by A. J. Downey
“So don’t give up. Let’s do it.”
She looked thoughtful and said, “Do you think the offer will still stand if I don’t do the riding school and B&B part of things?”
“Why can’t you do both?”
“What?”
“Why not do a thoroughbred breeding program and a riding school? How many people do you think would pay to stay on a real working Kentucky racehorse farm? You said it yourself, Blue Hills is way bigger than it ever needed to be for just being a thoroughbred farm.”
“No one is going to want a bunch of regular folks around their blue blood horses.”
“Dude, what happens to a thoroughbred horse that doesn’t work out for racing? I’m sure it’s happened.”
“Actually, you may be onto something but I’m thinking more along the lines of retirees that aren’t suited to breeding.”
“What happens to them?”
“Slaughter, usually… It’s always been a more than slightly depressing field to work in. A racehorse usually goes for a career of about seven years, but what about the next two decades? Some are bred, but some?”
“Some need to be retired to live out their days educating folks rather than just being slaughtered, I mean what the fuck? Shit, man… you’re right, this ain’t some dude ranch like back in AZ, but at least they don’t just go killin’ horses when they outlive their usefulness.”
“Okay, so what if we refocused a little…”
And just like that, she broke through whatever funk that’d been put on her and she started really dreaming her own dreams. We spent the rest of the night with my pad of paper and pencil thinking up ideas and going new directions with some of the space available at Blue Hills.
“We’d have to rename it,” she said suddenly and I looked at her.
“I’ll leave that up to you, babe. If it were me it’d end up being something like Iron Horse or some shit and I don’t think your hoity toity rich crowd would take that seriously.”
She laughed and said, “I don’t think you’re wrong about that.”
“You think about talking to your mom’s buddy? That Cranston lady?” I asked.
Bailey leaned back in her seat next to mine as we gently swung on one of the benches made for it around the cold fire pit.
“It’s not a bad idea,” she said finally and nodded. “I think I could do that.”
“Cool.”
“Let me try my mother, see if she’d be willing to put us back in touch.”
“Sure, sounds good. Or, you know, you could just call her.”
Bailey gave me a shrewd look for a minute and said, “You’re right. If this is going to be our dream and we’re going to do it, I should be the one to call her.
“Now, that’s my girl!” I crowed and she smiled.
“I think I’m going to miss staying here, though,” she said with a sigh.
“Gonna take a good long while to rebuild the house.”
Bailey’s eyes grew distant for a moment and she said, “I think I might have just thought of a name for it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, alright then. You going to tell me?”
“Not yet,” she said with an impish grin. “I want to make sure it’s really going to be a thing first.”
“Oh, it’s going to be a thing.”
“That so, biker boy?” she said and I loved it when she got sassy on me.
“You better believe it, rich bitch.”
She laughed and leaned up to kiss me, and I kissed her back. Trig called out from the back door of the club, “We be interrupting anything heavy if we came out there and joined you?”
“Not at all!” Bailey called back.
He and Ashton moved up and took a swinging bench near ours. Ashton asking, “How’s clean up been going?”
“Almost done,” Bailey said and I gave her a nudge. She rolled her eyes at me and I gave her a look that said I was going to fuck the shit out of her later for it. She rolled her eyes again and just sealed the deal on that one.
“So, Rush and I were just talking about what to do with Blue Hills, and I think I would kind of like to expand a little, the idea I initially had for rebuilding.
“Oh, yeah?” Ashton asked.
“Yeah…”
It was good, listening to them talk, hearing Bailey’s voice grow animated and excited the more she laid things out to Ashton. It was even better watching Sunshine get all excited about giving horses a second chance rather than having them destroyed. Trig smiled at his woman indulgently and honestly, the laid back brother could give a fuck what she did with her money as long as she was safe, happy, and he knew she would be provided for if anything happened to him. He’d said it often enough, anyhow.
Pretty soon plans were being made to move forward regardless of anyone else’s involvement. Ashton made Trig call Reaver to see if his construction company was up to handling the building required and more.
I smiled like a loon, I couldn’t help it. Bailey sure bounced back quickly and I was glad for it. She was going to need every bit of that shit for the rough road of trials and court dates and shit ahead.
She turned to me, a fire in her eyes; some real excitement for a change and grabbed my hand, “We can turn the main garage by the house into a woodshop and park further down in what used to be the employee’s garage.”
I grinned and pointed out, “Still gonna have to have employees, babe.” She frowned and I laughed at the cute expression on her face saying, “We got plenty of time to figure it out, don’t worry.”
“Promise?” she asked and I nodded.
“Promise.”
Epilogue
Bailey
Six months later...
