There’s Dean, and he’s cantering through the field on the back side of our house. His tail sails behind him. He bucks and plays and then stops. He snorts and tosses his head high. He then takes off again down the fence line. Another horse comes into view. It’s Harmony!
Harmony trots up to Dean and nuzzles him.
Then a dense fog rolls in, and both horses vanish from my sight.
Now I’m now in Serena’s barn, standing over her broken body. I hear whinnies from the other stalls. I see a falling ladder coming toward me. I jump out of the way, and hear the crash as it hits the ground.
Someone walks past Serena, who is on the ground, dead. It is someone wearing a baseball cap, but I can’t see who it is. A fog begins to thicken around me till it’s everywhere and all I can see.
I feel warm hands rubbing my back. Mmmm. That’s nice.
Then I feel the string on my bikini top being tugged on slightly, tickling me. It’s nice, too—the feeling of it travels through me.
“You’re getting sunburned. Thought you might need some sunscreen,” someone whispers in my ear.
I flip over, holding on to my top. “What the hell are you doing?”
Tristan holds out his hands, palms open. “Sorry. I saw you were getting sunburned, and I thought maybe you needed some protection. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I don’t need any protection! Thank you. What were you doing with my top?”
He shakes his head and smiles. “Nothing. I swear. I was just moving the strings out of the way. That’s all.”
I stare at him, my eyes squinting into slits of anger. “Really? Really! I heard all about your little bet.”
“What?”
“The scholarship girl initiation. I know all about it!”
Tristan actually turns red. “Oh God. Look, I told Nate it was stupid. I did. I did not take the bet. I would never do that!”
“Right. Well, good. We’re on the same page, because you’re not ever getting this. Ever.”
The shade of red on his face deepens. “I’m sorry. I never—”
I hold up my hand and throw my things in my bag. “That’s right—you will never! I see how hard you try to convince yourself that you’re really not like the rest of your little group. That you’re a good guy who just happens to have the biggest bitch here as your girlfriend, because why? Because she’s so nice and smart and funny? No! If you really are who you tried so hard to make me believe you are, the other day when you asked me if I was at all interested in you, then you’d break up with Lydia!”
He bows his head.
“You don’t understand why I haven’t broken up with Lydia, but it’s not what you think!”
“I think… I think… what I think is that I honestly don’t care!” I grab my things and storm off, tears blurring my vision.
TRISTAN
CHAPTER thirty-four
Tristan pretty much wants to slam Nate Deacon up against a wall and beat his ass. But what good will that do? He’s screwed. And he’s done it to himself.
He goes to see Sebastian in order to try to cool down. If there is a being on this planet that can soothe him in this moment, it’s the horse that has been his trusted friend since he was twelve years old. His dad has never understood his relationship with Sebastian. Sports and money. That’s what his father understands about horses. That’s it. If he was different, he could never have done the cruel things Tristan knows about—could he?
In Sebastian’s stall, the horse rubs his face on Tristan’s chest. Tristan buries his face in his horse’s neck.
“I’m so stuck,” he whispers.
Vivienne. She is so different from Lydia and the girls he hangs out with. She’s sensitive and smart, and he has ruined any chance he might ever have with her.
If only that night hadn’t happened. The eighth of July.
His father had some of his business partners over to watch one of the horse races on TV. One of the slew of horses his dad owns was racing.
Tristan never liked his father’s partners. They were loud and crude, most of them always drunk. There was something hard and I-don’t-give-a-shit about these guys. They were also a little scary.
His mom had locked herself in her room. Her signature move.
Tristan’s dad had ordered him to pour this guy a glass of gin or that guy some bourbon. They were all getting tanked.
The house staff had a day off. Afterward, Tristan wondered if that had been planned.
The horse that belonged to his dad and his partners lost the race. Poor colt came in seventh.
As the men grew drunker, Tristan overheard their plan. Feeling shaky and sick to his stomach, he swiped a bottle of tequila and did some shots in his room. They burned and went straight to his head.
And he called Lydia.
“Tristan! Hi, baby. How are you?”
“I don’t know.” He could hear a tremor in his voice.
“What do you mean? You sound strange. What’s wrong?”
“It’s my dad,” he’d blurted out. “And these guys he does business with. They’re going to…”
“Going to what?”
“They’re going to kill at least one of the racehorses they own, maybe more, so they can collect the insurance money,” he whispered into the phone.
“What? What did you say?”
“They’re going to kill a horse for the money, Lydia. The insurance money, and it sounded to me like this was not the first time, and it won’t be the last.”
“Oh my God. What are you going to do?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” He’d closed his eyes and laid flat on his bed, the ceiling swirling.
“You have to tell someone.”
“I can’t. He’s my dad.”
“But it’s so wrong.”
“Of course, it’s wrong,” Tristan hissed. “But these guys that he deals with are not good people. I think they could be, like, Mafia. They’re definitely criminals.”
“Tell your mom. You have to.”
“No. I can’t tell her. She could never handle it. And you can’t tell anyone either. Promise me. Please. You can’t tell anyone. Ever. If you do, I’ll never be allowed back at school.”
