Change Rein (Willow Bay Stables #1)(37)

He tries to lift me into his arms, but I hold on to my best friend with everything I have. “I can’t.”

“It’s time to let him go, London,” he whispers.

“No, Chil, please!” I cry out as Owen pulls my arms off him. “Don’t leave him here!” I beg them. “I need him.”

The rain splashes onto my face. Then I see that the barn wall is now lying on the ground behind our tractor.

Looking back to where we came from, I watch the smoke swallow him.

Achilles.





MY TRUCK SCREECHES TO A halt behind the flashing lights of the first responder vehicles, the windshield wipers repeatedly blurring and clearing the scene before me like slow torture as the rain beats down on my car. Had you asked me in that moment how I’d driven there, I wouldn’t know. I was already halfway to Willow Bay when the emergency call came in. Something about having left her, despite her demands, hadn’t seemed right, and I’d wished with every fiber of my being that I could go back and stay with her.

Aurora had called, and even though it took me minutes before I could fully understand what she was saying in her panicked state, I knew it was bad. The main barn had caught fire on the South side and London was inside. They only knew that, because the horses were all over the property, and the only person who could have let them out in time was my girl.

I jump out of the truck, not even bothering to shut the door behind me as I scan the crowd. Where is she? The firemen who arrived just in front of me are now setting up their hoses and coordinating with the police on scene. But where is she?

My heart’s never been tethered to another person’s, not like with her. When she bleeds, I bleed. When she aches, I ache. When she’s scared, I can feel it. All the emotions are in my chest as if they are my own in some right.

The rain is only getting heavier, the thunder laying claim to heaven in the sky, and soon, my clothes are completely soaked.

Something loud cracks out into the air, but it’s not by nature’s choice. Picking up into a run, I maneuver my way through the trucks and people. Then a tractor engine revs. I can’t tell if I’m sweating now or if it’s just the rain, but the closer I get, the more I can feel her. Her pain is rippling through the night sky.

When I reach the left side of the barn, my brain can barely register what my eyes are seeing. There’s a huge section of barn wall missing just a few feet from the doors. My heart sinks into my gut when I see what’s wrapped around the handles of the doors. There’s a steel chain, but what makes it deadly is the gold-and-black lock holding it together. The emblem reads: Tucker Farms.

“Don’t leave him here!”

The beat of my heart stills at the sound of her voice, and I frantically search for a visual to confirm. When Larry steps through that hole in the wall with her in his arms, it’s enough to nearly kill me.

She’s wearing my red flannel shirt that she loves so much, but her legs are bare. Smoke has ashen her fair skin, streaks of tears bleeding clean paths down her cheeks as she sobs into her father’s chest.

“I need him.” Her eyes are red and panicked as she looks behind herself.

Following her gaze, I see the faintest image of a horse disappear into the smoke.

Achilles.

I needed to hold her, but that isn’t what she needs right now. She doesn’t need someone to save her. My girl knows how to save herself. So what she needs is someone to save him.

I grab the first fireman I see by the arm. “You listen to me,” I say, tone of my voice insinuating that I won’t have my time wasted. “I don’t care what your priority was before this second, but now, it’s to get that”—I point towards the open wall—“horse out of there. Now.”

“We could save a huge portion of the building,” he argues. “That horse is—”

Pulling him towards me, I lean down to his face. “That horse is everything. You do whatever it takes to save that horse. Fuck the barn. I’ll build a new one. Do you understand me?”

He looks over his shoulder, where another, older fireman has been watching our interaction. The man nods.

“Understood,” says the younger man.

“We make no promises on the state of the horse if we can get him out,” the older man—my guess is he’s the fire chief—warns me.

“Thank you.” My voice shakes as I release my hand.

The sound of her sobbing in the distance is like a shot to the heart, especially as each cry is broken up by violent coughs. When I turn to look at her, I’m halted in my tracks. She’s struggling against her father’s arms, and there’s only one thing she’s looking at—me.

Finally free, she takes off in a full sprint towards me, the rain soaking her beautiful hair and mixing with the tears pooling in her eyes.

My body moves before I command it to, knowing she shouldn’t be running, and wanting to close the distance between us as soon as possible. Grabbing her around the waist, I catch her in time as she launches herself at me.

We don’t need to speak—just holding each other is enough. She smells like smoke, which makes my stomach churn. We stand like that, still amidst the chaos, finding solace in each other.

Pulling back, I cup her face in my hands, wiping the stains from her cheeks. “I love you, London.” My mouth consumes hers, our hopes and fears entangling together as our lips do. The kiss reminds us both what we are so grateful to have found in one another.