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No matter the bad blood between them, Denver would always mean safety to Lane. He was comfort. He was home. Whether he wanted to be or not.
“You did everything you could to get away from me after I kissed you,” Lane retorted. “You acted like I didn’t exist. If you’d wanted—” “I wanted you to stay,” Denver interrupted harshly. He reached down and grasped Lane by the wrists, removing his touch with a cold precision that chilled him. The sudden space between their bodies left him cold, but it was the frozen void in Denver’s eyes that nearly stopped his heart. “I wanted you to stay,” Denver repeated furiously, “and you didn’t.”
And Denver. Every memory of him was seared like a brand into his heart. Someday, when he finally tangled with the wrong bull, the coroner would cut him open and see the etchings of Denver carved into his very bones.
“I get it,” he interrupted. “I understand better than you think. Staying here is your penance. Staying away is mine.”
“I don’t know why you waited so long to kiss me again. Sometimes it feels like it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted. Like the blueprint of you was stitched inside my skin before I was ever born. I knew it from the first time I saw you. But it doesn’t matter anymore. We missed our chance. You and I? We don’t deserve happiness like that.”
My world growing up was so fucking bleak…it’s like I never knew colors existed until I met you.”
“You’ve always been so fucking beautiful, Lane. It nearly stops my heart.”
“I knew you’d lose yourself to it. You’ve never done a single thing without putting your heart and soul into it. Watching you come apart like that…it’s everything I thought it would be.”
“Your brother was one of us,” his father whispered hoarsely against his temple, “but he wasn’t the best of us. We’re still a family, Lane. We’re yours, and you’re ours, and we’ll be waiting for you whenever you’re ready to come home.”
"I feel like I belong when I'm with you," Denver admitted softly. "I feel like I matter. It doesn't matter where I go or what I do. I could win a million buckles or spend the rest of my life on this ranch and I'd never be any less in your eyes. Would I?"
"I'd be a fool not to love a man who makes me feel like that,” Denver said. Lane's fingers shook as he brushed them through Denver's thick hair. "Say it," he whispered. Denver's eyes gleamed. "I love you."
