Chapter 61
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
LOLA
Song- Fields of Elation, Sleep Token
The past week has gone by like a whirlwind.
Hunter has been busy, working with Ace and this huge Russian named Drago, who barely speaks but takes up the entire doorframe when he enters a room. They disappear into the barn office for hours at a time and come out looking more stressed than when they went in.
That is the energy here. But I’m starting to find my feet, sinking into the rhythm of this place in a way I didn’t think was possible for a girl who grew up thinking breakfast was a green juice handed to her by an assistant.
I wake up in Hunter’s arms. I cook breakfast for the house. I help Wyatt feed the animals. He’s appointed himself my official ranch tour guide and takes the role very seriously, walking me through the stables and introducing me to every horse by name, breed, and personality.
Tornado looked at me like he was deciding whether to tolerate me or trample me.
I did not realize horses could be possessive about their owners.
But that one absolutely is. He watches Hunter the way a jealous ex watches their replacement.
I’ve managed to get some incredible shots during quiet moments.
The mountains at golden hour. The horses silhouetted against the sunrise.
Wyatt chasing Gary through the paddock with his arms out like an airplane.
I haven’t posted any of them anywhere. But I’m building a collection that feels more like me than anything I ever shot in New York.
And now, the only thing looming over me is the fact that I’ll be on a flight to New York in the morning.
I don’t want to go.
I spent one night without my husband, when he was arrested, and I hated every second of it. The bed felt enormous and cold and wrong without his arm across my waist and his breathing against my neck.
But I promised my father. And a promise is a promise, even when it means walking back into the life I ran from.
I rest my arms on the fence and watch the ranch hands moving cattle through the field. It’s all still surreal to me.
I’ve only seen a small part of it. This place is a world to itself.
I feel Hunter behind me before I turn around. That shift in the air. The way the space changes when he’s in it.
He’s there, looking unfairly good in his work clothes and black cowboy hat. “What you thinkin’, baby?”
“That I don’t wanna go back to New York tomorrow,” I tell him honestly.
“It’s one night. You’ll be just fine.” He leans in and brushes my hair over my shoulder, his fingers trailing along my neck. “And if you hate it, you can just call me, and I’ll figure out some ways to make the time go quicker.”
The way he says it makes my cheeks heat. I know exactly what kind of phone call he means.
“I’ve spoken to Frankie. His wife is going to pick you up from the airport as soon as you land.”
I nod. Now that I know the truth about the dealings back home, there’s a nervousness sitting in my stomach that wasn’t there before. New York isn’t just my parents’ world anymore. It’s Frankie’s too.
Hunter’s finger traces along my collarbone. “I promised I’d teach you to ride. What do you think about having a go now?” He tips his hat back slightly. “There’s somewhere I’d like to show you.”
I step forward and snake my arms around his waist, pressing my face into his chest. Partly because I want to be close to him. Partly because I’m terrified. I can’t even use my injuries as an excuse because they’re fine now.
“You aren’t putting me on Tornado, are you?”
He chuckles, the sound vibrating through his ribs and into mine. “No. Tornado doesn’t like anyone but me.”
“I knew it. I swear he’s been side-eyeing me all week.”
“He’s just protecting his territory.” Hunter presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Kind of like his owner.”
He takes my hand and leads me into the stables. As we pass Tornado’s stall, he stamps and tosses his head, giving me a look that clearly says don’t even think about it.
“See?” I hiss. “He hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you. He’s dramatic.”
“Wonder where he gets that from,” I joke.
Hunter shoots me a look over his shoulder that’s half offended and half amused. He stops in front of a stall near the end. Inside is a smaller horse, a chestnut mare with a white blaze down her nose and the kindest eyes I’ve ever seen on any living thing.
“This is Penny,” Hunter says, reaching in to stroke her muzzle. “I broke her in for Wyatt. She’s as gentle as they come. Couldn’t spook her if you tried.”
Penny blinks at me, and I swear she smiles. She’s the cutie Wyatt introduced me to.
“Hi, Penny,” I say softly, holding out my hand.
She nuzzles into my palm, and my heart melts into a puddle on the stable floor. “Okay. I love her.”
“Knew you would.”
Hunter saddles her up with a practiced efficiency that makes the whole process look like second nature. Because for him, it is. He’s probably done this ten thousand times.
He leads Penny out into the yard and then turns to me. “Alright, city girl. Left foot in the stirrup. Grab the horn, that’s the front bit—and swing your right leg over.”
I stare at the stirrup. It’s higher than I expected. “It’s like… really high up.”
“It’s a horse, baby. Not a skyscraper.”
“From down here, there’s no difference.”
He laughs, cups his hands together, and offers them as a step. “Left foot. Push up. Swing over. I’ve got you.”
I put my foot in his hands, grab the horn, and push. There’s an incredibly ungraceful moment where I’m stuck halfway, one leg up, one leg dangling, arms flailing, and I let out a sound that’s somewhere between a yelp and a dying bird.
Hunter boosts me the rest of the way with one hand on my ass, and suddenly I’m sitting in the saddle.
On a horse.
Very high up.
“Oh my God,” I breathe.
“You good?”
“I’m on a horse, Hunter.”
“Yeah, baby. You are.” He grins up at me. “And you look damn good doing it.”
Penny shifts her weight, and I grab the horn with both hands. “She moved. Why did she move?”
“Because she’s alive.”
“Right. Okay. That’s fair.”
He adjusts my stirrups, shows me how to hold the reins, and how to use my heels and my seat to tell Penny what I want.
I’m totally out of my depth here.
“Don’t grip with your knees. Relax your hips. Let her carry you. She knows what she’s doing even if you don’t.”
“That’s rude.”
“It’s true.”
