Page 28 of Saving the Rain (Crimson Ridge #4)

“Just get in.” He’s already sliding into the driver’s side before the words are past his lips. Wrenching the door shut and starting the motor in quick succession.

I curl into my seat and don’t know what to say.

I’m gonna be unable to ride for a while, not until I get this cast off.

And it sucks so bad. Why did I have to go messing up the one positive thing I’ve got going on?

My grades suck. I’m useless at school. Rodeo is the only thing I feel like I’m any good at.

The bright spot at the end of my day when I can forget about everything at home.

Hopefully, I can still hang out at the arena and offer to groom the horses for free. The stables next door give me a bit of cash, but I’ll do it without pay just so I can go there rather than straight home after school. At least that’s a job I can do with only one hand, surely?

We continue a few blocks before turning off again. This time, we pull into a drive-through, and Raine doesn’t bother asking me what I want. Just orders for us both, two identical sets of burgers, fries, and drinks, before we park up to eat.

The smell is so fucking good; my mouth is watering before I’ve even peeled back the greaseproof paper.

We sit there in a weird sort of mutually famished silence, a temporary truce brought about by our hungry stomachs.

The two of us chomp down our takeout with a dull thudding baseline to accompany the moment.

Some sort of eighties hair-band rock vibrates through the speakers as a backing track to our meal.

“You done?” Raine bunches up the wrapper and used napkins, tossing them in the bag, before holding it open for me to do the same.

“Th—thanks.” I hurriedly swallow the last mouthful of fries and shove my trash in the offered bag.

Of course, my stepbrother has much better things to do and more important places to be than in this car with me any longer than necessary. He makes quick work of jumping out to toss our trash before getting back in his seat. We’re on the move before he’s even put his belt back on.

As we pull onto the main road, Raine scrubs a hand over his mouth.

“Just... take it from me...” He pauses, leaving me hanging on those words with too much anticipation for my own good.

“The swelling will go down in a day or two. You’ll have to get the cast re-fitted, or else it’ll be loose.

” His words are curt. I notice him roll his wrist absently as he speaks.

I don’t know if he realizes he’s even doing it.

“You’ve broken your arm before?” I peek a longer look at him. With a hot meal now taking away that stabbing, empty feeling in my stomach, I feel bold enough to dare a proper glance across to take in his side profile. It’s stupid and foolish, but I do it anyway.

“Yep.” His tongue pokes against the side of his cheek.

“How did it happen?” God. I need to shut up. Why am I still talking ?

“You don’t wanna know.”

My throat tightens, and that snarl of finality on Raine’s lip tells me everything. It’s all he’s willing to give me. Of course, if I push my luck any further, I’ll get my head bitten off in return.

For the rest of the time it takes us to drive across town, I remain quiet. It’s easier to keep my mouth shut and try to disappear while staring out the window.

We slow to a stop, and Raine stays exactly where he is. Engine still humming quietly. He doesn’t even apply the handbrake. We’re just idling by the curb, and I’m totally confused.

“Are you not—” He’s not coming in?

“Nope.” He runs one hand up over his hair, tousling the dark strands into an even wilder mess.

“Where are you going?” The clock on his dash is cracked, so I don’t know what time it is, but I know we were at the hospital for hours.

He coughs out a dark laugh. “Jesus. Good thing I’m leaving, so I don’t have to deal with this fuckery anymore.”

The way he snarls it leaves my stomach flipping upside down. What is he saying?

“You’re not gonna... you’re not staying here anymore?” The words feel sluggish, numb on my tongue.

“Hell no.” He shifts his weight and cracks both sets of knuckles, one after the other. “I’m out.”

Why are those two words so brutal to hear?

The second he utters them, I feel my chest cave in on itself.

I’m not upset. I’m not. No way. I’m just mad as hell with this guy, because he should have been my brother.

If your mom marries someone who already has a son, then surely you’re supposed to all get on.

Right? You’re supposed to become this bonded family unit who can rely on each other and trust one another.

Or, at the very least, to just stick around.

“Have a nice life.”

The world collapses around my ears. Those four words cut all the knots and ropes holding me together, and the fear I’ve been keeping locked away breaks free. It’s the shock of how suddenly it’s thrown in my face that makes me say the dumbest thing possible .

“Can I come with you?” My voice is so small.

It’s so embarrassing that it slips out, and I can’t take it back.

All I want is to swallow those feeble words down the moment I hear myself say them out loud.

Prickles sting behind my eyes and I bite down on the inside of my cheek to hold the tide of emotion threatening to flood through.

Raine simply laughs in my face.

He laughs.

“Aw, little rodeo princess. You crying?” Those words are cruel and horrible, and I goddamn hate him. I want to scream, and at the same time, I want to beg him not to leave, and it locks me up inside my own skin as if I’m in a cage. Unable to think or breathe or damn well move.

“Toughen up, snowflake. Stop being a little bitch.” He snorts. “That’s my advice.”

“Go to hell.” I gasp the words out, awkwardly undoing my seatbelt with my good hand, before fisting my backpack. It bashes against my knees and the door, and I have to throw it on the ground just so I can haul myself out of the seat. “Screw you.”

Behind me, there’s another mocking laugh and a snarl that I’ll replay for hour upon hour while lying in bed with tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Get outta my car, and get the hell out of my life.”