Chapter 18
Eighteen
Wyatt
It was early evening, I’d spent all day at the brewery, and now I was elbow deep in the engine of an old baler when Holt jogged across the yard toward me. He looked uneasy, and Holt never looked uneasy.
“She called.”
My pulse snapped tight. “Tessa?”
He handed me my phone. “She’s called three times.”
I wiped my hands on a rag and hit callback. She answered on the first ring, breathless and shaking.
“Wyatt.” Just my name, but said in a way that punched me straight in the sternum.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ray’s old cutting horse. She’s down in her stall. Rolling. Sweating. You’re closer than Brooke. I don’t need her out, but I need help getting the horse up.” Her words were fast, and while she was making sense, there was panic hiding in her voice.
Colic, shit.
“I’ll be right there.”
“I tried walking her. She keeps trying to throw herself down. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know how to stop it.”
“You did the right thing calling me.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“Oh, believe me, I know.”
I hung up before I could say anything else stupid and grabbed Holt. “Bring the colic kit, a lead rope, and gloves.” He didn’t question it. We climbed into the truck and tore down the gravel road faster than was smart.
When we pulled into her yard, Tessa was already outside the barn, pacing like an animal that didn’t know whether to run or fight. Her hair stuck to her forehead, her shirt was damp with sweat, and her hands were shaking hard enough that I could see it from the truck.
“She’s in here,” she said quietly, leading us inside.
The mare was down, flanks heaving, sides drenched with sweat as she rolled and kicked at her belly, eyes wild with pain. It was bad colic, the kind that didn’t leave room for denial.
“What did you give her today?” I asked.
“Just her feed,” Tessa said. “Not much. And she had plenty of water. She was fine this morning.”
“It can come on fast.”
“I know that, I’m not stupid,” she snapped.
“I didn’t say you were.” I wasn’t sure if I’d ever met a woman who was so maddening, but at least right now I could pinpoint the reason.
She rubbed her arms hard like she was trying to hold herself together. “I’m scared.”
I knelt next to the mare and pressed my hand to her belly, checking for tension. Her gut was tight, too tight. Holt handed me the stethoscope, and I listened, already knowing what I was about to find. There was nothing. Not a single sound.
“Tessa,” I said as I stood. “She needs to be walked hard. We can’t let her go down again.”
“I tried. I can’t hold her alone. She’s too strong.” Tessa shook her head.
“That’s why we’re here.”
“On your feet, girl,” I murmured, guiding the mare up while Tessa pulled carefully at the halter. It took all three of us to get her standing, and when she swayed, Tessa let out a sharp, broken sound that twisted something low in my chest.
“We walk her. Don’t let her stop.”
We started moving the mare in slow circles through the barn aisle, Tessa on one side of her head, me on the other, Holt behind her, pushing gently when she tried to stall out. She kept stumbling, jerking sideways, trying to throw herself down.
Every time she lurched, Tessa panicked. “Stop. Don’t fall. Please don’t fall.”
“Breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
“You’re not.”
“I am,” she snapped, and her voice cracked on the last word.
The mare rolled her shoulder hard without warning and nearly crushed her. I grabbed Tessa around the waist and yanked her out of the way in one rough motion. She slammed into my chest, her hands fisting in my shirt, her breath hot against my throat as she dragged in air.
For one dangerous second, she stayed there before she shoved me away. “Don’t touch me.”
“If you want to stay alive, I’m going to touch you.”
“That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t a joke.”
We herded the mare through the barn, sweat dripping from all of us, and out to the pasture. The immediate temperature change sent a shiver down my spine, but it was welcome.
“Keep her moving. She needs the pressure to shift.”
Tessa shot me a look through hair plastered to her cheek. “I’m trying.”
“You’re doing good,” I said softly.
“Don’t patronize me.” Tessa rolled her eyes, and I wanted to toss her over my knee. Good lord, this woman got on every nerve I possessed.
