Chapter 22
twenty-two
. . .
Axel
It was comical, seeing the five of them completely shit faced, with pantyhose hanging off their heads as they barreled through my front door.
They came to a stop, and I walked past each one, tugging the ridiculous stockings off their heads. Wren was last in line, and she had a goofy smile on her face when I met her gaze.
“Hey, Cowboy,” she said, her words slurring. Wren had never been much of a drinker, but they’d clearly been boozing it up because they reeked of alcohol.
“Hey, what’s going on? Why are we wearing pantyhose on our heads, ladies?”
Wren leaned down to rub her thigh, and that’s when I noticed she was bleeding.
Hell, they were all bleeding a little bit.
“What the fuck happened to you guys?”
“The damn rosebushes!” Lulu said as she walked toward the kitchen, and we all followed. I pulled out paper towels, and they took turns tearing a few sheets off and wiping the blood from their legs as I grabbed some antiseptic and peroxide from the medicine cabinet.
“And how did we end up in the rosebushes?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around Wren’s hips and lifted her onto the counter.
“We fell in the rosebushes because we jumped out of a window when the cops came.” Wren had a lazy smile spread across her face.
I laughed just as the front door flew open, and Bridger stormed in.
“What the fuck happened?” he hissed as he moved toward Emilia and kissed her forehead.
Before she could even answer, Easton and Rafe came waltzing through the front door, with Clark right behind them. Obviously everyone had texted their boyfriends to come pick them up.
“Apparently they were on the run from the cops, and they jumped out a window into a bunch of rosebushes.” I chuckled as I pulled Wren’s boots off and dabbed at her cuts and scrapes one by one.
“And what window did we jump out of?” Easton asked as he wrapped his arms around Henley.
“At the Rosewood River Review,” Lulu said. “We went there to find out who writes the damn ‘Taylor Tea.’”
Rafe laughed, then grabbed the paper towels from her and dabbed at the long scrape on her arm. “And did we find out who writes it?”
“You’re not going to like it,” Henley said.
“Who is it?” Clark pressed as he scooped Eloise up and set her down beside the sink so he could tend her scratches.
“There was a note on Emilia’s mother’s desk that said they were meeting Jazzy Leighton in Snowcap Mountain soon,” I said.
“Jazzy Leighton? No fucking way,” Bridger said.
“Hey, you thought it was me for the longest time, and now you’re defensive that it might be Jazzy?” Emilia said over a fit of giggles, followed by multiple hiccups.
“Did I mention that they’re also very intoxicated?” I asked.
“Oh no.” Lulu gasped. “Oh nooooo. No. No. No.”
“What’s wrong, baby?” Rafe asked, concern etched on his face.
“I left the tequila bottle on your mom’s desk,” she said as she gaped at Emilia.
“Maybe your mom will take a shot and loosen up,” Bridger grumped.
The girls laughed hysterically.
“Wait. Our fingerprints are all over that bottle,” Eloise said, her face turning completely serious.
“And our DNA is clearly all over those rosebushes,” Lulu said with a shrug. “We’re donezo, girls, but at least we’ll be together.”
“What the hell are you all talking about?” Clark asked with a laugh. “You snuck into the office that’s owned by Emilia’s family. You didn’t steal anything, and you even left a bottle of tequila and wounded yourselves jumping out a window?”
“Correct,” I said with a smirk. Then I looked at the women and added, “I don’t think anyone is coming for you.”
“Thank God. I need a hot bath and a cozy bed,” Wren said, holding her arms up for me to lift her off the counter.
“And that’s our cue. Let’s get these deviants home,” Easton said.
They all made their way to the door.
The girls made a pact to text one another if anyone got arrested during the night, and then Eloise insisted they should call instead, in case the texts could be used in a court of law.
It was comical.
I locked the door with a drunk Wren attached to my body. Her legs were wrapped around my waist, her arms around my neck.
“Come on, let’s get you in the shower and clean you up better.”
“I want to take a bath,” she said as her fingers ran through my hair. “Will you take a bath with me?”
“Of course I will.” I carried her down the hallway toward the bathroom and set her down on the counter before turning on the water in the tub. “Those legs are pretty scratched up. “
I moved to stand in front of her to inspect her wounds as she pulled her wild, wavy hair into a bun on top of her head, then wrapped an elastic around it.
