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Dale started the engine, and as we pulled away down the long dirt drive, I twisted around in my seat to keep Westley in sight for as long as I could. He never once looked toward the truck. He was too busy standing toe to toe with his father, fists clenched at his sides, fighting a battle on my behalf that I never should have cost him in the first place.

Chapter 7

Westley

It was one in the morning when I found myself standing outside of the spare apartment Dolly kept next to her diner. There was a duffel bag in my truck full of clothes, a phone charger, and my laptop. Everything else had been left behind.

I lifted a hand, my fist hovering an inch from the door. It didn’t seem right to dump this all on Rhett, not after what had happened. But I didn’t have anywhere else to go. He was the only friend I had left in the entire world.

So I knocked.

The porch light flickered on before I even had a chance to knock a second time, and then the door was swinging open. Rhett was standing there in a pair of sweatpants and nothing else, his hair sticking up like he’d been tossing and turning all night. His face was still bruised, a dark shadow spreading along his cheekbone, and his lip was still red and raw where it had split.

“West?” His eyes went wide, taking in the state of me standing there at one in the morning like a stray dog that didn’t know where else to go. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

“Can I come in?” My voice came out rougher than I meant it to, cracking a little on the last word.

He didn’t answer right away, just stepped back and pulled the door open wider. I took that as invitation enough. The apartment was dark except for a lamp in the corner next to the ruffled bed. There was a bottle of painkillers on the side table and a first aid kit that looked like it had just been opened for the first time. Doc Hensley must’ve given it to him.

“Westley.” Rhett’s hand found my arm, turning me to face him properly. Up close I could see just how bad the bruising really was, blooming purple and yellow across his ribs. “What’s goin’ on? Talk to me.”

“He kicked me out.” The words came out flatter than I felt, numb almost, like I’d said them so many times in my head on the drive over that they’d lost all their weight. “My daddy. I told him if you didn’t get your job back, I’m gone. And he told me to get gone, then.”

Rhett went very still, his hand tightening on my arm. “He what?”

“Told me I could either fall in line or get out.” I laughed, though there wasn’t a lick of humor in it, just hollow. “Guess he decided he didn’t need a son that bad after all.”

“Westley, that’s—” He stopped, shaking his head like he couldn’t find the right words for it. “That’s insane. You’re his only kid. You run that whole damn ranch practically on your own. The only thing he does anymore is sign checks and complain.”

“Apparently that’s not enough to keep him from choosin’ pride over blood.” I set my hand over his where it still gripped my arm, needing the contact more than I wanted to admit. “I didn’t know where else to go, Rhett. I don’t have a job, I don’t have a place to stay, I don’t have nothin’ but what’s in that bag in my truck. You’re the only friend I got left.”

Something shifted in his expression, something soft and pained all at once. Before I could brace myself for it, he pulled me into him, his arms wrapping tight around my ribs despite what it must have cost him given the state of his own body. I buried my face against his shoulder, feeling something in my chest finally crack open after holding it together the whole drive into town.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled into his skin. “I shouldn’t be dumpin’ this on you, not after what you just went through⁠—”

“Shut up.” His hand came up to cradle the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair. “You ain’t dumpin’ nothin’. You did this for me. You stood up for me and it cost you everything, and now you’re standin’ here apologizin’ like you did somethin’ wrong.”

“Feels wrong,” I admitted. “Feels like I lost everything over nothin’.”

“That’s because your daddy is being a fuckin’ idiot,” Rhett said. “He’ll come around. It won’t take long before he realizes what he’s lost.”

“What if I don’t want to go back?”

Rhett paused, pulling back to look me in my eyes. “You don’t mean that,” he said. “I know you’re standin’ up for me and all, but I’m not worth it, West. He’s never gonna take me back. And I don’t wanna go back anyway, not when nobody respects me there.”

I stared at him for a long moment. “Why do they hate you, Rhett? I don’t understand. You’re a good worker, and you know what you’re doin’. Why are all of them so damn cruel to you?”

Rhett’s jaw worked for a second, like he was chewing on whether or not to answer that. His eyes dropped from mine, focusing somewhere around my collarbone instead, and I could feel him pulling back into himself even though his arms were still around me.

“Rhett.”

“It’s stupid,” he said finally. “Ain’t worth gettin’ into right now. Not when you’re the one who just lost everything.”

“I didn’t lose everything. I’ve still got my best friend.” I reached up and caught his chin, tilting his face back up so he’d look at me again. “Tell me. Why do they treat you like that? It ain’t just ‘cause you’re an orphan or ‘cause your daddy died owin’ money to half the county. There’s somethin’ else. I’ve known you my whole life, Rhett, and I’ve never seen you look as scared as you did last night at the creek.”

He swallowed hard, and I watched his throat work, watched the way his eyes went glassy under the lamplight. For a second I thought he might actually tell me. His mouth opened, then closed again, and he shook his head.

“Not tonight,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Please, West. Not tonight. You’ve had enough thrown at you today without me addin’ to it. We both have.”