Chapter Eleven #2
Sage batted her hand. “Who cares about age gaps?” she said, winking at me. Bitch. She tapped Horatio’s arm again. “And tell her about Stephanie from France making a play for the CEO of Sandings Bank.”
Sage reeled off every bit of gossip Horatio had gathered in the week they’d been here without us.
Sage was careful to keep her name out of the gossip mill, but she sure as hell loved hearing about everyone else.
The fact was, equestrian competitions could be as dramatic as any reality TV show.
When you were on the road for the better part of a year, far away from family and your home, things happened.
Often scandalous things, and perfect fodder for rivals.
“And how have you learned all of this?” I asked Horatio. “That’s a lot of information for being here all of five minutes.”
“We were at a bar last night, and Alexis Hobbs was there. The horse dealer.” I’d heard of her—and it hadn’t been positive. She was known to be ruthless and would do anything to get her own way. “She was telling us all over drinks.”
She was also known to have the biggest fucking mouth in the industry. I’d never met the woman, but I already didn’t like her for her shitty morals alone.
“Be careful,” I said to Horatio. He stilled at my serious tone.
“People like Alexis Hobbs ply staff with drinks to get them to spill secrets about their sponsors and bosses that people like her have no business knowing.” I squeezed his arm.
I didn’t want to reprimand him, but I’d seen how private Jasper and his family were and didn’t want anything to get out into the rumor mill.
“I know,” Horatio said. “Leon and Mr. Knighton have already warned us off her.” I nodded, hating that, in this moment, I sounded like the fun police. But we were here to win and win honestly. I’d seen enough Alexis Hobbs types growing up with my aunt.
“Protect yourself,” Sage said to Horatio, backing me up. But then she turned to her groom and whispered, “But keep funneling me the gossip you get about everyone else.” She was fucking hopeless.
I turned to Mila and rolled my eyes at our friends.
Mila headed to Huxley, and I followed her.
When Sage and Horatio were embroiled in another no doubt juicy story, Mila said, “I knew Horatio wouldn’t have been able to keep that all to himself.
He’s been busting at the gut for Sage to get here.
” I sighed, and Mila said, “He seems a bit daft and immature, but Horatio has his head screwed on. He’s been in this game for a while now, and he loves Golden Oaks and the Knighton family.
He wouldn’t put himself in the position to hurt them in any way. I promise.”
I trusted Mila, so I nodded and pushed it from my mind. Turning to my horse, I ran my hand down Huxley’s neck as he bent down to eat. When Mila shut the stable door and bolted my stallion inside, I said, “Are we prepared for the trot up tomorrow?”
“Yes,” she said, then grimaced. “He’ll be ready to impress!”
“Perfect. Thank you,” I said.
“Are you nervous?” Mila asked.
I shook my head. “I love the trot ups.” It was true. It was where I found my footing. Where my feet hit the show’s ground and centered me. “It puts me in competition mode.”
Trot ups were inspections, where the horses registered in the Grand Prix were led around an area for the judges to ensure they were fit to compete.
A commotion suddenly came from my right, hushed whispers from the staff in our section of the stable yard and beyond. When I turned, my gaze slammed into Jasper Knighton’s. The minute our eyes met, fire suffused my body.
Jasper’s attention was solely on me, even though he spoke to a man dressed in traditional Qatari clothes.
Jasper nodded his head, giving the illusion that he was listening to whatever the man said, but his chocolate-brown eyes were locked on me.
His jaw was clenched, and he was staring at me like he was ready to fuck propriety, throw me down on the stable floor, and fuck me to oblivion.
This was more intense than yesterday in the plane. Right now, he looked unhinged. I didn’t think this man could get any more good looking. I was wrong.
My breathing stuttered, and I broke away from his focus, busying myself by ducking into Huxley’s stall and checking him over again. Hiding behind my horse, I leaned on the stall’s wall and tried to cool down.
What the hell was that? Why was Jasper staring at me like that?
Then I stilled. There was no way . . . I blinked and peered through the metal sides of the stall.
Jasper was still there. He was facing the man now, but every now and then, his gaze would drift to this stall, brows pulled down as he searched for me.
I pushed myself back against the wooden wall some more and felt lightheaded.
The shower.
