“Old?” I screeched, offended. “I’m not old!”
Anna just shrugged her little shoulders.
“Besides,” I purred, leaning my face so close to hers I could almost kiss those red lips of hers. “I thought you liked older men?”
“That depends,” she said, bring her lips close to mine. “Maybe you’re not old enough for me?”
“You mean men Wolf’s age?” I countered.
“I don’t know.” Anna dropped back, giving me a thousand-watt smile and I felt my heart drop. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
“Oh shit,” I groaned.
“‘Oh shit,’ is right.” Wolf growled from behind me and only seconds later I felt the hard club of his hand smack up the backside of my head.
“Christ!” I hissed, grabbing my neck to stop it from being jerked off my shoulders. “You almost decapitated me, you bastard.”
The huge, bearded Russian chuckled, dropping into the stool next to me as a small, sleepy bundle of chub sat cradled in his arms. My godson slept like the dead and even the noise of the evening clubroom didn’t faze the boy.
Anna swapped my empty beer glass for a fresh one and set another in front of Wolf as he passed the sleeping mass into her tiny arms. She juggled him and grunted at his weight before he was comfortably pressed into the crook of her neck with her hand supporting his butt.
“I could check her out for you,” Anna offered, looking out the window to where the crushed Jeep still sat. It turned out the Jeep had been the new one Hunter bought a few months back, and now I had to pay him for all the damage which just added to my list of problems.
Why do my brothers have to be so tight?
“No thanks.” I shook my head, then passed a glance to the greying man staring a hole into the side of my head. Wolf didn’t say anything.
Anna crooked her pale eyebrow and I focused my attention on the immediate danger talking to me. “Not even the slightest bit curious what she’s been up to in the last few years?”
“Nope,” I popped, downing my fresh beer in one shot. I stood from my seat and stretched my arms above my head, my forearm stinging at the action. “I couldn’t care less.”
“Keep telling yourself that, big boy,” Anna called after me as I walked away.
* * *
“You’re late,” I seethed.
The fence was beginning to dig into the muscles of my ass as I glowered down at the brunette, perching her hands on her hips and dropping open that loud mouth of hers.
“Five minutes isn’t late,” Ronnie snapped back.
I had yet to see her usual vigor and I couldn’t decide how I felt about that. Ronnie had been a smart mouth from hell with a bad attitude to accompany it, and in the last few days I’d seen her, I couldn’t ignore the massive change.
She’d become meeker. At first, I thought she was being cautious seeing me again after so many years, but now I could see it was a conditioned part of her personality. She was more like a mature woman, nothing like the wild, bullheaded kid I’d known.
“It’s five minutes later than you should have been here. Thus, you’re late, Ronnie,” I countered.
“That’s another thing,” she said, ignoring me. “It’s Veronica, not Ronnie.”
That surprised me. I looked down at her with wide eyes before letting them pinch into a scowl. “You hate being called Veronica.”
“Times have changed, Jax,” she growled. I wouldn’t deny that it made my chest rumble. Not loud enough for her to hear, though. The urge to tie her up and make her apologize for offending my treasured road name by comparing it to her own crappy reasons was almost overwhelming.
“Don’t even,” she seethed. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I know that look. I’m not some petulant child, and you don’t get to decide what matters and what doesn’t.” Ronnie turned with her hands fisted by her side and made a point of moving a few fences up from where I was sitting next to the second post.
I watched her long legs stomp away and her arm prop up in a huff on top of the fence, her eyes peering through.
I knew the moment she caught sight of Max. Her anger was forgotten, and I saw every part of her soften. She leaned against the fence as if all the strength in her swept out at the sight of her broken friend.
Max was no longer hiding in one corner of her pasture or pacing up and down a single side. Instead, she laid down by the hay bales, bathing in the sunlight on the soft grass and hadn’t even stirred when Ronnie pulled up in her noisy-ass truck.
