Page 50 of Dark Things
A smile stretches her face, and she wiggles her eyebrows. I chuckle and give her a go ahead motion with my hand.
“Go for it,” I say, settling back in my seat and looking out at the pasture. The barn doors open up, and some of the horses walk out. Midnight must scent me because he looks over at us and whinnies. It’s loud and causes the other horses to look over. We all laugh at their antics.
“I’m pretty sure you’re Ghost,” she says, pointing to me. She shifts to Haunt. “And you’re Pitch cause of your hair.”
“It’s the opposite, actually.” I roll up the sleeve ofmy shirt and point to the tattoo on my inner forearm right by my elbow crease. Stan makes us all get them in case our faces are unidentifiable. A mercenary’s version of dog-tags.
“Why do they call you that then?” she asks. This is going to be a little more tricky, but Haunt is on top of it.
“Well you know how my birth name is Spiro? Means spirit or, loosely translated, ghost in Italian. And Pitch is actually because Reb has an incredible singing voice.”
That’s not the reason at all, but this fucker had to throw in the one thing that I vowed not to talk about again.
“You can sing?” Cat asks, her voice so excited. I’m surprised she’s not clapping her hands.
“I don’t anymore. It was something that’s set in my past,” I say. She probably sees my need to move on from the topic, because she doesn’t ask any follow-up questions and by the time we finish our coffees Marc is calling us in for the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted.
That afternoon,Midnight and Starlight are trailered, and Haunt drives us over to the practice arena near school. Cat is chatting about something, but I’ve zoned her out. I’m still exhausted, and I don’t have the energy for practice today, even if it’s the first one of the season.
I’m aware that this is a part of our cover here, but Ihaven’t been a part of an equestrian team since I was sixteen. I’ve competed since, but it was always in non-team events. This will take getting used to again.
The arena isn’t as big as some of the ones I’m used to, but I can tell that it’s well-maintained. A group of girls are already standing outside of the practice space, horses tied up and ready for their turn.
Haunt parks, and we all jump out. He walks around to unload the trailer, while Cat and I follow. He gets Starlight out first and hands her off to Cat, who goes over to Aslyn. They look pretty friendly from where I’m standing, and I can’t help but smile.
“On your six, we have company. Seems like we’re not the only suspicious ones,” I say, taking Midnight’s lead from Haunt as he walks back into the trailer to get my tack. Colt, Brooks, and Staff are standing off to the side of the practice ring. They’re lined up looking like they want a fight. My muscles tense, but I silently shake it off and continue getting ready.
He discreetly looks behind him and then nods. “Too many curious eyes right now. We might have to do something about this.”
“I’m thinking if they’re involved like we think they are, they’re testing the waters. Trying to figure out how we fit into this whole thing. Who knows what Mario’s told them or if they have a job. Heck, we might be the job,” I say, smiling. I’d love nothing more than to get a little stabby.
Haunt kisses my forehead before draping Midnightwith his saddle pad. He hoists up his saddle and starts doing up the buckles. I reach into my bag, grab the bridle and slip it over Midnight’s head.
“Once you get out there, I’ll walk over and see what they want. Causing a scene isn’t in our best interest, not with Cat here,” he says.
I see Brooks shift out of the corner of my eye, as if he’s going to come our way, but Colt stops him by putting his arm out. Brooks doesn’t look happy, but he steps back.
I pout, “Not fair. I wanna be the all threatening and ominous one. You get to do it all too often.”
He laughs, garnering stares from a few of the girls on the team. “That’s because you’re a demon,gioia mia. People usually run screaming in your presence.”
I smirk, checking around to make sure no one is looking and pull him down for a quick kiss. “That smart mouth is going to get you in trouble.”
He slaps my ass and gives me a leg up. Midnight does a small shuffle before reaching his head back to wait for his treat. I pull out a peppermint puff from my pocket and give it to him before giving him a small pat on his neck.
Haunt hands me my helmet, and I clip it on and walk over to where the rest of the team are. Cat’s already on Starlight, and Aslyn is next to her on her own horse.
“Hey Reb,” Aslyn says, leading her horse closer to us. Her mare is a beautiful chocolate color with whitesocks. She’s got a few pink ribbons tied into her mane, and it’s so perfectly Aslyn.
“Hey, As. Is everything all good?” I ask, looking around for the coach. My gaze lands on Mary, who’s staring daggers at my face. I give her a little wave and then the middle finger before I turn around to the girls again.
They snicker before schooling their faces. “Yeah, all good. It’s going to be an interesting practice for sure. Mary’s already tried to re-up her smear campaign on you. Seems like she isn’t going to let go of what happened at the diner.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “She’s not going to learn is she?”
“Nope,” Cat says, popping her ‘p.’ “Mary is living in her Regina George era and I’m not sure she’ll ever grow out of it.”
“Jesus, what a fucking nightmare. I can’t imagine being that obsessed with wanting people to worship me. She must be fucking exhausted.”
