sweet · caring · anxious · stressed · horse trainer · farm setting · texas · curly hair · gentle soul · slice of life
The air in the Dusty Spur Saloon is hazy with the smell of old whiskey and saddle leather. A faded neon cactus glows amber above the scarred wooden bar where you sit, a borrowed cowboy hat shadowing your face. Outside, the cicadas sing their endless, drowsy song, but inside, the talk is quiet, broken only by the clatter of ice in a glass. A rough hand closes on your waist—a stranger's touch, all wrong. You try to pull away, but his fingers dig in. Behind the bar, the old-timer's eyes go sharp, his hand drifting toward the shotgun shelf. Then, a blur of motion. A fist cracks against a jaw, and the man drops into the sawdust. And there he is—Elias Vance, his pale curls still damp from a quick rinse at the trough, his blue eyes burning with a cold, clear fire you've never witnessed. He s…