Page 21 of Wilder

Slowly, I turned my head, already knowing exactly who I’d find once I did so.

Carter.

He was hefting the saddle in his arms up onto one of the hooks, his movements effortless and irritatingly unbothered. Like he hadn’t just bodied me out of the way for whatever reason. Petty, I was sure, since that’s exactly what made him operate to begin with.

“Really?” I said, gesturing down to the mess at my feet.

He barely spared me a glance before responding, voice flat and completely disinterested. “I told you to watch it. Maybe you should pay more attention to your surroundings, Torres.”

Anger flared hot in me, tightening my chest even more. I took a step forward to level him with another glare. “I was paying attention. You’re the dumbass that decided to plow through me.”

Carter turned to face me fully, his shoulders squaring as his eyes locked onto mine. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” I shot back. “Did that make you feel better? You get it out of your system?”

Carter moved fast.

Before I could shift away from him, his hand snapped out to grab a fistful of my shirt and hauled me closer in one rough yank.

I stumbled forward, barely had time to react before I was chest-to-chest with him. His grip was tight, knuckles white where they twisted into the fabric, and up close, I could see the tension making his jaw clench so hard I half expected his teeth to crack from the force. His shoulders were drawn up near his ears, coiled tight with something simmering just beneath the surface.

Carter and I were about the same height, but unfortunately for me, he didn’t lack the kind of muscle definition that I did.

And right now?

Every inch of that broad-shouldered, perpetually frowning pain in my ass was angry.

Angrier than usual, for some reason.

“You think you’re a hot shot around here, Torres?” he bit out. “Well, news flash—not all of us want to suck dick to get special privileges.”

I nearly choked. “What?”

For a solid second, my brain short-circuited.

Because fucking first of all, how dare he.

Second, as if Wilder would ever be remotely interested in someone literally half his damn age.

And third, special privileges?

What the hell was Carter even talking about?

What privileges?

Last time I checked, I was still mucking stalls and wrangling horses like everyone else around here. Still putting in the hours and getting my ass handed to me by the same grueling work we all did.

But even beyond all of that, the sheer audacity of this man standing here in the middle of the damn barn, throwing out accusations like we were in some kind of soap opera was fucking unbelievable.

I stared at him, then scoffed as a dry laugh escaped me before I could stop it. “You cannot be serious right now.”

But oh, he was.

Carter’s eyes burned with something hard, something resentful; like he’d been waiting for this moment, waiting to say something, waiting for any excuse to start this fight. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. Like you’re some doe-eyed princess waiting to get pulled out back and fucked.”

My mouth dropped open.

Of all the things I expected to come out of his mouth, that sure as hell wasn’t one of them.