Unbreak My Heart (Rough Riders Legacy #1)

He swallowed so loudly I heard it and my stomach pitched.

“If you’ve got any…patience with or forgiveness in your heart for your fucked-up old man, I’d like to meet with you.”

Say no. Tell him it’s too little, too late.

But it wasn’t. I wasn’t that lonely, sad boy whose Daddy missed his every major life event. Now I understood things weren’t always what they seemed. And hard choices were called that for a reason. Also, I’d built a damn good bullshit meter. If his explanations sounded like excuses offered out of delayed guilt, I’d know it.

“Boone?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Just thinking.” I exhaled. “Where and when do you want to meet?”

“I’ve gotta drop a load in Flagstaff sometime in the next month or so. Could you meet me there? If not, I can drive into Phoenix.”

“Flagstaff will be fine.”

“Thank you.”

Silence.

As I started to remind him that if his plans changed and he had to back out—which happened more often than not—he returned to the line, his tone gruffer than before.

“I ain’t gonna cancel on you, Boone. Not this time. You’ve got no reason to trust in my promises after all the times I broke them, but I have changed. I’d like you to give me a chance to prove it.”

That defensive shield I’d honed popped up automatically. I said, “We’ll see,” without conscious thought.

“Looking forward to seeing you. It’s been too long. Take care.”

I punched the end button and checked the timer on the screen. The conversation, at three minutes and eighteen seconds, was the longest I’d ever had with my dad on the phone. Even when I’d lived at home, he called to pass on the most basic information and hung up. I hadn’t seen him since my graduation from basic training. I’d invited him more out of obligation than anything and I hadn’t expected him to show up. But he’d been there in the bleachers alongside my uncles Chet and Remy.

My mom’s claim of being too broke to come was probably the truth, but even if she’d just won the lottery she would’ve skipped it. Since she and my dad hadn’t married, the three of us had never been a family unit. She’d ended up pregnant two more times, so I had a half-brother and half-sister. Their dad had lit out as soon as he discovered that my mom couldn’t take the kind of beatings she dished out to her kids.

Sometimes I forgot what a shitty childhood I’d had.

You haven’t forgotten; you’ve just buried it. Addiction, abuse, neglect has no part in your life now.

How much stuff would this conversation with my dad dredge up? When he didn’t have a fucking clue about some of the crap I’d gone through because he hadn’t cared enough to be around?

“Boone?”

My gaze snapped up from my shoes. At some point I’d sat on the bench and Sierra stood right beside me. I’d gotten lost, which was why I rarely let myself revisit the past. “Hey. Sorry.”

“Is everything all right?”

During the year Sierra and I had been friends, I’d found myself telling her things no one had ever bothered to try and pry out of me. I hadn’t found that kind of acceptance again until I’d become friends with Raj. And I hadn’t looked for that kind of connection with another woman.

Is that why you’re so adamant about rekindling your relationship with her? To prove to her that you aren’t the same bitter boy, but knowing she’d understand your past helped mold you into the guy you are now?

A warm hand touched my cheek.

I blinked and tipped my head back to look at her.

“Boone. What’s going on?”

“Had a weird phone call.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

My gut tightened. That sweet concern sounded so much like my Sierra from years past.

But if I said yes…would she be a crutch? If I said no…would she pull back? And how was I supposed to decide anything when I had her tender touch on my face? When the softness in her gaze was for me?

“Don’t run when I say this.” I lifted my hand, trapping her hand against my face to keep it in place. “Looking at you…having you this close…makes it goddamn hard to breathe, let alone think straight.” Immediately after I admitted that, I slammed my eyes shut. I could not deal with her rejection right now.

I swear to god I heard her murmur, “I know what you mean.”

Then her sharp fingernails scratched my hairline. “I liked you better with long hair, West.”

I smiled at her attempt to lighten the mood. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it’s a no-go in the military. A buzz cut, the same as everyone else’s, makes it impossible to wear the label of brooding bad boy when the hipsters and the rednecks look exactly like you.”

She laughed.

I wanted more of that. I wanted more of this easy banter. I opened my eyes.

She tugged her hand away, but she didn’t retreat. “You still want to do this today?”

More than ever. “Wow me with your expertise, college girl.”

“Smartass. I’m a college graduate. Come on.”

Sierra drove a Mercedes.