Page 144 of Well Played

2

My job isto repair the damages done by mean motherfuckers. Looks like I have more work to do. -Matt

Matt

“You did what,Saul!? You know I don’t deal with rich assholes! And I certainly ain’t no teacher! I train broken down horses for land sakes.” I’m breathing hard and I feel the flush of anger reddening my cheeks. I’m angrier than a bull stuck with a greenhorn rider.

“I know, Matt, and I would never normally ask, but she needs you. She needs a trainer to get a new start with. Stormy is, well, she’s been hurt and then the accident…” he trails off and I feel my heart sink when his breath comes out on a choked sob, “both her and my girl Leah could use a new start. They need to hunker down for a while, get away from the press and heal.” He takes a shuddering breath in. “Please, Matt. I didn’t want to remind you, but you owe me.”

My cheeks redden as I remember what I owe him for. A rodeo bunny tried to accuse me of getting her pregnant, but Saul didsome investigating and found out that I wasn’t the father. I used to get around if you know what I mean. Nowadays, I’m a tame old man, but back in the day I let my dick do my thinking for me. And Saul, the aging rodeo clown, had stepped up and been my friend when I needed one. If for no other reason than that, I have to do him this favor.

I sigh long and loud. “Okay, I get it. I’m done for. I’ve got no choice in this. When shall the princess arrive?” I ask in a mocking voice. This Leah Charles is part of the upscale equestrian circle. I’d heard of her before, and of course the accident that kept her out of the Olympics two years ago. I know that her dad is old rodeo royalty and that she was raised having everything she ever wanted. That’s really all I need to know for me to form an opinion of her. Snotty brat…

“She, um, should be arriving any minute actually,” Saul says in a regretful rush, “She needs to get away now, and, um, well, I figured you would say yes.”

I chuckle. “Really counted your chickens before they hatch, huh?” I reach down and grab the bucket of water I was toting to the barn when Saul first called. “Shit, I’ll have to get with my brothers and make sure they’re on board too.”

Saul clears his throat and my stomach sinks. “I, um, called and talked to Chase and Alex a few days ago. They’re good with it.”

“Fuck, Saul. You mean you told everyone but me?” I roar.Fuckity, fuck, fuck. I guess I know now why they’ve been running around like crazy people getting the guest room ready and why Chase’s wife, Glory, bought a new set of curtains and bedspread for the room.

“Gotta tell you, I feel played here, Saul. Played as hell. But I’ll beat the shit outta my brothers soon enough. And you,” I put the pail down and reach over to rub my hand along the coat of my favorite horse, Betty, “you and I are square, right?”

Saul sighs in relief. “Yep, we’re square.”

Betty gives a snort and I almost do too. At that moment, I wish I had been able to keep my dick in my jeans so I didn’t owe Saul anything. He’s a good man, but the truth is I need a stuck-up demanding city girl walking around here like I need a hole in the head. It’s bad enough that Chase started a dude ranch here and I’m forced to deal with strangers on a regular basis, but I can usually keep to my training barn and stay away from them. Helping this girl train her scared horse will mean close contact with her. I won’t be able to shove her aside and keep to myself.

“Matt, I know I have no right to ask this since I’m springin’ this on you at the last minute, but can I ask one thing?” Saul sounds meek and mild now, as he well should.

“I guess in for a penny, might as well go for the pound,” I mutter. “Tell me what you need, Saul.”

“Just do me a favor and be gentle with her. I mean, both of ‘em, not just the horse. Leah is my goddaughter and she’s been through a lot. She needs,” he pauses, “she needs softness and gentleness right now, not your rough asshole cowboy routine.”

“I’ll be as gentle as I can be,” I growl into the phone.

For several minutes after the phone call, I stand there petting Betty. She nuzzles up to me, and I give her a gentle pat.

“I’ll be as good to the city girl as I can be, Betty. Hopefully, she’s not a diva. If she is, God help us all cause I’ll have to put her in her place.”

Looks like I’m stuck trying to heal a damaged soul again. Why the hell does this always happen to me?

I discovered my ability to heal broken horses by chance when I was a kid. We had this horse, Bucky, that my dad bought from a neighboring farm. It didn’t take long to tell that Bucky hadn’t been treated right at his old home. I was quickly the only one Bucky wouldn’t rear back on. After that, for lack of a better name to call me, I became the horse whisperer. I hate that damn moviesimply because I’d been given that nickname at such a young age. Damaged horses listen to me. I can only hope this rich girl is ready for the work we’ll have to put in to get her horse back to the training level for something as competitive as the Olympics.

A vehicle crunching across the gravel pathway catches my attention.Shit, guess we’re about to find out what this girl is made of right now.

3

If I don’t fightagainst this, it could change me irrevocably. -Leah

Leah

I barely slept last night.Nothing new there, really. For the last two years, I’ve walked around like a living zombie, deprived of sleep, and haunted by nightmares. I wince and rub at my eyes again as the GPS tells me to go left again. I’m already winding up a steep mountain road and navigating the one narrow lane is hard as hell. It’s especially difficult when you’re totally out of it because you’re lacking sleep and trying to pull along a horse trailer with an agitated horse in it.

The British male voice I programmed for my navigator tells me to take one more left and then my destination will be straight ahead.

I glance around as I take that final left.

This ranch is up in the Appalachian Mountains, outside the small, quaint town of Holly Oaks, Georgia, and surrounded by a vast amount of natural beauty.

---