Page 16 of Jax

“I—” She looked up at me and I saw the second sorry about to come off her lips before she hesitated and snapped her mouth closed. “It’s nothing.”

“It was something.” I took a step toward her and instead of taking one back, Ronnie held her ground.

“I thought you didn’t want to know my business,Jax,” Ronnie retorted, glaring back at me and my road name on her lips was like cold water over my head.

“You’re right.” I shoved the irritation deep down into my chest. “I don’t.”

I fucking do want to know.

But I wouldn’t let myself. Ronnie was right. I didn’t want to know about her business, and I didn’t want to know the reasons behind her nervous reactions to every tiny thing. What I was noticing about her gave me a bad feeling, and it was annoying me. I didn’t care about Ronnie’s pain. Not anymore.

“Give it to me,” I said, reaching forward and taking the rope out of her hands, then untangled the mess she’d made before I retied the lasso, wound up the rope, and hung it over my shoulder. “Come on,” I commanded, marching off ahead and back toward the pasture as Ronnie jogged along behind me.

As we arrived at the fence adjacent to the pasture Max was in, I pushed down whatever I was feeling and allowed myself to calm my emotions before tossing the rope over one of the posts on the fence, then vaulting over it and dropping down onto the other side.

I watched, with what must have been a god-like patience, as Ronnie climbed slowly and cautiously up over the fence and clambered down the other side. Ronnie dusted herself off as she turned to face me with a readied look on her face, seeming somewhat proud for taking ten years to climb a damn fence that she could have easily jumped.

I turned away from her before I said anything and instead walked over to the adjoining gate between the two pastures, earning Max’s attention. Her ears pricked up, eyes darkening at my approach into her space. I took it slow, not looking at her directly, minding my own business as I undid the latch and pulled the gate open.

Max stood up from her comfortable position near the hay bales of her pasture and watched me carefully as I walked far away from the gate, back to the other side of the pasture where Ronnie was waiting. I made sure Max’s attention was on me as I climbed back over the fence and drop down the other side. I’d have liked to use the gate at the entrance of the pasture, but the one that lead into this field needed a new hinge and made a racket when opened. Had I known I was going to be having a skittish horse inside of it, I’d have replaced it long ago.

I stayed a silent observer, keeping my eye on the brunette, making sure she stayed on the opposite end of the pasture. Her own eyes, however, took no notice of my presence as they weighed on Max’s bay figure.

The cautious and slight lag to the beat of her shoes walking toward the second pasture filled the air with dust and sound. Giving me a wide berth, and a long wait, Ronnie made her way into the second pasture at long last.

The promise of more food perhaps laying on the other side of the pasture could tempt the curiosity of any horse. Cowards they could be, curious they always were. Once there was enough room, I made a slow jog toward the gate, making sure Max heard and saw me as I began closing the gate. She didn’t spook but gave a nervous glance at her narrowing escape route until I slipped the hot metal latch over the other post, locking her in.

Max stalked me as I fastened the latch, looking unsure and alert. She didn’t freak out, just took in her surroundings which was as close to a miracle as I was going to get with a horse as far gone as her, if my assessment was accurate.

It was.

“This will be her safety pen,” I said just loud enough for Ronnie to hear. Max looked at me too, but I ignored her, moving back to where we had climbed the fence to fetch my lasso. “That way—”

“She’ll have a safe place to go back to after training. Less stress on the horses after training,” Ronnie interrupted, accurately finishing the last part of my explanation. “I remember.”

I didn’t show my annoyance at her but instead took note of her nervousness. The words had come out one as single breath, and I hesitated with my hand on the fence.

“Mayb—”

“No.” Ronnie shook her head at me, her long hair dragging in the wind across her neck. “I want to do this. If Max needs this from me then I’m ready.”

She took a deep breath, releasing her hand from its nervous twiddling of her hair. She placed one hand over her chest and one over her stomach, mumbling something under breath with her eyes closed.

I waited a couple of beats before speaking. “Ready?”

Her shoulders relaxed and hands fell to her sides. She opened her eyes and nodded once at me and then turned to Max.

“Remember this isn’t a race. It’ll be a slow process.”

Imparting my last bit of advice, I slung my rope over my shoulder and headed down to a farther part of the fence and took up my perch on the top bar. I folded the rope over my knee.

Max’s head had dropped, but I wasn’t fooled. Her ears were upright and the small nervous scuffs of Ronnie’s boots against the dirt had them twitching. I bit my tongue to stop the rising nag at the back of throat as she let her toe inch forward one little step at a time inside Max’s new training spot.

Max stopped rubbing her lips into the sand for grass roots as she noticed Ronnie’s slow approach.

I took the rope into my hand.

At first, her head didn’t move. It remained lowered and to anyone else, it’d look like Max hadn’t noticed her.

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