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Fuck it. They were both his for now. But that didn’t stop him from turning his back on them.
“Got an early morning tomorrow,” was all he said before he turned and left the room.
22
CALLA
“All right, Paint, let’s show ‘em what we can do.” Calla smiled as she opened the back of the trailer to let Painter out. Today were trail trials, a laid-back competition at a wilderness park just outside of Casper. People came from all over Wyoming to try out their newly trained horses in public for the first time.
Calla could hardly believe two months had passed since she’d gotten Painter.
Then again, they said time flew when you were having fun. And the last two months had been the best of Calla’s entire life. She spent her days doing chores and training Painter. And her nights… she blushed. Well, suffice to say, as much as she’d fallen in love with Painter, she spent the daylight hours counting the minutes until she got to be alone with Liam and Mack.
She shook her head. She couldn’t be thinking about all that right now, though. This was her first chance to try Painter in a competition setting and prove to herself and everyone else that she had a real shot at that hundred thousand dollars next month.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Alright. She didn’t want to get cocky. But there was nothing wrong with being confident.
Today in the trials, riders would be judged on a series of ten to twelve obstacles all along a trail in the woods. The obstacles could be anything from logs in the path to navigating around a group of noisy campers to having to open a gate while astride your horse. Calla had never been on this particular trail but she’d been training Painter on dealing with unfamiliar situations and the mare caught on quickly to everything Calla threw at her.
Not to brag or anything, but Calla basically had the best, most genius mustang of anyone in the whole dang makeover. Facts were just facts.
Calla grinned, then clicked her tongue while she held onto Painter’s lead. Painter stepped calmly down from the trailer.
“Good girl,” Calla praised, rubbing down her withers. “What a good girl you are.”
In the trailer beside hers, Mack tugged on his lead several times until finally his horse poked his nose out the back end of the trailer. Mack held an apple in his hand to coax Torpedo all the way out.
Several more trailers behind her, all she heard was Liam’s loud cussing. “You stubborn donkey, move your arse.”
Calla laughed and walked Painter around the trailer. “Good girl,” Calla said again, running her hand down Painter’s long neck.
And then Calla froze. Her head jerked to look down at her leg.
Her thigh muscle was spasming crazily underneath her jeans.
She blinked, her breath catching. She flexed her leg and the muscle stopped jumping. She breathed out.
Then it started up again.
Calla shook her leg and jumped up and down. She grabbed her foot from behind and pulled it toward her butt to stretch her quads.
After a few seconds stretching, she let go and stared at her thigh.
Painter shifted and snorted beside her, nosing at Calla.
“Hush,” Calla muttered, shooing Painter away as she glared at her leg. Would it spasm again? If it did, did that mean—? Was this the first sign that she had Huntin—?
“Well look what we have here. The tomboy slut shows her face in public.”
Calla squeezed her eyes shut at the voice coming from behind her. “Not now, Bethany.”
“What’d you have to do to earn the gas money to get here? There are five guys who work out there, right? Do they each like, have a night? Or do they just fuck you whenever they want? Or all at once? Jesus, that’s be a five-some. Or a six-some if you count that mutant-freak giant who runs the place. I’m surprised you’re still walking upright.”
Calla spun around, ready to let Bethany have it when she heard someone beating her to the punch.
“I’ve met some real bitches in me life,” Liam said from behind Bethany, his horse in tow. “But don’t think I ever met one as maggoty as you.”
“Wait, no,” Bethany sputtered, spinning around. “I was just— That was out of context.” She laughed and waved a hand. “Calla and I just joke around like that sometimes. Crude, but you know—” She waved her hand again, eyes wide and desperate. “It’s just a joke. Calla knows that.”
“That true?” Liam asked Calla.
Calla glared at Bethany. “No. She’s just a bitch.” She clicked her teeth at Painter and led her away from Bethany, who kept sputtering about how it was all a misunderstanding.
But Calla didn’t feel any vindication at finally having a witness to Bethany’s true character.
Her leg. She kept sneaking glances down at her thigh as she walked. She didn’t think it was spasming anymore. It was hard to tell while she was walking.
