Page 71 of Minus

He patted my hip. “You ready to ride?”

“I’m ready to rideyouagain.”

He grinned. “There’s a bathroom right there.” He nodded his head toward a door at the back of the room. “We’ll clean up, then you’re gonna meet Boston.”

I gripped his arm. “I really don’t want to.”

“I hear you, Cricket. But you’re gonna have to get over that.”

“Jase?”

“Do you trust me?”

“I don’t think you want me to answer that,” I grumbled.

“Gonna let that one slide, baby.” He smiled slowly, stroking my cheek. “You trust me.”

I leaned into his hand and nodded. Of course, I trusted him. I probablyshouldn’ttrust him as deeply as I did, but Idid. “Please don’t let me die by horse.”

“Fuck me, you’re adorable, Cricket.” He dropped his head back and laughed. “I got your back. You won’t die.”

He kissed me one more time, then we cleaned up and stepped out of the tack room. Jase let out a quiet whistle, then the sound of a horse whinnying echoed through the space.

For the first time since we’d reconnected, I watched Jase’s face completely change. His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning and his nostrils flared slightly, like he was drawing in the scent of his surroundings. He grabbed my hand and led me around the corner to where the prettiest horse I’d ever seen had his head peeking out of a stall, whinnying up a storm, as we approached.

“Hey, Bossy Boy,” Minus crooned, and the horse threw his head up and down. Minus stroked his nose and grimaced. “I know, buddy, it’s been too fuckin’ long, huh?”

Standing across from them, I smiled… until someone shoved me from behind. I turned to give them a piece of my mind when I discovered it wasn’t a someone at all. It was another horse. I let out a frightened squeak and stepped back, only to find Jase’s arm snake around my waist and walk me back toward the horse. I planted my feet and tried to keep him from moving me. “What are youdoing?”

“Baby, this is Hank,” he said. “He’s who you’re going to learn to ride.”

He pushed me gently, but I shook my head. “He’s a giant.”

“He’s also a big teddy bear.”

“He justshovedme,” I countered.

Jase chuckled. “He was saying hi.”

As if to say a big fat “fuck you” to Jase and his opinion, Hank stretched his head toward me again and licked my hand. “Ohmigod, he’s trying to eat me.”

“He’s not trying to eat you, Cricket, he’s getting to know you.”

The horse blew air out of his nose, then nudged me again. I raised my hand tentatively and stroked his face. Helowered his head and I focused on the soft space between his eyes.

“That’s right,” Jase whispered. “He loves you already.”

“You’re crazy.”

“You’ll see,” Jase said, and turned me to face him. “We’ll get him tacked up?”

“You’re going to pin him to the wall?”

“Cute. I’m going to saddle him and Boston, then you and I are going to ride. In the arena, where I can keep an eye on you.”

“I don’t need to learn to ride,” I argued. “Poppy already tried to teach me. It did not go well.”

“Poppy is not me.” Jase released me, and I stepped out of head reach of Hank.

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