“I don’t want to hate you, either,” I admitted.
She nodded, tucking her lips between her teeth, as if it was too painful to speak. The tears kept falling and she looked up, her dark eyes wet with emotion. “Thank you.”
I smiled and gave her a nod.
And we sat there quietly for a long time. Wrax had fallen asleep on her, and she just kept stroking the side of his face.
When the sound of his snoring started, she laughed. “Do you remember that night when you came home from college, and we camped outside with Wrax and Honey, and they both snored so loud we didn’t get any sleep?”
I chuckled. “I do.”
“Hey, boss, you out here?” Benji called, and I heard the sound of boots walking toward us.
“Yep. We’re down here in the last stall.”
Benji, Jonah, and Coby all leaned over the railing of the door and stared. It wasn’t common to see a horse sprawled out over his owner in a stall, but they’d never been around Wren and Wrax. Their connection was not the norm.
“Hey,” Wren said. “This is Wrax, the guy I’ve been telling you about.”
“Oh hell,” Jonah said. “I thought she was talking about a guy this whole time. I didn’t know Wrax was a horse.”
“Dude. She won the title on this horse. Who the hell did you think she was talking about when she said she missed riding him?” Coby said over a fit of laughter.
“Hey, that sentence can be taken lots of different ways,” Jonah said, holding his hands up.
Wren laughed, and Benji shook his head and smiled.
“Ignore him. We’re happy for you, Wren. Glad you got your boy back,” Benji said. “Selling him off was not right.”
“Were you all in on this?” she asked, gaping at them. “Is that why you were grilling me about my office décor?”
Laughter filled the space around us, and I couldn’t help but join in.
Because for the first time in a very long time, things felt right again.
“Yeah, Axel told us that Wrax was coming today, and we were all excited for you.” Coby winked at her.
“Thanks, guys. Wait till you see him up and running. He’s quite the sight.” She shrugged just as her horse abruptly shifted and moved to his feet, and we all stood.
“Looking forward to it.” Benji smiled as they said their goodbyes for the day and headed out.
“How’d you find him, anyway?” she asked as she ran her hand down his back.
“Bridger put some feelers out, and it wasn’t that difficult. He’s a special horse.”
“How much did you pay for him? Obviously, I’ll get you the money as soon as I can get full access to my account.”
“You don’t need to pay me anything, Wren. I got a good deal.” I smirked. “The guy owed Bridger a favor.”
I didn’t want her to know what I’d paid because Wren was one of the proudest people I’d ever known, and she wouldn’t be okay with me doing this for her. I also didn’t feel the need to tell her that her brother was the asshole who’d sold Wrax. It woulddevastate her, especially since she believed he was out there trying to find him.
And right now, Wren needed a break. And this was one that I could give her.
“You’re telling me that he just gave you a horse? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Hey, how about you just enjoy having your boy back right now, huh? It’s still light out for a little longer. Why don’t you take him out for a ride?” I knew she needed to get up on that horse. Wren came alive when she was riding. She always had.
“That’s a great idea.” She bit her bottom lip as she glanced up at me. “Why don’t you and Honey come with us?”
