Chapter 4 Charlie
FOUR
charlie
Why did I leave the house? The thought hits me for the third time in ten minutes as I make my way through the barn.
Forty minutes ago, I was stretched out on my couch, beer in hand, watching UC Davis get their asses handed to them by Oregon State. First Saturday off I’ve had in weeks, and I was planning to spend it doing absolutely nothing.
Maybe order a pizza later and fall asleep on the couch like the responsible adult I am. Beau and Jake are both at the arena tonight—riding, doing interviews, probably hitting up the Salt Lick afterward—which means the house is blessedly quiet for the first time in months.
Don’t get me wrong; I love my pack mates like brothers, but sometimes a man needs to scratch his balls and drink beer straight from the bottle without anyone judging his life choices.
Still, when Eli Briggs calls asking if I can take a look at one of his mares before tomorrow’s event, I don’t say no. Work is work, and I’ve got bills to pay. Beyond that, I owe the man a lot. The ranch doesn’t run itself, and the Horses of Hope program needs every penny I can throw at it.
But now I’m wishing I’d hit ignore on my phone instead of answering.
It’s almost nine o’clock and cold as hell already. Even the barns are chilly. I’ll have to pop into maintenance and tell them to check the heaters.
I’ve been working these barns since I was sixteen, back when Caleb and I were just kids trying to make enough money for gas and beer and maybe a date on Friday night.
If only I could have told that kid that it goes by way too fast.
I’ve been in a weird mood lately. I can see the mare’s stall at the end of the aisle just as a sweet scent hits me—buttercups, vanilla, and orange blossom. It tickles my nose like an orange creamsicle. Only one person has ever smelled like that.
It makes the hair on my arms stand up, sends shivers over my skin. The sweet complexity is mouth-watering.
Then I hear a warm, husky voice: “Easy, pretty girl.”
My chest tightens in recognition. Sweet and sultry, with just enough Wyoming left in it to make my Alpha rumble with satisfaction. A warm feeling spreads through my chest that Wyoming still clings to her even after all those years in California.
No… I would’ve heard if she was back. Caleb would’ve mentioned it, wouldn’t he? Her own brother would know if she had come home. She’s probably still in California, living whatever life she built out there.
There’s no way that troublemaker is back in town. Has to be someone else.
I’ve been away for four months, working charity events for Horses of Hope in Montana, Idaho, and Colorado. I haven’t been around the home circuit enough lately to know all the new hires. Plenty of women work the circuit now, though they all work for the main office and not with the animals.
“Don’t give me that look. I know my hands are cold.”
The words wash over me, followed by a husky chuckle.
It’s her.
Her laugh is soft, self-deprecating, and it does something to my chest. Makes me remember being young and stupid and thinking I had all the time in the world to figure out what I felt for my best friend’s little sister.
I’ve spent a long time trying to lock her away in the part of my heart I don’t let myself visit anymore.
But it’s been six years. Six fucking years since she left for college, since I let her walk away instead of telling her how I felt. And I can’t stop the flood of memories from that summer.
Pretty tan legs and ice-blond hair piled high, blowing in the breeze. Muck boots and cutoffs—she always could clean a stall faster than most.
That summer, she’d made it her mission to find more trouble than was good for her.
Caleb and I had a hell of a time chasing away the assholes—Alphas and Betas alike.
And somehow, something about her had crawled under my skin and made a home there.
Those stormy eyes looked at me in a way I wasn’t expecting.
Then she kissed me, and fucking unmade me…
My chest aches with the memory.
I had known for years that she had a crush on me, but it wasn’t until that summer that I felt it pull me under. That desperate, bone-deep need to protect her, to claim her, to never let her out of my sight again tormented me.
The feeling had terrified me so much that I’d run like a coward instead of staying, instead of asking her brother to court her. I left for college again, figuring she’d be there come Christmas break, but that’s not what happened.
Caleb and I had come back for Christmas, and I was determined to talk to her. If she’d felt the same, I wouldn’t have let Caleb say no. But she was gone. I never did find out what chased her away. All I ever knew was that she was gone when I got back from college, ready to throw down for her.
Gone.
I should turn around. Walk right back out that door and tell Eli I’ll come back tomorrow when she’s not here. I have no idea where she’s at or who she may have brought back with her.
But I don’t.
I edge closer to the stall, and there she is.
Perched on a bucket beside a nervous mare, her blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, wearing jeans that hug her curves and an APbrA jacket that’s too big for her frame.
She’s got the mare’s hoof propped between her knees, completely focused on her work.
And fuck me, she’s beautiful.
Not in the polished way of the buckle bunnies who hang around the circuit. But natural…real.
“See? Not so bad, pretty girl. Quick peek, just checking why it hurts, then you can go back to pretending you hate me.”
A rush of emotion sends goosebumps over my skin.
“Easy, sweetheart. Don’t make me call you dramatic. I already have one cowboy with too much ego in my head. Don’t you start.”
The mare settles under her touch, leaning slightly into her ungloved hand as she smooths over her side.
Willa mirrors the mare—her shoulders drop, her breathing evens out as the horse settles.
There’s something almost meditative about the way she works.
Gentle but confident, like she was born to this.
Which she was, I guess. Caleb always said she’d be a vet someday, back when we were all kids running around the circuit. Said she had a gift with animals, that they trusted her in a way they didn’t trust most people.
