▍ AN ORIGINAL ╱ western romance
There's a kind of wild you can't outrun.
Lemon Odell knows this better than anyone-the kind that lives under your skin, that shapes the way you move, the way you fight, the way you break. Born into a bloodline stitch...
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He stopped at the edge of the table, eyes ticking between me and Tessa. For a flicker of a second, barely long enough to name, I thought I saw something in him shift. Hesitation, maybe? Or something close to it. But then it vanished, smoothed over by that same quiet calm.
"You ready to go?"
Colt's voice was steady, maybe even gentle, but it carried something else beneath it. Not urgency exactly, just finality. Like the decision had already been made and he was giving me the illusion of choice.
Tessa rose with a stretch, her movements easy, familiar, like she'd been waiting for the moment to close itself.
"About time," she said, the words light but laced with something sly as she flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Don't leave her hanging too long next time."
Colt didn't react to Tessa's teasing, only gave her a slow nod before his gaze shifted back to me. The space between us felt heavier than it had moments ago, like something unsaid was coiling tighter with every second that passed. I stood, brushing my fingers over the edge of the table, and followed Tessa outside.
The night air hit me, cool and sharp, a stark contrast to the heat that had settled in my chest. I welcomed it, hoping it would clear my head, but it didn't. Colt walked beside me, his presence as steady as the rhythm of our steps. I could feel him watching me, but I kept my eyes forward, unwilling to meet whatever it was he might be trying to say without words.
"I booked you a room at the hotel," Colt said, voice low, like he wasn't sure if now was the right time to say it but said it anyway. "Used the money I won."
I glanced over at him, caught somewhere between surprised and unsure what to do with the gesture.
"You didn't have to do that."
He shrugged, eyes straight ahead. "Figured you'd need a place. It's on me."
His words settled in the space between us. It's on me. But it caught somewhere in my chest, like it meant more than either of us was letting on.
I wasn't used to men like Colt. The kind who didn't ask permission before taking up space. Who moved through the world like he belonged wherever his boots landed. And somehow, without meaning to, I'd stepped into the gravity of it.
I didn't know if I wanted to push back or let myself fall a little further in.
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, hoping for something, a flicker, a tell, anything that might crack the calm he always seemed to wear so easily. But his face stayed smooth, unreadable in the glow of the streetlights. Like whatever was going on behind those eyes wasn't mine to see.
Up ahead, Tessa tossed a look over her shoulder, her voice light, but aimed with precision.
"Don't worry, Lemon. It's not some rundown hole-in-the-wall. You'll actually like it."
