Gran waved away Brian’s concern. “I’m fine. Stop fussing.”
Sully’s fingers curled on the porch railing as he looked between them then narrowed his stare on his brother.
“While I’m glad to see you on your feet…what the fuck, Brian?” he finally rasped, finding his voice. With every second that passed, his fury rose. He’d been played again. He glared at Brian. “You lied to me! What the hell is this? I have a job I’m putting in jeopardy by coming here. I have a life. You—”
“Sullivan, settle down.” Gran patted his arm.
“Settle down?” he repeated, incredulous. “You lied to me. I flew across the country to come help you get this place back on its feet…to help
you
.” He turned his angry glare back on Brian. “I worried about you. And you just wanted to screw me over again.”
“We
wanted
you to come home,” Brian countered. “It’s not like you’ll lose anything. You can have a job here—a good job—and it’s not like you’re leaving behind a family or something there. I mean…it’s not like you’re married or something.”
“I do have a family, asshole. Jesus! I can’t believe I fell for this crap.” Sully drove a hand through his hair. He’d been right. People didn’t change. He’d wasted his time and his money to come on a fool’s mission.
Shaking his head, he turned and headed back down the stairs without another word. This was crazy. He pulled out his phone and scrolled to his internet icon as he stormed toward his car. Maybe, he could find a flight out of here this afternoon, and he’d be back home in Daly before tomorrow morning.
Gran called out to him, but he ignored her. Then his brother bounded down the stairs after him—bounded.
Bounded!
Because he was just fucking fine. And deep down, Sully felt a little guilty about being pissed about that. Truly, he wasn’t mad that his brother wasn’t paralyzed—really, thank God for that—but the lies. Getting played. Again…
“Sully, come on,” Brian pleaded, slinging an arm around Sully’s shoulders. “Just listen, okay? I didn’t know how else to get you here. I didn’t think you’d talk to me—and it’s long past time that we get past this. Give me a chance. I’m an asshole and I know it. I’ve lived with it for ten years, okay?”
Sully shrugged away from his brother’s arm and silently stared at him, not sure what to say. He was almost too pissed to think.
“Look, Sul, there’s a horse I want you to see. Come check her out. Kally Kin is afraid of people and won’t let anyone near her. The guy who bought her is ready to demand a refund, and he brought her back here to get us to ‘fix’ her. To give us a chance to anyway. Something’s going on, and I need your help. You always were the horse shrink. We’re at our wits’ end. This is a sixty-five K horse.
Verus
can’t afford refunds like that if we want to keep in business.”
Sully closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Horses had always been his passion, and to hear of one of
Verus’
animals being in distress bothered him. He’d grown up with some of the best in the business. This operation didn’t turn out problem horses.
At least, they hadn’t before…
He opened his eyes, his brow furrowed. “How many have you had?”
“What?” Brian seemed distinctly uncomfortable at the question, just as Sully had suspected he might be. Brian was hiding something.
“Refunds. You wouldn’t have tricked me into coming back here because of an issue with a single horse.”
“Three over the past year,” his brother admitted. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Obviously, something wasn’t right. Sully wanted to say it was Karma, but the animals had done nothing to deserve this.
“Do you have any new staff?”
“No, not for the past few years. Of course, I’ve thought of that. Come see her,” Brian said, steering him toward the stable. Sully went stock-still, digging in his heels as memory and fear slammed into him. He carefully kept his face blank, but there was no way in hell he was going in there. After a moment, he stepped sideways, shrugging off the arm his brother had placed around his shoulders again. He moved a few paces away.
“Sully, I need your help,” Brian pleaded. “I know I lied to you, but I didn’t lie about needing you—just about
what
I needed. This could destroy
Verus
just as much as me not being able to run the place would have.” He stepped closer, and Sully backed away again. Understanding filled Brian’s face, and he looked toward the stable…the scene of the crime. If it had been any other of the outbuildings…
“You need to call some other horse whisperer,” Sully told him. He glanced at his phone, bringing up the airline he’d used to fly here.