He was right.
“Willa?”
The sound of my voice in the quiet barn makes her jump, and a startled shriek fills the once-quiet space.
“What the hell? Don’t sneak up on a—” But she doesn’t finish what she was about to say.
Recognition crosses her face when she sees me. She was always total shit at keeping anything she’s thinking to herself.
Our eyes meet across the stall, and time does this weird stuttering thing where everything stops and speeds up all at once. Those gray eyes I’ve been dreaming about for the better part of a decade widen, then narrow as panic, regret, longing, and joy flit across her expression in rapid succession.
“Charlie? How are you here?”
Does she not know that I never left?
“I’m here for the horse,” I say lamely, and regret that those are the first words I say to her.
She looks at me for a long minute and then throws her head back and laughs.
“I can see that. I meant, well, I… I figured you’d be long gone from Muddy Creek.”
“Eli called. Asked me to take a look at this mare before tomorrow.” I gesture toward the horse, but I can’t seem to look away from her face.
“I was just finishing up…” She releases the mare’s hoof and stands, brushing sawdust off her jeans. The movement puts us closer together, close enough that her scent feels like a physical thing.
It sends a deep, throbbing pressure south and makes my hands itch to pull her into me. The need to run my nose up the column of her neck and sink my teeth into the soft place where neck meets shoulder is fucking addicting.
Fuck, I’ve always wanted this woman. Six years have only made that need pulse with teeth.
She clears her throat, and I realize she’s said something I missed. I look at her, unable to speak, and wait for her to keep going.
“I was just saying, I’ll let Eli know she’s alright. Nothing serious. She just likes the attention,” she finishes, taking a step back, putting distance between us like she can feel the pull too and doesn’t trust it.
She can barely meet my eyes.
“Right.” I clear my throat, trying to get my head on straight. “What did you find?”
“Stone lodged under the shoe. I cleaned out what I could—you can check the rest.” She’s all business now, professional and distant, like we’re strangers instead of two people who used to know each other’s secrets.
But I can see the way her hands shake slightly as she packs up her kit. Can see the flush creeping up her neck that has nothing to do with the cold.
She feels it too. Whatever this is between us, she feels it.
“Good. I will.” Christ, I sound like an idiot. “So you’re working the circuit now? I heard you were in California.”
“I was. Finished my degree, got some experience. This is an internship with the APbrA.” She shoulders her bag, avoiding my eyes. “Temporary thing.”
Temporary. The word hits harder than it should.
“How temporary?”
“End of the season.” She finally looks at me again, and there’s something guarded in her expression that wasn’t there before. It makes my Alpha want to demand she tell me what put that wariness in her eyes.
“And then?”
“And then I go back. Or find something else. Haven’t decided yet.”
The silence stretches between us, heavy with things we’re not saying… and with the memory of the way she looked at me the night before she left for college.
The night I broke her heart because I was too much of a coward to admit I loved her.
“Caleb know you’re here?”
I think she’s not going to answer as she heads out of the mare’s stall. But she turns and looks me in the eye, that defiance and strength I’m used to now burning in her gaze.
“No… well, at least I haven’t told him yet.”
“He’d want to know. We all would.”
She looks at me long and hard in that direct Willa way. She doesn’t say anything, just stares at me. Her eyes are a maelstrom of emotions.
I find myself wishing she would yell at me, curse me, laugh at me, tease me the way she always used to. But the woman before me is the same and so different from the girl I remember.
“Later, Charlie. It’s been a long night, and I’m going to head out. It was nice to see you again,” she says as she turns and leaves.
And then she’s gone, leaving me alone with the mare and the lingering scent of buttercups, oranges, and vanilla.
At least I know she’ll be around for a little while. That thought is the only thing that keeps me from following her and kissing her until her cries reach the rafters.
I pull out my phone before I can think better of it, scrolling to Caleb’s number.
Saw your sister tonight. Did you know she’s here?
I type it out, then delete it. Because how do I explain that seeing her again felt like coming home? How do I tell my best friend that his little sister’s scent still calls to my Alpha?
She’s back.
Delete.
We need to talk.
My thumb hovers over send for a long moment before I delete that too and shove the phone back in my pocket.
Some conversations are better had face-to-face. Especially when they involve confessing that I’ve been in love with his baby sister for most of my life, and my Alpha considers her mine. Fuck if I’ll let her go again.
But as I turn my attention to the mare, checking her over for Eli, I can’t shake the feeling that Willa seemed different. She seemed rattled.
The thought makes my jaw clench. Makes my Alpha rise up with the need to protect her.
Even though Caleb made it crystal clear that his little sister is off-limits, the one and only time I brought it up.
Even though getting involved with her would complicate everything.
I’m still thinking about her when my phone buzzes with a text from the pack group chat.
Beau: Heard you might be at the arena tonight. Want to grab a beer when you’re done?
Charlie: Sure. Salty’s? What’s the point of going home now? I’m wound up tight as hell.
Beau: Yep.
Charlie: What about you, dumbass?
Jake: …
Jake: …
Jake: HA! HA! Yeah, I’m in.
I finish up with the mare, shoot Eli a text, and head out. But I can’t stop thinking about Willa and that guarded look in her eyes, and how badly I want to change it.
Maybe the universe is giving us a second chance.
Even if her brother would kill me for taking it.