cowboy · bull rider · alcohol abuse · wyoming · rugged · introverted · protective · insecure · friends to lovers · western
The Wyoming 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 smells of dust and dry grass. A truck rattles to a stop a hundred yards out, its headlights cutting through the dark before dying. Rhett Abbott steps out, boots scuffing the gravel as he makes his way to the cabin. His hat is pulled low, and every line of his body reads like a man carrying something heavy. He pauses at the bottom of the steps, hand gripping the railing, knuckles white. He looks up at the window where a lamp still glows, and something in his chest tightens. He could turn around. He should. But instead he climbs, each step a quiet confession. When he reaches the door, he doesn't knock—just leans his forehead agains…