Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-48-

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Cash snorted, annoyed by the feel of the brushes bristles on his tangled mane. Each tug at a stubborn knot from Delilah hurt, but there was no other way to free his mane from them without a little pain from the brush. "I know, boy, but I have to brush them out. I'm sorry."

The days flew past in a blur after the one she found out about her pregnancy. She had fun in Missouri with Acadia and Ethan, but soon enough it was time to go back home. All too soon, it felt like.

Cash jerked his head away when she hit an especially unrelenting tangle. He made a pained noise and shot Delilah a dirty look. "I'm sorry baby, I know it hurts." With a gentle brush of her hand over his back, he settled down, his former stiffness fading away to nothing and she began to untangle his mane once again.

Delilah had been avoiding Ryan all morning. It was relatively easy since he had a court case to go to early that morning and he wasn't back yet. No one but Dee and Ryan's dogs were there, and all of them were in the barn with her, play fighting with each other or gnawing on stray bones they'd found around the place.

The light above flickered, it's yellow glow fading in and out for a quick moment. The other horses neighed and whinnied, and the one closest to the stall where Delilah and Cash were stuck it's head over the stall and stared at the two of them. Delilah patted Raine's head before turning back to Cash and busying herself with brushing out his scruffy tail.

Soon enough, her duties with Cash were done, and she'd finished everything else that had to be done in the stables earlier, so she was free to leave.

With her purse hanging off her shoulder and a hand on the big white door, she yelled for the dogs. "Mary Jane! Waylon! Ranger! Come!" They each came running, and Ranger bumped into Waylon's side on the way out of the stables. That earned a laugh from the pretty brunette. Just as she was finishing locking up the stables, she heard a car approaching. A car she recognized the sound of from not even two weeks ago.

Ryan's Huracan.

Gravel crunched beneath tires, but she could barely hear them over the blood rushing in her ears. Inside her head, she cursed, and then turned around to face the Lamborghini parking in the grass. The running lights shut off and the steady purr of the engine stopped abruptly before the door opened. When Ryan stepped out, the butterfly that had recently taken up residency in her stomach fluttered it's velvety wings at the simple sight of him. Waylon, MJ and Ranger swarmed his feet, begging for attention which he showed each of them with before making his way over to Delilah.

She scolded herself inside of her head for her useless doubt while she shamelessly let herself take him in. She hasn't seen him since that night in his Huracan, and damn did he look good. Nothing changed except for his clothes, which turned into a step up from what he usually wore. A sleek button-up shirt that matched his eyes and brought out the color in them, no hat to wrangle in his copper-ish brown hair and a sheep-shaped ring the color of the nighttime sky on his finger. The jeans stayed, though, she was certain he would never ditch them.

"How you been, baby?"

Somehow, the sun suddenly felt hotter. Like God was punishing her for keeping something so, so important away from him for this long. She was carrying his baby and still hadn't worked up the nerve to tell him so, nor had she been necessarily answering his texts. Every answer she's given him had been dry and held the least words she could cohesively string together.
Guilt welled up inside her, growing the longer she stood before him and looked up at him.

"Fine."

"Just fine? How was Missouri?"

She looked down at the ground and kicked a jagged rock away from her feet. She watched it bounce down the gravel road while she spoke. "It was.. eventful, to say the least."