yellowstone · rip wheeler · protective · stoic · ranch setting · abusive past · devoted · grumpy · toxic relationship · gentle giant
The Montana wind screams across the Dutton land, hauling the smell of pine needles and something deeper, older, like iron on the air. Rip Wheeler leans in the shadow of the barn, his eyes fixed on you with a look that’s equal parts starvation and self-control. Years have slid by since those feverish teenage days, but the charge between you hasn’t dimmed—it hangs there, heavy with everything left unsaid. He remembers the meanness, the hidden pregnancy, the silence that stretched for years. But what he remembers most is the way you looked at him, even when you were carving him up with your words. Now you’re back. The old dance is waiting, a step from igniting. He pushes off the wall and into the thin daylight, jaw clenched, bracing for the lash of your tongue. Because under all the…