“Okay. I promise,” she said. “But why can’t you at least talk to your mother? Maybe she can help.”
And that is when he told her about his mother, nailing the final nail in his coffin where Lydia was concerned. She had him.
A week later Tristan learned that the colt that had lost the race had died from a heart attack during the morning workout. He went to his father.
“I know what you and your partners did to that colt!” he yelled. His father sat at the breakfast table serenely drinking his morning coffee, eating a piece of toast, and reading the newspaper.
“You do, huh?” The son of a bitch did not even look up from the paper.
“Yeah, I do, and it’s sick, and cruel, and wrong. And I am going to report you! I heard everything you guys planned.”
Mr. Goode had set down the newspaper calmly and looked at Tristan. “You know, son, that would be a very, very dumb thing to do. I could go to jail. You’d be stuck here with Mom. No more Fairmont. No more Sebastian.”
“I’m willing to risk that.” His mother had her own money. He could bring Sebastian home and board him at a local facility.
“You willing to risk a life, Tristan?” His father slammed his fist down on the table. “You willing to risk the life of that damn horse you love so much?” He looked at him with dark, furious eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Just that, son. You go and report what you heard, the men I deal with have enough money, good lawyers… they’ll be out of jail, if they even go, in no time. But your horse, he might just wind up dead.”
That had been the end of their conversation, and so much more.
And if Lydia ever tells a soul…
CHAPTER thirty-five
Martina is in our room when I get back. She looks ups
et, so I decide not to add my personal drama to what might be going on with her.
“Hey,” she says. “How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. I was just out at the pool. How are your folks?” I plop down on my bed.
“They’re doing okay, I guess. This stalker thing has my dad really frazzled. And my mom is kind of blowing the whole thing off.”
“What do you think? I mean, how do you feel?”
I see her shoulders tense. “My dad worries a lot, and my mom is kind of this carefree spirit who always thinks the best of people. Between the two of them, I really don’t know what to think. But both of them insist I should not worry about it and just do my thing here. Go to school, and all that…” She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Anything new and interesting happen around here while I was gone?”
Now, there’s a loaded question. I think I’ll steer clear of the Tristan debacle, and I can’t say anything about Riley. Can’t talk about Harmony either. Huh. “There was one weird thing.”
“Oh yeah? What was that?”
“Yesterday at Parents’ Day, I took a walk down to the fountain, and I ran into Lydia Gallagher and her brother Daniel. He’s kind of strange. I thought it was also strange that I didn’t see their parents with them. Then, the brother—Daniel—brought you up. Said to tell Tina ‘hi.’ I corrected him, though, and reminded him that your name is Martina. Guy seems every bit of the jerk that his sister is.”
Martina doesn’t say anything. When I look over at her, she turns away. Uh-oh. “Martina? You okay?”
“He is every bit the jerk his sister is and then some.” She glances out the window, and when she looks back my way I can see the beginning of tears in her eyes.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She sighs. “You’ll hear about it soon enough, I’m sure. Lydia likes to make sure she churns the rumor mill up now and again with past gossip.”
“What happened?”
“When I was a freshman—when Lydia and I and the rest of her groupies were freshmen—Daniel was a senior here. He was actually on the Young Equestrian team, and just like Tristan Goode, he was the guy that every girl was madly in love with.”
My face burns at the mention of Tristan’s name.
“I had a huge crush on Daniel. From day one, Lydia had it in for me because she knew who my parents were. Apparently when she was a little kid she had tried to do some acting. She was even cast in a movie that my dad was working on. Something happened, and she claims he was the reason she was let go from the movie.”
“He fired her?”
“Technically, yes. As you can imagine, she was a bit of a spoiled brat.”
“Impossible!” We both laugh, which lightens the mood some.
“Yeah. Pretty crazy that we both end up at Fairmont. And she somehow figures out who my parents are. Then she catches wind that I am crushing on her big brother, so she sets it up with him to ask me out. Viv, he was really sweet to me, and I thought he really liked me.” She shakes her head. “Then he started pressuring me to have sex with him.”
“Did you?”
“No. But everyone thinks I did. Lydia snuck into my room and took a pair of panties and a bra of mine and put it in his room. She took pictures and texted them to anyone and everyone she knew.”
“Why didn’t she get suspended or expelled?”
“Never been able to prove it, but I know it was her. Then, a few days later, in front of a group of kids, Daniel calls me a slut and tells me that he never really liked me—that girls like me are only good for one thing.” She swipes at some tears.
I stand up, walk over, and wrap my arms around my friend. “I am so sorry. That is horrible. We will get even. I promise.”
“No. It’s in the past. I just want to leave it there.”
“But Lydia will never let you.”
“True.”
“What’s her deal? I mean, where are their parents?”
“Who knows? I’ve heard that Daniel runs almost everything and that their parents are always vacationing and doing whatever they do. I know he runs the equestrian end of things. He helped Lydia buy her new horse after her mare, Haute Couture, died last year. He flies out here to watch her at all of the major events. I think I’ve only seen her mom one time.”
