── • ~ ❉ ᯽ ❉ ~ • ──

but when it came right down to it, the skin of my wrist looked so white and defensless that i couldn't do it.

it was as if what i wanted to kill wasn't in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under my thumb, but somewhere else, deeper, more secret, and a whole lot harder to get.

"The Bell Jar" / Sylvia Plath

DEAD WOOD !
❛  a hayden rolls the dice,
a tillerman lays the cards,
& an abbott checks to start.  ❜

── • ~ ❉ ᯽ ❉ ~ • ──

          From the second she rolled into town, the locals couldn't help but cast worried glares at the blonde woman and her 1991 rusted red F250 that burned like a fiery beacon as it thundered back and forth to and from the Lord knows where.

The truck was everywhere. A familiar omen that clung to the town's history like a vice. Royal and Perry Abbott caught a glance of the chipped clear coat on the other end of the street as they loaded up their rigs with hay. And dancing at the edges of his peripheral, Rhett Abbot watched from his position one night at the corner of main street, as the red Ford's peeled out of town. Even Cecilia had seen it a time or two.

Instead of feigned indifference, a shimmer of recognition would flash across her eyes as the watched the woman in the driver's seat zip past her on the sidewalk. Leaving a trail of dust and oil drips.

Cecilia didn't mean to pry. Well, that was a lie in itself——she didn't want to have to pry. But the folks began talking. And the floorboards had began to come lose the day the young mystery woman had paraded down mainstreet in the all-too-familiar early nineties Ford.

Slips of rumors and the telltale signs of trouble, faded and worn, but still prominent had been enough to kick Cecilia into action. And slowly, but surely, she began to dig and investigate——from a distance.

          She looked like her father. Sun-kissed skin, high prominent cheekbones, a upturned button nose, and muddy brown eyes that just screamed trouble with every quizzical squint. Her hair, thick beachy looking strands the color of ripe barley, had been the first sign of many to come——a feature she had gained solely from her mother.

For years, Wabang had been quiet, save for a few sporadic disappearances. But with the offspring of two of Amelia County's most notorious shiesters coming to collect their overdues, folks could not help but speculate; and the announcement of the Hayden Homestead revival made it all the more concrete.

Royal Abbott was the first to come to terms with it all. Accepting it for what it was and nothing more. James Hayden was back in town. Well, not exactly him, but a damn good remnant——his offspring——and presumed to-be thorn in the Tillerman - Abbott land dispute.

Cecilia couldn't help but wonder, maybe Satan was truly walking the Earth once more. Or, by some miracle, maybe the Hayden girl was to be the Abbott's saving grace and greatest adversary——unlike her old man twenty years prior.

Personally, Rhett Abbott has nothing against the woman, Hayden or not. But he supposes it's reasonable to not have bad blood against a woman who offered Amy a ride home and kept the Tillerman boys up and out of their business.

The arrival of Carolina Hayden had been a good one, so says Royal Abbott.

So, no, Rhett Abbott definitely didn't have anything against her. But with the barrel of her sawed of shotgun pressed painfully into the base of his skull, he's not sure he really could——there goes snooping.

         If there's one thing for certain, it's that Carolina Hayden has come to collect her dues. And now, it's up to Amelia County to figure out if that's for the devil down below or for the Lord up high.

The Abbott's can't help praying for the second, knowing damn sure as hell the Tillerman's wouldn't mind the first.

RHETT:
The whole county thinks
you're some damn
earthbound devil, woman.

CAROLINA:
And you, Rhett?
What do you think?

CAROLINA CAINE HAYDEN
portrayed by ♤ Hassie Harrison
—————
23. Prodigal daughter. The hustler.
Billiards.
Flowy dresses & dusty boots. Appaloosa. Bob
Seger & the Silver Bullet Band. Night
moves.
Amateur bartender. Tennessee
Whiskey.
Broadway nights. Texas Hold 'em. 1991 Ford
F250. One trick pony. Aces high.
Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown.

RHETT LEE ABBOTT
portrayed by ♧ Lewis Pullman
—————
28. Bullrider. Youngest son. Bar-bird.
King
of the Rodeo circuit. Silver belt buckles
&
brown Stetsons. Hat rule. Hank
Williams
Jr. Bootcut jeans & ripped back pockets.
Bloody
knuckles. Campfire smoke & iron. A
country
boy can survive. 'Uncle Rhett'. Dust
Devil.
The Marshall Tucker Band - Fire on the Mountain.

── • ~ ❉ ᯽ ❉ ~ • ──
𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐌
━━━━━
✧
⎮
♱

DISCLAIMER.

this book is rated R for death, gore,
profanity, detailed descriptions && mentions of: alcoholism, animal death, bones, depression, emotional abuse, miscarriage, dipshits on four-wheelers, pregnancy, religious hysteria, petty small town drama, hallucinations, Billy Tillerman's solo serenades, obscure && niche movie references, murder, eludes to sexual activity -- nothing graphic / mere mentions, self-harm, PTSD, cowboys doin' cowboy shit, the Tillermans as a whole, terminal illness, violence. && the basis of Outer Range.
though some of this will be skimmed and or perhaps not mentioned at all,
[ proceed with caution ]

𝐂𝐎𝐏𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓.

I own no other than my ocs, non-canon facts, scenes written by yours truly, & any fictional places which may pop up in this work of fiction. this plot and any ocs which I have created, belong to me, and are not to be used unless I give complete written permission.

𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐒.

STARTED: 6/9/24.
FINISHED: ongoing.
COVER: cavalrylads / me.
LAYOUT: cavalrylads / me.
PLOT: cavalrylads / me.

◇

𝐃𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.

My best gal & partner in crime HeavensMostWanted-

For the girl who's favorite song is
"Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy"
goldenchariots

And my cheerleader for this fic,
of whom without I would have never
had the urge to publish!
jtleigh

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐘 𝐂𝐋𝐘𝐃𝐄.

Let me here ya say,
"Save a Horse,
Ride a Cowboy"