13. Callie
Chapter 13
Callie
14 Years Old
The heat hasn’t broken, even though the sun’s been down for hours.
We lie sprawled in the bed of Colt’s dad’s rusted truck, a tangle of limbs and dust-streaked skin, staring up at the stars.
“This is the life,” Colt says, stretching until his boots thud against the side panel.
Maverick grunts in agreement, one arm folded behind his head. He’s chewing a piece of straw he picked from the rodeo grounds earlier, like a caricature of a cowboy.
I shift, propping my chin on my hands, watching them.
“I’m gonna be the best bull rider in the world,” Maverick declares, too casual to be kidding.
Colt snorts. “You mean if you don’t get your head knocked off first.”
“You’re just jealous ’cause you know I’ll outscore you.”
“You wish.”
They bicker lazily, no real heat behind it, just the kind of jabs they’ve traded since they could talk. I close my eyes and let the sound wash over me, familiar, safe.
“No matter what,” I say quietly, cutting through their teasing.
They both fall silent.
“No matter what happens… we stick together.”
I don’t know why the words feel so important. I just know they do. Like a promise bigger than any of us.
Colt’s hand finds mine in the dark, rough and calloused even at fourteen. Maverick bumps my shoulder with his, the movement easy, unconscious.
“We will,” Maverick says, like it’s obvious.
Colt presses his palm flat against mine. “Always.”
I don’t know it yet, but this is the moment that will stick. The one that will come back to haunt me later.
When everything falls apart.
When the promises we made feel like splintered glass in my hands.
But for now, it’s perfect.
Colt hums something tuneless under his breath, and when I glance over, he’s drawing shapes in the dust coating the side panel. A crooked flower blooms under his fingertips. A wildflower, fragile and stubborn and real.
Maverick sees it too. He smirks and nudges Colt.
“Figures you’d pick the only flower tougher than you are.”
Colt just shrugs, not looking up. “Seemed right.”
When Maverick glances at me, something shifts in his eyes, something too big for either of us to name.
The heat, the stars, the feel of their bodies bracketing mine. It all weaves together until it’s impossible to tell where one of us ends and the others begin.
We fall asleep like that, tangled up under the endless summer sky, believing that nothing could ever pull us apart.
I didn’t know then that some promises are meant to be broken.
And some are meant to be shattered… just so you can rebuild them stronger.