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“Yeah?” he replied.
“If you hear anything about Empire, let me know,” he told him. It sounded like a demand more than a request.
Saxon nodded. “Will do.”
“Dad’s just making a point,” Trev whispered—so that Blaise couldn’t hear him, was my guess. “Reminding him that he does have some power over him.”
Saxon glanced at Trev as we reached the door to the house.
“I don’t want to get in the middle of any war between Garrett Hughes and Blaise. If I hear anything, I’m telling you, and leave me out of it,” Saxon said to Trev.
Trev just nodded once, like he understood. His expression more serious than the carefree grin he seemed to always flash. Maybe Blaise and their father had some bad blood between them.
Neither of them said anything as we walked back through the house to the front doors.
“I’ll see you later,” Sax told Trev, then opened the door and looked at me. “Let’s go.”
“Later, Maddy,” Trev said to me, and when I met his eyes, he grinned. The serious expression had faded.
“Thanks for including me today,” I told him, feeling like I should say something.
He chuckled. “Yeah, glad you got to experience all this.” Then, he leaned closer to me. “You are welcome here. Anytime. It’s not always like this.”
“Good to know,” I replied and hurried after Saxon, my face feeling warm. I didn’t want to think about all I had seen outside.
When I reached the truck, Saxon was looking down at his phone. He lifted his gaze to mine and then walked over to the passenger door and opened it for me.
“Thanks,” I told him awkwardly, then climbed inside.
No one had ever opened my car door for me before. Not even Saxon when we had gotten in the truck to come over here. Was he doing it for Trev’s sake?
Saxon walked around the front of the truck and climbed inside. When he closed his door, he turned to look at me and sighed. “And that’s the Hughes family,” he said. “Wealthy, powerful, arrogant, and sometimes terrifying.”
I frowned. “Isn’t Trev your best friend?”
“Yep,” he replied, then started the truck. His gaze shifted to the house in front of us and Trev walking up the stairs. “He has been since preschool. First time Dad took me to the track, we sat in the Hugheses’ box. Garrett had bought a racehorse, but he was green and needed a lot of work, so Garrett asked Dad to work with him.
Dad is a horse whisperer. He can turn any horse around. Anyway, we were there in their box to see the horse Dad had turned into a potential champion. That’s my first memory of Trev. The following year, we started preschool together. We’ve been tight since then.”
I found myself wanting to hear more of their story. I couldn’t imagine having a friend for that many years.
“Did the horse win?” I asked him.
The corner of his mouth curled up. “Won the triple crown twice before it retired. The day I met Trev was his first victory. Goliath proved true to his name.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s living the posh life as an old man in the Hugheses’ stables,” Saxon replied.
I smiled, happy to hear he was still alive. I might not be sure about my feelings toward horses just yet, but I was warming up to them. The one I’d met today was lovable. Perhaps I had a little of my mother in me. A part of her I hadn’t known existed.
“Sorry if today was a bit much,” he said to me, changing the subject. “That crowd is a lot. Then, add Blaise and his crew …” Saxon shook his head. “I hadn’t expected them to show up. Blaise doesn’t come around much. He keeps Empire there, and he does own a percentage of Hughes Farm. Just not a controlling percentage. Anyway, I wouldn’t have taken you or gone myself if I’d known all that was going to happen.”
He had tried to help me fit in and make friends. There was no reason for him to apologize for something that he’d had nothing to do with. I found it sweet that he had though.
“I appreciate you taking me. You didn’t have to,” I replied.
He smirked then. “You say that, but you don’t know Trev. If I hadn’t taken you, he’d have come and gotten you himself.”