“Please,” Brian pleaded again, his voice barely a whisper. “I swear no one’s going to hurt you. By God, if anyone touches you, they’ll pay—they’ll answer to me. Sul, not a day goes by that I don’t regret what I did. Jesus, it was ten years ago. I wasn’t much older than you. I didn’t know what to do; I didn’t realize what was going on. I thought you’d gotten caught cheating at cards again. They’d warned you.”
Sully’s snort took him by surprise. Brian had thought that group had been the cowboy mafia or something? The dark humor of it cut through his fear and anger. Right. It had been ten years ago, and they’d both been practically kids.
He sighed. Maybe, he
should
try to move on…the best he could anyway. Putting the darkness behind him could only help his relationships. Maybe, he’d have fewer nightmares. Cord would appreciate that. His heart thudded at the thought of his lover. What would Brian think if he knew he practically had a brother-in-law?
Better, what would Cord think if he knew those thoughts were going through his lover’s head? He and Cord had fallen into a comfortable rhythm with each other over the past eight years. The dominate/submissive flavor of it added a bit of spice and fit them, but much of their lives together was habit—the past month not withstanding since they’d had to deal with an arsonist on the ranch and Moonbeam Szuzman joining their pseudo-family. She was a breath of fresh air, and he already loved her and couldn’t wait for her to marry their friend, Pete. But things with Cord… More and more, Sully sensed Cord was getting restless. Some days, it seemed as if he were on another planet and almost impossible to communicate with.
Maybe, time apart would be a good thing.
“I just needed a minute to get my equilibrium. I’m fine,” he said, making a split-second decision. Maybe, it was time to evaluate his relationship with Cord. Sex was great, but their real life seemed unbalanced. “Show me the horse.”
Brian smiled, obviously thinking he’d won some great victory. Sully wasn’t so sure he hadn’t. Nostalgia hit him again as he followed his brother into the stable. He had thousands of good memories here. As long as he kept thoughts of that single bad episode at bay, he could enjoy this visit.
Looking around, he saw there had been changes to the building. Equipment had been upgraded, and an addition had been added to the back of the structure, allowing for quite a few new stalls. Things couldn’t be all bad if
Verus
was able to expand. The area had been re-sectioned as well, and it all seemed…airier, somehow.
A couple men he didn’t recognize worked to the far left of the main door—one in the office and another cleaning one of the stalls. Sully glanced around, looking for any of the old staff. He didn’t relish facing any of them.
“None of them work here anymore,” Brian told him, apparently guessing what his brother was thinking. “I let them go after they attacked you—after I found out the truth.” Brian led the way into the new section. “Kally Kin’s back here. I’ve been trying to keep her away from the other horses, since she agitates them and seems skittish around them, too.”
He stopped before a stall holding a sleek, silver dapple. Kally Kin was a gorgeous Irish Draught—
Verus’
specialty. She wasn’t just any farm horse. Judging from the mare’s structure she was a jumper—or could be. Since she wouldn’t let anyone near her, Sully didn’t know if she’d been trained at all. He guessed she’d started before she’d left here the first time. That had been the policy for any horse over two when he’d been here, but he didn’t know what sort of trainers—if any—his brother had on staff now.
“Hey, girl,” he murmured, careful to go slow with the animal who was already tossing her head, her ears pinned back and her nostrils flaring. Kally Kin shifted, smacking her hooves on the ground.
Sully edged closer to the horse, coming at her from the side and with determination so she wouldn’t sense any fear but would feel more comfortable with his approach. He shoved his phone into his back pocket then cautiously reached his hand toward the mare’s forehead as she seemed to calm in conjunction with the soft sounds he continued to whisper. Just as he was about to touch her, she shied then reared up, catching him by surprise. Her hooves connected with his chest as he dodged her, and he fell backward onto his ass. He slammed onto the cement, and a sickening crunch made him wince. He wouldn’t be making calls any time soon.
His brother chuckled and offered him a hand.
“You lose your touch out there in Wyoming?” Brian chuckled as he pulled Sully to his feet. “You okay?”
Sully ignored the question about his abilities.
