Page 9 of Secret Southern Promises

Mother’s Devil sure as hell did.

“Winning didn’t stop that bull from stomping on me like a cockroach,” I said, my voice a little gruffer than I meant it to be.

Chad winced, raising his beer in a sort of toast to my survival. “Yeah, that was crazy, man. Jake and I were watching when it happened. Scared the living hell out of us.”

“Me too,” I said with a dry laugh. That was the truth. One second, I was on top of the world, feeling that rush you only get from riding a beast like that, and the next? Flat on my back, unable to feel my legs. There wasn’t a scarier moment in my life than that.

I knew the risks. Every rider does. You get on a bull, and you know it could be your last ride. But I was good. Hell, I was better than good. I could read those animals like no one else, could sense what they were gonna do before they even did it. For fifteen years, I rode without a single major injury. Fourteen years of luck, I guess.

Until it ran out.

Chad was still watching me, his gaze a little softer now. “So how come you came back here?” he asked, his tone more serious.

I shrugged, leaned forward, and rested my elbows on the table. “Magnolia Grove is home.”

“Yeah, but your family’s not here anymore,” he pointed out. “They left a couple of months after you did, right?”

I nodded, taking another sip of my beer. “Yeah, they were looking for something different. Bounced around for a bit before they ended up in Florida.”

Chad grimaced. “Florida? No thanks. Hot as hell and hurricanes every other week.”

I snorted, nodding in agreement. “Pretty much. I’ll take Magnolia Grove’s heat over that any day. At least here, we don’t have to worry about our roofs blowing off every other day.” We hadn’t had a real hurricane hit in years, but the thought of dealing with that on top of everything else? No way.

Chad leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “Still, man… coming back here? After everything? That’s gotta be weird, right?”

He wasn’t wrong. I’d been gone for so long chasing my rodeo dreams that coming back felt like stepping into a timewarp. Everything looked the same, but it wasn’t. The people had changed and moved on. Hell, I had changed. Magnolia Grove wasn’t exactly the big city, and in a town this small, people remember. They remember your highs, your lows, and everything in between.

“It’s different,” I admitted. “But it’s also… it’s home. You know?”

Chad nodded like he got it, and maybe he did. Magnolia Grove had a way of sinking into your bones. No matter where you went or how far you drifted, it was always there, waiting for you to come back.

“You run into anyone you know yet?” Chad asked, taking a casual sip of his beer, but I could tell he was fishing for something.

My jaw tightened a little. “A few folks,” I said, trying to keep it vague. But I knew what he was getting at. There was one person I hadn’t mentioned, and of course, Chad had to bring it up.

“And by ‘a few folks,’ you mean Dolly, right?” He smirked, giving me a knowing look.

I exhaled and stared down at the table. Of course, it was about Dolly. Even after all these years, she was still at the center of every conversation. That’s what happens when you date someone from high school, and everyone expects you to marry them. Then you up and leave, and all they remember is the one who stayed. The thing was, I would have stayed if Dolly hadn’t basically chased me out of town.

“Yeah,” I finally said, my voice low. “I ran into her.”

Chad leaned forward, eyebrows raised. “How’d that go?”

I let out a dry laugh. “About as well as you’d expect. She was pretty shocked to see me.”

“Can you blame her?”

“No,” I admitted. “I can’t.”

“She still looked good, though, didn’t she?” Chad asked, grinning.

I shot him a look, but the truth was, he wasn’t wrong. Dolly looked as beautiful as ever. Hell, she looked even better than I remembered. Time had been kind to her. I couldn’t say the same for myself.

“She did,” I said quietly, my thoughts drifted back to that moment in the bagel shop when I’d run into her—literally. The way she’d stumbled back, the shock in her eyes when she realized it was me. I could still feel the way her arms felt under my hands when I’d caught her. The way her eyes met mine like she was trying to figure out if I was real.

Chad nodded, his smirk fading a little as he glanced at me. “You gonna talk to her again?”

I let out a breath, running a hand through my hair. “I don’t know, man. It’s complicated.”

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