Chapter 12
twelve
. . .
Wren
Twelve years ago
“Go home and get some rest, Wren. Training when you’re sick is not a good plan,” Coach Saylor said. He’d been with me since I was young, and he was like a second father to me.
“I know, but we’ve got a big competition coming up in two weeks,” I argued.
“And you’ll be useless if you’re sick.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Go home and get some sleep. I’ll call and check on you later.”
“Fine,” I grumped, and Wrax and I took the back path home.
I felt horrible, and I’d tried to will away my cold, but my throat was killing me, and I definitely had a fever.
When I got to the barn, I unsaddled and groomed Wrax before putting him in his stall. I grabbed my phone from my pocket to see a text from Axel.
Cowboy
Just got out of class for the day. How was practice?
I hated that Axel didn’t live in Rosewood River right now, as he’d started college this year. Thankfully, he was attending school in the city, so he was only thirty minutes away. I visited him often, and he’d come home a lot as well.
I’m sick. I had to leave early. I’m so mad.
Cowboy
Don’t be a stubborn ass. Even the unstoppable Horse Girl gets sick sometimes. Get in bed.
I am. I’ll call you later.
I walked toward the side door, surprised to see my father’s driver, Douglas, sitting in the car in the driveway.
I waved at him. “Hey, I didn’t think Dad would be home this early from work.”
“Yeah, he said he was going to work from home this afternoon,” Douglas said, but he seemed a little off.
“Oh, I hope you both aren’t sick. Coach made me come home early because I think I have a fever.”
“You want me to take you to the store for some medication?” he asked. “Your dad sent Caroline home early today.”
That surprised me because my parents barely functioned without Caroline. She oversaw everything at the house. But my mom was out of town visiting my aunt Becky, and Collin was away at school. So I supposed with it just being me and Dad this week, there wasn’t much for her to do.
Hopefully my father wasn’t sick, too.
The man hated to miss work.
“I’m all right. We’ve got plenty of cold medicine here at the house.” I waved at him before making my way to the side door. I stepped inside, and of course the house smelled like gardenias, and it was pristine and spotless.
I poured myself a glass of orange juice and grabbed an apple before making my way down the long hallway to my father’s study.
He wasn’t in there, which surprised me. The man was always working.
He probably had the same bug as I did.
There were two sides to our grand staircase, and I always used the left side, because it was closer to my bedroom and I was a lefty, so it was just my thing.
Collin loved to tease me about it and try to force me to take the right side.
I missed my brother being home. I was close to him and his girlfriend Emerson, and the house had felt quieter ever since he’d left.
But Axel’s departure had been the most difficult. We’d ridden horses together daily since we were kids, and now that he’d gone off to school, we just talked on the phone every day, but I missed hanging out with him.
He tried to come home most weekends, and I visited when he didn’t. But his new girlfriend did not seem to be a fan of our friendship, from what I could tell.
“Charles, stop!” a woman’s voice said over a fit of laughter.
I’d just FaceTimed my mom before practice. She was in North Carolina shopping with her sister, so who was this?
“You like that, baby?” my father said, and my stomach twisted with dread.
I tiptoed down the hallway, and the bedroom door was not closed all the way. I peeked inside to see my father naked, and a woman with long blonde hair was naked with her back to me.
“Dad!” I shouted through the opening. The woman turned, and her eyes locked with mine.
Sabrina.
My father’s assistant, who’d started working for him six months earlier.
“Shit,” Dad said as he flipped her off of him, and she squealed. I took off running toward my bedroom.
I set what was left in my orange juice glass and the apple on my nightstand and hurried to the closet for my duffle bag. I tossed in some clean clothes, pulled the strap over my shoulder, and hurried out of my room.
I couldn’t be here.
My father had a lover in his bedroom. The one he shared with my mother.
He came out of his room wearing a gray robe, shaking his head at me. “It’s not what you think.”
“It’s not what I think?” I shrieked. “You are naked with a woman who works for you in the bed you share with Mom! It’s exactly what I think.”
I stormed past him, headed for the stairs.
“Wren,” he called, and his voice boomed through the large foyer as I hit the bottom step. “Look at me.”
I turned around and met his gaze. “I’m leaving.”
He jogged down the stairs and stopped in front of me.
“I made a mistake. It’s a onetime thing. I don’t know what I was thinking.” His eyes watered, and he shook his head. “Please, sweetheart. I love your mother. If you tell her, it will destroy our family. I’m begging you.”
