Chapter 7
Drew
The day I walked away from Jasmine and left her at the Doyles’s property was one of the darkest days of my life. I should never have sold her. I don’t even know why I did. I don’t need the money.
Carlos has been keeping an eye on things. He’s set up a camera that looks out to the paddock, and he makes sure Jasmine looks okay. My lawyers have told me that I don’t have much chance of getting her back unless we can prove she’s been mistreated, and from what Carlos has said, she’s doing okay. I know he’s not telling me everything, but I can’t bring myself to watch any of the footage. I wouldn’t be able to stay away if I saw something that didn’t feel right.
It’s a waiting game. A long game I wish would end. It’s been two weeks, and I’ve also not stopped thinking of Zara, the way she flinched and moved away from me, the tears that threatened to fall when she told me to go. After my anger calmed, I believed it wasn’t her decision and that it hurt her to kick me off their property. I just don’t understand her. She’s beautiful, seems to be bright, and she’s kind, from what I’ve seen. Is it just the connection with Jasmine that’s got me thinking of her twenty-four seven? I don’t think so.
That wouldn’t explain the long showers I’ve been taking, a vision of her on her knees with her perfect plump lips wrapped around my cock, my fingers wrapped in her hair, and her eyes staring up at me, full of tears as she takes me as far as she can until I explode, coating her throat with my cum. Fuck, I wish I could stop, but each time, it gets better and better, and now I have the need and desire to have her for real. I need to know what she’s like. I need to know if she’s as dirty as the girl I’ve imagined.
Tomorrow, I fly home to New York. My parents are having an anniversary party, and we’ve all been summoned. I don’t normally mind going but knowing that Jasmine could be in trouble tarnishes the excitement of seeing all of my brothers and the possibilities of getting laid.
I have a few girls I can call on back home when I need some light relief, but a couple of them are getting a bit clingy. They know I’ll be home for the party and have been texting nonstop offering to show me a good time. Normally, I’d be all over it, booking myself out left right and centre, but I don’t have the enthusiasm. I need to get laid, I know I do, but I don’t want anyone I’ve had before. I know who I want, but that is never going to happen. I remember Carter having a bit of an arrangement with one of the team on the private jet. I wonder if she’d be up for a bit of turbulence at 36,000 feet.
I smile at my own joke and call our pilot to arrange for her to be on our flight. He texts back saying that Carter had requested specifically for her not to be on board. This only fuels me. Carter has played some pretty shitty tricks on us over the years, and this might just be a way of getting him back. So, I tell the pilot not to worry, Carter is just being dramatic, and to make sure she’s on the flight.
When I board the plane, I can already tell I’ve made a monumental mistake, but as we take off, I realise there is no backing out, especially as Shelly, the hostess, shows me an awful lot of interest.
Carter is furious and his lady friend, Brook, looks so confused. She obviously doesn’t know too much about Carter and his ambition to fuck his way around the world. But looking at my brother now, I’ve never seen him look embarrassed and uneasy. I’m a bigger fucking prick then he could ever be. He’s pulled some stunts in his time, but this . . . I win the trophy for being the shittiest brother of all time.
There’s only one thing for it: take Shelly in the bedroom and get her out of the way of my brother and Brook.
Four rounds of mediocre sex and two shit blow jobs later, it’s time for us to land. I really don’t know what Carter saw in this woman. She’s so into the sex, I’m pretty sure she forgets the person she’s fucking or supposed to be getting fucked by. I had no ambition to take control, which is unheard of. I just wanted to keep her busy for the whole of the flight. But when she slapped me across the face and left scratches, I nearly threw her from the fucking plane.
Never again! I vow as I make my way back to my seat. Carter’s stare is like nothing I’ve seen before, and I can’t bear to look back at him, so I close my eyes and try to sleep for the last half hour.
I wake up to the sound of a vacuum cleaner and an empty plane. Carter and Brook have gone, and the pilot and Shelly are cleaning up, and it dawns on me: They fucking left me. They left me on the plane. I jump out of my chair and race down the steps, only to find the car that should be waiting for us is gone! Bastards.
“Hey, do you think you can get me some transport to the terminal?” I ask the pilot as he looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
“The car will be back for you soon. Your brother thought it best for you to sleep.”
“Thanks,” I mumble and take a seat on the last step of the plane. “Fucking bastards, why did they leave me here on my own?” I say to no one.
Because you were an asshole to your brother. A fucking sick bastard. And was it worth it? No!
The weird feeling I had before I left for New York is still there. I can’t work out now whether it’s missing Jasmine or Zara. I feel like I’ve spent so much time with her over the past two weeks, but it’s all been in my head and the palm of my hand. I don’t know her at all. But something in my gut tells me I want to. I really want to.
For the first time in forever, I don’t want to be here with my brothers. The two eldest, Braxton and Kane, are all loved up and have small babies. Carter is doting on Brook like she’s made of sugar crystal, which leaves me: a fuck up and the shittiest brother on the planet. Not that I’ll readily admit to it?—????Carter has held that trophy for many years; it’d be a shame to take it away from him.
After a quick visit with my brothers, I keep a low profile until the night of the ball. I don’t want to fall out with any of them, and by the looks they all gave me, I’m not their favourite person right now.
When I see my three brothers all coupled up, my heart wrenches to go home—back to the UK. Although this is home to me, too, I’m missing being in familiar surroundings, so when I get the opportunity, I lie and tell my brothers I’ve got to go back, that I’ve got a problem with a spoilt princess and a horse that’s giving them problems. I know they believe me, but it’s not a problem with Zara, it’s a problem with me, and one I need to do something about.
***
I land back in London, a plan forming as I drive the two-hour drive back to my home.
