Page 14 of The Brave and the Reckless

“No, I don’t think that’s… This is too high.” Her voice jumped higher. “Can you get me down? I want to come down.”

“I’m trying to show you how to get down. Your foot goes here.” I pointed at the stirrup again.

Instead of listening to me, she started twisting in the saddle as if she was trying to dismount by sliding off her stomach. This girl was trying to break her neck. I curled my fingers into the harness, trusting that she had it fixed and fitted to her measurements, and hauled her off the horse. Even knowing what a lightweight she was, the way I could maneuver her body with a few straps was way too fucking effortless. Definitely not a realization I should dwell on.

At least Esra’s scowl madethateasy. As if I’d been the one doing something wrong.

“When I tell you to put your foot in the stirrup, you put your foot in the stirrup,” I grunted.

“Let go of me.” She pushed against my arms, and I released the harness I hadn’t realized I was still holding.

“You can’t fuck around like that. A horse isn’t some jungle gym.”

“Noah,” Renee intervened, placing a hand on my shoulder, “language.”

I hadn’t noticed her coming over.

“He should lift me off the horse,” Esra said to her without missing a beat, “when we get to the hideout. Ace should pull Annie off the horse instead of making her dismount. Makes more sense. Otherwise what’s stopping her from kicking him in the face when he’s standing next to the horse, and just riding off on her own with all the money he stole?”

“His gun should be intimidating enough, no?” Renee asked, clicking into the show as if Esra hadn’t just risked her neck because she couldn’t even stay in the saddle for two minutes.

“Not with everyone choosing bear over man,” Esra said.

“What?”

“Most women would choose being trapped with a bear over being trapped with a man,” I supplied, not sure how to feel about the fact that I was actually tracking Esra’s train of thought.

“I’d rather take my chance kicking my kidnapper in the head and maybe getting shot,” Esra explained. “It’s better than a guaranteed kidnapping.”

I had to unclench my jaw, because her words mirrored a couple of comments we got online. “If Ace pulls Annie off the horse and into the hideout, she can still try to fight back physically instead of going just because he points a gun at her head,” I conceded.

“Fine. Fine.” Renee waved her hands around, clearlynot quite following the bear argument, but not invested enough to start a discussion. She must have seen the same comments about Annie being too passive though. She had a better handle on our reputation on social media than me. “Ace pulls Annie off the horse when he dismounts. We’ll save that for another day. Let’s wrap it up for today. I expect both of you to be here at the same time tomorrow.”

“Okey-dokey.”

“Sure,” I said.

“Here, take this.” Renee pulled a park pass from her pocket and handed it to Esra, who had somehow inched further and further away from Tornado. “It’ll allow you to skip the queues and there’s a bunch of meal vouchers on it. Your job this week is to get familiar with the park. Ride the rides, try the snacks, meet the characters. Guests will ask you a whole lot of questions when they meet Annie, so you better know this place like the back of your hand.”

“You mean I get paid to ride roller coasters?” She perked up. “I can totally do that.”

“All right, head back the way we came in, so you’re out of sight before the park opens. You,” Renee pointed her finger at me, “walk with me.”

Esra turned the pass over in her fingers, whipping her phone out and taking a selfie with it. She’d fare much better as a visitor than as a character actress.

Falling into step beside me, Renee headed along toward the stables. She tapped away at her phone screen until we were about halfway, then her head whipped back up. With one glance back over her shoulder, she made sure we were out of earshot before hitting me with a tight-lipped frown.

“We both know that your stables aren’t ready for yourhorses yet, so they need my roof over their heads. And we both know that it would take me a whole lot of time that I don’t have if I had to replace you. So level with me. Can you lift her on and off the horse?”

“Yes, but—”

“Do you think you’ll be able to keep her in the saddle for five minutes?”

“Yes.”

“Without the characters, Bravetown is just a bunch of old buildings. Without Annie, Ace is just a thief. If I thought there was any chance we could survive without having Annie in our show, do you think I would have hired the first girl who fit the costumes? Annie has been a Bravetown staple since day one. I don’t need the two of you to get along. I need a thirty-minute show, six days a week.”

“Seriously? Nobody else fits the costume?”

---