Chapter 13
SANTIAGO
Leave it to Blake to convince a nine-hundred-pound animal to listen to her. I’m not surprised in the slightest. Blake and Shadow seem to have bonded in the small amount of time I was gone. I doubt that horse will ever obey me again.
Gift for Blake.
Shadow quickens her speed, bringing her and Blake to my side. I’m not sure if it’s from Blake’s command or if Shadow just felt like it, but Blake remains calm and composed, adjusting to Shadow’s shifting pace.
Blake flashes me an elated smile. The cold air has turned her cheeks pink, but the temperature doesn’t seem to bother her.
“I didn’t like Manny talking to you.” The confession is out before I know it. I’m not embarrassed by it. It’s the truth.
Blake tries to make her smile go away, but to my content, I don’t think anything could wipe that smile off her face right now.
“You heard that?” she questions, her focus remaining forward, utilizing the advice Javier gave her.
“I might have to fire him for that.” I make it sound playful, but I’m seriously thinking about it.
Blake finally looks my way, a puckish look in her eyes. “So you are the possessive kind.” She fakes a serious demeanor. “But Walker and Levi are allowed to see me naked.”
My lips contort into a half-grin. “It’s different with them.”
“How so?” She’s dropped the teasing now that curiosity hangs over her like a cloud.
“With them, it’s more like sharing, except I’m not losing out on anything.”
My answer seems to leave her speechless when we continue down the trail in silence. After ten minutes of silence, I decide she’s been with her thoughts long enough.
It’s my turn.
I gently pull on the reins, bringing Ace to a halt, and Shadow follows suit. Standing on the stirrups, I swing one leg over and hop down.
“Are we here?” Blake searches the white fields around us. “I don’t see any large snow drifts. Do we just turn around now and go back?”
Rounding Ace’s head, I come to Shadow’s side and motion for Blake to dismount. I hold onto her hips as she mimics my movements.
She peers up at me, a furrow between her brows. “What are we doing?”
I don’t give her a verbal answer. Instead, I grab one of her hands and lead her to a spot beside the trail where the snow is thick. Blake analyzes me with her gaze, her skepticism loud and clear. Dropping her hand, I hold my arms out wide at my sides.
“Are we measuring your wingspan?” she jokes. “I already know you’re a tall guy. No surprise there.”
I smirk, then fall backward into the snow, performing an impromptu trust fall with Mother Nature. Blake lets out a startled shriek as I land on the icy cloud. Then I move my arms up and down and my legs in and out, dismissing the snow melting and dampening my clothes.
“You gave me a heart attack so you could make a snow angel?” she yells accusingly.
My only response is to chuckle.
“Santiago.”
More laughter.
“Santi.”
Lifting my head up, I pause my movements. “Yes?”
“You’re forty-five years old,” she points out like her statement is enough evidence for an argument.
I plop my head back down and continue making my angel. “Forty-eight,” I correct.
“That’s not helping your case,” she returns.
“Then I plead the fifth, Your Honor,” I joke back. When she doesn’t respond, I taunt her. “So you’re scared of horses and snow angels.”
“No,” she snaps.
“Prove it,” I challenge.
Her footsteps near as she mutters to herself, “This is ridiculous.” Despite her reluctance, she gets in the snow with me, creating her own snow angel. It’s not long before she’s laughing. I stop and sit up, witnessing the pure joy radiating from her.
I’d do anything and everything to keep her laughing like that.
She sighs and stops moving, gazing up at the sky with content written all over her face. I lie back down and look up with her. The sun is starting to go down, and the stars are making themselves known.
“Why do you call me that?”
I prop myself up on my elbow. “What?”
Blake holds her hands up, gesturing to the wonder above. “My sky. I may not be fluent, but I can follow what someone is saying.”
“Because that’s what you are,” I state plainly, like my reasoning is a given.
Her focus remains upward as her face pinches. “I’m the sky? Big, blue, and full of pollution?” She snorts, then makes a face. Sitting up, she mirrors my position. “Are you calling me a smurf?”
An obnoxious laugh bursts free. “No, smart ass.” She raises her brows, prompting me to explain. “You really want to know? Once I tell you, you can’t unhear it.”
“I want to know,” she confirms immediately.
“When I look at you, when I’m near you, I feel like I can breathe. It’s like I carry this weight on my chest and half the time I don’t even realize it. But when you’re here, and everything else is dark, and I can’t see, you hold up the stars so I can find my way.”
Tears form in the corners of her eyes as she shakily responds, “Don’t say things like that unless you mean them.”
“?Por qué no lo diría en serio?” Shuffling closer, I reach for her hand, and she responds by holding it out for me. Why wouldn’t I mean it?
One tear slips free. “Because, as I said earlier, you don’t know me anymore. I’m not some faultless beacon. I wreck things. I ruin everything I touch.”
I bring her hand to my lips and kiss each knuckle. “Then ruin me.”
Her tears fall freely, something stitching together in her eyes. She erases the space between us, wrapping her arms around me as her tears fall from her cheeks onto my coat. I embrace her back, holding her tight.
A minute later, my hat is knocked off my head, and hot breath tousles my hair. “The hell?” I open my eyes, looking for the cause, and I’m met with a black snout. Blake shifts back from our hug, chuckling at Shadow’s antics.
“What can I say?” Blake says, lifting her arms into a shrug. “She just wanted to make sure I was okay.”
Laughter fills the air around us, and I memorize this moment. I never want to forget it.
My phone rings in my front coat pocket. I contemplate ignoring it but decide against it. “Hey, what’s up?”
Walker’s voice is serious, as usual. “I need you to get over to Highway 109.”
I’m on my feet before he finishes his sentence, dragging Blake up with me. “What happened?”
Blake gnaws on her bottom lip. “What’s going on?”
“There’s been an accident,” Walker informs me.
I don’t like where this is going. My mind rolls through the various faces of people in my life, wondering which one of them is injured or worse.
“Who?”
Walker’s breath crackles through the phone.
“Walk, who was hurt?”
He still hesitates.
“Me.”