After we were done, after I was still buried inside her, after she was shaking, panting, clinging to me like she didn’t want to let go.
I kissed her.
Soft. Slow. Different.
And I don’t know why I did it.
Not like that.
Not when I was supposed to keep things simple.
Not when I was supposed to . . . I can’t remember when or why this started, but I was not meant to fall for her. But I did, and now, I don’t know how to continue. I’ve never been in this place before. Never experienced love the way it’s happening right now. I don’t know how not to fuck it up. How not to lose her.
I exhale, rubbing the back of my neck, forcing myself to focus on the day ahead. I have horses to check on, security to go over, men to meet.
I drain the last of my coffee, setting the mug on the porch railing. Then I turn toward the barn. My phone buzzes and I think it’s Malerick, but when I glance down at the screen it says Unknown Number.
I frown. I press the phone to my ear. “Timberbridge.”
Static hums on the other end. A pause. And then?—
“Walk away from her, Hopper.”
I freeze.
The voice is distorted, warped beyond recognition. A mechanical rasp, hollow and inhuman.
Every muscle in my body locks into place. “Who the hell is this?”
Another pause. The kind that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Stay away from Nysa, or you’ll lose Maddie.”
The words drop like a stone into my chest, cold and suffocating. For a moment, I can’t breathe. I can’t think. Because whoever this is—they just threatened my daughter. Rage floods my veins, burning through the initial shock like wildfire. My grip on the phone tightens until my knuckles ache.
“You listen to me, you son of a bitch,” I growl, my voice low, dangerous. “If you so much as look at my daughter or Nysa, I’ll find you. And when I do?—”
A sharp click.
The call ends.
Silence.
I pull the phone away from my ear, my pulse hammering so hard I can hear it. The world tilts for a second, the ground shifting beneath me as the weight of what just happened slams into me all at once.
Maddie.
They threatened Maddie.
Whoever this is, they’re not just trying to scare me. They know who I am. They know who she is. I call Mal.
“Hopper?”
His voice is still rough from sleep, but I don’t care.
“We have a problem,” I say, my voice sharp.
That wakes him up fast. “What happened?”
