Rein In (Willow Bay Stables #3)(29)

My tears spilled over my cheeks and onto the black of his shirt.

Home.





MY LUNGS ACHED.

I was too nervous to breathe.

“You need to chill out, dude.” Fun Bobby shook his head in my doorway.

There were many things my body could do, but at that moment, chilling was not one of them.

“I feel like a damn show pony,” Dirt growled, appearing next to him and tugging at the collar of his tuxedo.

Fun Bobby burst out laughing. “That’s what you’re wearing?”

“Piss off,” Dirt hissed. “It’s all I got.”

I understood the feeling. I was practically drowning in the suit Fun Bobby had lent me.

I didn’t own a suit. I’d never needed one before this.

Today was the Saturday of Grant’s fundraiser. According to the gossip among the volunteers, it was where he got a substantial amount of the funding to keep Equine for Hearts’ doors open.

Watching my hands move in the small mirror on my dresser, I growled.

I couldn’t tie this f*cking tie even if my hands weren’t shaking.

“Let me do it.” Glitch pushed past the other two men into my bedroom.

I looked at him bewildered but eventually pulled the black tie from around my neck and passed it to him.

“This right here is a classic knot.” He rolled his shoulders before putting the tie around his own neck.

The rest of us just stared at him.

“You know, like the kind James Bond wears,” he urged.

None of us answered.

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “First off, you gotta cross this here fat end over the skinny end.” His hands moved while he rattled off the words. “Then you gotta slip the fat end up between the tie and the collar like so, droppin’ it back down.”

If my anxiety hadn’t been rattling around so loudly in my skull, I would have been more impressed.

“Then you gotta wrap the fat end behind the skinny end, makin’ sure you’re goin’ right to left.” He started shaking his head. “Don’t wanna go left to right if you know what I’m sayin’. Big mistake.”

Looking over Glitch’s head, I was shocked to find Fun Bobby was keeping it together after this display.

“Then bring the fat end in front and over the loop here.” He gestured to the space between the collar of his shirt and the tie. “Then you see, you gotta wrap the fat end around the skinny part one more time and slip it up through that there loop again.”

He made it look like it was something he could do in his sleep. I’d been fumbling with it for nearly forty-five minutes.

“Make sure that knot ain’t goin’ anywhere by slippin’ the fat end through it.” He lifted what now actually resembled a proper tie over his head and passed it to me. “Flip up your collar.”

I did and Glitch slid the tie around my neck.

“Center the dimple there and tighten.”

He stepped back, admiring his handiwork. It was only then that he realized the rest of us were staring at him.

“What?” He shrugged. “Grandma liked us boys lookin’ fit at church, so what?”

That was when Fun Bobby lost it. He keeled over in laughter and Dirt was right behind him.

“Funniest shit I’ve ever seen.” Fun Bobby wheezed. “Fat end, skinny end.” He backed out of my doorway and continued mumbling as he walked down the hall. “Fuckin’ priceless.”

My hands resumed the tremble they’d found since last night, and I shoved them in the front pockets of my black dress pants.

“You nervous?” Glitch asked, and my eyes flew up to his.

I nodded.

“She won’t let nothin’ happen to you.” He winked before joining the other two guys in the living room.

Glitch was a complete basket case, but people overlooked how observant he could be.

I prayed on everything that he was right.

“Let’s go, Crow!” Fun Bobby hollered. “It’s show time.”

The sound of my heart pounding in my head had me watching the ground while I walked. I was supposed to meet Aurora’s family today, and every time my mind sat on the idea for too long, I felt like I was going to be sick.

She was already here somewhere. I’d left her at the house a few hours ago when she went to get ready.

It was probably the best thing she could have done, because if it weren’t for the promise of meeting her here tonight, I’d have locked us both away in my room until the entire thing was over.

We walked up toward the main house where white tents had been erected across the entire expanse of the lawn. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The landscape of this display and its guests looked like a live recording of an episode of the old TV show Dallas.

The tie Glitch tied strangled my throat, and I felt my palms begin to sweat in my pockets.

We reached the edge of the lawn, and that’s when I saw her.

The length of her hair had been twisted up on the top of her head, and a white dress exposed nearly her entire back. Wind blew around her, picking up the ends of the long, thin fabric and it blew just enough to show that under all the shine, she was barefoot.

Even dressed to the nines, Aurora’s feet were still firmly planted on the ground.