Page 83 of Praying for Thunder

Now older, the two of us still fighting to be together, the horse ride felt like passing through time. Visiting the past. Hopeful for the future.

Sable walking us under the canopy of some trees, I asked, “You still want to marry me, Rya?”

Her bangs floated in her exhale. “Why ya askin’ dumb questions?”

I chuckled and tightened my hold on her. She was so heavenly, yet such a smartass. “I got two more years before I’m legal to make my own decisions.”

She huffed. “That’s not what your cut says. Your daddy owns ya now.”

I leaned my head to hers. “You are the only one who owns me.”

Smiling, she leaned back into me. “Do ya ever think about kissing me?”

Tapping her noise, I proudly proclaimed, “I give you kisses all the time.”

“No. A real one.” Her hands gently pulled Sable’s reins to take her around a large brush. “Jenny was kissed by Tom—”

“I thought you hated him.”

Jenny was a school friend of Rya’s. “Yes, and that hasn’t changed, but she said it made her belly do wonderful things.”

Rya and I were life warriors. We fought, every day, to have each other in our lives. That’s why it caught me off guard to hear her sound like a schoolgirl. Not to say I didn’t like it. I was sixteen! Hormones had kicked into high gear.

“Rrr-rrr?” I Scooby-Doo’d before teasing, “There ain’t no other boys you want to kiss?”

She got annoyed. “There will be if ya keep playin’.”

I laughed out loud. “Just like that, huh?”

She stopped the horse and gave me a glare over her shoulder.

God, she was beautiful. “Rya… pleasing you, eases me.”

Her glare softened and fell to my mouth. “Then… kiss me.”

Every time I believed Rya owned all of me, she would teach me differently. She would find a part of me I didn’t know I had, and own that, too.

The kiss started as innocently as the rest, but then her mouth opened, inviting me into an undiscovered world. Her tongue was so soft and tender, I feared I’d melt right off Sable and land face first in the dirt. Her taste was so addicting, I feared I’d never want to taste anything else.

When her mouth slowly closed, shutting me out of Heaven on earth, I feared I had done it all wrong. But then she said, “I still want to marry ya.”

Like a devil getting his way, I grinned. “And I want those kinda kisses from now on.”

“Okay. Just… always be you.”

Playfully, I tugged on her little chin. “What do you mean?”

“My father loved my mother.”

Her father, Mr. Stannon, was a harsh man, but if Rya’s mother was anything like her, she could capture the heart of the darkest of men. “I believe you.”

“And…” Fear appeared in her gentle eyes. “He killed her.”

Certain words can change everything.

⚡⚡⚡

Racing into the clubhouse and finding who I needed, I asked, “Can I talk to you?” I followed Dad from one room to another as he collected items.