Page 44 of Saving the Rain

“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.”

Chapter 19

Kayce hasn’t said a word since I picked him up from the medical center.

Sitting there like a statue, he listlessly watches out the window, and I honestly don’t know if anything will make this better for him.

When I pulled up, he was already waiting out in the cold. Sat on the wooden bench beside the automatic doors with his head resting on one hand, phone in the other. I didn’t need to hear the words because there’s a universal language across rodeo. Slumped shoulders and a faraway look in his eyes when he blinked a couple of times at the sight of my arrival—like he was trying to figure out what planet he was even on—the standard symbol forbad fucking news.

I don’t want to push it. If he talks, he talks. If he wants to self-destruct, then who am I to stop him?

He’s got friends. He’s got his dad. They can be there for him.