I was only twenty-five at the time and mostly immature.
But she broke my heart when she told me we shouldn’t be together “right now” because I’d trusted her and confided in a way I never have before with previous girlfriends. She knew more about what I’d been through with Wilder than anyone else.
The next time I open up to someone will be when I’m on the autopsy table.
“My bad,” he deadpans. “So I guess that makes you the expert.”
Rolling my eyes at his dick comment, I scan the area for anyone I might recognize. Most are younger than me, kids who weren’t even in high school yet by the time I graduated. To be fair, at thirty-two, I’m too old to be here. It’s why I rarely meet anyone because most of these women are in their early twenties.
But me not having a relationship or never getting serious with someone has nothing to do with having commitment issues like him. But I’ve never told him the real reason, and I hope he never finds out.
“Hey, Hollis!”
I turn to my last name being called and grin when I find one of my close friends I’ve known since elementary school.
“Jake, hey. How’s it goin’?”
He walks up with a beer in his hand and nudges my shoulder.
“Shit, I’m good. You?” His goofy smirk tells me he’s been drinking for a while.
“Same.”
Shortly after, my brothers arrive and we continue hanging out. We move around from the dance floor to the back room andplay a round of pool and then a game of darts. I stick to water after my two beers, but Wilder’s had at least six and a few shots.
Jake’s texting on his phone every few minutes, but he doesn’t have a girlfriend that I’m aware of, so I give him shit about how he must be secretly dating someone.
“Nah, I’m flyin’ solo right now. I’m mentoring this club and we started this group chat, so it goes off all day long with random convos.”
“What kinda club?” I ask, taking a seat at the nearest table. We just finished the last round of darts, where I smoked him.
“It’s gonna sound lame, but I swear it’s not. It’s a horse club.”
My brow lifts. “Ahorseclub?”
“Yeah, for people who like horses.”
I snort. “Yeah, I figured that. But what’s it all about?”
“Most of ’em are in the rodeo industry—barrel racers, bronc riders, various types of show horse competitors. Some are trainers or just experienced riders. We just shit talk about random stuff, but it started as a means of support. Anyone who wanted help with a specific skill, share knowledge and experiences…stuff like that.”
“That’s cool,” I say.
Jake Murphy’s family owns a horse ranch, and even after he moved into an apartment in town, he continues to work there as his full-time job. He’s been around horses as long as I have—since birth.
“I’ll add you to it! You know tons about horses and could probably answer questions or offer suggestions. Most are younger than us, so they’ll appreciate the extra expertise.”
“No, that’s?—”
He pulls out his phone before I can finish and adds my number to the text thread.
“There, you’re in. I’ll do introductions tomorrow when I’m sober.” He chuckles. “But everyone’s nice.”
“Are they all local?”
“Most of ’em, but there’s some an hour or two away.”
I don’t think much about it while I search for Wilder. After Jen stormed off with Bethany, he found a few other girls to occupy him. They’ve been dancing and drinking for hours.
