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1

Trace

The rain beats down, showing no signing of lessening anyti in so hard I can feel the house shake, the s rattling There are aabout the already-high lake flooding, the fences thatcattle to escape, or the oil riggings being daed But none of that seems to matter I can’t even be bothered with the idea of it Which isn’t noranized Chaos drivesabout the

All these things are s on Allin my bed I can’t takein the middle of my fields, completely alone

Her ht-black hair was spread out all around her A thin white dress clung to her curvy little body, her feet bare She looked like an angel sent to teht out of the sky and onto ht that it makes her mine This is Texas, after all, and possession is nine-tenths of the law

How she’d really gotten there, I had no idea I just knew fro deep inside , and I’ woman be out in the middle of nowhere with no shoes, the nearest road over a mile away?

Maybe the gash on her head had confused her She’d lost her way somehow, but still that didn’t seeht her here, but that didn’ther, I’ll make sure they never find her

When I couldn’t get her to wake, I picked her up off the ground She weighed al, even with all those curves she had I’d not only seen the her in my arms I carefully held on to her as I climbed back onto my horse

“Don’t let them find me”

Her soft words ring over and over again in my head She’d said those words as she nuzzled in closer to me I could feel her lips on my neck the whole ride back toher like that, but I made do There was no other choice I sure as hell wasn’t leaving her, even if there wasn’t a stor in on top of us The rain had already started to pour, and I barely got her into the house and my horse in the barn before all hell broke loose

I wasn’t sure what to do with her at first So I did the only thing I could think of I took care of her I stripped her of her wet clothes, doing the best I could to not look at her, no matter how much I wanted to I couldn’t just let her lie in theet the daht down the middle I pulled it fro her with the blanket I keep at the end of my bed

She didn’t feel like she had a fever when I checked her, and the cut on her head wasn’t deep enough to need stitches, not that we could go anywhere if she neededlike it was Besides, she didn’t need to go anywhere I liked her right where she was

As I look down at her, I don’t knohat to do next besides stand here She looks like a porcelain doll in theuntil she was in the center of it, hardly taking up any space God kno long I’ve been standing here already My wet clothes are already starting to dry

She lets out a little sigh, her full lips parting a fraction before her pink tongue darts out, wetting them

“Fuck,” Imy back to her

The things I’ about while she lies passed out onIf that’s what she is I haven’t even seen her eyes yet, and I can’t stop thinking about what color they ht be

Knowing I need so into bed with her, I walk over toaround for soot me some for Christ to worry about anyone else being around I’m always alone here unlessoff

I’m not like the rest of my brothers, who let Dolly in and allow her to wreak havoc on their ho, but Dolly has taken on the role of our mother with full force since we lost ours years back If I allowed Dolly, she’d be heres

Lucky for et close Everyone thought I kept putting off laying new gravel on the road that leads to my house because I didn’t have tiet to my house Maybe then people won’t come around so much

It is

n’t that I don’t love my two brothers, Ty and Blake, and even my nosy little sister, Dolly But I like to be alone, or out on the land It works for me I’m not a man of many words I say what needs to be said and that’s it If I want to visit, I go visit

But ever since Ty went and got e road, it’s like everyone is pushing in for the rest of us to do it, too Marriage isn’t soh to worry about most of the time I’m not sure I’m fit to be a husband, so I’ve never tried Never had a desire to

But now the sound of an e to come up ays to make sure my little baby doll doesn’t try to slip out onto say when she wakes up, or how fast she’ll try to be out of here

Finally finding the pants, I go to the bathroo the on the dry sleep bottoms I hear a moan from the other room and I bolt fro on the bed

I rush over to her and try to wake her up When I bring , and she tilts her cheek intomy comfort Her body relaxes into the bed, but when I pull ain until I return it

“Shit,” Ito be the sweetest torture I’ve ever felt Pulling the blankets back, I slide into the bed next to her, pulling her toher face into get as close to o down as the scent of rose petals fills rance is from her time in the field, or if she naturally smells this sweet

When her lips touchit at the base as painfully as I can stand it I’oing to cum

“Don’t leave ainst my neck

“Never,” I tell her, knowing those words will always be true

But what she doesn’t know is, she’s never leaving me either

2

Addison

I wake to a warht I got away Slowly, I open my eyes to find my face nuzzled into the crook of a man’s neck His skin is too tanned and stubbled to be who I thought it was As I pull back a little, ainst

His brown hair is cut short, al his hard jaw Dark, long lashes rest against his cheeks as he sleeps peacefully Even in sleep he looks fierce and strong A s his chin, and his nose has a small bump in it, like it’s been broken He looks like a warrior

I reach up, touching the spot where I’d hitif I will have a scar, too I wasn't thinking when I ran Maybe my father didn’t think I would run after he’d slaerator It probably wasn’t srabbed his keys froottenHeck, I’d never driven a day in my life Only been in a car a handful of ti I just drove I’ I was behind the wheel

How did I get here? I re stuck My head throbbed as I stu I was so scared that they’d catch up toto do what they wanted me to I’d lived underto be perfect I was eighteen I was free to do what I wanted, only to find out my father had other plans Plans to put me under the control of another man

Looking at this guy, though, allon hiet away I’ve got one hand locked around his ar my way inside him

I laythe comfort of another person with no fear attached to it Maybe it’s crazy, or ht I don’t kno to take care ofas I let er, but I don’t care Can’t find the will to I just want to lie here forever and forget about everything else

I feel theinstantly and slides a hand acrossback and forth in a coeven out, closingin his affection