Chapter Six
Evan
Firebrook Valley
The river trail hadn’t changed. Same twisty path through the pines, same rush of water over rocks that sounded like the valley whispering secrets it didn’t want to keep.
I pushed Rogue harder than I should have considering how long it had been since I’d ridden, the big Friesian’s hooves thudding like thunder against the dirt.
Sweat slicked his black coat, and my shirt clung to my back, but it wasn’t enough to shake the noise in my head.
Rogue was in top fitness form, not because my father loved horses, but because he needed to own the best. From foundation lines to insanely high stud fees, his herd of Friesians would have put Firebrook Valley on the map if our family wasn’t also oddly private about them.
Their presence at his mountain estate wasn’t about impressing the world beyond Firebrook Valley.
These horses were trained and maintained to perfection for the sole purpose of outshining Cody Burke’s herd of Paso Finos.
Bella, Brady, and I were all taught to ride with no expectation that we might enjoy it.
Bella didn’t. She quit lessons as soon as it had been allowed.
Brady shadowed Laurent, our barn manager and trainer, around every summer, claiming if he listened hard enough he could hear the emotions of the horses, or some shit like that.
Every summer I could remember I’d headed to the barn for one of two reasons: either to use it as a cover story so I could head into town and do whatever I wanted without fielding questions from my father, or to do what I was currently doing—using the speed and power to soar above and beyond whatever was bothering me.
The trail dipped along the bend where the trees opened enough to let the sun hit the water.
This stretch was an old dirt road that skirted the edge of our property and, via a bridge, outlined parts of the Burke’s land as well.
If one had the inclination, with half a day’s investment of time, a person could ride a circle around Firebrook Valley, but not all that path allowed for the kind of mind-clearing galloping that this section did.
Bella’s voice from last night echoed in my ears: “You’re wasting your potential, Evan. It’s time to stop playing around, get serious, and take your place at the company.” Our father had agreed, and that stung. Both saw my lack of desire to be like them as a sign of failure.
I’d earned a business degree. How was that playing around?
And the year I’d spent after it, traveling the country with Habitat for Humanity?
How was adding another zero to our already disgusting accumulation of wealth more important than building and repairing homes in impoverished areas?
Bella wanted me in a boardroom. I gravitated toward town hall meetings helping people express their concerns in ways that produced real change.
Sometimes that meant understanding the local laws.
Sometimes that meant knowing how to pressure the right people to advocate for them.
Okay, so none of that helped my family buy another vacation house, but the only place we were allowed to summer was Firebrook Valley anyway, so why the fuck did it matter?
I’d stood my ground in that mahogany-lined study, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“You want me to care about your legacy? Then make it mean something. Being in Firebrook Valley is so damn important to you, but there are kids in this town who can’t afford anything but community college.
They work as hard as we do. They deserve the education I received.
Take my inheritance. Fund scholarships. Do something that matters and then maybe, just maybe, I’ll give a shit about working for you.
Right now, as far as I see, you’ve got nothing I want. ”
My father had looked at me like I was a stranger. “How noble you sound, someone who has had everything handed to him saying he doesn’t need us.”
I’d clapped back hard. “This is why Mom left. It’s not that you don’t listen, it’s that you’re gifted at making the people around you feel like shit.
I don’t want to be you. Or Bella.” Yeah, I’d hit low, but at that moment it felt justified.
However, as soon as I’d walked away from them I’d hated the side of myself that being around them brought out.
Away from them, I had a reputation for being not only easygoing and kind, but also dynamic and motivational.
One conversation with my family could reduce me to someone I didn’t want to be.
I hated the unfairness of life. Why did a miserable family like mine have so much when so many kids in Firebrook Valley struggled to pay for the basics?
If it weren’t for Mabel’s restaurant and the shifts she offered them, some wouldn’t be able to buy their college textbooks.
I’d gladly have given them everything I had, but they had something more valuable than money—they had each other and their pride.
Hard work wasn’t something any of them were ashamed of.
What was the answer? I didn’t know, but I found freedom from the weight of that question by thundering down that dirt road. Wind through my hair, sun on my face, and for a moment feeling powerful enough to battle the bullshit of life.