“She seems happier today,” Ronnie breathed, a gentle smile overtaking her face. Transforming her sharp, quiet features, it seemed to relieve her face of some of the maturity that had been constructed over it. It was reassuring somehow.
Dragging my eyes away from her, I looked down to the dirt, shaking my head. I hopped off the fence, my boots hitting the dry ground and scattering a few stones. “Happier isn’t the word I’d use,” I said, glancing over at the pasture where Max was looking in my and Ronnie’s direction, following our movements. I ignored her and walked to the barn. “But it’s time for us to start.”
It doesn’t just affect her, either….
“Come on, Ronnie,” I called, keeping my eyes pinned to the barn in front of me.
“I said it was Veronica!” Ronnie’s voice snapped from behind me. “Ve-Ron-I-Ca!”
“Yes, Yes, Ronnie,” I said back. “I heard you.”
I heard her growl, but she gave up with a sigh and few breathy grumbles that would make even Anna blink twice. I had to fight the twitch on my lips.
* * *
It was after watching her fail for the fifth time trying to tie a Honda knot that I couldn’t stop the remark. “You’ve lost your touch.” It came out a little teasing and Ronnie’s confused frown became instantly annoyed.
“I have not,” she snapped. “Your rope is just crap.”
It was the first clear curse word I’d heard from her all week, and I couldn’t help the snicker.
“Stop laughing,” she growled out.
“I wasn’t.”
“Yes, you were.” Ronnie’s hands tugged at the rope in frustration as she tried to untangle the mess she’d made. When it didn’t budge, she let go of it and watched it hit the floor with a hiss.
I was about to laugh at her, then stopped myself when I saw her anger disappear like the flick of a switch as she hurried to pick up the rope and stand up so straight that I thought her spine would break. I was so taken aback by her response, I was certain she noticed it because whatever expression had been on her face as she retreated behind the mature mask that I was certain she had been crafting for a long while. “Sorry,” she whispered, looking back down at her rope.
“Why are you apologizing?” I growled, the sound of it coming out a hell of a lot less demanding than I felt. I could see the conditioning of her schooled reaction, and I didn’t like the feelings seeing that gave me. Her lack of reaction was unnatural, and it sure as fuck wasn’t Ronnie.
“I—” She looked up at me and I saw the second sorry about to come off her lips before she hesitated and snapped her mouth closed. “It’s nothing.”
“It was something.” I took a step toward her and instead of taking one back, Ronnie held her ground.
“I thought you didn’t want to know my business, Jax,” Ronnie retorted, glaring back at me and my road name on her lips was like cold water over my head.
“You’re right.” I shoved the irritation deep down into my chest. “I don’t.”
I fucking do want to know.
But I wouldn’t let myself. Ronnie was right. I didn’t want to know about her business, and I didn’t want to know the reasons behind her nervous reactions to every tiny thing. What I was noticing about her gave me a bad feeling, and it was annoying me. I didn’t care about Ronnie’s pain. Not anymore.
“Give it to me,” I said, reaching forward and taking the rope out of her hands, then untangled the mess she’d made before I retied the lasso
, wound up the rope, and hung it over my shoulder. “Come on,” I commanded, marching off ahead and back toward the pasture as Ronnie jogged along behind me.
As we arrived at the fence adjacent to the pasture Max was in, I pushed down whatever I was feeling and allowed myself to calm my emotions before tossing the rope over one of the posts on the fence, then vaulting over it and dropping down onto the other side.
I watched, with what must have been a god-like patience, as Ronnie climbed slowly and cautiously up over the fence and clambered down the other side. Ronnie dusted herself off as she turned to face me with a readied look on her face, seeming somewhat proud for taking ten years to climb a damn fence that she could have easily jumped.
I turned away from her before I said anything and instead walked over to the adjoining gate between the two pastures, earning Max’s attention. Her ears pricked up, eyes darkening at my approach into her space. I took it slow, not looking at her directly, minding my own business as I undid the latch and pulled the gate open.
