Bad Boy Brody

by Tijan

  Matthew went right to the back door, bypassing me, and throwing it open. He paused on the threshold, squinting out into the darkness.

  A second whinny, closer this time.

  It was Shiloh. She never came this close, but I knew without having to see her that she had breached the fence. She was coming up the field.

  She was coming to me.

  God.

  Matthew was in front of her. If he was angry, she might react. I couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t hurt him. I shuddered, not wanting to think what he would do in retaliation.

  “Matthew,” I croaked.

  He turned to me and finally saw I was struggling for breath. “Oh my God.” He rushed to me, but I waved him away as Shiloh came running through the open back door. Her eyes were wild and panicked as she tossed her head back and forth, searching. When she found me, she bucked up onto her hind legs, preparing to kick at Matthew. She thought he was hurting me.

  “NO!” I shoved him as far away from me as I could.

  He fell to the ground, frozen with his eyes fixed on Shiloh.

  “ROLL!” I screamed, hoping to get him moving.

  He did, rolling right into an open stall. Her hooves just missed him as they landed hard on the wooded floor.

  “No, Shiloh.” The screams had taken everything out of me. I waved my arms to get her attention. Her one eye turned to me, seeing me. She didn’t know what was going on, she just wanted to help, so I reached up, grabbed her hair and a section of her coat and tried to heft myself onto her. I couldn’t get up in one jump, so I tried again, scrambling until I was lying safely on her back.

  I didn’t have it in me to sit upright, so I nudged her back.

  She resisted. She wanted to go after Matthew.

  “No, Shiloh. Home.”

  Her head swung back to me.

  “Home.”

  Her nostrils flared before she wheeled around and took off at a gallop.

  I grabbed her mane and tried to keep from falling.

  Brody

  Kara was pressed between my legs. I had her backed up against a tree, my mouth hovering over her exposed neck, which was where it had been for the last hour. We kept fucking up the shot. Either the wind was in the wrong direction, Kara was hiccupping, my “smoldering” was all wrong, or Shanna wasn’t happy with a line delivery.

  To make matters worse, I had to keep my groin pressed against hers because I didn’t have a hard-on and I was supposed to for this scene.

  “BRODY! BRODY!”

  “Cut!” Shanna cried out, throwing her hands in the air as she whipped around. “What the fuck?”

  I backed up, and Kara leaned against the tree. She muttered, “Thank God. My back is killing me.”

  I grunted. She and I both.

  “BRODY!”

  I turned and thought I saw Matthew careening over the field toward us. It was dark, but I recognized his voice. He was waving his arms like a madman, and I scowled. I hadn’t seen him since I ripped out his hard drive.

  Finn and Jen were on set that day, and right away, Finn started for me.

  I pointed at him as we fell in step together and headed in Matthew’s direction. “If he fucks with me today, I swear to God, I’ll rip him apart.”

  I hadn’t eaten all day since Shanna wanted my muscles to be as defined as possible. I was cold from the damn water being thrown on us, and I’d spent hours pressed against a woman I couldn’t stand. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Matthew’s shit on top of everything else.

  “Excuse me!” Shanna went to get in his way, her hands planted on her hips.

  She had a coat on, unlike—I glanced over my shoulder and saw an assistant wrap a heavy blanket around Kara’s shoulders—me. I didn’t even know where my shirt was.

  “Brody!”

  Matthew was almost to us.

  Finn held his hand out. “Let me talk to him.”

  “Fuck that.” He was saying my name. I clenched my jaw. If he wanted a fight, so be it.

  “Brody!”

  I strode ahead, ignoring Finn.

  Matthew looked as white as a sheet, but he couldn’t catch his breath. He got to me, but couldn’t talk. He held a hand up, bending over and resting his hands on his knees.

  I started to get it then.

  He wasn’t here to fight, and then the panic started.

  It was Morgan. There was no other reason he’d seek me out. And if he was coming to me for help—I stopped thinking then.

  Something was wrong, really, really wrong.

  “What happened?” I barked out.

  Shanna yelled, coming over, “You interrupted a shot that’s been taking forever to get. There better be a good reason for this.”

  “Morgan,” he gasped.

  “Who?” Shanna asked.

  Ice went down my spine

  “What happened to her?” I barked at him.

  He didn’t answer right away. He still couldn’t.

  “Matthew!”

