{Slow Burn ~ Kacey Musgraves}
...Old soul, waiting my turn, I know a few things, but I still got a lot to learn, so I'm alright with a slow burn...
----
They watch me dance as if they've never seen anything quite like me. It's like my whole body feels on the most glorious kind of fire, and I want to keep moving forever.
Their eyes blaze, shining and flickering in the dark lights that move in this foreign place. I let their gaze linger, unsure of what else to do but accept.
I know where I am. I know the tattooed sight of this place inside my mind, at night and in the quiet moments when the world fades away, and I am brought back to this place.
"You're a great dancer," they tell me, their grin wide and alluring.
Hands hold my hips, and we sway together. It feels so good to move. Even better next to someone else.
"I wish I could stay like this forever," I smile into them, both of our bodies close in the sea of other dancers, all of us hot and stuck in this ocean I'm swimming in.
Weightless. Free. Happy.
"You're gonna get tired," they laugh, as though I should realise.
But I'm invincible. I am exactly where I want to be. I'm someone and no one. I'm alive and somewhere else. I don't want to think about before or after. Just right now.
"So?"
"Come get a drink."
They take my hand, their icy touch burning me.
But something in their eyes makes me walk, following them. A glimmer maybe. A gleam of something I want to find in their eyes. Something unknown. Something dangerous. Somewhere new, I haven't explored.
I wish I hadn't followed them into the dark.
----
"Ruby, Darlin," Uncle Deacon groans.
I am mid-spoonful of cereal at the table while the morning hours sit in silence over us until my Uncle's words slice right through. His husky voice and slow movements are becoming something I'm getting used to with each wordless morning we spend together. He doesn't quite perk himself out of his hangover until noon—some days.
He says nothing else, and I wait, spoon in hand, poised towards my mouth, expecting him to continue.
"Is everything alright?" I ask, lightly when he doesn't.
"You know the derby is coming up, don't ya?" He asks, a definite path of conversation now formed in his mind.
Of course, I knew. All the talk at the hidden hang-out with Scarlett and the guys a few days before made it crystal clear to me just how close the derby was. I was used to it every year for my entire life. Even when I lived back home in Virginia, I was always aware that it was 'Derby Season'. An unavoidable reality, that seemed to grow more and more tired since Uncle Deacon stopped competing.
YOU ARE READING
Tethered
General FictionWhen Ruby March steps foot back in Laurel Valley to live with her Uncle on his ranch, she is one mistake away from losing her last chance. This is her fresh start; to try and forget the demons of her past and the nightmares that haunt her every nigh...