“You need to tell her. This should not be on me,” I hissed as I turned for the door.
“I’m asking you to look the other way, and I promise you it will never happen again. Please don’t destroy our family, Wren. Your mother would be devastated. Do you really want to break her heart?” he asked, his voice pleading.
“You are unbelievable!” I shouted as I slammed the door.
Douglas was standing there, leaning against the car, and he looked at me with what I could only describe as empathetic eyes.
He knew.
Hell, he’d probably had to give them a ride here.
“Do you need a ride, Wren?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“No. I’ve got my car.” I jogged toward the garage, opened the side door, and tossed my bag in the passenger seat of my Bronco. I’d just gotten it for my sixteenth birthday.
There was only one place I could go.
Something happened. I need you.
Cowboy
Should I get in the car or are you coming here?
I’m on my way.
Cowboy
I’ll be waiting for you.
I let myself cry for thirty minutes as I drove to the city. My mom called, but I didn’t answer, because what was I going to say?
“Hey, I just saw Dad banging his secretary in your bed”?
He was right. It would crush her.
I could call Collin, but he was just so unavailable lately, and he probably wouldn’t even take the call. He wasn’t a sympathetic guy. He’d tell me to get over it.
That was his big thing. Shit happens. Get over it.
Plus he had finals, and he was stressed out about school. He would not want to deal with this right now.
After I’d driven into the city, I pulled into the parking spot outside Axel’s dorm before hurrying inside with my bag slung over my shoulder.
“Fuck off, Axel!” a voice shouted, and I cringed as Janet came storming toward me.
He shouted after her, “You’re being ridiculous.”
She gave him the finger and paused when she was right in front of me. “He’s all yours. I guess he always has been.”
I gave her a sympathetic look. “We’re just friends.”
She shrugged before stalking away.
No one understood our friendship. My one and only boyfriend had been jealous of Axel for the eight months we’d dated.
I’d ended things with him because of it.
Axel was a part of my life. Probably the biggest part of my life.
We’d never crossed the line, aside from one kiss a few years back that was me proving that I knew how to kiss a boy.
He was my best friend.
My person.
He opened his arms, and I walked right into them.
“Jesus. You’re burning up, Wren.” He pushed the door closed and walked me over to his bed, where we both sat down. He studied my face, which was obviously swollen from crying all the way here. “What the hell is going on? You shouldn’t be driving when you’re sick.”
His roommate, Jason, had dropped out of school over a month earlier, so Axel had the room to himself.
“I just saw my dad in bed with Sabrina,” I said, my words breaking on a sob.
He asked several questions, and I gave him all the gory details.
“Fuck, Wren. I’m so sorry.” He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me.
“He’s right, you know? If I tell my mom, she’ll be devastated.”
“Do you think it’s a onetime thing?” he asked.
“I hope so.” I sniffed several times. “Do I just pretend I never saw anything, or do I break my mom’s heart? And my aunt Becky is sick, so she’s got so much on her plate. This will devastate her.”
“Listen, you don’t have to decide today.
But I need to get you some medicine, and you need to lie down and get some rest. You can stay here for as long as you want.
Let’s sleep on it, and you can decide what to do tomorrow.
” He stood up, shifted me onto the bed, and tugged off my boots before walking to the closet, where he pulled out a clear plastic tub filled with medication.
“I’m going to go get you some soup. You stay here and get changed and lie down until I get back. ”
I nodded. I had no energy left. My phone kept vibrating, and Axel turned the ringer off. “You aren’t dealing with this tonight.”
I reached for some tissues and blew my nose. “I’m sorry about Janet. She seemed pissed.”
“I don’t give a shit. If she can’t accept this friendship, then she and I have no chance.” He shrugged. “It’s always been you and me, Wren. I’ve got you.”
“You can’t tell anyone about this, Axel. If Emerson finds out, she will tell Collin. I don’t know what I’m going to do, so this has to stay between us.”
“Come on, Horse Girl. Don’t offend me. You know your secrets are safe with me.”
I nodded.
I knew he was right.
I didn’t trust anyone the way I trusted Axel.
But I’d also trusted my father, and I’d just been completely blindsided by him.
I hated it.
Because if my father could do something like this, what would stop anyone else from doing the same thing?
I’d put my father up on a pedestal my entire life.
But I’d never put any man up on a pedestal again.