Chapter 5 Hestia #2
Shouts suddenly echoed through the yard; something bashed against metal, and a gate slammed shut. I could see dust rising from a fenced-off corral near the white barn at the far end, and then came a gut-wrenching sound like a horse screeching in pain.
I looked around, wide-eyed, catching the grimace of the older woman in front of me. Seeing my confusion, she shook her head.
‘The Taylors are assholes,’ she murmured as we watched two men approach the gate, clearly trying to find out what was going on, only to be dismissed by whoever was inside the corral.
‘Ain’t nothing good that happens to animals in their hands.
I’ve seen that horse before. She’s just got spirit, is all.
Looks a bit different, funny mix of somethin’ – but she’d do someone proud.
But she won’t be told, not in the way they do it anyway. ’
I nodded, the sound of the horse’s pain still echoing in my mind.
‘What’ll happen to her, if no one buys her?’ I asked quietly as we moved up the queue and the woman placed her coffee order.
She winced.
‘You’re not from round here, are ya?’ I shook my head. ‘Well, I’m sorry to say that she’ll likely end up getting taken over the Canadian border. They still take horses for slaughter up there. It’s a damn shame, but ain’t nobody got time to work on horses like that any more.’
I ordered my coffee, holding up a hand as she walked away. That’s when it hit me: the way she’d described the horse, the painful memory that now surfaced.
Your mother and I don’t have the time to indulge you any more. If you won’t take good advice from us, you’ll bloody well take it from a professional. We don’t need your nonsense. Darken someone else’s door with it.
Gritting my teeth, I gripped the cup and stared at the gate.
My feet made the decision for me as I began to stride across the yard. I knew I would likely draw attention, and despite the cowboy hat, the rest of me was all city.
Even as I reached the corral, my head and heart were warring. I knew fuck all about horses. This wasn’t my world. I was leaving to go home in a couple of days with no way of knowing when I’d come back. There was nothing I could do, was there?
Except, when I approached, what I saw stopped me dead.
In the far corner of the corral, hidden behind high fencing, one man was holding the horse – a shimmering dark copper colour all over – while another brought what looked like a long, thin pole down across its back.
Rearing up, the horse jerked sideways and body-slammed into the fence, crying out again in pain, eyes flashing, tremors rolling through its body.
A lump gathered in my throat, tears immediately springing up behind my eyes.
‘Hey!’ I yelled, banging my fist against the gate. ‘What the fuck are you doing? Stop it right now, or I’ll call the police.’
Both faces whipped towards me, and after a moment, one of them started laughing.
‘Ain’t your business, woman. Fuck off.’
I’d worked long and hard to box my anger away, lid on firmly. But in that moment, it didn’t just come off – the whole fucking box exploded.
Throwing my coffee against the side of the barn, I tried to wrench open the gate, but there was some kind of lock on the side. Instead, I climbed up the bars, placing both hands on the top to vault over and landing with a thud in the dirt on the other side.
‘You okay, ma’am?’ said a voice from behind me. I turned briefly, meeting the eyes of a concerned but kindly looking older cowboy.
‘I need Jesse and Bailey, from the Diamond Back, big red trailer over by the main ring – can you find them, quickly? Please?’
He nodded as our gazes met before turning away and striding out over the yard.
‘What the hell are you doin’?’ yelled the guy with the stick, his expression darkening as I strode towards him. ‘Like I said, this ain’t your—’
‘It is my fucking business, because I want to buy that horse, right now. But only if you back the fuck away from it with that pole. Touch that horse again, and it won’t be money I’ll be giving you. Believe me.’
The bemused smirk on the other man’s face turned dark as he fought against the horse, now throwing her head up in fear as I approached.
‘You? Want this piece of shit?’ he said, eyebrow raised.
I’d heard some of the prices thrown around in the sale ring, but even so, I had no idea what would swing it here or the implications of what I was doing.
‘I’ll give you five hundred dollars and you’ll hand her over right now,’ I demanded, coming to a stop in striking distance of the pole.
He grunted, shaking his head in disgust.
‘Who the fuck even are you—’
‘Five hundred,’ I repeated, cutting him off. ‘And your worst fucking nightmare, if you want me to be.’
Eyes narrowed, he glanced down at me, his gaze lingering on my face.
‘A thousand,’ he countered. Even though I knew he was full of shit, the relief that he was engaging with my offer was so overwhelming that tears almost welled again.
‘Seven fifty. Final offer.’
The other guy looked over at him, acknowledgement passing between them.
‘Fine. I want it in cash,’ he said, finally throwing the damn pole to the ground, the horse flinching as he did so. ‘We ain’t letting her go until we got it.’
My stomach dropped. I only had cards on me, no easy way of getting hold of cash.
‘Hestia?’
I turned to see Jesse and Bailey at the gate, Jesse registering my expression. Without hesitation, he hooked his leg up on the gate and vaulted over, striding right towards me. The urge to meet him in the middle was unbearable.
‘What the fuck?’ he said as he reached me, taking one look at my face, his hands on my shoulders for a moment. ‘What did they do?’
He turned to face them, his jaw hardening as he took in their stance, the horse pressed against the fence and the pole in the dirt.
‘Fucking assholes,’ he growled, starting towards them. I caught his hand, pulling him to a stop.
‘I need cash – seven hundred and fifty. I bought her, the horse. I have the money, I just need to get it from an ATM, or a bank.’ He looked back at me, stunned. ‘Please, Jesse. I need your help.’
Staring, his forehead creasing as his eyes flicked between mine, he took a breath and reached out with his spare hand, gently wiping my cheek. Then, without a word, he let go of my other hand and reached into his jeans pocket, pulling out a thick roll of notes.
Before I could say anything, he turned and walked over to the guy holding the horse’s head.
‘It’s five hundred,’ he said, holding up the cash. ‘Or, it’s five hundred and my fist in your face, followed by a call to the livestock board to report this shit. Your choice.’
The man shook his head, but handed over the horse’s reins as he snatched the money.
‘Congratulations,’ he spat. ‘You just bought the biggest pain-in-the-ass mule in the state. Looks like they’re made for each other.’
He gestured towards me with a flick of his head and I saw Jesse’s stance change, his fist curling and back tensing.
‘Jesse, you bring that poor girl here. I’ll help ya load up.’
I turned at the steel in Bailey’s voice. She was jogging across the dirt towards us, her forehead drawn into a grim line.
‘You okay?’ she mouthed, frowning as I looked over, nodding briefly.
The two men stared at them before turning away as Jesse soothed the horse, now skittering sideways, the bleeding open wounds on her back visible as she drew closer. As they stalked off, Bailey approached the horse, working with Jesse to walk her slowly to the gate.
I realized my hands were shaking as I held one to my mouth, not able to take my eyes off the horse. Her eyes were white-rimmed and terrified, the pain and fear obvious; her distress radiated, hitting me square on. My own chest ached in response.
Jesse glanced back at me, murmuring something to Bailey before coming over. This time, just as before, my feet took over and I moved towards him, our bodies meeting in a rush as I pressed against him, my hat falling into the dirt.
Wordlessly, he wrapped his arms around me as my tears fell for real now, my hands gripping his shirt until my knuckles turned white. Rage, sadness and rejection took turns churning through me, a storm dredging the sand beneath the waves and turning the water dark.
Only Jesse’s steady breathing, the feeling of his hand holding the back of my head, stopped me from drowning.