Max stood up from her comfortable position near the hay bales of her pasture and watched me carefully as I walked far away from the gate, back to the other side of the pasture where Ronnie was waiting. I made sure Max’s attention was on me as I climbed back over the fence and drop down the other side. I’d have liked to use the gate at the entrance of the pasture, but the one that lead into this field needed a new hinge and made a racket when opened. Had I known I was going to be having a skittish horse inside of it, I’d have replaced it long ago.
I stayed a silent observer, keeping my eye on the brunette, making sure she stayed on the opposite end of the pasture. Her own eyes, however, took no notice of my presence as they weighed on Max’s bay figure.
The cautious and slight lag to the beat of her shoes walking toward the second pasture filled the air with dust and sound. Giving me a wide berth, and a long wait, Ronnie made her way into the second pasture at long last.
The promise of more food perhaps laying on the other side of the pasture could tempt the curiosity of any horse. Cowards they could be, curious they always were. Once there was enough room, I made a slow jog toward the gate, making sure Max heard and saw me as I began closing the gate. She didn’t spook but gave a nervous glance at her narrowing escape route until I slipped the hot metal latch over the other post, locking her in.
Max stalked me as I fastened the latch, looking unsure and alert. She didn’t freak out, just took in her surroundings which was as close to a miracle as I was going to get with a horse as far gone as her, if my assessment was accurate.
It was.
“This will be her safety pen,” I said just loud enough for Ronnie to hear. Max looked at me too, but I ignored her, moving back to where we had climbed the fence to fetch my lasso. “That way—”
“She’ll have a safe place to go back to after training. Less stress on the horses after training,” Ronnie interrupted, accurately finishing the last part of my explanation. “I remember.”
I didn’t show my annoyance at her but instead took note of her nervousness. The words had come out one as single breath, and I hesitated with my hand on the fence.
“Mayb—”
“No.” Ronnie shook her head at me, her long hair dragging in the wind across her neck. “I want to do this. If Max needs this from me then I’m ready.”
She took a deep breath, releasing her hand from its nervous twiddling of her hair. She placed one hand over her chest and one over her stomach, mumbling something under breath with her eyes closed.
I waited a couple of beats before speaking. “Ready?”
Her shoulders relaxed and hands fell to her sides. She opened her eyes and nodded once at me and then turned to Max.
“Remember this isn’t a race. It’ll be a slow process.”
Imparting my last bit of advice, I slung my rope over my shoulder and headed down to a farther part of the fence and took up my perch on the top bar. I folded the rope over my knee.
Max’s head had dropped, but I wasn’t fooled. Her ears were upright and the small nervous scuffs of Ronnie’s boots against the dirt had them twitching. I bit my tongue to stop the rising nag at the back of throat as she let her toe inch forward one little step at a time inside Max’s new training spot.
Max stopped rubbing her lips into the sand for grass roots as she noticed Ronnie’s slow approach.
I took the rope into my hand.
At first, her head didn’t move. It remained lowered and to anyone else, it’d look like Max hadn’t noticed her.
But even Ronnie knew she had been spotted as her little footsteps began to tiptoeing toward the still beast.
The closer Ronnie was getting the tenser I could see Max getting.
Horses were cowards. Not because of their personality, but because it was their nature. They were flight creatures. A horse staying still never boded well.
I had expected her to have backed up to the opposite fence already. This exercise was only supposed to get Max tolerating Ronnie in her space, but this wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. She should have backed up by now. Flight not fight instinct. Horses usually escaped that kind of pressure not withstand it.
Though not many things went as I predicted, I was dealing with wild beasts after all, but out of the ordinary was concerning.
My concerns became warranted when Ronnie’s foot knocked a pebble.
The small thing skipped and rolled to Max’s foot, knocking against her shoe with a soundless tap.
Her switch flipped.
