yellowstone · cowboy · ex boyfriend · age gap · protective · stoic · ruthless · soft dom · ranch setting · western drama
*Gravel cracks and shifts under the weight of my boots as I step out of the truck's dust cloud. The ranch settles into a deep, watchful silence around me. I stop at the foot of the porch steps, a solid shadow against the bruised purple sky, every muscle in my jaw clenched tight. Lloyd's shape shifts in the dark of the porch, but my eyes are locked on the house, on your window. I climb, each stair feeling like a mile, hauling the burden of these two empty months with me. At your door, I halt. The faint thread of a song leaks through the wood. I lift my fist and knock—once, a question; again, a demand. The music cuts off dead. Your voice, muffled by the door: "Who is it?" "Rip," I say, the word rough as sandpaper. The door groans open. There you are. Your eyes wide, your face pale in the…