me down so my body was stretched out along the length of hers. Our clothes were wet, and my dick was hard. Things were starting to get decidedly uncomfortable.

  “Th
is time I know it all the way down to my marrow, you are the right choice, Webb. Being with you is the right thing, and we are going to have a beautiful life together.” She sounded as if she finally believed it and it was music to my ears.

  “Even when it rains.”

  “Especially when it rains.” She moved her head so our mouths lined up and kissed me until I stopped breathing.

  I found the place where my past ended and my future began in this little shack, in the arms of this woman. I also found immeasurable pleasure and contentment. No one loved me the way she did, and I was going to make sure no one loved her better than I did.

  The kiss turned heated, flames of desire evaporating the droplets of water still clinging to our skin. Clumsy hands pulled at clammy clothes, making the act of getting undressed way less sexy and erotic than it typically was. I almost fell off the bed trying to pry wet boots off my feet, and there was a moment where I was sure Ten was never getting the legs of her skinny jeans down past her thighs. Eventually, everything landed in a soggy heap on the floor, and Ten and I fell in a tangle of flushed limbs and surprised laughter.

  Humor fled as soon as heated flesh touched heated flesh. We kissed again, this time it was aggressive and searching. Teeth bruised and nearly drew blood. Hands and nails left marks on skin as we fought to get closer, battling to become one. Her nipples pressed into my chest at the same time my knee pushed between her soft thighs. We moved in sync, bodies now familiar with one another. The chase for pleasure no longer a desperate need, but a leisurely journey with surprising twists and turns along the way because the destination was always breathtaking. We both knew how lucky we were to return to that spot over and over again.

  I knew she liked it when I dragged just the tip of my very hard cock through her folds, nudging her clit with the wide head. She knew I lost my mind when she dragged her nails in a long line on either side of my spine.

  All of it was good. Her heels digging into the small of my back. The way her nipples tightened against the sweep of my tongue. The quiver of her belly against my abs. The way her sighs and sweet sounds tasted on my lips. The bite of her teeth on the side of my neck. The brush of her inner thighs. The wetness between her legs, teasing every throbbing inch of my rigid length. Yep, nothing felt better than being tangled in and around her, at least nothing besides sliding into her supple, soft body and being surrounded by her life and her heat. She was the only woman I’d ever had this kind of connection with. The only one I trusted with every single part of me. She said she found me, but every single time I felt her heat pulse around my uncovered cock, I ended up lost in sensation. Luckily, Ten vanished into the feeling right alongside me, so while we were gone, we would always find our way back to reality with each other.

  She lifted her legs higher on my waist. I sank deeper into the softness between her legs. The storm continued to rage outside the thin walls of my childhood home, but we paid it no mind. We had this beautiful, unbreakable thing between us, and when it was time to face the world after the storm was over, we would have each other. I’d learned over the years I was the kind of man who could wait forever for the sun to shine. I’d gotten used to the gloom; my days were filled with shadows and darkness. Ten brought all the light I needed to see exactly what it was I was missing, into my world.

  I never asked for rainbows.

  But I did need to find someone willing to wait out the bad weather, someone who understood the tempest sweeping through my life was the only way to wash the slate clean.

  Warner Ranch ~ 3 months later

  I watched from under the brim of my hat as the tan Blazer pulled to a stop in front of the large ranch house. When Wyatt called unexpectedly to say he was coming to Wyoming, I’d been unable to get off of work for the day, and no one besides the grumpy, begrudgingly helpful sheriff was available to go pick my brother up from the Billings airport. Ten was on a case. All the Warners were busy with stuff on the ranch and had their hands full with the guests visiting the property for vacation. And as much as I wanted to see Wyatt, there was no getting away from the duties I had for the day. Cyrus had already been so understanding about all the time away from work I missed, I was hesitant to miss any more days and have him view me as chronically unreliable. I figured it wouldn’t kill Wyatt to spend a couple of hours trapped in a small space with his nemesis. My brother didn’t agree, but it was the only option, so he sucked it up and accepted the ride.

  It took me a few minutes to walk up from the barn where I’d been taking care of several of the ranch's horses to the car. It was one of my favorite tasks, and I’d added owning one of the big animals to my bucket list. By the time I approached the vehicle, my brother could be heard yelling at the sheriff who had pulled his door open and offered an arm to help Wyatt climb down from the tall all-terrain vehicle. Wyatt’s rehabilitation had been a slow, arduous process, made even worse by his refusal to accept help. The few times I’d gone to the East Coast to visit him, he’d been sullen and withdrawn, still furiously angry about the loss of his job and easy mobility. His limp looked worse than it had after he initially left the hospital, and his hand was still a mess. Luckily, most of his memory seemed to be coming back, not that the small victory did anything for his overall sour disposition.

