Page 69 of Roping My Rival

“I’ll tell him.”

I’ve not had many relationships, and the few that I’ve had, they always went like this. Me taking care of someone and trusting them, giving them everything when I got nothing in return. ‘But daddy, I love him!’ vibes, and while this thing with Dane feels similar, it also feels drastically different. To start, Dane refuses my help most of the time. He’s not using me. He wants to give, but he’s hesitant and I will wait the whole goddamn rest of my life if I have to.

When Dane finishes, his small smile of gratitude has my heart flip.

“Thank you, Warren. It feels like I don’t tell you that enough, but also that I’ve said it a thousand times tonight.”

“You’re welcome, and you don’t need to keep thanking me.”

“Maybe not, but I need to apologize. I did a lot of thinking while I was gone. About what I could share with you and what I couldn’t, because you have to believe me when I say there are some things you shouldn’t know. Maybe in the future you can, but not now.”

“Dane, I don’t want you to feel obligated. I just want to understand and erase this distance that’s surfaced. I felt so close to you after the last road trip, but since returning home last week, you avoided me. You’ve been extra quiet.”

His blue eyes, normally so vibrant and full of that cocky self-assured vibe, brim with a pain I want to heal.

“I don’t feel obligated. I realized you’re right—”

“Told ya.”

He huffs a tired laugh. “You were right that we have a great partnership building. I want us to be the best there ever was. We can do that. But we can’t if we have tension. So I want to tell you a bit about me and the stuff you don’t know.” He swallows hard and looks to the ceiling. “I chose big money rodeos because it’s mostly easy money and goes towards the cost of my sister’s care. It’s super fucking expensive to have someone in those kinds of places, but I can’t take care of her. If I had my own place, she could live there, but I’d not be able to work. Her mental capacity is close to that of a ten-year-old, but she regresses sometimes. Like it’s possible some days she could wet herself or put a metal bowl in the microwave, just the stuff you don’t think is hard until it is. She needs someone with her all the time.”

Reaching across the table, I squeeze his hand. He squeezes back.

“She likes where she is because she has friends and feels like she belongs there. She gets a lot at the care home I could never provide, no matter how much I love her.” His gaze meets mine. “She is why I need to tell you these things. Maybe you’ll understand me better and why I do what I do.”

Dane’s thumb smooths over the back of my hand.

“You don’t have to tell me all this tonight. It can wait, Dane. Really. Sometimes I ask shit when I shouldn’t, and I’m sorry for that.”

“Just one more thing, and I’d really like to get some sleep.”

“Okay.”

Dane swallows and clears his throat, but never lets go of my hand.

“My mom quit her job after Darla’s accident. She cared for her, and it was good for Darla. She got to stay in her old bedroom, and my mom…she was great. She’d do anything for us. But she forgot to take care of herself. When I disappeared from the circuit…she died suddenly at home. A heart attack.”

“Oh, Dane…”

“I tried to keep things normal after that, but…it was a lot. I won’t lie, but now you know most of why I disappeared. I needed to help my family.”

“Can I ask one question?”

“Sure.”

“That night I found you, and you said you ran out of gas…what really happened?”

He presses his lips together. “My gas gauge really was broken, but I also didn’t have gas because nobody left their vehicles unattended long enough for me to siphon from them. So your assumption that I made it a habit was correct. After mom quit her job, money was tight, and it was easy to take gas here and there to help. I’m not proud of it, and I didn’t want your help that night. But you truly saved me when you stopped.”

He stands and brings his dishes to the sink, and I join him.

“I know I said you could sleep on the sofa, but I’d prefer it if you were with me.”

His lips quiver as he brushes a thumb across my cheek.

“Me too.”

The summer sun is hot, and the sweat beads on my back as we wait for our turn in team roping. Both of us slept like logs, and waking up with Dane next to me felt like the most right thing in forever.