Page 76 of Wilder

To hurt them?

Bankrupting Wilder with an avalanche of vet bills seemed stupid, if not completely absurd.

If he went under, we all did. No one would win in that scenario.

I exhaled sharply, my jaw tightening as I kept my grip on the bottle of weed killer tight, my fingers pressing into the plastic hard enough that it crinkled under the pressure.

Whatever Carter had been up to, I wasn’t about to take any chances.

Turning back toward the feed, I flipped the lid back over the barrel, sealing it shut with a firm snap before stepping out of the alcove.

Striding toward the back office, I grabbed the legal pad from the desk and flipped it open to tear off a fresh sheet of paper.

I moved my hand quickly over the paper, writing in big, bold letters: DO NOT TOUCH FEED.

Until we knew for certain whether or not any of it had been tampered with, I’d make damn sure this didn’t get ignored. If it needed to be tested to see if I was being paranoid or not, keeping it away from the horses until then was the most important.

I slipped the edge of the paper underneath the first barrel lid, letting it hang down before securing the lid once more.

The second Wilder got back, we were gonna have a long, serious talk about Carter.

CHAPTER 19

Asher

I sat on the front steps of Wilder’s house for what had to be an hour, my boots planted firmly on the porch while I rested my elbows firmly on my knees. The sun had started its slow descent toward the horizon, the rays warming me despite it being pretty windy today.

It was one of those chilly sunny days where the sun’s rays tried their hardest to convince you it was comfortable but the wind kept snatching the warmth away, reminding you that winter was still hanging on tight.

I found it kind of funny, honestly, how opposite the winters were here compared to back home in Louisiana. We were both Southern states, but damn if we weren’t worlds apart in climate.

I snapped my head up just as a familiar dark blue truck rumbled down the road, the gravel crunching beneath the weight of its tires. To my surprise, there was no horse trailer attached to the hitch. Which was strange, considering they’d gone to the auction with the sole intent of finding a new stud.

A convenient cover for something else, maybe?

I followed the truck with my eyes as it pulled away to park next to Dallas’s, immediately tracking the man behind the wheel—Sully—as he wound his hand around the steering wheel, cranking the front wheels at an angle to fit the vehicle nice and tight next to the other one.

I stayed put, keeping my arms relaxed on my knees while he parked the vehicle and killed the engine. Both truck doors popped open in unison.

Sully was the first out, his voice cutting through the quiet of the late afternoon as he raised a hand in greeting. “Asher! Long time no see.”

I forced myself to wave back, pasting a neutral smile on my face even as my pulse stuttered in my throat. Unlike Sully, Wilder said nothing when his boots met the ground. No wave, no greeting, not even a damn grunt in my direction.

Just those sharp, assessing eyes locked on me like he was trying to read my face. This was something I was used to, though, being scrutinized by him. This felt comfortable, even if the situation was bordering on suffocating. His movements were slow, deliberate, not at all hesitant but rather precise in how he moved.

Like an alien testing the waters at being human.

He brushed his hand along the side of the door to push it shut. The click felt like it sounded louder than it should have, like a line was being drawn between us somehow. A proverbial door closing on whatever unspoken thing sat between us.

I tried to not let that bother me.

Not at this moment, at least. Later, when I’d told them about the feed and I headed back up to my room for the night, I could allow myself to wallow.

I forced myself to turn back to Sully. “How was the auction?”

He smiled. “Not bad. Didn’t find what we were looking for. Hopefully, next time. How was your flight in?”

I brushed my fingers together a few times to keep them from twitching too obviously. Or grabbing Wilder by the front of his shirt and dragging him off somewhere private to talk to him alone.