Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(45)

“He’s fast.”

“Yeah, he is. He’s gonna be great. Not a novice-level horse, but young ones rarely are. He’ll be wasted on the trail line, though.” He pulled Spirit up, and when the horse slowed to a halt, he gave him more sugar cubes. “That’s enough for today.”

“Can I come in there?”

“Sure. Just come up slowly. I’m working with him on standing pat, but he can still be a little skittish.”

Nolan jumped the fence and walked over. Spirit immediately began checking him out for goodies, and he laughed and rubbed his ears. “He’s two years old, right?”

Coming up empty on Nolan, the colt came back to nibble on Badger. “That’s enough sugar, buddy. Your teeth are gonna rot out of your head. I’ll get you a carrot in a minute…Not quite two. I probably won’t put a saddle on him until next spring. He’s not done growing, and he’s still full of piss. But he’s smart, and he likes doing this. He thinks he’s playing.”

“Havoc was gonna teach me to ride. He was gonna teach me to shoot and fight and ride horses and bikes. He only taught me to shoot.”

Badger looked at Havoc’s kid. He was tall—taller than Badger—and thin, but not scrawny. He looked older than his seventeen years, looked like a guy who’d already had a shitty life. Badger guessed he already had. “I can teach you to ride—horses or bikes. I could teach you to fight, too, but Len is a great teacher, and he’d do it. He taught me.”

Nolan shrugged again.

“I know it’s not the same, Nolan. But you know…if you want to learn, just say the word.” He walked Spirit out of the corral and into the barn; Nolan followed them in. Changing out the longe line for a regular lead, he tied the colt off in the aisle. “Hang out with him for a second, will ya? I’m gonna get him a couple carrots and then brush him down.”

“Can I brush him?”

“Sure. Brushes are on that shelf. Use the one that looks like a scrub brush, but don’t go hard. And he likes the mitt at the end. Don’t go against the lay of his coat.”

“I know. I’ve been paying attention.”

“Good.” Badger left him to it and went back to the fridge for carrots. On his way back, he stopped in the doorway and watched Nolan and Spirit talking to each other as Nolan brushed. They both seemed calmer together than they normally were.

He brought two carrots up and handed them to Nolan, who took them, snapped one in two, and laid half on his outstretched palm. Spirit lipped it carefully and then chewed happily.

“I want to learn all those things. I want to prospect. When can I?”

Badger wasn’t surprised, but he felt cautious. He had no idea how Cory would react. Rumor had it that she hadn’t been thrilled at the thought of Nolan patching into the Horde before Havoc had been killed. So he answered the other part of the question. “I can start teaching you to ride today, if you want.”

“I meant when can I prospect.”

“Not so simple as that. Technically, you can prospect when you’re eighteen. But with everything that’s been going on, we’re leery of bringing men in too young.”

“You were young, though, right?”

“I was nineteen when I got my Prospect patch.”

“That turned out okay.”

Badger laughed sourly. “I guess.”

“You regret it?”

“No. But it’s not an easy life. You know that. Everything’s on the line, all the time. It was like that when I was a Prospect, and it’s been like that over and over again since. Sometimes it’s quiet, but I almost hate those times, because you forget what it is you’ve put on the line. And then the quiet ends, and you lose what you forgot was at risk.” He shook his head, feeling embarrassed. “I don’t even know if that made any sense.”

“It did. Hav said something like it when he told me I should try college first.”

“Then maybe you should do what he said.”

“No. I’m never leaving my family. Badge, I mean it. I am never leaving my family. Here is the only place I want to be. The Horde is the only family my mom and I have ever really had. It’s what I want.”

“What about your mom? She lost a lot because of us. You did, too. You think she’s willing to risk you, too?”

“It’s not for her to decide. It’s for me. I want a patch.”

He stared hard at Nolan, and thought harder, before he spoke. “I’ll talk to the officers. If that’s what you want, you definitely need to learn to fight and ride before you’re eighteen. And you need a bike.”

Nolan went still, staring at the floor. Then he looked up. “Do you think they’d let me have his bike?”

Badger’s supposed he shouldn’t have been shocked. It made sense, really. Havoc’s custom Softail was under cover in the clubhouse bays, the property of the Horde, and they would keep it and tend it as long as the club existed. “It’s not a bike to learn on, Nolan. You don’t want to lay that bike down. But I’ll talk to the officers about that, too. Maybe if you get your patch.”

“That’s the bike I want to ride.”

“You learn on one of our loaners. Or on your own. Not on Hav’s bike.”

“My bike is in pieces in our garage. Hav was helping me restore it.”