Hunter swings up onto Tornado, who, naturally, stands perfectly still for him like a gentleman and nudges him alongside Penny.
“We’ll take it slow. Just a walk to start. Let her do the work.”
We start moving. And it’s… terrifying. And completely unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
The first few minutes, I’m rigid, gripping the reins too tight, sitting too stiff, holding my breath every time Penny so much as twitches an ear.
But Hunter talks me through it. “Relax your shoulders. There you go. Sit back a little. Let your weight settle. She can feel everything you’re feeling, so the calmer you are, the calmer she is.”
Slowly, impossibly, I start to relax. My hips find the rhythm of Penny’s walk. My hands soften on the reins. My breathing evens out. And then something shifts, some invisible barrier between this animal and me dissolves, and I’m not just sitting on her anymore. I’m riding her.
“There she is,” Hunter says, smiling. “Look at you, city girl.”
I can’t help it. I grin.
This is freedom.
We ride out past the stables, past the east paddocks, through a gate that opens onto a dirt track I haven’t seen before. The ranch stretches out around us in every direction; it almost seems endless. “You okay to pick up the pace a little?” Hunter asks.
“Define a little.”
“A trot. Nothing crazy.”
“Will I bounce?”
“Yeah. A lot. Rise with her rhythm. Up, down, up, down. You’ll feel it.”
I burst into laughter. “Yeah. Kinda sounds like something I’m good at.”
“Damn right you are, pretty girl.”
He clicks his tongue, and Tornado moves into a trot. Penny follows automatically.
And I bounce. A lot.
The first thirty seconds are a disaster.
I’m being jolted around like a rag doll, my teeth rattling, my hands grabbing for anything solid.
But then I find it. The rhythm. Up when she goes up.
Down when she comes down. My body starts to sync with hers, and the chaos smooths out into something that almost feels natural.
“Hunter!” I shout. “I’m doing it!”
“Yeah, you are!” he calls back, and the pride on his face makes my chest expand until I think my ribs might crack.
We ride for another twenty minutes. The track narrows, winding through clusters of mesquite and juniper, then opens up again as we crest a low ridge.
And then I see it.
A lake, tucked into a basin between two gentle slopes, the water is so still it mirrors the sky perfectly. Beyond it, the mountains. Not distant anymore. Close enough that I can see the texture of the rock, the dark lines of canyons, the way the shadows pool in the valleys.
I pull Penny to a stop. I don’t even think about how I do it. My hands and my body just know. “Hunter,” I breathe. “This is…”
I don’t have the word. Beautiful doesn’t cover it. Stunning is too small. There is no word in any language I know for the feeling of standing at the edge of something so vast and untouched that it makes every problem you’ve ever had feel like a speck of dust.
“This is my favorite place on the ranch,” he says, pulling Tornado up beside me.
“I come here when I need to think. When everything gets too loud.” He looks out at the water. “My dad used to bring me here when I was Wyatt’s age. We’d sit right there on that bank and fish until the sun went down.”
My throat tightens.
“And at night,” he says, turning to look at me, “this whole basin fills with fireflies.”
My eyes sting.
“Fireflies?”
He nods. A smile that’s softer than anything I’ve ever seen on him.
“That’s why I call you that, Lola. You walked into my life like a light in a place I thought was dark. My firefly.”
I press my hand over my mouth, and the tears come before I can stop them. They’re not sad tears, not scared tears. They are the kind that happen when something slots into place so perfectly that your body doesn’t know how to contain it.
“Will you bring me back here at night?” I ask. “I want to see them.”
“Anytime you want.”
We sit there for a while. Side by side on our horses, looking out at the water, the mountains, the sky turning from gold to amber to the deep purple that comes just before the stars.
He doesn’t speak. Neither do I. We don’t need to.
This is the place he brought me to show me who he really is. Not the mafia boss. Not the rancher. Not the man who kills people and buries them in unmarked graves.
Just Hunter. The boy who fished with his dad. The man who named me after the lights in his favorite place on earth.
Eventually, he turns Tornado, and I follow on Penny, and we ride back in the fading light. He even shows me the animal rescue center that he and Colt set up. I’ve also learned that Colt has a favorite animal. Some kind of lizard.
Oh, and they have so many animals that could kill me. And I didn’t have a clue.
A jaguar. Bears. I thought my main enemy was a damn snake. Turns out, there are a lot more.
And Hunter has a specialist center with a vet to help any injured animals. Even the ones that would eat us. They all deserve a chance.
Which is cute. But scary.
By the time we reach the stables, the sky is nearly dark, and the first stars are appearing above the mountains.
Hunter dismounts in one fluid motion and comes around to help me down. I swing my leg over and slide into his arms. He catches me easily, holding me against him for a beat longer than necessary.
“You did good, city girl,” he murmurs against my temple.
“I rode a horse, Hunter.” I grin into his chest. “I actually rode a horse.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“And I didn’t fall off.”
“And you didn’t fall off.” He confirms.
“And I only screamed once.”
“Twice.”
“Once.”
“Twice, baby. I counted.”
I shove his chest. He catches my hand and pulls me back in. He kisses me in the stable doorway with the horses shuffling behind us.
I pull back and look at him. “Thank you for showing me that place.”
“It’s yours now, too. All of it.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “The lake. The view. The fireflies. This ranch. It’s all yours, Lola. Every acre.”
I rest my forehead against his chest and close my eyes.
Tomorrow I fly to New York. Back to my parents. Back to the world I left behind. Back to champagne and cameras and people who know me by a name I don’t want anymore.
But tonight I’m standing in a stable in Arizona with dirt on my jeans and the smell of horse on my hands. And I have never been happier.
This is where I belong.
And I’m coming back.
But I need some more of my husband before I leave him for the weekend.