“You’re back early,” Carlos says when I pull up outside the stables.
“Wasn’t my bag. Too much to do here,” I say, not meeting his eyes.
“A party . . . not your bag? Really?” he asks, challenging my response.
“Yeah, anyway, we’ve got work to do if we’re going to win any races,” I snap back. The silence that comes from Carlos makes me realise I’m being a prick. “Sorry, it was a turbulent flight, and I’ve not slept well in . . . weeks.”
“Since you were thrown out of the Doyle’s property?”
I nod, admitting that I’m struggling with the whole deal.
“You know we can always offer a lot more money to get her back. I never understood why you sold her in the first place.”
“I don’t know either; it was like I was in denial of what that damned horse meant to me.”
“I think you were hypnotized by the princess.” Carlos laughs as he turns and walks away.
He’s not wrong.
After helping Carlos turn out the horses, I take a shower, and then the tiredness wins over, and when I wake, the stables below are quiet. As I turn over to go back to sleep, my brain comes alive, and the need to get up and go and see my girls overtakes me.
My girls? What the fuck? My girl . . . Jasmine.
It’s dark outside, and as I drive up to the Doyle’s, my heart pounds. What if he really does shoot me?
As I pull up around the stable block, I hear the unmistakable whinny from Jasmine. She sounds distressed, but the sound isn’t coming from the stables, it’s coming from the paddock.
I get out of the car and walk over to the fence. Jasmine comes running towards me, her focus solidly on me.
“Woah, girl. Slow it down,” I say, raising my hand as she gets closer and closer.
“What are you doing here?” a voice comes from behind me. Zara!
“I missed her. I wanted to check she’d settled.”
“Hmm, well, we’ve had a bit of an issue.”
“What issue? Why didn’t you call me?”
“She won’t come in. We’ve tried everything. And she’s so damn fast, we can’t catch her.”
“Are you joking? Leaving her out here for what . . . two weeks? She’s not been inside?”
“I know. We have tried though, and I’ve been going out and giving her food and water. She seemed happier out here though.”
Anger bursts through me, and it takes everything in me to not call Carlos and bring up the horse trailer.
“She’s a racehorse; she can’t stay out here. The damp grass on her leg could make her lame. Have you even exercised her?”
“What do you think? She won’t let us anywhere near her.”
“Us? Who else are you talking about?”
I can see Zara physically stiffen, and she bows her head.
“Who, Zara? Who have you had here helping you?”
“My cousin has been, and she hasn’t had any luck and . . .” She falls silent.
“Who? Who else?”
“Richard,” she mumbles.
“What? You let that asshole near my horse?”
“She’s not your horse anymore, and it wasn’t my idea. My father hired him. But I’m really glad you came. Father was talking about sedating her to be able to catch her.”
I turn away from Zara and look straight into Jasmine’s eyes. I rub my hands down my face and let out a deep growl. “Don’t you dare let them do that. You realise doing that means she can’t race?”
I pull out my phone and fire off a text to Carlos.
Drew: Bring the trailer up to the Doyle’s. I’m bringing her home.
Carlos: WTF. OKAY!
“What are you doing?” she asks, panic in her voice.
“Taking her away from here. You will not abuse her; do you hear me?”
“You can’t take her! She belongs to me!”
“Yeah, she does, and you’ve just agreed to let me take her.”
“I didn’t!” she cries. “You can’t. Father will kill me! He’ll kill us both!”
“Zara, I’m not scared of your father, but it’s the best thing for Jasmine. She’ll still be yours, and you can come and ride her anytime you like, but she’s coming home. I’ll even stable her for free.”
“You can’t! You don’t understand!” she cries again, and I’m half expecting her father to appear.
“Listen, if you keep her here, she will wither away. She doesn’t like it here, and if she’s not happy, you’re wasting your money. She’ll never win a race.”
“It’s not about the money, Drew. She is supposed to be my responsibility. I am supposed to look after her.”
“You can, just not here. Can you grab me a leading rein please?” I ask, hoping that she’ll go along with it.
“Drew . . . you can’t.”
“Okay,” I say and turn to walk into the stable block where all the tack is kept. A minute later, I return, wrap the lead around Jasmine’s neck, take off her headcollar that she’s been wearing for god knows how long, and open the gate.
It’s as if she knows I’ve come to save her. Jasmine walks alongside me perfectly. She doesn’t look too bad, so I grab her main and jump onto her back. There is no better feeling than being bareback on a horse. She’s lost weight, I can feel it, and she’s lost muscle, too. I sigh as I realise the monumental mistake I’ve made.
“I’m going to walk her home. Tell your father the deal is off, and I’ll transfer the money back to him as soon as I’m back home. If you want to see her, you can come anytime.”
“I don’t drive . . . How?”
“Call me, and I’ll get you picked up.”
“I don’t have a phone!” she calls after me as I set off walking down the drive.
Fuck!
“I’ll pick you up at 7:00 a.m. from the bottom of your driveway. Don’t be late. I don’t have time to piss about.”
I’m nearly halfway home by the time Carlos pulls up beside me.
“Are you fucking loco?” he asks as he stares at me on the horse.
“Just help me get her in the trailer quick before Doyle sends the cops after me.”
“You know this is theft?” he barks at me as I dismount.
“Really? Fuck! I better take her back then . . . Just shut up and help,” I snarl back.
“I’m not involved in this. I’m not getting sent down, and you do realise—”
“Carlos, you were never here,” I say, trying to appease him.
Jasmine enters the trailer with no problem, and it’s not long before I’m settling her back into her stall.
“Keep guard,” I tell Carlos as I walk away to go and get something to sleep on. Well, that plan went to shit fast!