Page 67 of Silent Betrayal

I drive us up the gravel driveway as she looks out at the fields that surround us on both sides, and watches a few horses grazing.

“No, is that what we’re going to do today?” she asks, turning her gaze to me. I’m relieved when I see excitement shimmering in her eyes.

“Yep.” I pull the car to a park, undo my seatbelt, and she follows suit, but before she can reach for the door handle I grab her hand. “Mina, wait.” I turn my body to face her and pull her hand between mine, making sure I have her full attention before I continue.

“Before we go out there, I want to say something. I know I’ve broken something between us, that you don’t think you can fully trust me because of how we deceived you when we first met. I just need you to know that I never saw you as a case or suspect. I just saw this lonely, beautiful girl, and I wanted to get to know her better, to help her, to make sure she was okay. The fact that you were possibly connected to the case was always second to that for me, for all of us, honestly. If you had no possible connection to the case, we wouldn’t have treated you any differently.”

“Really?” she asks, watching me with so much hope in her eyes.

“Really, Sugar. Now, tonight I need you to do something for me, okay?”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to tell me the moment you aren’t enjoying yourself, or a bad thought comes into your head, or even if I say or do something you don’t like. I’m going to be honest, it’s been incredibly hard to hold myself back from you. I’m not the sort of guy who lets a girl take the lead, but I’m trying… for you. If I… touch you in a way you don’t like, you tell me to stop or push me away. You don’t even have to explain why. Is that something you can do for me, Sugar?”

She licks her lips before responding. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”

I slowly lift her hand to mouth, and when she doesn’t pull away, I rotate her hand and kiss the inside of her wrist. Satisfaction fills me when she shivers. Hmm… She likes that.

“Now what do you say we go have some fun?” I let go of her hand and she smiles as we exit the truck. I grab the backpack out of the back and slip it on before reaching for her hand, and I’m relieved when she intertwines her fingers with mine.

We head towards the large barn when an older man dressed in overalls and a cowboy hat steps out and greets us warmly. “Howdy y’all! I’m Marvin Burbury. You must be Tucker, and who is this lovely young lady?”

“This is my…. friend, Mina,” I tell him, catching myself before I accidentally call her my girlfriend instead.

“Well, Mina, Tucker, I have a couple of beauties picked out for you in the back of the barn, if you want to follow me?”

We walk through the barn and Mina stares with wide eyes at all the horses in the stalls. When we reach the back, there are two horses saddled up for us. A beautiful brown and white speckled mare, and a smaller white female.

“You’ve both ridden before, yes?” he asks, turning to look at us.

“I have, but Mina hasn’t.”

He looks at Mina as he responds. “Well, we can give you a lesson to make you comfortable in the saddle today, or…” he trails off, his eyes darting to mine before a hint of a smirk appears there.

“Or…?” she asks, her hand gripping mine a little tighter.

“Or you can ride with Tucker.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother or stop you from enjoying your ride,” she says, looking up at me with worry.

It takes everything I have not to laugh, and by the expression on Gavin’s face, I know he’s thinking the same thing as me. She would only enhance my enjoyment. Having her sit in front of me as we rode… Yeah, now it was in my head, I needed that to happen.

“Sugar, if you think I wouldn’t enjoy riding with you, you’re crazy.”

“Besides,” Gavin pitches in, “it’s safer. Tucker is experienced, he’ll make sure you don’t fall and stay safe in the saddle. Who knows what will happen if you go out on your own.” I’d have to leave this guy a huge tip for his help, because that seems to do the trick.

“If it’s safer, then I think we should do that. For safety,” she mumbles the last two words like she’s trying to convince herself.

Gavin winks at me as he pulls the white horse off to the side before returning to the brown and white one. “This beauty here is Pickles.”

“Pickles?” Mina asks with a giggle.

“Yes, unfortunately, that’s what happens when you let your four year old grandson name your horse,” he says in fake exasperation. I bet this guy loves his grandkids.

“Tucker, let me know if you need me to go over anything with you. If you head out the back here and through the field, you’ll find a small gate that’s open for you in the south-west corner. Go through that and you will see the start of the trail in front of you. Just follow it and it will loop back around to that gate. Cell signal is good out there and you have my number, so just call if you run into any trouble.”

“Thank you sir, I think we’ll be fine,” I tell him, giving him permission to leave so I can start my one-on-one time with her. He says goodbye and heads outside to one of the fields, so Iturn to Mina.

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