Around the bend, I had to rein Rogue in.
Our clear path was now obstructed with Nora on her little Paso Fino gelding Sunny, gliding along like she was floating.
There was a gracefulness in their movements and a remarkable amount of footfall for how slowly they were moving forward.
He was prancing, quick-stepping, his mane flipping like he was a dragon stallion.
Nora had her hair loose and whipping in the breeze.
She was riding light—bareback pad, jeans hugging her legs, tank top clinging in the heat.
I couldn’t look away. Rogue came to a huffing, stomping halt.
Where the hell had the little Nora I’d known my whole life gone?
She wasn’t the scrawny kid with scraped knees anymore.
She was . . . curved. Confident. The way she moved with Sunny, effortless and alive, hit me like a gut punch.
My mouth went dry. Rogue snorted, planting his feet like he sensed my brain short-circuiting.
I know. Don’t you think I’m trying to get my shit together?
Her face lit up when she saw me and I damn near fell off my horse. “Evan!” She halted her horse up next to mine, a move that made her and her mount look tiny next to us.
Face. Keep your eyes on her face.
“Hey, Nora.”
“Rogue looks amazing.”
So do you. I swallowed hard. “Thanks. Sunny looks . . . smaller every time I see him.”
“Jerk,” she said with a smirk, then gave her gelding’s neck a pat. “Don’t listen to him, Sunny, he’s bitter because his balls are sore from all that bouncing they’re getting.”
I laughed. “Nora Burke, does your mother know you talk that way?”
Nora made a face that instantly made me regret the joke. “You think she’s around enough to notice?”
The amount of time her mother spent riding off into the mountains alone was something everyone knew but no one talked about. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly.
She waved my apology off. “No, I am. I’m having a great day and don’t need to think about things I can’t change.”
“Same.”
I eyed the bareback pad and the simple leather jaquima looped around Sunny’s nose. No bit. No reins worth mentioning. Just Nora sitting there like gravity was optional.
“Of course you’re riding bareback,” I muttered.
Nora glanced down at Sunny playfully like she hadn’t been aware of that. “What? You don’t approve of my scandalous lack of tack?”
“Laurent wouldn’t.”
“I bet he would. Harper lets me choose how I want to ride and he learned everything he knows about horses from Laurent.” She leaned forward and rubbed the gelding’s neck. “You should try it sometime, Evan.”
“Bareback?”
“Flying free.” She shrugged lightly. “Sure, I can get a smoother gait with a bit. But Sunny and I decided we prefer this.” She shifted her weight slightly and the little Paso stepped sideways, instantly responsive. “He stops when I ask him to. Not because he has to.”
Sunny flicked an ear back toward her voice and snorted softly, like he agreed with the arrangement.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “I can see that.” To add humor, I said, “And with a horse that small, it’s not like you have far to fall.”
Playful fire sparkled in her eyes. “Sir, we have had just about enough of your taunts. Looks like we’re going to have to school you.”
“Oh, really?”
Her chin rose. “First one to the oak tree before the bridge wins the bragging rights of having the better horse.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Paso Finos aren’t known for speed. You sure you want to humiliate your little buddy like that?”
Her breath hitched beneath that tank top of hers. “Sunny loves to open up and go. You sure that elephant you’re riding even has the stamina to make it to the bridge?”
Our gaze met and held with both anticipation and a heat that would have had me following her right off a cliff had she suggested it. “Only one way to find out.”
Nora spun her horse so we were facing the same direction. Her cheeks flushed and her body poised to race.
“Should I give you a head start?” I asked hoarsely.
“Only if you want my ass to be your view the whole way.”
It wasn’t the worst option. “Okay, we do this right, but no crying when we leave you in our dust.”
Her eyes lingered on me a moment longer before she looked away and the air shifted. “On three.”
On whatever she wants.
She continued, “One. Two. Three!”
Sunny launched forward before the last word had fully left Nora’s mouth.
Not a power burst like Rogue preferred, but a smooth surge, his quick-stepping gait impressively stretching out into a long, effortless run.
Nora leaned low over his neck, laughing as they shot down the dirt road toward the oak tree.
I let them go.