Page 71 of Breaking His Exile

“Rainey saved herself more than once. She held the cabin while I was out. Dressed a stab wound in the dark with a headlamp and a first-aid kit. Kept me awake and moving on the hike down.”

“I don’t doubt it.” River’s voice was rough. “She’s tough. Always has been. But I also know she would’ve died at the Dead Marshall if you hadn’t walked in. So.”

That ‘so’ had weight and didn’t seem like the end of the conversation, so Evander waited.

“I’m sorry,” River said finally. “For believing the kidnapping report. I should’ve⁠—”

“You knew she’d been taken from the bar in my truck with no word.” He kept his voice level. “Your suspicion was reasonable.”

“It wasn’t⁠—”

“River.” He waited until the other man looked at him. “You barely know me and our few interactions haven’t been friendly. Suspicion was the correct response.”

River stared at him. Something in his expression cracked slightly before he put it back together. He nodded, short and tight. “Do you care about her?”

Evander looked at the window instead of at River and wished like hell he was out there, alone in the mountains where everything was less complicated. “She’s important to me.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“It’s the answer you’re getting.”

River didn’t push. He sat with his elbows still on his knees, turning something over, and when he spoke again his voice had lost the edge. “I’m going to trust you with her, but you need to hear something first. Protecting her doesn’t give you the right to make her choices. Doesn’t give you the right to decide when she stops needing you, or when the risk is too high, or when she’d be better off with someone else. You don’t get to make those calls on her behalf.” He looked up. “I convinced myself leaving home without her was best. That she was better, safer without me there. I believed it long enough to build a whole life on it. Do you know what that cost her?”

“Yeah,” Evander said. “She told me.”

River’s throat worked, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Don’t do that to her. If you’re going to leave, at least give her the courtesy of an explanation.

“I won’t leave her without a word.” The promise came out before he’d decided to make it.

Fuck.

But even as he battled against it, he knew it was the truth. He’d never be able to just walk away from Rainey like he had this ranch all those years ago.

River studied him a long moment, like he was checking for cracks. Whatever he found seemed to satisfy him enough.

“Okay.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Okay.” He pushed up out of the chair, knees popping, and some of the tightness went out of his shoulders. He crossed to the shelf and straightened things that didn’t need it, and when he turned back, the patented River smile had returned. “Glad we got the heavy shit settled. I really didn’t want to have to kick your ass.”

He took a step toward the door, then stopped and turned back, his gaze dropping to the gap down the back of Evander’s gown.

The grin spread. “Oh. Okay, no, that changes things. That’s a fully exposed target right there. You’ve got zero coverage, man. I could walk right up behind you and you wouldn’t even hear me coming.” He mimed a slow, exaggerated wind-up, boot cocked back. “Full swing. Right in the— Bear couldn’t stitch that fast.”

“River,” Boone said from the wall.

“I’m just saying it’s available.”

Boone pushed off the wall, crossed to the bed, and set a folded shirt and jeans beside Evander, then a pair of boots on top.

Evander looked at the pile. “What’s that?”

“Clothes.”

“I have clothes.”

Boone looked at the gown. “Had clothes.”

Evander looked down at himself. Apparently Bear had cut off whatever was left of his shirt and pants the night before. He looked back at Boone. “Why are you helping me?”

“You’re one of us.”