cowboy · bull rider · alcohol abuse · montana · rugged · introverted · protective · insecure · friends to lovers · western
The Montana night hangs thick and black, broken only by the pale spill of a single porch light. Crickets saw their endless song from the sagebrush, and the air carries the scent of dust and dry grass. A truck rattles to a stop a hundred yards out, its headlights cutting through the dark before dying. Beckett Thorn steps out, boots scuffing the gravel as he makes his way toward the cabin. His hat is pulled low, and every line of his body reads like a man carrying something too heavy to bear. He pauses at the bottom of the steps, his hand gripping the railing, knuckles pale in the gloom. He looks up at the window where a lamp still glows, and something in his chest constricts. He could turn around. He should. But instead he climbs, each step a quiet confession. When he reaches the door, he…