Wild Horses (11 page)

“The new guy was bothering Lindsey, so I taught him some manners. That’s all.”

“He wasn’t bothering me,” a softer voice said behind them. “Hal picked a fight for no reason. Kai was being… he was very kind to me.”

Hal turned. “Is that what you call that sort of a thing?” He sneered.

Mona cut him off. “What thing? What happened between you and that new fellow?” She huffed up the hill, curious about all the excitement.

Meanwhile, Attila stood still, his eyes on Vermillion and Kai, who were still galloping around the paddock at breakneck speed. Attila realized then that he was still holding the whip. Its function was a mere training aid and no horse was more than tickled on its rump with it, but never before had Attila been tempted to use its full potential on a human being. His nostrils flared at the thought of marking his nephew’s pale skin with red welts, and his fist tightened around the whip so hard, his knuckles went white. He didn’t know what happened, but Hal bore no marks of a fight on him other than a red, bleeding fist.

As the horses passed by, Attila whistled. Sen slowed and wheeled around, trotting to greet his favorite human. Noting the absence of Sen and having blown off enough steam, his younger companion transitioned from a gallop to a trot. Despite his surprising performance, Kai was ill-prepared for a change of gait, and lacking the benefit of a saddle and stirrups. Attila watched him go airborne—and he tried to roll with it, but tucked under too hard and too soon, and landed on his back.

Attila was through the fence in a flash, running in Kai’s direction. There was his newest groom, sprawled on the ground, covered with bits of hay and dirt, and with dried blood caked on his face. His eyes were closed and swollen and his nose was askew; worse, he wasn’t breathing.

“Kai!” He slid onto his knees and slid his hand up the side of Kai’s strong neck, relieved to find a pulse, strong but erratic. “Open your eyes, Kai. You’ll be alright.” He saw the swollen lids squint open. “Now open your mouth. Breathe through your mouth, Kai.” Attila did his best not to show his distress. “Small breaths. You had your breath knocked out. Can you move your fingers and toes?”

Attila was relieved when Kai’s feet moved in their sneakers, and his fingers wiggled aimlessly. “Great. Now, do you have any pain in your neck?”

Kai turned his head from side to side. “No, don’t….”

Kai inhaled a small breath and let it out, then he inhaled again. “I’m… sorry.” His words were barely audible.

Attila was taken aback by the upwelling of a gentle emotion in his chest. “What are you sorry for?” he asked in an effort to mask his feelings.

“Riding Cayenne. Y’know… Vermillion…. I just wanted to ride him one last time.”

“One last time before what?” Attila asked.

Kai swallowed and rolled his head away, his eyes shut.

Attila squeezed his hand. “I need you to walk down to the house, Kai. We’ll get you some ice and take you to see a doctor.”

A small smile bloomed on Kai’s lips. “Can’t afford a doctor. My nose will be fine.”

“Don’t talk back to me.” Attila found his voice sounded a bit choked, as though he was slightly congested. “You are sitting up, slowly. Then you’re standing up, and then you’re coming with me. There will be no discussion.”

Kai turned his battered, freckled face toward him, and the swollen eyes opened just enough to make eye contact. “Okay, boss.”

Attila slung Kai’s arm across his shoulders and led him out the paddock gate at a slow pace. He ignored all those people who surrounded him trying to eavesdrop. They were quiet, their eyes wide open. Especially Hal.

Attila turned to him. “Hal. Take my whip and put it back where it belongs. Make sure everyone takes care of their horses: untack, brush out, pick their hooves, then they go back in their stalls.” He turned to Lindsey and her mother. “Lindsey, I will need to talk to you later. Have a nice day, Mona.”

Attila met the almost-black eyes of Clarisse, who was flanked by her two daughters. The girls looked terrified. He smiled at them. “Don’t worry. Stallions cannot abide the smell of blood and sometimes they spook. I want you to research the topic before your next riding lesson, alright? You did well today, both of you.” He watched them nod their cornrowed heads, neon beads clacking. He nodded back at Clarisse again. “Thank you for your help earlier. Call if you need anything, okay?”

