Page 113 of Praying for Thunder

As Bert and his brothers rode off, he practically cursed. “This ninety-five grand horse is gifted, as is her rider.”

They all went into the arena, got off their horses, then rolled the barrels to the sides and out of the way.

Rya was walking her horse in a big circle, petting her side, and quietly talking to her. When the barrels were gone, she took her to one end of the arena.

Her brothers remounted theirs and trotted out again. This time, they stayed closer to the pen, so I couldn’t hear them talking.

After a nod from Bert, Rya had her horse trotting to the middle, then doing different directions and designs—none of it making sense to me. Her horse would spin in place, then go in the other direction, all pleasing the brothers, according to their nods. Then she went back to one end.

Her horse took off running at full speed. In the middle of the arena, she leaned back and her horse started to skid. I couldn’t believe her brothers weren’t running to help her! They just sat there, low whistling, as if impressed that this horse was leaving skid marks several feet long.

I stayed hidden in the tree line, thinking about Rya on the ‘road’, and how it kept her even farther from Onus, when I suddenly heard, “Hey! Who the hell are you?”

Five horses charged toward me. “Ah, shit.” I stepped out from the trees.

“Thunder!” Sable was carrying Rya to me. As soon as they got closer, her smile dropped away. “You weren’t sick! What happened ta ya?” She jumped off Sable and ran to me.

I burned her every move into my memory… “I’m okay.” I smiled at her, even though it hurt, inside and out.

Almost fourteen-and-a-half, she looked like a woman in the making. She reached up, gently touching my face. “Thunder.” Her other hand, naturally, rested on my waist. “Who hurt you?”

A male voice judged, “A biker, Ryannon?”

Bert snarled under his hat. “This is the punk you want to marry?”

She ignored them pacing their horses behind her. “Thunder, what’s goin’ on?”

I wanted privacy to speak to her, and had planned on some, but there was no way her brothers were going to give us any. So, I pulled her hand to my mouth and kissed it. Holding her soft skin to my lips, I said, “I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

A brother spewed, “You fucking ignorant lowlife.”

Let her brothers hate me for breaking her heart, but I had to make this break-up appear sincere, so they could understand her tears. They trembled in her eyes as she studied my damaged face. “Is it that bad?”

I nodded, my mouth not wanting to be away from her hand, or her.

“Oh, Thunder.”

Her brothers were dismounting behind her.

She whispered, “My best friend.”

I kissed her hand, over and over. “Everlasting.”

She was yanked from me. It was like air being sucked from my lungs. “Rya.”

I was pushed backward.

I didn’t fight it or them. I had to let her go, but my stubborn little country girl wasn’t going to be denied. She yanked free of a brother and ran to me. After shoving her other brother, she threw her arms around my neck. “I trust ya. I love you.”

I held her. I breathed her in, then let her get pulled from me again. I love you.

Being guided to her horse, she kept speaking to me over her shoulder. “Until lata’.”

I think she meant ‘until then’ but the way she said it seeped into my heart. I watched her go, trying to smile, “Until later.”

As she rode Sable away, surrounded by brothers who preferred I fall off the face of the earth and die, my jaw locked. As soon as I was done tearing the Titans apart, I was going to find that girl again. Even though she couldn’t hear me anymore, I repeated, “Until later.”

Then… I shut my heart down. And told someone, deep inside, it was time play.