by Lexie Ray
Her head was still clogged with her swirling thoughts as she took a big sip of her coffee. It instantly burned her lips and then her hand as she ripped the cup from her mouth. The spike of pain was enough to at least help her refocus. It didn’t matter if he had found her or if he suddenly wanted to play a mind game that seemed to revolve around sending her worn photographs that had to at least be twenty years old.
If she didn’t respond, then that was the end of it. She had covered her bases and emailed copies of the photographs to an old friend. If something horrible had happened to the woman, he would take care of it. Willow had clawed her way out of the world her own private demon had created, and she wasn’t about to let few weird photographs pull her back in.
Still, a sleepless night and a morning spent staring at the nameless woman had put her behind schedule. So, of course some extra annoyances and general bad luck had combined to ensure that she was now an hour late in opening up the store, which meant that she was two hours late for meeting the delivery driver. She knew she’d still get her shipment. The few times she had been late for this particular supplier, he had just left the buckets piled up outside of her shop. All of this meant that she would be spending the morning clearing the now-cluttered walkway of whatever flowers hadn’t been taken into her store. Then it would be hours of mind-numbing paperwork in a feeble attempt to get up to date. She was already ready for this day to just end.
Her bag strap fell again, and she yanked it forcefully back into place as she jogged across the street. A large truck with an attached trailer blocked her view of her store, allowing her a few more seconds of ignorance about just how bad her day was shaping up to be. Willow had been so focused on not spilling her coffee onto herself as she tried to snatch up her falling paperwork that she almost tripped over the opened tailgate.
Her coffee almost slipped from her hand when she rounded a swinging tailgate and came face-to-flank with a horse – a very large, apparently very hungry horse that had already eaten half of her floral supply. Shock held her still and kept her feet rooted to the concrete as she tried to understand why there was an unattended horse hanging out on her city street. She was still in place when Mads appeared by her side.
“Good morning.” His voice was soft and smooth, his accent thickening as he spoke his words carefully.
When she didn’t instantly begin yelling at him, he joined her in watching the animal devouring her product.
“Morning,” she found herself saying. “Was this you?”
“Rather inadvertently.”
Even as her anger grew, it couldn’t compete with her bewilderment. “Mads. Why do you have a horse?”
“It doesn’t actually belong to me,” he said. “We needed him for a client, so we borrowed him from a friend for the day. It would seem, however, that there was some misunderstanding about the delivery.”
“Or how to properly latch the trailer door.”
“Yes,” he said carefully.
Before her anger could work its way out, Willow was distracted by another thought. “When you say ‘case,’ do you mean the woman and kid who were here yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“How does it look with the case? I know you can’t tell me details. I’m not asking for that. I’m just asking if you think that you’ll be able to help her.”
“I believe so.”
“Good. She seemed like a nice person.”
“They so often are.”
She turned to him then. While his voice might not have carried his strain, his features had a certain pinch that betrayed him. He wasn’t an unaffected as he wanted people to believe.
“You’re paying for the damages,” she said with a hint of a smile.
His eyes remained on the horse, still struggling to keep any emotion from his face. “Of course.”
“And I get to borrow one of your vans to go get more at the market.”
“That’s reasonable.”
“And one of your guys is going to help me lug it all around.”
He nodded, still staring straight ahead even as his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Agreed.”
“And a puppy.”
Finally, she was graced with a reaction. He was halfway to agreeing when the words sank in and he turned to her with a raised eyebrow. She bit her cheeks to keep from smiling, which only made him turn to her more.
“Your horse is eating my flowers,” she was quick to defend.
He opened his mouth, closed it, and eventually ventured. “I don’t understand why that would necessitate a puppy.”
“You don’t need to,” she dismissed.
Mads watched her for a long time and she felt every second of it. There was an intelligence that existed in his gaze that he could never quite hide. He didn’t idly watch. He observed, calculated, correlated, and evaluated, all within the same second. The longer he remained in silence, the more it seemed like he was reaching deep into her mind, peeling back the layers to see what secrets she kept hidden.
Willow had only ever known one other person whose attention was almost a physical sensation. Suddenly, the memories of him and the letters were back in the forefront of her mind. She found herself watching Mads with renewed suspicion. What else did these two men have in common? Mads noticed the shift in her demeanour and turned to face her fully, his gaze now a force she was eager to shake.
A sudden bellow made Willow jump, shattering the moment of tension like it was glass. She turned to watch Dwayne jump up onto the curb and nearly immediately pulled to an abrupt stop when he saw the horse.
“Wow. They’re a lot bigger than I thought they would be,” he noted. “So hey, boss, we’re all set. Jai just ran in and said that Rebecca has just shown up. We’ll go whenever you’re ready. Hey, you do realize that it’s eating your flowers, right?”
“Yeah,” Willow said. “I caught that.”
“Well, then, we should be going,” Mads cut in. “Willow, if you would be so kind as to supply me with the bill, I will arrange the payment tomorrow.”
“I’ll put it on your desk.”
“Um, how do we get the horse back in the trailer?” Dwayne asked.
“I would suggest leading it,” Mads said.
Dwayne’s eyebrows rose as Mads looked at him expectantly.