  I started for him, but Finn jumped in front of me, his hands in the air, his palms toward me. “He can’t breathe, Brody. Let him have a second.”

  “Something’s—” Wheeze. “Wrong—” Another wheeze. “With Mor—” He bent over, still gasping for air.

  I’d had enough. Storming past Finn, I grabbed Matthew’s shoulders and pulled him upright. “What happened to her?”

  I looked in his eyes, and his own panic had that ice lining my stomach.

  I stepped forward so we were almost chest to chest. “TALK! What happened to Morgan?”

  Everyone had fallen silent around us, but no one and nothing else mattered but the answer to that question.

  Matthew, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as he stepped backward. Finally. He managed, “Something’s wrong with her. She couldn’t breathe.”

  The world went away.

  I was only on him.

  “Where is she?”

  “Shiloh.”

  Oh good God, no. I let him go, not caring that he collapsed to the ground. If she was on Shiloh, that meant she was in the mountains. She was out there, and no one could get to her. I had to—there were two horses here for the scene.

  “Brody.” Finn tossed me a sweatshirt.

  I caught it, taking off in the opposite direction.

  They were being taken care of by a handler, who started when she saw me racing toward her. The horses stepped to the side.

  “Wha—” Her eyes trailed behind me.

  I heard Finn, who was right on my heels, say, “What are you going to do?”

  Ignoring him, I focused on the trainer. “Which one is the fastest?”

  “What?” Her mouth was gaping open. Her eyes were skirting from Finn to me.

  “Brody!”

  I ignored him. “Which one?”

  She flung one of the leads to me. “Her. She’s the faster one.”

  It was a brown mare, and she was watching me, but she wasn’t scared. I ran a hand down her neck, soothing to her at the same time, “Hey, hey. Listen, Horse. I don’t know you that well. You don’t know me, but I need your help.”

  “Brody!”

  Gayle was joining the fun. I didn’t look for her, but I knew if I had, I would have seen the look of complete disapproval on her face.

  “Brody.” Finn tried again. “What are you going to do? You’ll get lost up there.”

  Morgan was in trouble. Nothing else mattered.

  “Brody.” He grabbed the horse’s bridle as I climbed up on the saddle.

  “Let go.” One warning. I’d run him down if I had to. “I mean it, Finn.”

  His eyes flared from urgency to me. “You cannot ride.”

  “I’ve been riding the last week.”

  “Not enough. Not for those mountains. Not for where she went.”

  He had a point, but I didn’t care. “It’s Morgan. I’m going.”

  “Give us time. We can organize a search party. We’ve done this before. I told Jen to c
all Abby. She is probably already making phone calls to get people out here.”

  I shook my head. “That could take hours.” She might not have hours. She might not even have one hour. “I have to go, Finn!”

  He still wouldn’t let go of the bridle. “I’m thinking about you too. It isn’t just Morgan. She’s done this before. She’s probably fine, but you won’t be. You’ll get lost. You’ll get stuck out there for hours.” He nodded to the horse. “This mare isn’t equipped to be out there.”

  It was the fastest way to Morgan. That was all I knew.

  I pulled on the reins, jerking the horse’s head away from Finn and ripping the bridle free from his grip. Kicking my feet into her side, her rear end came around, knocking Finn to the side.

  I twisted around and said, “I don’t care.” Then I leaned forward and kicked my feet into her side again.

  I wanted her to run.

  As she did, tearing up dirt, Finn yelled behind us. “You’re not going to help her like this!”

  Maybe.

  Maybe not.

  All I knew was that I had to get to her.

  Morgan

  Shiloh took me to a cliff before dropping her head to graze. There was a small smattering of grass there, but I know she took me there for a reason. It was the highest point we could comfortably get to. I was far away from everything—from the herd, from the humans, from my old life that was trying to pull me back.

  I slid off her back and slumped to the ground.

  This was what I needed.

  Crisp mountain air. My lungs felt as if they were burning, but there was nothing like the feeling of being above it all. I felt close to the sky, and I lay on my back, gasping, dragging in air. I looked up, and it was as if I could reach up and touch a cloud.

  I hadn’t had an attack like this since after my mother died. The counselor pushed too hard, asking me to recall details I didn’t want in my head.

  Maybe it was because of the attack, or maybe it was because Shiloh brought me to this particular cliff, but I felt her again.

