Page 49 of Stolen Dreams

“See you later,” I say without moving toward her, and she does what I want her to do before she leaves.She walks over to me and kisses my lips, and I taste toothpaste and coffee mixed.

“See you later,” she mumbles and walks out of the house, closing the door behind her.

Lucy gets up and asks where Lilah is, and I tell her she’s at work.We rush out of the house, and I take her to school.By the time I get to the barn, I spot her on one of the horses.She’s riding him with one hand on the reins, the other hand holding the horn as she laughs at something Sammy is telling her.Fuck, she’s beautiful.I slam the truck door and walk into the barn, spotting Sammy coming back inside.“Morning,” I greet him.“How long has she been on that horse?”I ask, my question tight.

“About thirty minutes,” he replies, walking away before I say something else, avoiding even looking at me.

“Morning,” Charlie says, coming in with his mug of coffee in his hand.“How are you?”

“Fine,” I respond tightly as I look over and see Bobby on the side, whispering with someone.

“What is going on?”I ask, looking around and seeing someone else look away from me.

“Word is getting around that Lilah is living with you,” he states.“There is talk about you two.”

“What the fuck?”My hands shake.“Who the fuck told them anything?”

“No idea.”He shrugs.“But it’s a small town, and you know how these things go.”

The last fucking thing I wanted was to become the gossip of the fucking bar.The last thing I wanted was for them to look at her differently.

“Sammy!”I shout his name and he comes running over.“She’s been on the horse for thirty minutes.”I motion with my head.“Tell her she’s overdoing it.”

“Um,” Sammy hesitates, his eyes going big.

“I’ll go tell her,” Charlie says.“You go and do your thing, Sammy.”

“I’ll tell her,” I huff and storm out of the barn.

“Idiot,” Charlie mumbles as I walk out toward the fenced arena.As soon as I get there, I see she’s off the horse and walking to the barn with it.

“Morning,” she says with a smile, “I was just putting her to work.”

“Yeah”—I put my hands on my hips—“write it down on the chart.”I motion with my head.“And just an FYI, people are gossiping about you living with me.”

“I know,” she says and she looks away.“Walked in on Sammy and Bobby discussing it.”She avoids looking at me.“It’s fine, it’ll be something else by this afternoon.”

“It’ll die down,” I mumble.“Besides, I’m doing it to keep you safe.”

She nods.“I have to get to my desk.”

“Give me the horse, I’ll take her in,” I snap, and she hands me the reins.“See you later.”I turn and walk toward the barn, seeing Charlie watching the whole thing.

“You good?”he asks, and I shake my head.

“No, I’m not fucking good,” I hiss, “and you better make sure no one says anything to my face about her.Or to her.”

“On it,” he replies as he turns and walks over to the guys.“How about you work in the field today, just to be safe?”

“Fuck that,” I snarl at him, “I’m not going to pretend I’m doing anything wrong.I’m taking care of her.”

“So I’ve heard.”Charlie smirks, turning and leaving me alone with the horse.My head screams that I’m going to take care of her because she’s mine at the same time the poison slowly seeps out of the box and into me, laughing like the devil.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

LILAH

Ipick up my phone and bring up her text thread.

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