After the Fall

I don’t think it’s what I want anymore.” Ryan faced Seth again, and as he slid his arms into his sleeves, added, “Being a military brat isn’t really who I am anymore, you know?”
    “Gotcha.” Seth folded his arms loosely across his chest and cocked his head. “The new tattoo will need to be at least as big as that one. Let’s talk designs.”

    The door banged shut behind us, cutting off the buzzing of the other artist’s tattoo needle.
    “So you think you’re going to get one?” I asked.
    Ryan shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see what he comes up with. If I like what he emails me, I’ll probably schedule something.” He smiled, spinning his keys around his finger. “So, should we head to the barn? Tsarina’s probably climbing the walls by now.”
    Laughing, I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go before she drives everyone there insane.”
    “Good idea. And by the way?” He gestured over his shoulder at the shop. “Your friend is seriously hot.” He said it under his breath, as if Seth might hear him through the door.
    “You don’t have to tell me.” I winked. “And you should see his boyfriend.”
    “Oh, yeah?”
    “ Smoking hot.”
    “Birds of a feather, right?”
    I laughed. “They’re about as different as two guys can get, but yeah, they’re both hot as hell.”
    Ryan unlocked the truck and opened the passenger side door. “Different, how?”
    “Well.” I gingerly hoisted myself onto the seat. “One’s a minister and the other is Mr. Skeptic.”
    Ryan laughed. “And they don’t kill each other?”
    “So far, so good.”
    Once I was situated, he closed my door and went around to the driver side. As he started the truck, he said, “It really amazes me how people can make it work when they’re that different.”
    “It amazes me people can make it work at all, to be honest.”
    He gave a quiet, bitter laugh. “Yeah, really.”
    “Not a fan of relationships?”
    “Nope.” He put his hand behind my seat and twisted around so he could back out of the space. As the truck rolled back, he added, “Not a fan of using people or being used, so . . . no.”
    “Wow. And I thought I was cynical.”
    Ryan chuckled. He shifted into drive and pulled out onto the road. “It probably doesn’t help that I grew up on military bases. Seems like half those people are only in it for the benefits and the guaranteed piece of ass.”
    “So that stuff’s true?”
    “Oh, yeah. There are plenty of couples who work out fine, but most of the ones I knew?” He shook his head. “Believe me, it’s enough to put any military brat off marriage.”
    “I can imagine.”
    “Also probably doesn’t help that my love life never got off to a good start.” He paused to make a left turn, and after he’d straightened out, continued. “I dated a guy in high school for a little while. Thought he was amazing until I realized he was more attracted to my car than he was to me.”
    I wrinkled my nose. “Really? What a dick.”
    “That’s what I said.” Ryan rolled his eyes. “And then I saw Army wives ‘upgrading’ to Air Force husbands, enlisted spouses ditching their partners for officers . . .” Sighing, he shook his head. “Just really left a bad taste in my mouth, you know?”
    “God, yes. I think I’m a slower learner, though.”
    “How do you figure?”
    “I saw all that crap from the time I was a kid, especially once I started dating in high school. But you know how teenagers are. Everything bad happens to everyone else . They picked the wrong guy, or they were stupid to let someone walk all over them. Whatever. It wasn’t going to happen to me.” I shook my head. “After my last two boyfriends? Believe me, I figured out I wasn’t any more immune to that bullshit than anyone else.”
    “Yeah?” Ryan glanced at me, tapping his fingers on the wheel. “Bad breakups?”
    “No, no. The breakups were wonderful. It was the relationships that sucked.”
    He laughed. “That bad, huh?”
    “That bad.” I picked at the fraying edge of the cast on my hand. “One was constantly negative and nasty, and the other had a little difficulty with the word ‘monogamy.’”
    “Ouch.”
    “Seriously.” I rested my elbow beneath the window. “Which is why I am over relationships.”
    “Amen to that.”

I’d taught a few people to ride over the years, and Ryan was definitely the fastest learner. Maybe it was his experience as a kid that made everything else come naturally. He’d even caught on