Max’s front leapt into the air, her legs rearing high into the sky, and high above Ronnie’s head. A frightening shriek echoed in the air and Ronnie panicked.
Max’s feet hit the ground and her body grew ridged with the energy boiling from her.
Ronnie staggered back a step, ready to run.
“Stand still!” I called, shaking my head at her, but Ronnie wasn’t really looking my direction.
Ronnie was still as a statue, mirroring Max, the tension in the air thick.
“Shit,” I hissed, turning and hopping off the fence, and jogging along the outside of the pasture. I kept the rope slung over my shoulder as I slowed to a walk up to Ronnie’s side. I kept any noise minimal, trying not to light the energy between them.
My hands pressed against the wood as I poked my head through the gap. “Don’t move!” I whispered to Ronnie.
“What?” Ronnie breathed, the nervousness clear in her voice.
“Whatever you do, don’t step back. Stay still,” I commanded her. Ronnie was shaking so hard I could see the tips of her hair quivering against her damp face and fought the need to support her. I couldn’t get in the pasture. Not if I was going to fix the relationship between these two.
“I don’t want to spook her!” Ronnie whined, and I could sense her reluctance to stay where she was.
“Ronnie, look at me!”
She glanced back at Max once last time before turning to me, brown eyes creased with sadness and fear. “You won’t spook her. You just need to let her get used to you. Take a deep breath and trust me.” I made sure to keep my eyes on her, not letting her look away until I saw her chest expand as she took in a slow, deep breath and let a shaky one back out.
She kept doing it repeatedly, not looking away from me as she calmed from her panic and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max begin to relax and her ears drop back.
“There, look,” I called to Ronnie, pointing over her shoulder. Her eyes turned to Max whose gaze moved to look at something in the opposite direction, not paying Ronnie any mind. “See?”
Astonishment.
It was the only readable thing on Ronnie’s face, gawking as Max turned away from her, eyes wide, jaw agape, her soft peach-colored lips parted on a soft breath.
It was only a small step, but her reaction showed me just how much she’d gone through with Max in the past year. The amazement lighting up her eyes just by Max allowing her to be within twenty feet of her was a milestone for
her. It also made me more aware of Max’s issues.
The two of them had once been inseparable. I couldn’t count the amount of times I had to go drag Max and Ronnie out of trouble because of the crap the two got up to. Both caught doing shit they shouldn’t be doing. Not giving a crap about any lecture given to them, neither Max nor Ronnie had been one to listen.
“Ronnie, come on,” I called to her, breaking her trance.
She turned to me, her beautiful green eyes catching the sunlight in a way that made them almost glow before she calmly walked back to me.
I watched her painstakingly slow climb back up the fence and down the other side, taking it easy and steady as she dropped her boots to the ground next to me. She readjusted her long plaid shirt and jeans, sighing in contentment when she looked back into the pasture.
“Is that it for today?” Ronnie asked, looking a little disappointed.
“Yeah,” I said, looking over at Max. She was watching with weary eyes despite her head being low to the ground, tugging on a stray patch of grass she’d found growing through the dirt. Had Ronnie tried to get any closer to her, I feared Max would retreat and lead into another panic. I didn’t tell Ronnie that though, knowing just how important it was that the rider remained confident.
“Little steps.” Ronnie nodded, and it hit me hard.
I was transported back to almost fifteen years ago, looking down at a girl covered in dirt, bruises and scrapped knees from where she had been dragged across the dirt by Max’s lead rein, and I heard the same voice in my ears. Little steps. That’s how Ronnie had tamed the wild force that had been Max. Persistence, dedication, and little steps.
“I’m going to go let Max back into her pasture.” I coughed, tossing the rope over my shoulder and turned toward the pasture. “Be here at the same time tomorrow.”
“I will,” Ronnie promised, and with a lightness in her step, I heard her walk back to her truck and did my utmost best to not look at her walking away.
Chapter Four
Jax: Black Angels MC, #3 Page 5