“Okay!” I cried and Rush and Trigger did the honors, pulling the sheet covering the sign at the entryway to the farm to reveal the new name and logo that Trigger had designed for us.
Phoenix Hills Equestrian Center arched in flames above a herd of stallions in racing formation, their silhouettes bursting into flame at the back as they streaked across the sign.
“Out of the ashes, let this place be reborn,” Marion crowed and a cheer from not just the club, but the dedicated employees of when the place was Blue Hills went up. We toasted with champagne and laughed, most of us sniffing, it was freaking cold out here!
“Right, let’s move this into the barn and try and get warmed up,” Trig said and everyone started the trek up the driveway.
It was the time of year, and breeding practices were in full swing, Marion giving us the chance we needed to start anew. She loved the idea of utilizing the farm for not only its originally intended purpose, but as a means to educate and rescue horses that may be past their breeding prime but still had plenty of life left in them.
She and Ashton had both heavily invested in Phoenix Hills, yet I remained full owner. Well, at least everyone thought I did. I had a surprise for Rush.
The party wore on well into the night, and that was fine by me. We had a lot to celebrate. The house was rebuilt in the precise floor plan of the old, except the smaller barn that was attached, we didn’t use as a barn anymore. We had converted it into Rush’s wood shop instead. When the house was completed, he’d surprised me with a beautifully carved front door for it, and in fact, most of the furniture inside were his pieces. Hayden had had a field day with the decorating.
My mother had, surprisingly, been enthusiastic and proud of my accomplishments. Fully supporting my dream in every way that she could, while my brother? He was in disgrace and was just about to begin a prison sentence. Caleb was still fighting us out in court but it was clear he was on the losing end of things.
I was cleaning up in our kitchen when Rush came up behind me and pulled me back into his chest, kissing the side of my neck.
“I have something I want to show you,” I said and he groaned a little.
“Is it your tits? Please tell me it’s your tits…”
“Even better,” I whispe
red, and he said, “Really? Alright!”
“Come on, step into my office, biker boy,” I turned in his arms and kissed him and he smacked me on the ass. I jumped and let out a girlish yip.
“Lead the way, baby. I built that desk and I aim to fuck you over it.”
“Ooooh, you’re right we haven’t done it in there!”
He trailed me into the office and I picked up the manila file folder of the center of my blotter and handed it to him saying, “This is for you.”
He frowned at it and flipped it open. It was so worth watching his brow, wrinkled with confusion, smooth into disbelief. His wide, golden brown eyes going molten with desire when he looked at me.
“You made me part owner of this place?”
“It’s ours, not mine… so yeah.”
“You’re serious?”
“To borrow a phrase you guys like to use all the time, ‘as a heart attack, baby.’”
“Oh, bitch. You better get naked.”
“What, now?”
“Uh huh, right now.”
He set the file folder down and came to me, pulling me into the circle of his arms and kissing me. I let my hands drift to his belt and he moaned into my mouth. I don’t think anything could be more perfect if I wanted it to. I squealed in glee as he lifted me and sat my ass on the edge of my desk.
“Oh, Christ I love it when you make that sound,” he growled against my mouth and I smiled.
“You’re the only one that could ever make me make it,” I whispered.
“I like that even better,” he said.
“I love you, Rush.”
“I love you, too, Bales.”
“The forever kind of love?” I asked.
“Yep, the forever kind of love.”
Perfect.
The End
Other books by A.J. Downey
The Sacred Hearts MC
1. Shattered & Scarred
2. Broken & Burned
3. Cracked & Crushed
3.5. Masked & Miserable (a novella)
4. Tattered & Torn
5. Fractured & Formidable
6. Damaged & Dangerous
The Virtues
1. Cutter’s Hope
2. Marlin’s Faith
3. Charity for Nothing
Biker Chicks
Biker Chicks 2
Biker Chicks 3
Paranormal Romance (with Ryan Kells)
I Am The Alpha
Omega’s Run
Hunter’s End
About the Author
A.J. Downey is the internationally bestselling author of The Sacred Hearts Motorcycle Club romance series. She is a born and raised Seattle, WA Native. She finds inspiration from her surroundings, through the people she meets, and likely as a byproduct of way too much caffeine.
She has lived many places and done many things, though mostly through her own imagination… An avid reader all of her life, it’s now her turn to try and give back a little, entertaining as she has been entertained. She lives in a small house in a small neighborhood with a larger than life fiancé and one cat.
She blogs regularly at www.ajdowney.com. If you want the easy button digest, as well as a bunch of exclusive content you can’t get anywhere else, sign up for her mailing list right here.
