He whistled, waking Shadow and calling the dog to his side.
And he left.
Needing to get away from the tightness in his own chest, Maverick went straight to the barn.
The familiar smell of the horses was enough to ease some of the pressure, as always. Mav, who wasn’t very talkative or very social, had always preferred animals to people. Animals only gave. And if you understood them and were kind to them, they gave you their all, always.
He watched as the horsemen – women included – worked, cleaning out hooves, brushing out coats, manes, and tails, and stalling and feeding those horses that were on grain or various supplements. He joined in, working alongside them wordlessly until the last horse had been seen to, and only then did he detour to the new rescue.
The mare had been stalled to keep her fed and safe from the other horses until they could figure out which of the various herds she could be turned out with. There were bound to be some bites and kicks as the animals reconfigured their pecking order to accommodate her, but Mav wouldn’t put her through it until she could hold her own.
The mare stood in the corner of the stall, her head hanging low, her bony hipbones nearly poking through her skin. Her pale coat was covered in mud, her white-blonde mane and tail knotted in ugly bunches. Superficial slices and gouges marred her, and Maverick knew he would only find more once he eventually got her clean. Her eyes …
Her eyes were so soulful and sad – until she saw him. Then she arched her neck back, moving her face as far away from him as she could, even though he hadn’t opened her stall door yet. Her eyes rolled back until he saw their whites. It was pure, wild terror.
Looking at her didn’t even make him sad. It made him angry. He knew that pain begot pain and that some people were never given the chance to be kind, and still, he didn’t understand how anyone could break a spirit so routinely, so thoroughly.
‘No need to be dramatic,’ he said at plain speaking volume.
He talked to her while he mixed her food and supplements. When he was done, he opened her stall door. He stepped inside, all the while breathing deeply and audibly, and without looking at her, emptied her grain into the feeding tray.
He stood with his back to her as he mixed it with his hands, but it was only when she edged closer to him and snorted that he angled his body, creating a wide opening for her to access the grain. Maverick talked to her the entire time, saying useless things like, ‘I know you’re hungry,’ ‘You’re so pretty.’ And when she took that last step and came abreast of him to eat, ‘Good girl.’
He saw Benji standing at the stall door out of the corner of his eye, said, ‘She’s not feral,’ as he reached out one hand and patted the mare’s neck. ‘Someone loved this horse once – before she got passed down the line.’
‘Yeah,’ he agreed. ‘She’s only hurting.’
‘Did you manage to do her hooves yet?’
‘Cleaned them myself. Took me a goddamn hour, even with the sedative.’
‘Are they in bad shape?’
‘Mostly looks like a bit of overgrowth. No bad chipping or abscesses.’
Maverick nodded as he continued to stroke the horse’s neck. ‘We should name her at some point.’
‘Let one of the guests do it,’ Benji suggested. ‘They always get a kick out of it.’
‘Yeah. Good idea.’
A silence followed, and Mav, knowing that Benji was very rarely quiet, calmly stroked the horse as his friend figured out what he wanted to say.
It didn’t take him long.
‘I’m moving on, Mav. She needs space, and I can’t … I can’t be close and not reach out.’
Maverick nodded slowly, though the pain came back in full force. ‘Where will you go?’
‘I don’t know. Haven’t figured that out yet. But I have enough saved up to get by for a long while. Figured I’d travel, maybe wrangle a few temp jobs along the way to keep Diablo in work.’
At mention of his name, Benji’s dun Mustang, Diablo, poked his head over his stall door behind them. He snorted.
Benji turned to face him. ‘I wasn’t talking to you. Don’t be nosy.’
Diablo stared at him for a long moment before turning his butt pointedly in Benji’s direction.
Maverick laughed. ‘That horse has you wrapped around his hoof.’