“Pfffttt… this is nothing.” She chuckled. “You know how beat up I get out there when I’m training and in competitions. This was so fun. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much.”
She raised her arms, and I pulled her tank top over her head before removing her bra as my fingers traced over her perfect tits.
I was happy that Wren was having fun here. She’d been working hard for as long as I could remember. When most teenagers were out goofing off in the river and drinking beers at parties on the weekends, she’d been training.
“It’s good for you to have some fun,” I said, helping her off the counter before setting her on her feet. I removed her skirt and panties, climbed in the tub, and held out my hand to help Wren. She settled between my thighs, her back to my front.
“Yeah. I think that was one of the hardest parts of being away from you all that time.”
“What was?” I asked as my arms came around her, settling on her stomach.
“You always brought out the lighter side of me. The laughter and the fun. It’s just been all business these last two years, and I haven’t been enjoying it as much as I used to.” She sighed, her words still slurring the slightest bit. “I feel guilty admitting that, you know?”
“Why?”
“Because I should be grateful. I’ve been lucky enough to pursue a sport that I love.
I’ve had the financial resources, and I’ve been able to reach a level of success that most people would dream of.
So saying that I’m not enjoying it makes it seem like I take it for granted.
But I don’t. It’s been a dream, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I just don’t know if my dream has changed.
And it feels…” She paused as she thought out her next words.
“It feels selfish for me to change my mind about a dream that so many people are invested in. My success has become Coach Sharky’s success.
My success feels like the last connection that my father and I share. ”
I wrapped my arms around her a little tighter. I realized in this moment that Wren had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Because she was right—with success comes responsibility that you can’t really plan for.
“It’s always okay to pivot, baby. You’ve worked hard for so many years, and if you’re ready to change course, that does not make you ungrateful or selfish.
It means that you’re living your life. And anyone who loves you should want that for you.
And if they don’t, then you have to question their motives.
I’m sure Coach Sharky has reaped many benefits from you being the world champion. ”
“Yes. It’s tricky, because being back here in Rosewood River, and training here—it’s reignited something in me. I love riding out in the open space. I think Wrax does, too. He never enjoys his time in the arena. He likes open fields and hill work and being free to just run.”
“You’re two peas in a pod. You’re both the same that way,” I said. “So you train here and then you’ll go back and see how it feels.”
“I hope I just know what I want when I go back. Obviously, our last competition was a disaster, and that’s not the way I want to end my career.
So we’ll get back out there and take it one event at a time.
Maybe that love will still be there, or maybe it won’t.
And both are okay,” she said, her voice sounding sleepy now.
“I’ll be able to be there for your first competition back, but I hate that I can’t be there for the big one on Labor Day weekend,” I said. Easton and Henley were getting married that weekend, and I couldn’t miss that.
“Don’t be silly. I hate that I’m missing their wedding. You’ll have to send me lots of pictures. Do you ever think about getting married, Cowboy?”
I chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Yeah, I do. But there’s only one girl I’d spend my life with, and she’s still got some things to do first.”
“Good answer.”
“You sound sleepy, baby. Let’s get you in bed. You’ve got a big training day when you wake up. While you were out tonight, I got a few temporary jumps set up for you to practice on in the ring tomorrow, and Uncle Keaton and my dad agreed to help me build a few solid jumps for you to train on.”
“Why are you so good to me?” she whispered.
“Because you’re my person, Wren.”
Always had been. Always would be.
Wren had been training hard recently as she geared up to start competing again.
My father and uncle had built some really sturdy jumps in their woodshop for her, and Coby, Jonah, and Benji had helped me set them up at different heights with different angles and turns to challenge her.
We’d move them every morning so she’d be forced to adjust to the changes constantly.
But her favorite thing to do was to take Wrax out for endurance training and hill work. And my favorite thing was to be out here watching her do her thing.
She was training several hours a day. It didn’t take her more than an hour or two a day to do the books, and some days she didn’t need to do anything in the office at all. She was also working with Melody and Brenton two days a week, teaching them the ropes about riding.
It made her happy, which was what mattered the most.
Wren was trying to figure out what she wanted, once she could remove all the noise around her. It turned out that coming home was the perfect place to do that.