“Me? No. Sorry. I’m not a hundred percent on board with this whole horse thing,” Dwayne said as he kept his distance. “They’re really big.”
Willow turned to look at the man with perhaps the same baffled expression as Mads.
“I don’t really do nature,” Dwayne shrugged.
Mads sighed and drifted toward the horse. It lifted its head to watch Mads with a curious gaze, but didn’t try to move away. Mads kept his pace steady and began to softly whisper in a language Willow couldn’t quite place. It was the first time that Willow had heard him speak in what she could only assume was his native tongue. There was something oddly fascinating about the way his lips curled around the foreign sounds, the way his tongue could roll and weave them into something new. It turned his voice into something near melodious.
The horse seemed to care for the accent because it allowed Mads to gently rest his hand against its neck. With barely more than a few taps, he managed to get the horse to leave behind the tattered remains of the flowers and move toward the back of the truck. Dwayne backed up to give them more room, watching the horse with blatant suspicion.
With a single neigh of protest, it clopped up back up into the trailer. Dwayne was quick to swing the door closed and firmly latched it into place. After studying the horse for a moment, he turned back to Mads.
“How are you that good with horses?”
Mads looked up from observing the damage the horse had done. “I played polo during my college years.”
“Polo?” Dwayne smirked. “Really?”
“It’s a respectable sport.”
“Yeah, but…it’s also hockey on horseback.”
Mads met Dwayne’s gaze without expression. T
he taller man nodded and jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
“I’m just gonna get in the truck.”
“That would be best.”
Willow returned Dwayne’s farewell wave as he ducked out of sight. But, as Mads turned toward the passenger door, she couldn’t help but ask, “So, polo, huh? Were you any good at it?”
Mads didn’t look back as he pulled himself into the truck. “Of course.”
***
It hadn’t taken that long for Sophie to lose interest in the horses being prepped for Daren’s one-man rodeo. With little else to occupy her time, she had crawled up to sit on the wooden fence alongside Rebecca, her little legs swinging in growing impatience. The paddock was on a nice patch of land, surrounded by lush grass and small clusters of trees. It didn’t offer much shade and the sun was starting to take on a stronger bite.
Rebecca couldn’t stop herself from constantly checking around them, expecting to catch sight of the man at any moment. It never felt like they were truly alone anymore, nor ever truly safe. For months, her life had all boiled down to waiting for a creep to run at her daughter. The tension was wearing her down and, after the nightmares had begun, she knew she couldn’t hold out much longer.
At the moment, it took all she had to keep Sophie from noticing her anxiety. All Rebecca wanted to do was stop this guy before he did whatever he was gearing up to do, hopefully before Sophie was fully away of the danger she was in.
Jai had been the first to arrive, and his presence had helped ease the weight that Rebecca felt pressing against her ribs. After chatting with them for a short while, he had gone to check out the property. He had tried to be subtle, something she appreciated, but Rebecca had noticed him walking around the tree line, his eyes constantly watching the shadows and hiding places. Jamie had pulled up shortly after.
Once again, he had completed the task of polite conversation before moving on to business, this time talking quietly with Jai for a short while. Once they both seemed content with the situation, they moved on to watch the horses.
The sound of a truck engine rumbling down the road had Sophie perking up. She sat as straight as she could and stretched her little neck to catch sight of the vehicle at the first possible chance. A white truck pulling the horse trailer came into view, kicking up a cloud of dust as it approached. They couldn’t tell until it pulled up before them who was in the truck. It was odd to see Mads, still dressed in a crisp and clean three-piece suit, hopping out of the passenger seat. He quickly moved around to release the horse.
From the corner of her eye, Rebecca noticed Sophie’s expectant look. When her answer didn’t come as quickly as the child had hoped, she began to slowly slide down off the fence. The gesture lost all trace of subtlety when her toes could touch the ground.
“Go ahead,” Rebecca smiled.
Sophie was running before the words were all the way out. She barrelled around Dwayne, grabbing his hand as she passed and dragging him back to check out the horse. Rebecca’s pace was far slower as she followed. By the time she caught up, Mads was urging the horse out of the back. It was grey, with a flea-bitten pattern of dark splotches along its lower legs and flank. Its hair carried a blueish tint, and it had a noticeable scar that ran over its shoulder blades and down most of its spine.
“If I remember correctly,” Mads was saying, “his name is Poe.”
Sophie waited, bouncing on the balls of her feet until Mads released the horse. The second it was free, she moved forward to pet its neck.
“Why Poe?” Sophie asked.
“I’m not quite sure. We were not the ones who named him.”
“Who did?”
“His original owner. You see, as we travel to help people like your mother and yourself, we run across many unfavourable individuals who should not be permitted to care for other lifeforms. As such, we often take it upon ourselves to liberate these poor creatures. Often in a manner that may not be entirely in keeping with the laws and regulations of whatever particular country we happen to be in at the time. We then ensure that they find their way to more appropriate homes. Poe was one of those animals.”
For a long moment, Sophie did little more than blink at him and scrunch up her nose. “What?”
