Page 56 of Since Day One

“So, go get some yourself. For shit’s sake,” he cut Emily off. The door shook, straining on its hinges as he pounded on the frame. “Willow, please answer. I saw you go in.”

“Ignore her; she’s not worth it,” Emily said.

“You have no clue what the hell you’re saying, nor do you have any fucking right. Go,” Gunnar growled, stopping the pain running through my veins dead in its tracks.

“Gunnar?” I whispered through the door, facing it entirely and resting my palms flat against the cold wood.

“Hey, Princess. Please open, we have a lot to talk about,” he gently replied, and a snort answered him before I had a chance.

“Princess? You call her ‘princess,’ too? How cliché,” Emily muttered, annoyed.

There it was, the pain back through my veins, confirmation that “princess” meant nothing to him. Turning my chin into the air, I stepped away from the door and threw it open.

Gunnar stumbled a step back, startled, as Emily crossed her arms in front of her voluptuous chest.

“You have horses to train, don’t you? Let’s get back to work,” I stated businesslike to Gunnar, pursing my lips to avoid crying and stomped past the two of them.

Gunnar didn’t say anything once we got back to the arena—not to me or Emily. He tensed his jaw and got right back into the thick of things. The energy in the arena was different after that, more intense and serious. Once he worked through most of his horses, he did finally offer to let me ride, but he was shorter with me and more demanding.

I did everything I could to remain as focused as possible, feeling like that same girl all those years ago that had just begun to ride under Kurt’s instruction, except this time I was also full of anger and dread. Gunnar never really yelled at me, but he didn’t once tease me like normal, clearly drawing the line in the sand in front of Emily. He wanted her to know that I was nothing to him. We worked through more horses, harder than ever before.

Losing the flag again, I pulled my dun back and spun to face him. The tears were pressing hard against the brims as I stared at his face, unable to stay distracted from the shattering ache in my heart. His eyes fell, pained, as he simply watched me in return. Yearning, begging for me to let him have even an inch of entrance again. But that bridge was long since burned.

“I could do better, you know!” Emily shouted from the bleachers.

Gunnar groaned and snapped his head toward her. “Will you shut the hell up?”

Whiplash. That was it, the sudden back and forth that had been darting within me. He was giving me whiplash.

“Why are you speaking to me like that?” Emily stood up and stomped a few steps down the bleachers. Rob and Carsen shared a glance and then returned to pretending to ignore the ensuing interaction.

“Because I don’t get why you’re still here. You tried to drop your horse off, I said no. You begged for me to put the first thirty days on it, I still said no, regardless of how much and what you offered. So, in my books that means you shouldn’t be here.” Gunnar whipped around and walked across the arena. Sand flipped up beneath his boots, his spurs jingling as he lifted his hat and combed his fingers through his hair.

“After everything we’ve been through? I’m back; don’t you want to give us another shot?” Emily pulled herself up onto the rail and leaned forward, giving Gunnar a full view of cleavage I definitely didn’t come close to having—yay for Daddy’s money, again.

“You stole from me. Why would I even give you a second thought?” Gunnar replied, seemingly keeping his eyes locked onto hers.

“Because, baby, you know I always get what I want in the end.” She sat up straight and tapped the buckle holding her belt together. The trophy that should’ve been mine. Her gaze slipped to me, and she lifted her lips into a malicious grin. “Like this. I waited three years. Three years too long; so, you know, I commissioned a little extra help to get what I deserved.”

Gunnar’s brows stitched together, and he glanced back at me as I stared at the shiny metal flashing in the arena lights. And a single thought ran through my mind.

There was no way…

“What’d you do?” Gunnar hissed, spinning his gaze back to Emily as she slid slowly down from the railing, planting her boots on the soft footing. My heart raced as my breath held in suspense. Was my accident not actually an accident? Was it possible all along there was more to it?

“I always double-check my cinch,” I said, echoing what I told Kurt that day, when I lay trapped beneath Moose. Draping the rein against the horse’s neck and bumping it forward, the mare spun professionally between my legs and began walking toward Emily and Gunnar.

“Is that what this is really about?” I asked, stopping in front of her, and she rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, I couldn’t have planned a better reveal if I tried. You here, with none other than Gunnar Johnson. The man, the myth, the legendary lover,“ she drawled, and slid the grin from her face. “And there is nothing you can do to prove anything.”

That was it. Climbing down quickly from the saddle, I spun around and dragged the horse behind me.

“Willow,” Gunnar shouted, his spurs ringing out, nearing me.

“Oh, come on, baby. Let her go; she deserves this,” Emily said, and I could hear the eye roll.

“Will you stop for half a second?” Gunnar said, ignoring her and his hand clamped down around my forearm, pulling me to a halt. “Stop running away.”

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