“Wow. How did her mare die?”
“Kidney failure.”
“Really? That’s kind of rare.”
“I’d heard that she had some kidney issues previously, a couple of years ago. I guess like people, some horses just get sick.”
“Sad, but true. You know what we need?” I smile.
“What?”
“No more downer discussion.”
“I’m with you on that,” she agrees. “Oh! I know what you’re thinking now.”
I walk into the front room of our suite and put in the new Taylor Swift CD that neither one of us seems to be getting remotely sick of. “Dance party?” I yell.
She comes into the front room. “A little ‘feeling twenty-two’?” she asks.
“Yep.”
The two of us dance like crazy fools, both hoping to rid ourselves for the moment of old gossip, new rumors, or simply unnecessary ugliness.
CHAPTER thirty-six
This week is going by pretty much in a blur for me. I haven’t gotten anything new from Harmony or been able to get Emily Davenport in a solo moment. Harmony is repeating the same images to me, but like me, I think she has switched to competition mode. Our first event is only two days away. Recent lessons have been intense and driven.
Riley and I have now kind of gotten into this bet. He tells me that the betting pool is at twenty-two grand! It’s weird to me that Tristan hasn’t spilled about my knowing what’s up. He barely looks at me in barn management class, in which, by the way, Mr. Bromley did not allow me to switch partners. I sent Tristan an e-mail letting him know that e-mails were the only way we would be working on the assignment together.
And as far as Nate Deacon is concerned? Well… trust me, he is going to get what he deserves.
After barn management class that morning, I catch up with him in the hall. “Hey, Nate.”
“Hey, Red.”
“I hear you have a little poker game going this Thursday.” Riley told me that since the event is happening Friday and Saturday, the guys moved their game date up.
Nate cocks his head to the side, probably thinking it makes him look like a vulnerable and cute little puppy dog. I only see a mongrel. “You did?”
“I did, and I have a proposition for you.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“I thought you might. How about you letting me join in?”
“Oh no, Red. No chicks allowed.”
I frown. “Oh, c’mon. Please. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play. And who knows? I might have a little surprise for you afterward if you invite me.”
He looks me up and down and then eyes me. “Really? Is it one I might like?”
“Possibly. Let’s just say that it might involve my panties.”
“Okay then, Red, yeah, I would be interested in that. You have an official invite.”
I am in a pretty good mood the rest of the day. My jump lesson with Newman goes exceptionally well, and Harmony eagerly takes extra treats from me. “You ready for this weekend, girl?” I stroke her neck. As I’m talking to my mare, I hear something. Someone is crying.
It’s coming from the tack room. I walk over and see a girl sitting on her tack trunk. “Emily?”
She looks up at me with tear-stained eyes. “Go away, Scholarship.”
“Hey, you know, I’m not that bad.”
“Right. Whatever.”
“Look, I don’t mean to pry. But if I had to guess why you’re so upset, I’d say it has something to do with your mother.”
She doesn’t say anything.
“You know, I’ve heard the way she is with you, and she’s… wrong.” I take a step farther into the tack room.
“She’s just—she’s wrong about you and your skills. You are an excellent rider. You really are. I have to tell you, though, that it doesn’t look like you enjoy it very much.”
Several long seconds tick by.
Finally, she says, “I don’t like it. I don’t like riding.”
“Then why are you here?”
“It’s my mother’s thing. I used to like it. When I was a little kid there was nothing I wanted to do more than ride my own horse. But then she got all involved and ruined everything.” She sighs. “She thinks she knows everything because she teaches some backyard lessons out near our house, which she only does because she’s so bored with her stupid life.”
“That doesn’t sound too good.” I have no idea what to say here.
“The other thing she does when she’s bored is pick on me. ‘Emily, you didn’t have your heels down. Emily, what was wrong with your horse? Emily, why can’t you ride like Lydia? Oh, and she’s even thrown you in there now. Emily, look at the new girl. Why can’t you ride like her?’”
“That sucks. I’m sorry.” I sit down on the tack trunk beside her. “I really am.”
“I love horses. But I hate riding. I want to become a vet.”
“My mom’s a vet.”
“Really?” Her tone actually changes from sullen to sort of interested.
“Yeah. I used to go out with her on calls. I miss that.”
She hangs her head. “I used to go out on calls sometimes with Dr. Miller.”
“She sounds like she was a really nice woman.”
Emily chokes back a sob. “She was. I used to wish she was my mom. I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“You two were close?”
“I was her student assistant last year. She was nice to me, and real. Just totally down to earth.”
I don’t want to ask, but what was her reference to the real part? Was she implying something about her unreal friends?
If I am going to ask her what I want, or think I might need, it has to be now. I take a deep breath. “I know I am taking a chance here by even asking you, and I am positive you will run off and go blab to Lydia, but this is something I need to do.”
Silent Harmony: A Vivienne Taylor Horse Lover's Mystery (Fairmont Riding Academy Book 1) Page 14