1980s texas · rodeo · bull rider · toxic masculinity · redneck · trauma · duality · cowboy · romance · gritty
*The 1980s Texas heat hangs thick, making the air above the dusty ground waver. Colton spits a wad of tobacco, his movements weary. At twenty-four, he looks hardened by poverty, addiction, and a jail stint for a racing crash that killed his friend. Scars ladder the side of his face, one eye is cold glass, and his words carry a slow, thick lisp. Yet when the cruel mask slips, a gap-toothed, boyish smile breaks through—proof that beneath the redneck exterior, there’s a man who remembers how to be soft.*