Page 3 of Stolen Dreams

“Need me to carry you?”he asks, and I shake my head.

“I should be good,” I tell him, walking toward the truck and rushing to get in.I blink my eyes a couple of times, trying to focus, but it’s starting to get a little fuzzy.“I feel weird,” I add as he gets into the truck.

“What are you talking about?”he says, starting the truck and pulling away from the parked cars.

“It’s just”—my words start to slur—“I feel like I’m drunk.”My eyes close, and I feel my head hanging forward, fighting to keep my eyes open.“Derek.”

“What?”he snaps, and I turn to look at him, seeing him just staring at me, but his eyes look like he hates me.

“I—” I start to say, and I think I continue speaking, but nothing comes out, or maybe it does, but I just don’t hear it.

“Why couldn’t you just listen to me for once?”I hear Derek, and then I feel like my head is pushed back into the seat.“You had to be all independent and shit like that.”

I try to lift my hand to my head, but it feels like it’s a million pounds, as I feel pain in my cheek.I groan out, or at least I think I do.“Derek,” I say when I feel the hits to my head coming one after another.My body feels like I’m floating as I try to move away from the pain.

“Got to take out the fucking trash!”I hear him yell before I feel him on top of me, and then I feel a sharp pain in my side when I hit what feels like a brick wall, and I fade into blackness.

ChapterTwo

PRESENT TIME

LILAH

My hand reaches out of my covers at literally the same time the alarm rings.I turn it off and bring the phone into the bed with me, curling into a ball for a second before blinking my eyes open.Looking out of the window, I see the sun slowly creeping over the skyline.“Up and at ’em,” I encourage myself before I fall back asleep for a seven-minute snooze.I don’t waste any time, toss the covers off, and get out of bed.I slip my feet into my blush-beige slippers before walking to the bathroom.Turning on the warm water, I cup my hands under the stream, splashing the water on my face a couple of times before grabbing the white towel to dab it off.I reach for my blue brush, combing through my long brownish-blond hair, opting to braid it today since it showed that rain might come later in the day.With the rain comes the wind, and the last thing I need is my hair getting in my eyes.

After brushing my teeth, I walk to the kitchen, grab my water bottle, and fill it with ice and then water.Putting it on the counter, I grab my lunch box and place it next to it.Looking at the clock over the stove, I see it’s just a little after five fifteen.I have ten minutes to get dressed before I have to leave.Heading back to my bedroom, I make my bed quickly before going over to the closet and pulling it open.

I snatch up a pair of light blue jeans and a white T-shirt that has the Mustang Creek Ranch logo across the chest.I grab a pair of white socks before I head out of the bedroom, picking up my water and lunch before heading to the front door.I put down my stuff when I sit down on the little bench I have, grabbing my worn-in blackish-gray cowboy boots.I tuck them under the hem of the jeans before standing and closing the door behind me.Hearing the click of the lock, I walk down the two flights of stairs to the parking lot.The outside stairs are covered by a roof.I look right and left, seeing most of the apartments still dark, then beeping the truck doors open.

It takes me seven minutes to get to the barn.I spot Charlie’s house before the red barn.The lights outside of the house are on, but it looks like it’s still dark inside.My phone pings in my hand, and I look down, shocked that someone is texting me at this time.I see it’s from Sierra, and I can’t help but laugh when I read the first couple of words.

Sierra: I stayed up until ten reading and set my alarm to wake up at the ass crack of dawn to finish.I’m old enough to know better.

I shake my head.

Me: You knew this was going to happen.This always happens when you start a new book.

Sierra and I became friends when we were sixteen and joined a fan fiction group for our favorite author, Cooper Parker, who writes cozy mysteries.We would comment on the same post and then quickly started chatting in private messages.To this day, the minute Cooper Parker puts out a book, we take the day off work and read it cover to cover on FaceTime, discussing it chapter by chapter.It once took us fourteen hours, but it cemented our friendship.Even though our friendship was mostly online, she’s one of my best friends.

Putting my phone in my back pocket, I bypass the patient parking lot before heading to the back of the barn.I swing into the same spot I always have parked in since I started working here six years ago.Grabbing my stuff, I get out of the truck and see a couple of the ranch hands moving around the employee corner.It’s where we keep a little kitchen area to eat in, along with a couple of changing rooms.

“Morning,” Samuel greets me as soon as I walk into the barn.He’s wearing almost the same thing I’m wearing but with a cowboy hat on his head.

I smile over at him.“Morning, Sammy.”I call him by the nickname I gave him when he started here a year ago.“How is your day going?”

“So far, so good.”He smirks at me.“Just started the coffee.”He motions with his head toward the little kitchen area.

“Sounds good,” I say, walking toward the staff room.“I’m going to go riding first.”

“I’ll get her saddled for you.”He walks down the concrete alleyway toward the stalls.

Putting my stuff in the fridge, I walk to my desk inside the office, turning on my computer and placing my water bottle down on the desktop.I grab the baseball hat off my desk with Barnes Therapy Program across the front and put it on.

I make my way out of the back office toward the barn where the horses are kept.Walking past Emmett’s desk toward the stalls, I stop at the new girl we got a couple of weeks ago.“Morning, Rosy,” I coo to the horse I’ve nicknamed Rosy since she has little spots of pink on her muzzle, “how was your night?”

I grab the reins as I walk with her outside.When she got here two weeks ago, she refused to leave her stall.It took a full two days of me sitting in there with her and talking to her for her to trust me.“We’re going to exercise a bit today,” I say as we walk into the fenced arena we have for this reason.“Are you ready?”I ask as I mount her, and she neighs at me.“Stop being so moody.It’s a beautiful day, and we’re alive.”I lean down and rub her side.“Now, let’s go.”I start to trot with her in the circle.

I don’t think I will ever not smile when I ride in this arena.It’s so different from when I first got here as a patient seven years ago.From the outside, my wounds had healed.The bruises had gone from a nasty purple to a greenish yellow to nothing.The stitches on my head had healed, and my hair had started growing back, but the inside of my body was more broken than anyone could see.I could barely walk when I woke up from the coma three weeks after being found on the side of the road.I had multiple skull fractures, broken bones, including my jaw that was wired shut, bruises, and cuts and scrapes.I was in the hospital for a full five months before being transferred to a rehabilitation center.

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