We walked until my shoulders burned and Holt’s shirt was soaked through. The mare panted, foam streaking her neck, every part of her screaming distress. Tessa looked like she might break in two.
“Wyatt,” she said suddenly. “Is she going to die?”
“No.”
Her eyes flashed. “Stop lying to me.”
“I’m not.”
“You think I can’t handle the truth. After everything else. After Ray. After the bank. After all of it.”
I held her gaze. “I think you’re exhausted, scared, and trying to carry this alone.”
Her lip trembled. Her grip on the lead rope tightened like she was strangling it.
Then her phone rang. Tessa didn’t look; she already knew.
The ringtone gave it away, the same ring as all the times in my truck on the way here.
She went pale. “Don’t answer that.”
“I have to.”
“No, You don’t.” Before she could move, I grabbed the phone. “Wyatt,” she hissed. “Give it back.”
I lifted it to my ear. “What the hell do you want?”
“Who is this?” A man’s voice asked
I smiled slowly and meanly. “Nobody that would mean anything to you.”
“Put her on.”
“No,” I answered, my voice flat.
“Who the hell are you?” The fucker yelled.
“Someone who appreciates a beautiful woman far more than you ever could.”
Tessa lunged for the phone. “Give it to me.” I turned slightly so she couldn’t reach it.
“Don’t give Tessa another thought, she’s got a real man to keep her company now.” I winked at Tessa when I said it, and she threw her hands in the air.
“Fuck you, when I find out who you are, I’m going to…” he sputtered, and I cut him off.
“You’re going to what? You don’t even know who the fuck I am.
If you ever come near my woman again, I will bury you so deep in the mountains that not even the coyotes will find your body to eat off your decaying flesh.
I’m warning you now, you mother fucker, leave Tessa alone, because you’re no match for me.
” I ended the call and handed the phone back.
“Your woman?” she asked, narrowing her pointed gaze at me.
“Little white lies never hurt.” I shrugged and looked over at Holt, still walking the mare around the paddock.
“You’re not my guard dog.”
“Didn’t claim to be.”
“You’re not anything to me.”
That one landed harder than I liked. I nodded once. “Alright.”
She looked startled that I didn’t push back. The mare stumbled again, and Tessa caught the halter. We all pulled together.
“Easy,” she whispered, her voice breaking as she pressed her forehead to the mare’s neck.
Slowly, painfully, the mare loosened. Her breathing steadied. Her belly softened. Her ears flicked forward again. The worst passed.
Tessa sagged against the mare in relief. I let out the breath I’d been holding since the moment I walked in.
“She’s okay,” I said.
Tessa turned toward me. Her eyes were bright and wrecked, lashes damp with sweat and tears she hadn’t bothered to wipe away.
We were too close. Close enough that the heat between us was palpable.
The barn dimmed around us, shadows pooling low, the world narrowing until it was just her and the space she was trying not to cross.
Her eyes tracked my mouth, lingered there for a heartbeat that dragged, like she was imagining something she was fighting to ignore.
Heat hit low and sharp, a sudden, vicious pull that tightened my hands at my sides.
I stepped closer before my thoughts could catch up, drawn in by the way she didn’t move away. She stayed right there, breath shuddering, body pitched forward just enough to feel like permission.
I could see the exact second she realized it, too. Her breath stuttered. Her eyes darkened, panic and want collided hard enough to leave her shaken.
She blinked once, like she was forcing herself back into her body, then stepped away as if the space between us burned.
“This doesn’t change anything,” she said, voice thin, too fast. “You helped me, that’s all. I still don’t trust you.”
My answer scraped out of me, rough and unfiltered. “Wasn’t counting on it.”
“Whatever that was, it won’t happen again,” she said, her words not convincing. The mare snorted behind me, sharp and impatient, and the sound cracked the moment open like a whip. I stepped back. “Keep her walking for ten more minutes, then water. Call me if the gut sounds drop again.”
Tessa nodded, her hair falling into her face. I left the barn before instinct beat restraint. And before she realized how close she’d been to asking me to stay.