Page 69 of Burned & Bound

“Are we buying horses?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. We rounded the back of the old farmhouse, bringing Kent’s horses into view. At least three dozen horses grazed in a massive corral. I watched as West stopped dead in his tracks, stuck on the sight of them. “Don’t hurt to look, does it?”

“Well, look what the cat dragged in!” Warren exclaimed with a crooked grin from his spot on the porch. “You boys back together means trouble is back in town.”

“Why does everyone keep fucking saying that?” I asked, feigning annoyance.

“Because you two were little shits back then and I guarantee you’re just big shits now,” he retorted.

I caught West’s gaze. He pretended to mull it over before nodding slightly, making me smile.

“You’re looking good, Dakota,” Warren said. The grimace on West’s face had me biting my cheek to not laugh at him. I couldn’t remember a single time in his life when anyone called him Dakota. He hated his first name.

“It’s just West,” he replied. “And thank you.”

“You two can start on over to look at the herd. I’ll make my way over when my knees catch up,” he told us and jerked his chin in the direction of the fences. “Let me know if you have any questions.”

“Are we really here looking at horses?” West demanded under his breath as we approached the fence line.

“Are you really complaining about looking at horses?” I shot back.

“No, it’s just—”

“Just look at the horses, West.” I interrupted. “If you decide you want a horse, we’ll go from there.”

“There’s at least… three dozen horses here.”

“And?”

“That’s a lot of horses.”

“Onehorse, West.”Jesus fuck, I had to clarify.I should’ve seen that coming. He’d take home the whole damn lot of them if he could. I didn’t have the room for that many horses.

“Two horses?” West countered.And fuck me, the faint smile on his mouth did me in.I had no hope of telling him no.

“Fine.” I sighed. Crossing my arms, I leaned on the fence and just waited. I didn’t give two fucks about the horses. I just wanted to pick up his mood. It wasn’t hard to see how the trip to my mom’s wore him down. And when in doubt, the answer was horses. Always horses.

Did I exactly have it in the budget to buy him a horse?Just barely.But I wanted to do something for him—something that would mean something, and horses were it.

I stayed put while West wandered along the fence to look at the herd. He was completely lost in the way he looked at them and I was lost in watching him. How he studied them was damn near reverent.What I wouldn’t have given to know what he was thinking.

“They’re a good-looking lot, aren’t they?” Warren said, finally joining us. He shoved his hands in his pockets and laid into a fence post for support.

“What about that one back there?” West asked. He moved further down the fence line. I followed his gaze to where a single horse was corralled separately from the rest of the herd.

“Oh, that’s just Betty,” he replied. “She’s set to be put down next week.”

“Why?” His frown was deep, and I could already see the wheels turning in his head. “She looks just fine from here.”

“She’s blind and has a mean attitude,” he told us. “I’ve tried to put in some work with her, but I’m just one man. My guys don’t have the time to deal with her.”

West let out a small sound but said nothing. And then he hopped the fence.

Yeah, I saw that one coming.

“What does he think he’s doing?” Warren glanced at me.

“It’s best just to let West do his thing when it comes to horses,” I said.

---