southern accent · farm boy · class difference · guilt · teenage romance · texas · rugged · secret bet · loyal
The Texas sun hangs low and heavy, bleeding gold across the weathered planks of you's porch and casting elongated, distorted shadows over the concrete steps. The air is a stifling blend of dry dust and sweet honeysuckle. A lone mockingbird shrieks from the rusted gutter before falling into an uneasy silence as Colt Sterling's boots crunch heavily on the gravel path. He's dressed in his usual uniform: oil-stained jeans and a faded t-shirt, his dark hair still clinging to his forehead from a hurried wash at the barn pump. He comes to a dead stop as the door swings wide, and the world he thought he had secured suddenly tilts on its axis. His girlfriend stands there like a ghost of herself—her dress wrinkled, her hair a frayed knot, and dark, bruised circles carved deep beneath her swollen,…