The shower where I’d come, screaming his name. There was no way he’d heard me, right? Surely the walls were thick enough that it would be soundproof. Yeah. I was thinking too much of it. Maybe he’d been recalling our little run-in on the plane. Yeah, that was it . . .
Then the blood drained from my face. The window. I’d left the window open in my hotel bathroom . . . where I’d screamed as I’d come . . . screaming Jasper’s name.
No, I told myself. He couldn’t have heard anything. I was sure.
I did a good job convincing myself of my lie and left Huxley’s stall.
The minute I came out, I felt Jasper watching me again.
I didn’t turn to look, because if I did, I might have to really entertain the possibility that Jasper heard me getting myself off in the shower, to the thoughts of him pounding into me.
Nope. I wouldn’t go there.
“Jasper Knighton,” I heard someone say, a tone of mockery in his voice.
I tried not to turn around, but when Jasper said, “McGowen,” in a tight tone, I couldn’t help myself. Jake McGowen stood on the other side of the gate that separated our horses from the next stable block.
Jake was tall and blond with blue eyes. He was conventionally good looking, but the fact was, he had nothing on Jasper.
That stood for the competition too. A huge deal was always made of the rivalry between them, but Jake wasn’t a fraction of the rider Jasper was, and when they were on the circuit, competing in teams or in the Olympics, Jasper dominated on Henry.
Jasper crossed his arms over his chest. Everything in his stance screamed “back the fuck off.” That didn’t deter Jake. “I didn’t see your name on the rider’s list,” Jake said.
“Because it’s not,” Jasper said. His voice was cold and brutal, like an arctic blast. Hatred for this man pulsed off him in icy waves. Jake smiled wide, and I had the sudden urge to walk over and punch him in the face.
“Shame,” McGowen said. “I have a mare this year who is going to eat this competition up.”
Jasper laughed sardonically and said, “This mare . . . is she pumped full of PEDs, or is she natural?”
Jake’s cocky smile fell off his face. “That’s low, even for you,” he snapped.
Jake moved to walk away but then caught me watching the heated exchange. “Hallie Oakley!” he said, his toned laced with excitement. “Welcome to the tour. It’s about time you joined the big leagues. I’ve been keeping an eye on you in the Unders.”
Jasper blocked me from Jake’s view and said, “Don’t fucking harass my riders.” I’d never heard Jasper be so unkind, so unfeeling as I did in that moment.
I peeked around Jasper’s broad body to see Jake’s hands held up, but the cocky smirk on his face was back in place. “I wasn’t aware saying hello was harassment.” Jake found me again, and he said, “Nice to finally meet you, Hallie. We’ll speak more when your jailer isn’t around.”
“Leave,” Jasper said and turned to the man from Qatar he’d been speaking to before. “Is he stabled near us?”
“No,” the man said. “He’s on the other end of the yard.” That seemed to appease Jasper somewhat, if the relaxing of his shoulders was anything to go by. But Jasper watched Jake walk away, only continuing his talk with the man once Jake was well out of sight.
“My panties are wet,” Sage whispered into my ear as she came to stand beside me.
“Fuck me, Hals. That was so hot.” She nudged me.
“Jasper is a total alpha.” I turned to Sage, begging her with my gaze to stop talking.
Sage ignored me, of course. “You won’t be able to walk for days after he’s done with you. ”
“He won’t be ‘done with me,’ as you say. That can’t happen.”
Sage laughed, hard, and said, “Okay, Hals. Keep pretending that if it makes you feel better.”
Fefe chose that moment to whinny and kick her stable door. “Baby girl, you need to chill,” Sage said, and went straight over to her high-maintenance mare to calm her down.
“That’s one of the owners of this venue,” Mila said, pointing to the man Jasper was now walking away with. “Abdul Hashim. He and his family are huge fans of horse sports.” I nodded, but I couldn’t get the way Jasper reacted to Jake out of my head.
Turning back to Huxley, I grabbed a brush and began to groom him. He didn’t really need it, but I had to keep myself busy.
“Head in the game, Hals,” I said to myself in regard to Jasper. “Focus on the competition. No distractions. You’re here to compete. To make it to the top.”
But just hearing Jasper be so dominant was impossible to forget. Don’t harass my riders . . . His harsh tone, his taut body, and his smooth accent all wrapped around my heart.
Lord, give me strength.