  I wasn’t above using a few of my old tricks to get my brother to visit so I could keep an eye on him. Now that Tennyson had gone to work full time for Rodie at the sheriff’s office, we both agreed to find someplace permanent to call our own in Sheridan. I called Wyatt and told him there was no way I could make huge life decisions like buying a home, getting engaged, and getting married without his input. We also needed to have a serious heart to heart about what to do with the money from Bernard. Neither one of us wanted to touch it, but it was stupid to let it sit in the bank when we could use it for something good. There had to be a way we could reach out and help kids who ended up in situations similar to ours. I was determined to save the next Weston Jacobs from a similar fate. But I needed Wyatt’s input and guidance. After all, he’d always been there for every big decision I’d ever made, and I felt like these were some of the biggest I was ever going to face.

  It took some cajoling, some pleading, and some outright begging to get him to agree to come back to Wyoming. In the end, it had been Ten calling Wyatt to tell him she was worried about him and his progress, and her offer to move both her and me to DC for a few months to help him out. That got his cranky ass on a plane and back to the ranch. The fact she was willing to put her life and her job on hold for his well-being really broke through the impenetrable shell he’d enclosed himself in. Wyatt was on a plane two days later, and now he was facing off with the town’s local law in a heated debate that looked like it could come to blows at any minute.

  “Get away from me! I don’t need your help and I did not ask for it.” Wyatt’s voice was a rough growl, and anger had twin flags of red staining his cheeks. He was still far too thin in my opinion. We no longer looked like mirror images of one another. My older brother looked every one of his nearly forty years.

  The sheriff didn’t seem bothered by Wyatt’s outrage and bluster in the slightest. His tanned face was set in dispassionate lines. He only lifted a dark eyebrow as he leaned his big frame on one arm, blocking the doorway of the SUV.

  “Oh, I read you loud and clear, city boy. You don’t need anyone or anything. You’ve got everything perfectly under control.” The sarcasm in Rodie’s tone was so thick it was impossible not to feel it. I quickened my step, thinking I was going to have to intervene before one or the other lashed out with something more painful than words. “Only, I saw the way you nearly fell over when you tried to put your suitcase in the trunk. And I watched the way you turned green when you tried to text Webb we were nearly here. So as much as you want others to believe that you’re perfectly fine, that you have the situation well in hand, the truth is, you’re struggling. So, instead of shrugging off help when it’s offered, why don’t you take it, and be grateful like a grown-
ass man would.”

  When he wasn’t healing from nearly fatal injuries, Wyatt was a big, strong guy. But he’d never been as big or as physical as Rodie. With no preamble, the sheriff got an arm looped around my brother and forcibly helped him from the tall SUV. By that time I was standing at the front of the vehicle, watching the interaction with wide eyes under the shadow cast by the brim of my cowboy hat. Wyatt ended up on his feet mere inches away from the sheriff’s broad chest. My brother looked wobbly and unsteady on his feet, but it was hard to tell if it was from his sudden ascent or the alarmingly close proximity to the other man.

  They stood facing each other for a long, silent moment, eyes locked in an uncomfortably tense and intimate way. I almost wished I’d walked up on them a few minutes later. I almost felt bad for being witness to such a private and poignant moment.

  Wyatt put his hands on the other man’s chest and gave a hefty shove backward. Rodie took an obligatory step backward and lifted his hands in front of him in a gesture of surrender. Both were breathing noticeably hard and look flushed. It was a nice, temperate day outside, so there was no blaming the weather for the heat in their faces.

  “Don’t pretend like you know anything about me. I’ve always managed just fine on my own. It’s just taking a little longer to adjust than I thought it would.” Wyatt reached back into the SUV and returned with his cane in hand. He gave the needed device a dirty look and finally turned his head to look at me, open curiosity stamped all over my face. “Don’t just stand there staring at me. Help me get my bags out of the trunk and show me where I’m meant to stay for the next few weeks.”

  I pushed the brim of my hat up with my index finger and gave my older brother a crooked smile. “It’s good to see you, too, brother.”

  Rodie chuckled at Wyatt’s disgruntled expression and I moved away so my brother could stalk to the rear of the SUV. I stopped next to the big man’s side and gave him a knowing look out of the corner of my eye. “You push everyone’s buttons like that . . . or is my brother special?”