“Yes,” she said. “Should I inform Tibor regarding all this?”

“Sure,” he said as he suppressed a sigh, dreading one of Tibor’s famous “I told you so” lectures. “Thanks.”

T
HEY
got back late from the emergency room. The flow of time had acquired a surreal quality, either standing still or rushing by. As Kai slowly woke up in Attila’s huge bed, his dazed and disoriented thoughts began to fall into place like a complex domino sculpture. He knew why he was in Attila’s bed: it was closer than the guest room, and Kai was tired enough to pass out on the living room carpet the night before. He took his current location as a promising omen. It looked like Attila wasn’t going to kick him out right away. Later, maybe… but he might have another two days, at the very least.

He tried to sit up and found his body was incredibly sore. His breath was back; it was no longer necessary to draw small, hesitant inhalations in rapid succession, feeling like if he stopped doing that, a giant hand would squeeze his throat shut once again. He thought back to the fall.

The illicit ride had gone surprisingly well, even the very fast, galloping parts. He had clung to the mane all along, but he had remembered to sit tall all the same and his heels were pressed down, extended legs squeezing hard. His calves—not his knees—had gripped the barrel of the horse until they slowed to a trot. The surprise change in gait is what had made him pitch forward and fly off, flip a summersault in the air, and land on his back like a sack of grain.

The thud had been massive, and then came the panic when he had realized he could no longer breathe. His broken nose and his head had hurt and then a giant hand had squeezed him and would not let go. He remembered the panic, as though swirls of dark waters threatened to close overhead, until a cool hand had touched his neck and fingers had pressed under his jaw. Kai recalled the reassuring, strong squeeze of his fingers, and when Attila called his name, his smooth voice had grabbed his very soul and pulled it from the suffocating depth toward the light. When Attila had begged him to open his eyes (yes, begged: the tone of his voice turned desperate), Kai obeyed. He had forced his swollen lids apart the smallest bit; only then could he breathe again.

A
TTILA
and Tibor sat in the shady corner of the patio. It was still early and Tibor had stopped by the stables before closeting himself up in his law office for the day.

“So, after what happened yesterday, I did a thorough criminal background check on your boy there, and to my shock and surprise, I have come up with a big, fat zero.” Tibor ran his long fingers through his black hair. A few silver threads had begun to highlight it, giving him that certain gravitas that looked so good on men, but was not necessarily welcome on women. “I am happy to say that I was wrong about him, Attila. He’s clean. Or rather, he hasn’t been caught yet.”

“Sure.” Attila nodded. “Could be I was his first slipup when he picked my pocket.”

Tibor nodded. “And now you’re stuck with him. He fucks around with your stallion, and you put him in your bed ’cause it’s ‘more comfortable’. Either you’re a fool, or….” Tibor leaned back and gave Attila a squinty-eyed glare. “You like the kid, don’t you?”

Attila shrugged and sipped his coffee while delaying the inevitable answer. “You should have seen him ride that horse. He had only two lessons. Two!” He narrowed his eyes, hiding from the glare of the morning sun. “I’ve had, what, two hundred students over the years? Three? I don’t know anymore. They come and go. Your Brent is one of the best, but this guy, Kai, he’s….” Attila exhaled. “He’s phenomenal. After just a few days, his balance is so exquisite it’s downright unnatural. I expected him to fall on his first ride and break his neck, but he didn’t.” Attila’s voice rose in both volume and excitement. “In his first lesson on Dusty, he looked like he’d been riding for a solid year, and he had the temerity to bitch about his sore legs the day after. He would have had sore legs if he only walked around in a circle! You know what it’s like when you’re new. He doesn’t even realize how exceptional he is. The next morning I put him on Sen.”

Tibor leaned forward. “Sen? No shit?”

