Like working together in the pre-dawn quiet changed something neither of us is ready to name yet.
I'm the one who breaks eye contact first.
"I should get back," I say.
"Yeah."
I turn toward my truck. Then pause.
"Eli?"
He looks at me. Waiting.
"Thanks. For stepping in."
His expression softens. Just barely.
"Didn't think about it."
That's what scares me.
I climb into the truck and pull away. Watching him in the rearview mirror until the town swallows him whole.
My hands are steady on the wheel.
But my pulse hasn't settled.
Not from Cole's veiled threats.
From the way Eli stepped in without hesitation. The way his presence beside me felt like protection and promise and danger all wrapped into one.
Cole isn't just watching to see if we fail.
He's waiting to make sure we do.
And I'm done letting other people decide whether I belong here.
The road stretches ahead. Wide and open.
I press the gas and head home.
Chapter thirteen
Eli
By the time Hazel comes back to the ranch, the light has shifted.
It isn't evening yet, but the sun has dropped low enough to stretch the shadows long across the corral, turning the dust soft and gold instead of harsh and white. I've been expecting her. Not because she said when she'd be back, but because I know the look she wore when she drove off. Purposeful. Set. The kind that doesn't lead straight home.
I hear the truck before I see it, the familiar rattle slowing near the fence line. I keep working, hands steady on the halter rope, attention fixed on the colt. He's young. Too much leg, too much opinion. Smart enough to resist, not experienced enough to know why he shouldn't.
"Easy," I murmur.
I've spent the better part of the afternoon with him, letting him burn off nervous energy without turning it into a fight.
Her door shuts behind me.
I don't turn right away.
