Page 179 of Daddy's Wild Girl

Crap. Crap.

The horses. Yes, the horses would calm her down. She ran toward the stables, unaware of the tears running down her face as she sobbed.

When she reached the stables, she walked through the building until she found her favorite horse, Popcorn.

Would anyone mind if she went for a ride? After putting a halter on, she led him out. She didn’t want to take the time to saddle him. And she’d ridden bareback plenty of times in her life.

She managed to get herself up onto his back. Luckily, he wasn’t a tall horse and he was gentle so he stood still for her. Patting his neck, she set off slowly to begin with. The wind whipped at her cheeks. And for the first time, she noticed how chilly it was.

There was a storm in the air.

That suited her mood just fine. She rode around the enclosure. She didn’t want to take him out if a storm was coming. He would be scared.

But she just needed this.

“Bebe! Bebe!”

Glancing over, she saw Clint standing there with baby Annabel. She waved back at him.

Then she thought of what she used to do as a kid.

Could she still do it?

Slowing Popcorn down, she carefully raised one foot up, then the other. Oh yeah. This was what she needed. A way to get rid of the voices.

Standing on Popcorn’s back, she finally felt at peace.

She felt alive.

Corbin was goingto kill her.

It was only fair, considering she’d just taken ten years off his life with this stunt.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

“I didn’t want to yell again and spook her,” Clint explained. “But, Corbin, after you get her safely off . . .”

“I’ll take care of it. She . . . Bebe does extreme stuff when she gets upset or stressed or things just get on top of her.”

Fuck.

Why had he left her alone? She’d been doing so well. Still . . . he knew it wasn’t good for her to be idle. To think too much. Even though it wasn’t healthy to keep so busy that she didn’t have to face any of her issues.

“This is her bitch of a mother’s fault.”

Clint nodded. “Yeah, Kent briefed me.”

Under other circumstances, he might be happy that Clint was obviously doing better. He seemed more rested. And even though he still had Annabel with him, he didn’t growl when Corbin got near.

“Once she’s safely down, I’m going to ensure she doesn’t sit comfortably tomorrow.” And maybe for the next week too.

Finally, she slowed and slid down so she was sitting. And that’s when he took off. He ignored Clint’s grunt of agreement, the wind whipping around him, and he just headed straight to Bebe as she led Popcorn into the stables.

“Bebe.”

She startled and turned to him. “Hey, Corbin.” She smiled, but he saw the guarded look in her face.

Oh yeah.

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