Page 28 of Downpour

“They look pretty good to me.”

“Don’t patronize me, Sunnyside. I thought you were better than that.”

“Aww! You think about me?” I giggled. “I’m touched.”

“Don’t let your head get big. I think about firing you at least three times a day.”

“See? I knew you were funny behind all that growling. So. Rope tying. Was that something you did with bull riding?”

Ray stared at me, then laughed. “No. Some rodeos have roping competitions. I didn’t do that.”

“Oh. That’s cool. I just figured it was something you liked doing. You know, since it’s all you do.”

“It’s supposed to help my dexterity. I still have trouble with my hands.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

“You already know.”

“I can make some assumptions considering you said you were a bull rider, and now you’re just a grumpy hermit. But I’d like to hear it from you.”

“Google it.”

My heart sank. I thought we were making progress. I really thought I could wear him down into trusting me, even just a little bit.

He huffed and put his hand out. “Give me the bag.”

I relented and offered the bag of candy. Ray put the bag in his lap and fished around. Slowly, he pinched a yellow one. One by one, he pulled out only yellow and green candies and dropped them in his palm.

He handed the bag back and tossed a yellow one into his mouth.

“Accident during the championship eighteen months ago. I got thrown off the bull. Landed on my head. Broke my spine. Had a punctured lung. Bunch of broken ribs. Internal bleeding. The works.”

“Oh my god,” I whispered. “That’s so scary.”

He shrugged. “I was knocked out. Didn’t know how bad it was until I woke up three weeks later.”

“So, you’ve been working on getting your mobility back?”

He let out a wry laugh. “I allowed myself to be used as a lab rat for a human trial. It worked out well for the rats, and I had nothing left to lose. It helped me regain some mobility. That, and physical therapy. I hate that shit.”

I rested my arm on top of my knees and propped my chin in my palm. “That’s incredible. You’ve come so far in a year and a half.”

He finished the last of the candies and picked up the rope. “Alright. That’s enough talking for today.”

7

RAY

Icouldn’t stop thinking about Brooke, and I hated myself for it. The last time she had been in here, she was in a god-awful embroidered polo, but she still wore those Daisy Dukes that were painted across her ass.

Water from the shower streamed down my face as I rested on the seat fitted against the tile wall. I pushed my hair out of my eyes and tipped my head back, breathing in the steam.

For once, I didn’t hate talking about the accident. I just had to cut myself off before I kept rambling on about it. She was curious, but not placating or patronizing.

And fuck me, she was fine as hell.

Big blue eyes. Thick curls of brown hair I wanted to dig my hands into. Cherry lips with a line down the middle that made them look like pillows. Legs like a gazelle and a laugh that broke the haze in my mind every time I heard it.

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