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She walked back into him, dropped her forehead to his chest, momentarily resting. ‘Thanks.’
They loaded both horses and set off, arrived at the event centre an hour before her run. While TJ saddled Kai, Skye put the horse’s pink polo wraps on, and by the time she was in the warm-up arena, her anxiety was simmering right below a full-blown panic attack.
Kai sensed it too. Instead of being his normal, calm self, he was spooked, and although he still ran through his warm-up perfectly, he kept arching his head back to look at Skye, as if to say What are we worried about? Where’s the danger?
When the event staff called her drag, she and ten other girls moved their horses towards the arena. While the others rode in without hesitating, Skye waited for TJ. She needed his quiet strength just then.
He came to her immediately.
Although she didn’t point it out, she wondered if he even realized that his limp was softer or that he was sleeping up to six hours a night. It wasn’t that he was pain free; the daily physical therapy was still agonizing for him. But he wasn’t stuck there all the time anymore.
‘You ready?’ he asked her. He ran one hand down Kai’s neck, murmured, ‘Easy,’ in a low, deep voice that had Kai calming.
‘As ready as I’ll ever be.’ She exhaled an anxious breath. ‘I could use that distraction about now.’
TJ crooked his finger at her.
Skye leaned down.
But instead of flicking her ear or kissing her as she’d expected, he took her pink hat off her head and replaced it with his black one. When Skye raised both eyebrows, TJ plopped her hat on his own head.
‘I would say it’s disrespectful to touch another person’s hat,’ Skye said, laughing, ‘but pink is definitely your colour.’
TJ tipped the brim up. ‘It’s about time everyone knew I’m your man, Skye. I’m done acting like this thing between us is ever going to go away. And if I’m going to stay, then so are you.’
Skye didn’t argue. There was a lump in her throat, one she couldn’t speak around. She’d always promised herself that she’d never end up back here. But it was the strangest thing to realize that, maybe, she’d always wanted to. Maybe, in a lot of ways, she’d been waiting to, waiting for him.
When she didn’t reply, TJ asked, ‘Is that okay with you?’
She nodded. ‘On one condition?’
‘Anything.’
‘I want you to delete the videos.’
He didn’t have to ask which videos she was referring to. ‘You know, they draw in a lot of people and indirectly make me a lot of money in brand partnerships.’
Skye wished he could see how angry he still was. She wished he could see those ugly, dark videos from her perspective. ‘That’s my line, TJ. I won’t have you monetizing your trauma by turning it into entertainment for everyone else.’ She shook her head. ‘Enough.’
If TJ was ever going to truly start fighting again, he needed to accept what had happened in the past and start looking towards the future. And he couldn’t do that while actively branding and promoting the worst moment of his life for strangers online.
‘Okay,’ he said. ‘You can delete whichever ones you want tonight.’ He took his phone out of his pocket, said, ‘Let’s get a selfie to replace them with.’
Skye leaned down and, bringing her face close to his, smiled for the camera. He took the shot, slid his phone back into his pocket.
‘Did that distract you enough?’ TJ asked.
A sharp wolf whistle cut off her reply. Matthew Savage walked past. His, ‘Looks like you got tied down, TJ! But you sure look real purty in pink,’ was loud enough for everyone to hear.
TJ flipped him off, making Matthew howl with laughter.
Realizing that they’d attracted quite a bit of attention, Skye leaned down again and, holding the black hat on her head, kissed TJ. Not quickly either. This kiss was long and deep and intimate, so much so that people nearby started hollering and clapping.
When she pulled back, she said, ‘I’m definitely going to get a fine, because this hat is not going to stay on my head.’
‘Well, this one’s squeezing my brains out. But we’ll make do.’ He took a deep breath, encouraging her to do the same. ‘You ready, baby?’
‘Yes.’