“Absolutely. And Sen tolerated him, as could be expected, but… those balancing exercises I talked him through, they were a solid intermediate level. I had him cantering in a circle with his arms outstretched, and he was laughing. Laughing! Like flying, he said. I was tempted to have him canter standing up, see if he could do it, but then I realized what time it was and I had to work with Sen and he had the stables to clean, so….” Attila reached for a small bunch of grapes from a fruit bowl before them. He shrugged. “I agree that I harbor certain sympathies on his behalf.”

Tibor sighed, finishing his coffee. “I sure hope your sympathies don’t develop into anything more personal.”

“Why’s that?” Attila asked.

“When I was verifying his identity, his family refused to recognize him as their son. Or that’s what his stepfather said. The mother wasn’t available. I tracked down his sister using the mother’s credit report and talked to her. The kid’s a mess.”

“Oh, what? Drugs? Bad company? Stuff that wouldn’t show on a police record?”

“No.” Tibor waved his hand and tried to take another sip of coffee, then realized he had drained his coffee a few sentences ago.

Attila took their cups and disappeared into the house, emerging a few moments later with a refill and a plate of store-bought cookies. He set the tray down and sat in expectant silence.

“His sister Selena is concerned about Kai because he ran off as soon as he graduated high school. He was made unwelcome by the stepfather, apparently on account of his sexual orientation.” Tibor shot a significant glance in his brother-in-law’s direction.

“I was aware.” Attila’s voice threatened to freeze their coffee refill.

“Clarisse mentioned that you took him so obviously under your protective wing, that that woman who keeps hounding you was already giving him the evil eye. What’s her name, Donna?”

“Mona.”

“Yes, Mona. Who happens to be a paying client and who stables her six horses at Blue Heron Acres.” Tibor leaned back, as though not to loom over the smaller man. “I just want to spell it out for you: you are risking an awful lot for a total stranger you know very little about. Now you know I’m all about second chances and all that, but I don’t want you to find yourself in a situation where you get entangled with some guy and are left heartbroken all over again. Or swindled. Just because he returned your phone doesn’t mean he can be trusted. It’s not like he had anywhere else to go.”

Attila’s jaw was so tight, he felt a headache coming on. “I hear you, but I disagree with you. Take the fight with Hal—Hal started it, and Kai didn’t even hit back.”

“Fortunately, I might add,” Tibor agreed. “His vertebrae aren’t grown together all the way yet, and getting decked might have landed him in a wheelchair. I’ll ground that young prick till kingdom come.”

Attila twirled a strand of his hair as he leaned back, thinking. A small smile began to bloom on his face. “Don’t do that, Tibor. I need Hal here.”

“That hothead? What the fuck for?”

“Hal needs to be punished for starting a fight. Kai needs to be punished for riding horses recklessly and for not asking for help when he needs it. Can you imagine anything more onerous and instructive than ordering them to cooperate?”

Tibor guffawed. “That’s downright evil! He’ll bust a gut when I tell him.”

“Don’t tell him. Let me handle that. It’s like turning out a new stallion and an older gelding together. There may be a bit of bloodshed, but they’ll work it out eventually.”

“R
ISE
and shine, sleeping beauty!”

Attila’s voice jolted Kai awake again; he tried to snatch at the fragments of dreams, only to see them dissipate in the sun that poured in when Attila opened the vertical blinds shielding the sliding door to the patio.

“Ugh….” Kai flung his hand across his face as though in self-defense, but yowled in pain when he hit his broken nose.

“In your case, falling off a horse and having your nose broken did not turn out to be life-threatening injuries, and the stalls need to be cleaned. I’ve already fed the horses on my own.” When Kai didn’t make any indication of getting out of bed, Attila moved to the foot of the bed, grabbed the sheet, and yanked it off.

“Hey!” Kai protested. “Can you give a guy a bit of privacy, dude?” Mortified, Kai rolled onto his stomach. He took a measure of satisfaction from the way Attila averted his eyes from his prominent morning salute, and from the way his cheeks tinted pink.

Attila cleared his throat and stopped in the doorway with his back still turned. “There is breakfast out. Take your shower, eat, and come up and get your work done while I work with the horses in the arena. I want you to come in and learn some new things.”