“Yeah. I’m just great. I think my phone is toast, though.” He absently rubbed his chest with one hand while he reached for his cell with the other. He grimaced at the shattered screen. There was no chance of reading it or getting it to function, despite the cracks. Suddenly, it seemed his connection to the world had been severed. An uneasy feeling came over him. He took a deep breath. He was being unreasonable.
He glanced up at the horse who stared at Sully as if daring him to come close again. She needed someone patient and experienced to work with her. Someone like him. Something was broken with her that needed to be repaired, just as there was something broken in his life. The rift with his family needed to be bridged, and while he occasionally got to work with horses in Daly, he’d missed his work here. He’d missed this place—the land and the animals, if not the people so much.
“I’ll help you,” he told his brother as they walked toward the barn’s large, double doors.
“Thank God,” Brian muttered. “Thank you.”
Sully nodded. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you.”
Brian blew out a breath. “Understood.”
Sully stopped at his car and tossed the cell inside. He’d have to find a store for his service provider and replace the phone later today. In the meanwhile, he needed to get up to speed.
“What was she like before she left here?” he asked. “Have you heard of this buyer having other problems?”
“She was perfect—perfect when she got there, too. Training and doing well. She loves jumping. Then suddenly, it was as if she went nuts. Well, not so suddenly, I guess when I think of it. Griffin said this came on gradually, over a couple days.”
Sully blinked, otherwise frozen for several tense breaths. “Griffin Thomas?” he asked slowly.
“Yeah.”
“He’d never abuse an animal…or anyone.”
God…Griffin Thomas… Ten years ago, it had been Sully’s dates with Griff that had set off those men. Sully hadn’t seen him since before that gruesome beating. His tongue shot over his bottom lip as his mouth went dry. Back then, Griff had been all excitement and hunkiness, a trainer at the
Thomas Equestrian Academy
, heir to the Thomas family fortune and far more free-spirited than anything else.
“It’s got to be something else,” Brian said. “Griffin is beside himself, but if we can’t get Kally Kin under control, we’ll have to give him a refund and possibly destroy her—”
“You can’t—”
“It would never be my first choice; you know that—or maybe, you don’t anymore.” Brian shook his head. “Well, hopefully, you’ll find the real me again while you’re here. I’m glad you’re going to help with her. Let’s go tell Gran and get you settled in.”
“Sure, and then I’ll really need to get in to town to replace my phone.”
Chapter Three
A God damn week. Frustration ate at Cord, gnawing at his gut and making him want to kick or punch something. Hunched over in the cold drizzle that had plagued the area this week, he yanked at the wire he was using to repair one of the ranch’s many fences. He growled in irritation when it seemed to catch and fight him. It seemed as if everything had been that way this week. It was all about Sully. He knew Sully had made it to Kentucky because he’d called while waiting for his car rental at the Lexington Airport. Then nothing.
Well…not quite nothing. Apparently, two days ago, Cord had been out of cell signal range so Sully had left him a message at the main house.
Sully’s cell phone is broken. Will call when he gets the new one,
the ranch’s admin had written.
The information was pitifully inadequate, and Cord’s worry was starting to get the best of him. How had the phone broken? What if this was a ruse and something had happened to Sully—or someone had done something to him? Why hadn’t he gotten the family’s number from Sully before he’d gone? Yesterday, he’d tried to call him at the
Verus Horses
number from the website, but the young woman who’d answered reported there wasn’t a Sully Przkop there. When Cord had insisted, she’d put him on hold then come back a short time later, sounding chagrinned at least, and told him Sully wasn’t available.
“Why don’t you just go?”
Surprised by the deep voice beside him when he’d thought he was alone out here, Cord snapped up his head then glanced over at his friend, Pete, who was also the
Flying D Ranch’s
foreman. He hadn’t even heard Pete ride up on the ATV now parked beside Cord’s truck.
“Because I’ve…got work to do?” he offered.
“There’s always work to do. I’m not saying I relish having two of my best guys—not to mention my best friends—off in Kentucky, but I’d rather you go than be so distracted that you get hurt. This morning, you almost walked in front of the lift moving hay bales.”