Mads shifted his gaze to a smirking Dwayne. The huge man shuffled closer, knelt down, and smiled at Sophie. “The owner was a jerk. They stole it.”
“Oh,” Sophie pouted. “Why didn’t he just say that?”
Dwayne laughed. “I don’t know. He’s a weird guy.”
Jai and Jamie had moved to join them. Standing just to the side of the truck, they watched the scene in relative silence, except for the odd, barely stifled chuckle. For his part, Mads didn’t react to the audience and maintained his silent dignity. His face remained a placid mask that hid all traces of his emotions. Rebecca still hadn’t been able to find a way to read him, and she was starting to find it unnerving.
A far deeper rumble echoed toward them, and the horse released a soft whine. Sophie lost interest in the animal as soon as she caught sight of a motorcycle heading in their direction. It was a roaring beast of a thing, made of polished silver and black chrome, and perfectly sized to fit Daren’s body. Rebecca didn’t have much to compare it to, but Daren looked far more comfortable on the bike than she’d thought he was capable of being. Sophie’s eyes lit up at the sight of the pristine metal, and she ran out to meet him as he pulled up.
“You’re Daren, right?” she screamed gleefully the second he turned off the engine.
It was almost comic how his eyes bulged and he went completely rigid at the sudden attention from the small girl.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, eyes darting to each face as if waiting for one of them step in. “Ya need something, Sophie?”
“Is this your bike?”
Again, he quickly glanced around. “Yeah.”
“I like it.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I have a ride?”
His attention didn’t leave Sophie as he instantly answered, “That’s a question for ya momma.”
“But she’ll say no.”
“Then I guess that’s your answer.”
Sophie pouted and was baffled to find that it didn’t have any effect on Daren’s resolve. It made Rebecca wonder if maybe she’d been spoiling Sophie a bit. Daren kicked down the stand and swung his leg over the bike with a graceful ease that the bowlegged man probably shouldn’t have been capable of.
He met Rebecca’s gaze for a moment and hunched his shoulders like an animal spoiling for a fight. It might have looked threatening if he hadn’t started to gnaw on his right thumbnail again. It was obviously a nervous twitch, something easy to spot, but it was far harder to understand what set it off. It only occurred to Rebecca how closely she had been watching Daren when she noticed, over his shoulder, that Sophie was still gushing over the bike. She grabbed at the metal handles, trying to hurl herself up onto the bike with little success.
Rebecca darted forward, her quick movement catching Daren off guard. He gave her a quizzical look. As much as he tried to look like he wasn’t, Daren was evidently paying very close attention to her. She forced a smile and hoped he wasn’t one of those guys that was overly attached to his bike.
“She doesn’t mean any harm.”
“Who?” He followed her gaze of his shoulder, saw Sophie, and bellowed out, “Kid, that thing’s heavy. If it falls on you, I ain’t picking it up.”
Sophie scrunched up her mouth, shoved her hands into her pockets, and took a few grudging steps back. Deprived of the bike, it didn’t take long for her mind to wander back to the horse. She scurried to catch up with Daren and fell into step beside him. He looked down at her with a hint of interest and a lot more apprehension.
“So why did you bring Poe when you had other horses here?”
“Poe ain’t a bucker. He just needed some exercise. I’m gonna do some barrel runs with him.”
“Momma does barrel runs,” she chirped with pride.
“I know.”
“I want to be in rodeos, but Momma says that it’s too dangerous. She says I have to wait until I’m older.”
“That’s great, kid.”
“Are you any good?”
“Yeah.”
“I can ride Poe for you if you want,” she said with glee.
“Again, you’re asking the wrong person.”
She laughed. “No, I’m not.”
“Do I look like your momma?”
“Yep,” she giggled.
“Walked into that one.” Dwayne smiled.
“Shut up.”
“Ma,” Sophie said, “he said bad things.”
Daren glared at her like she had just ratted him out before he quickly cast a glance to Rebecca, a hint of guilt in his features.
Rebecca smiled. “Just remember not to repeat what he says.”
Seemingly appeased by that, Daren turned his attention to Mads and the horse whose reins he was holding. “He’s looking good.”
Mads smiled and ran his hand along the horse’s nose. “Yes, I’m quite happy with his current owners and their efforts.”
“Okay,” Dwayne said with a loud clap of his hands. “I’m ready to watch you get your butt beat by a horse. Let’s do this.”
The other men let out an excited yelp, and Daren twisted to look at them.
“Is that why you’re all here?”
Jai and Jamie exchanged a glance and answered in unison. “Yes.”
“Well, ain’t that special?” he grumbled as he stripped off his jacket and tossed it over the door of the trailer.
Sophie was quick to keep at Daren’s heels as he crossed the field toward the pen to talk with the stockmen. Rebecca couldn’t help but smile at the sight. They weren’t close enough anymore for Rebecca to understand what they were saying, but it wasn’t hard to tell the difference between Sophie’s high voice and Daren’s short, gruff responses.
It was a strange sight, the two of them walking together, and a part of her thought that she should be more concerned that he might not be able to keep up his level of patience. But, while he wasn’t exactly at ease, he had stopped looking around for help every five seconds. So, that was progress at least.
