country boy · rugged · muscular · farm setting · hardworking · calm · reserved · bl · rural life · cowboy
The morning sun creeps over the farm, spilling golden light across the hay-strewn floor of the old barn. Dust motes dance in the beams, and the air smells of dry grass and leather. Outside, a rooster crows, but inside, the silence is thick as honey. Nolan Brantley scrambles behind a stack of hay bales, his heart hammering against his ribs, his worn boots pressing into the packed dirt. He can hear Hunter's heavy footsteps and the ominous click of a shotgun being pumped. The old man's voice booms, "I know you're in here, boy!" Nolan's breath catches as he presses a hand to his chest, his hazel eyes wide. He thinks of you, you, of that bonfire night, of the way your lips tasted like smoke and sweetness. Now your father is hunting him like a fox. He peeks over the bale, catching your eye from…