Luke slid his arm around the back of my chair and nodded toward Kai. "You two know each other?"
"Kind of." There was no need to turn and see the contempt on Kai's face.
Luke's eyes narrowed. "He's into you."
"No." I shook my head even as shivers ran...
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The next morning, Kai filled my mind as I crunched through four inches of snow on my way to the barn to feed Dakota. Thoughts of Kai's picture on that blog, which was now hidden deep in my purse, thoughts of him beating up that Brandon kid. Why couldn't I get him out of my head? Not only was he attached to Sage in some weird way, it was unsafe to be around him. Just like Dad said. But the more I tried not to think about Kai, the more he assaulted my thoughts.
"Dakota," I called as I got closer to the barn. Where was he? That one never missed a meal, and usually had his head hanging over the fence before I even came outside. "You hungry?" I called again. Still no sign of him.
Something was wrong.
I raced into the barn. Dakota was lying in the hay with his head and legs facing me. His eyes were open and clear which was a good sign, but lying down at meal time was not. "Dakota?" My stomach ached as I wrenched open the stall door and knelt beside him.
That's when I saw her.
Emma, huddled against Dakota's back.
"Emma?" I said it louder than I meant to. She flinched and threw her arms over her head, as if she thought I was going to hit her. "What are you doing here?" I demanded even louder.
"I, uh." She frowned and rubbed her face. "It's just that . . ."
I clenched my teeth. How many times had she done this? Been with my horse when I didn't know? She was trying to endear herself to my horse. It was weird. And wrong. She was trespassing on our property and touching my precious baby.
The black horse popped into my mind. The dead black horse.
Dakota was very special to me. The best. I'd gotten him two years ago when Dad and I went to the Spring Creek Horse Rescue over in Bayfield. I'd fallen in love with a skinny, skittish paint gelding huddled in the back of his stall. He had whip marks on his flank and an outgrown halter biting into his face. The ranch foreman said the gelding kicked and reared, that nobody could get near him.
But then Dakota's eyes met mine and I knew we were meant to be together. Dad had been dead set against him and left the barn to look at other horses, but I'd stayed and talked to Dakota. After a while, he'd inched his way over and let me pet his nose. Then I was able to remove the halter from his sore face, and the rest was history. He'd never got over being mistreated and was fearful of anyone besides me. Well, me and now Emma. But I'd sworn I'd never let anything bad happen to him ever again.
I stood over Emma. "What are you doing with my horse?"
"I, uh . . ." She looked at the ground. "I had to get out of the house."
"You're trying to make Dakota love you more than me, aren't you?"
