Page 66 of Marrying Mr. Majestic

“Yes. Sort of. No, not really,” I admitted, unable to even fudge the truth under Dev’s watchful eyes. “He’s mentioned him a little. I know Justin is his ex. And that Silas went to Vegas to stop Justin from marrying a woman who turned out to be as terrible as Justin.”

But I didn’t know how Justin was terrible. I didn’t know what he’d done to Silas that could make my levelheaded husband fly to Vegas to stop a wedding. And somehow, the fact that Silas never spoke of him suggested that, just like with his friends, there was a whole lot he wasn’t saying.

Dev shrugged. “Justin broke his heart.”

“Oh.” The truth stung. Be careful what you wish for, Waylon. “I see.”

“Silas craves being in charge. His self-assurance is through the roof. He trusts his own judgment more than anyone else’s, with the possible exception of Bash… Nah, actually, no. Silas trusts himself most of all. So when Justin betrayed him over a business deal, it broke Silas’s trust in his own ability to judge people. That is what broke his heart. He had to face his own fallibility.”

“Vegas is a long way away from New York.” I kept my eyes on the stream. “He must’ve been pretty angry.” Which meant he’d probably cared a whole hell of a lot about Justin at one time.

Dev shook his head, peering over my shoulder to make sure Silas was still too far away to overhear. “No. Silas went to Vegas because he’s a good man and wanted to save Justin’s fiancée from making a mistake. Only, it turned out, she didn’t want to be saved.” Dev met my eyes. “Even if Justin hadn’t turned out to be a lying user, though, he still wouldn’t have ended up being Silas’s life partner… or whatever Silas’s version of a happy ending is.”

“Why not?”

He hesitated and glanced back at Silas again, as if trying to figure out how much he could say to me without betraying his friend. Then he looked at me, as if he was trying to read my mind. He nodded to himself, as if coming to a decision.

“Silas needs to be needed. Serving others, helping them, brings him fulfillment. Justin was never going to admit to needing anything or anyone. He was all about himself.”

Dev’s words stayed with me the rest of the day as we continued separating horses out and moving them into place for loading up the next morning.

By the time night fell, Silas was sunburned and sore, but he still managed to cobble together a couple of sandwiches for us just before we showered and fell into bed. At 4:00 a.m., we started again.

This time, Sheridan and Silas stayed back at the barn to oversee the trailer pickups while Taza, ZuZu, and I continued to pull horses from the farther pastures.

When ZuZu and Taza left with the latest group, I hopped off Helios to close the gate and noticed a nearby horse stepping a little funny. Saya was one of our own mares and was most often used when ZuZu brought friends over for trail rides. I decided to check her shoes before leaving this pasture.

Just as I moved my hand down her fetlock and leaned into her to get her to shift her weight off that leg, a large bird took off noisily from a nearby tree, startling her and causing her to hop away from me. With my body weight already off-center from leaning against her, I fell toward her… which might not have been catastrophic if another nearby horse hadn’t also startled and lurched toward us.

Suddenly, I was pressed between two thousand pounds of muscular horse as they scrambled away from whatever had scared them. I tried kneeing and elbowing as much of their weight off me as I could, but my ribs, arms, and hips felt as battered as if I’d tumbled across a ship’s deck in a storm between two barrels of bricks.

After they both bolted away across the pasture, I was left writhing on the ground, trying to catch my breath. The guilty raptor dove and swooped above, meeting up with a second one, which explained the sudden and violent lurch out of the tree.

Thankfully, the horses stayed away as I struggled to breathe and assess my injuries. It felt like I’d been beaten up, but I didn’t think any of the damage was too serious. My radio remained securely strapped to Helios’s saddle, which did me a fat lot of good while I was too banged up to get to it.

Silas. I want Silas. Silas will fix this.

The thought was born from the childlike need for comfort after an injury, but it was there nonetheless. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and wanting him here. He was dependable. Confident. Take-charge. He would know what to do.

But he wasn’t here, and I was a grown-ass adult who needed to get his shit together.

I groaned and cursed myself for not paying closer attention to my surroundings earlier. Not that I would have known to anticipate the bird’s departure—it was simply one of those flukes that happened sometimes at just the wrong moment, catching a well-trained horse in a rare moment of vulnerability.

By the time Taza came back, I’d managed to stand up and call Helios to me so I could take a few deep gulps of water from the bottle in my saddle bag. I thought through the remaining work that needed to be done and wondered how the hell I was going to haul my sorry ass back into the saddle to finish out the day.

“What happened?” Taza said as he saw me moving gingerly.

I explained, pointing to the traitorous bird still wheeling above with its partner. Taza winced and offered help, but I sent him first to check on Saya and the other horse who’d spooked. Once he was done checking everything, ZuZu had ridden up.

“We thought you’d be done in here by now… Why are you holding your arm like that?”

I quickly explained that I wasn’t holding my arm but my side because of a tumble, and I was going to need to swap out with Sheridan or Dev for the rest of the day after hopefully getting my hands on some serious painkillers back at the barn.

Taza and ZuZu helped me get back in the saddle and insisted on escorting me in case I couldn’t keep my seat.

The ride was uncomfortable and made it clear that one of my hips had been bruised along with my side, shoulder, and thigh. Pain seemed to radiate everywhere, and all I could think of was my bed. Well… all I could think of was Silas and my bed. As silly as it sounded, I wanted him with me. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since my fall.

My head swam, and other body parts like my neck and back began to complain.

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