Chapter 30
30
Essie
E veryone decided to meet up at the Painted Cat to celebrate the day we got home to Aspen Springs. James and Adam arrived with Zack on his crutches. Chloe and Hannah were there, as well. Janie had the night off, so for once she got to drink with us instead of serving us.
But she still snuck behind the bar to make me a special cocktail. “It’s a black and white, in honor of Pirate.”
She poured white rum, coconut rum, simple syrup, and cream over ice, then topped it with cocoa-infused dark rum. The result was a stunning black-and-white layered drink that made us all gasp in appreciation.
It tasted good, too.
“Yum.” I wiped the froth from my upper lip.
Brax took a sip from my glass and his eyebrows shot up. “If you drink more than one of these, I’ll have to carry you out. Not that I’m opposed to that.”
I laughed. “This is going to be my only drink tonight. Five a.m. comes early.”
Brax smirked in the knowledge that he could sleep in until eight. “Mind if I go keep Zack company?”
I glanced past him to where Zack was sitting sideways in a booth, his cast stretched out on the bench. “He looks like he could use some cheering up.”
Brax ordered two beers, pecked me on the lips, and nodded to my friends. “Ladies.”
“Hm,” James said thoughtfully, and I realized she was watching me.
And I was watching him.
I blushed. Seriously blushed. There wasn’t much that could embarrass me, but apparently, swooning over my husband was one of those things. “What?” I said defensively. “He’s got a nice ass.”
“Oh, for sure,” James agreed. “But I’m more interested in that sweet little kiss he gave you. It sure didn’t look like a kiss between mortal enemies. It didn’t look like it was for show, either. The competition is over, anyway. What would be the point?”
“Whatever,” I mumbled into my glass.
James considered me with her head tilted. “Anything you want to share with me, Essie? ”
“Fine.” I took a long swallow of my drink and let the alcohol give me courage. “Maybe our marriage isn’t so fake anymore.”
“Oh, Essie.” James cupped my face, squishing my cheeks in her palms. “Maybe it never was.”
“Rude,” I said through my smushed lips.
“What’s going on?” Chloe asked, pulling herself from a side conversation with Hannah and Janie.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “James is congratulating me again, that’s all.”
“Oh, is she congratulating you because your sham marriage is actually the real thing and now you don’t have to lie to your best friends anymore?” Chloe asked. She leaned her elbow on the bar, cupped her chin on her palm, and stared at us with those green cat eyes of hers.
James let go of my face and my jaw flapped open. “How did you know?”
“Essie.” Hannah pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, all the better to stare me down. “You happened to get engaged right after Zack is too injured to ride a horse you love so much you literally stole him, and immediately sign up to ride in the owner division? Come on, now. We all knew.”
“All of you?” I looked to Janie for confirmation.
She nodded. “We were going to take bets on your divorce date, but that didn’t work out. ”
“Why?” I asked. “Did you think it would end in murder instead?”
“No.” James snorted. “Because not a single one of us thought you would get divorced.”
“There’s still time,” I said flippantly, but my stomach cramped from the mere thought of it.
People get divorced all the time . That’s what I had said to Brax, that day in his office. It was true, there was no denying that. But I didn’t want it to be true for us.
And that mean little voice kept reminding me that he had walked away from me before, and there was nothing I could do to stop him from doing it again.
“Need to hit the ladies’ room,” I muttered. When James took a step behind me, I added, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She nodded and settled back on her barstool.
I didn’t do anything silly like ruin my makeup by splashing water on my face, but after a few deep breaths while staring my reflection dead in the eyes and reminding myself that I was Essie Fucking Price, with or without a man, I was ready to return to celebrating.
Until a rough hand clamped down on my wrist. “I want my money.”
I stared at his weathered hand, shocked by his audacity to actually touch me, and then slowly raised my eyes to Alan Gaffney’s leering face. “We all want things, Alan, but if you don’t remove your hand from my arm, the only thing you’re going to want is an ambulance ride to the hospital.”
It wasn’t an idle threat. Jack had taught me how to fight. Not just how to fight—how to fight like a girl. He had shown me how to take down someone bigger and stronger than myself, on the reasonable assumption that my attacker would be male. With Alan, it wouldn’t even be that hard. He was taller, but he had all the muscle mass of a man who spent his life on a barstool.
“Pirate is my horse,” Alan said. “When he wins, I get paid.”
“Pirate belongs to Braxton Hale,” I reminded him. “Or are you too drunk to remember selling him?”
“I remember, girlie. I remember that Brax and me are co-owners. I have just as much a right to that horse and his winnings as Brax does.”
I froze. “What?”
Alan’s fingers dug into my tendons, but I didn’t wince. “He owes me my share. And if he doesn’t pay it in a timely manner, maybe I’ll take my horse back home where he belongs.”
My gaze shot to where Brax was sitting in a booth with Adam and Zack. He wouldn’t let that happen, would he? But then again, he had allowed Alan, the very man who had left Pirate to wilt in his own filth, to still own him, if what Alan said was true.
I couldn’t make sense of it. How could Brax have done this ?
And how could he have kept it from me?
“Excuse me, I need to borrow my husband for a minute.” I rested my palm on his shoulder and smiled wide at Adam and Zack.
“What’s—” Brax’s voice cut off as he got a good look at my face. My smile might have fooled the others, but it didn’t fool him. His eyebrows pushed together in a dark frown and he got to his feet. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
I took his elbow and maneuvered him to an unoccupied corner of the bar.
“Hey.” Brax tilted my chin, eyes scanning my face. “What’s going on?”
