Page 13 of Coiled Tight
I did the same, but in my head, I was glowering at him the whole time.
six
saúl
Cam stayed inside the house for most of the day that Sunday. He left at one point, but that was to browse his phone while on the porch, so it had to count.
He’d been here for more than a month now, and I still didn’t know what to make of him. On the one hand, everyone at the animal care facility was obsessed with him. Sofía had cornered me to gush about how much stuff he knew and how amazing he was when it came to thinking under pressure—which was something she was admittedly terrible at. The rest of the team shared the sentiment.
The ranch hands had differing opinions. Some liked him well enough, especially after they saw him with the animals. Others found him odd, didn’t quite trust how he hadn’t acclimated to them yet, and kept jumping and struggling with his words every time they startled him.
I was…
I should be the one with the clearer picture, but I was still clueless. The phone call with Da hadn’t helped. Now, every time he seemed more anxious, or every time I caught himhumming to himself, I kept wondering, kept watching him through the lens of a Daddy observing a Little.
It was ridiculous—and it only added to my confusion.
He had agreed to the horse riding lessons, though. It had to be a good sign.
I adjusted the Stenson in my head and helped him climb up the fence to the horses’ enclosure. They had their stables, but most of the time, they roamed free through the hundred acres they had all for themselves, and I’d learned the best way to match a person with their horse was to have them interact here instead of in the stables, where the horses had little to no choice in the matter.
“Ready?”
“Nervous,” he admitted.
Swiftheart trotted to me right away as I wondered how to respond to the confession. Was it a good thing he admitted it? It had to be, right?
I was more used to dealing with spooked animals than spooked humans.
As if sensing my confusion, my mare butted her nose against my shoulder. Reflexively, I lifted my hand to rub her neck.
“What type of horse did you ride, back home?”
“Oh, we didn’t have pure breeds or anything,” he said right away. There weren’t many pure breeds here either, so it was a good thing that he wouldn’t be one of those elitist assholes I had to deal with from time to time. “His name was Moon Prince. He was brown with lots of white spots. Everyone mocked me because apparently a horse with Prince in the name had to be uniform in color or some bullshit.”
“Moon Prince is a good name.”
I would’ve mentioned that Moon Prince made me think of black, maybe black and white, but I didn’t say it out loud. I still didn’t know anything about the guy’s past, no matter howmuch it irked me. There was no way I’d accidentally shove myself in the same box as people he didn’t have good memories of.
Cam shrugged. He was getting a healthier tan the longer he was here. His hair was growing out a bit, too, the shade of dark blond adding to the warmth in his features. “I was six when I named him.”
“Did you start riding that young?”
“Not the horses.” He fidgeted with his hands before he focused on Swiftheart. “My parents had me practice on the ponies first.”
I nodded. We didn’t have any ponies here, but my old man had one of those machines in the shape of a bull that still functioned in some of the bars around the area. It wasn’t ideal, but it had helped with balance until we were tall enough to even attempt riding any of the horses.
“They still have the animals?”
“No.” The longer I had him talking, the more horses drew closer to us, their curiosity showing. “They sold everything when we moved. To a good family. Last I checked, at least.”
I hummed, then whistled for the horses that had drawn closest to approach. Swiftheart moved closer to me as she always did. Sometimes it felt like she wanted to protect me from the bigger stallions we had.
She was a sweet girl, but I couldn’t focus on her. I needed to keep both eyes on the horses, read every little twitch of their ears and swish of their tails.
“Um. What’s the plan?” I didn’t have to look to know Cam would be subtly scratching at his elbow. “I’ve never had topicka horse before.”
“And this won’t be your first time. Move toward the ones who have moved closer and let them scent you.”