“I just had an interesting conversation with Alan Gaffney.” My grip tightened on his elbow. “Please tell me it’s not true.”
The ensuing pause sent my heart right into my stomach. “Brax,” I said.
“I can’t tell you it’s not true when I don’t know what he said.” He stepped closer. “Tell me.”
“He said I owe him money.” My gaze dropped to his chest. I had an awful feeling that Brax wasn’t going to be able to refute Alan’s claim. “He said he was a part-owner of Pirate and is entitled to his share of his winnings. Is that true? ”
His frown deepened. “He had no business talking about that with you. His contract is with me. Whatever he earns, it doesn’t come out of your share, so don’t worry about that. Where is he? I’m going to?—”
I pushed away from him. “So it is true?” My voice was shrill. “How could you keep this from me? Why didn’t you tell me?”
I didn’t wait for an answer. I whirled away, but only made it half a step before Brax caught me by the belt loop of my jeans and hauled me back.
“Oh, no, you don’t, hellion,” he said as I fell backward against his torso. With one hand on my hip, he wrapped his other arm across my chest, keeping me in place. “You’re not running away from me all mad like that without giving me a chance to explain. Okay?”
I nodded stiffly.
“The day you stole Pirate, I realized the only way to make everything turn out okay was to buy the horse. But you know Alan. He didn’t want to sell. He wasn’t making a dime off that horse, but he sure did like to brag about the millions he would earn from Pirate’s sperm someday.”
I wrinkled my nose. I remembered. That was exactly why Alan had refused to sell Pirate to me in the first place.
“So I made him a more palatable offer. He would be a part-owner and get a percentage of Pirate’s earnings in the ring and at stud. That way, Alan could keep right on doing what he loved best. Bragging.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Fuck. Alan was a part owner? I hated that. He had nearly killed Pirate from neglect. He didn’t deserve that horse. But even more importantly, what did that mean for Pirate? “He said if he doesn’t get his money, he’s taking Pirate back to his place. I can’t let him, Brax. I?—”
“What?” Brax let out a startled laugh. He turned me around in his arms to face him. “Essie, no . In the first place, I’ll pay him. Alan will get his precious money. In the second place, do you really believe I’d let an asshole like Alan have any say whatsoever in the care of an animal I own? We have a contract. He’s a one-percent owner. He gets absolutely no say in Pirate’s life, and he sure as hell can’t take him away.”
“Really?” I let his words sink in. Alan had made it sound so much worse. “Why didn’t you tell me, then?”
“Because I—” He looked away and blew out a breath. “Because I knew you’d hate it. I hate it. Just on principle. That trash doesn’t deserve Pirate, not even one percent of him. I knew you’d feel that ten times more than I did. I figured it didn’t matter in the long run, since I’d pay Alan from my share of Pirate’s earnings. You never had to know. I wanted…I wanted you to be happy, Essie.”
“That is a terrible reason, Brax,” I said sternly, even though my heart was melting my anger into nothing. “You should have told me. I would have understood.”
“I know,” he said softly, but there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. Like maybe he didn’t know.
It hurt my feelings, this constant belief that I must be protected at all costs. That people had to do things for me or keep things from me because I was too wild and impulsive to act in my own best interest.
Which was absolute bullshit.
I could take care of myself just fine.
“What’s wrong with your wrist?” Brax asked, interrupting the silent argument I was having with him. “Why are you rubbing it like that?”
I hadn’t even realized that’s what I was doing. I glanced down. My wrist was a little achy and red, and a bruise the size of Alan’s thumbprint was forming on the pale underside. “It’s nothing. Alan and I had a little disagreement, that’s all.”
Brax’s eyes are black as night in the dimly lit bar. “Alan did this to you?” he asked, quiet rage simmering in his voice.
“He thought we weren’t done talking. I informed him we were.” I glared at the bruise. “I would have laid him flat if I hadn’t been so worried he could use that to take Pirate from me.”
A muscle flickered in his cheek. “Where is he?”
“Don’t,” I warned, and I meant it. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. Had I known he was only a one- percent owner, he’d be out back looking for his teeth right about now. But the moment is over. You can’t go chasing him down now because that’s not self-defense. That’s assault.”
For some reason, that didn’t seem to amuse him the way it should have.
“It’s a lawyer joke,” I explained. “Because you’re a lawyer.”
He stared at me, his jaw locked tight, his eyes fathomless. Not finding me funny in the slightest, apparently.
I sighed and glanced around. James and Adam were making an early exit to get home to Ben, and they were taking Zack with them. He was healing pretty well, but with his leg in a cast, he didn’t stay out late, and he didn’t drive.
“Don’t worry about Alan. I can handle him myself. Can we go home now?” I linked my elbow with Brax’s and tugged him along. “It’s been a long week, and I don’t want to end a celebration on a bad note. Let’s go get naked.”
He allowed me to pull him out of the Painted Cat. We met up with James, Adam, and Zack in the parking lot and said our goodbyes.
“See you bright and early tomorrow morning, Essie!” James said with a shit-eating grin.
I grinned right back. I couldn’t wait to get back to work .
“Actually, could you give Essie a ride home?” Brax asked. “There’s something I need to take care of.”
My gaze shot to his. “Brax?—”
“I’m going to pay him, okay? Don’t worry.”
I hesitated. “I could wait for you.”
“You have an early morning. Get some rest.” He pressed a quick, sweet kiss to my lips. “I’ll see you at home. Thirty minutes, tops.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
But all the way home, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should have stayed.