  It was as if she were smiling down at me, and maybe because of that, I curled in on myself and slept.

  When I woke, it was to the sound of someone calling my name.

  “Morgan!”

  “Morgan!”

  I sat up, squinting a moment. Brody wasn’t near me. I wasn’t in his bed. It took a second before it all rushed back to me.

  I felt the winds pick up, shifting from the valley below and blowing harshly against my cheeks. Shiloh lifted her head, her nostrils picking up Brody’s scent.

  That wasn’t my mom calling. I scrambled to my feet. “Brody?”

  “Mo-Morgan! Where are you? MORGAN!”

  I went to the edge and saw him by the river below us, all the way in the middle of the valley. “Brody!” I yelled, feeling Shiloh coming up behind me. I was close to the edge, too close. I felt her unease and reached back, touching her face. If she jerked it away, the movement could’ve had enough momentum to push me over. She was completely still.

  “Brody!”

  His head was whipping back and forth. “Morgan!” He lifted himself in his saddle, almost standing as he called out, “Where are you?”

  “Look up!”

  He did, and then he dropped abruptly back to his saddle’s seat. He gulped. “Wha—what the fuck are you doing up there?”

  Good question. I tried for a small smile, but figured he couldn’t see it. I called back down, “I’m coming to you. Don’t leave that spot.”

  I heard his wry laugh as I took a step back from the edge. “Yeah. That isn’t a problem.”

  Shiloh eased back with me, and once we were far enough away, I swung up to her back again. She turned for the trail that’d take us down to where he was, but it was close to the edge of the mountain. I hated these trails, but I trusted Shiloh. She wouldn’t go somewhere she couldn’t get us out of. Brody, on the other hand, wasn’t prepared for the sight when he lifted his head to see us picking our way down the side of the mountain to him.

  “Holy shit,” he said. His eyes were wide. “I’m not religious, but I’m going to start praying. I’m praying to God. Your horse is nuts.”

  I was thinking the same. The trail was as wide as her body. There was no leeway there.

  Once we set down on level ground with the river, Brody was off his horse and running to me. Shiloh reared back, jumpy from his fast arrival, but I hurried off her and went to meet him. He grabbed me as I splashed my way to his side of the bank and had me up in the air in a second. He folded himself around me completely, burying his head into my shoulder. “I was worried about you.”

  I ran a hand over the back of his head, burying my own into the crook of his head and shoulder. “I’m fine. I’m safe.”

  He pulled back, concern dilating his eyes. “Matthew crashed one of the movie scenes, he was that worried about you. Said you took off and you couldn’t breathe. Are you okay?” He was feeling all over me. My forehead. My mouth. My chest. He was looking at my back, making sure I was still in one piece. “I don’t get it.” His eyebrows dipped together. “You look fine.” His gaze lingered on the bags under my eyes. “Tired, though.”

  I caught his hand, squeezing it. It felt good to be touching him, even if it had only been a few hours since I’d seen him. “I’m fine. I had a panic attack when I was talking to Matthew.”

  “Panic attack?” His eyes darkened with anger. His head straightened back. “I didn’t give myself time to think about why you were talking to Kellerman. What the fuck did he want?”

  “To talk about the hard drive.”

  “Oh.”

  I grinned, ruefully. “Yeah. Oh.”

  Shiloh was slowly making her way through the river to us. It was a small enough creek that the currents weren’t dangerous. She was moving at a lazy pace, drinking as she did.

  I glanced at her as she came onto the bank, smelled my shoulder as if to reassure herself I was fine, and then moved around us. I watched as she and the other mare began grazing together.

  “You rode a horse here.”

  Brody groaned. “Yeah.” He raked a hand through his hair, letting the ends stick up into a deliciously rebel look. “Don’t know what the fuck I was thinking about. I grabbed the first thing that’d get me to you.” His eyes narrowed, studying his horse. “I think I bonded with that thing.”

  He said it as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

  I hit his shoulder. “That thing is a mare. Her name is Taffy.”

  “Taffy? What the fuck kind of name is that?”

  “A good name.” I nodded to the mare. “It’s her name.”

  “Hey.” A playful grin tugged at his lips. His arms went back around me. “I should warn you. Cat’s out of the bag. Between Matthew, Finn, and me—everyone’s aware there’s someone named Morgan that we all care about.”

  He grimaced.

  I ran a soothing hand over his cheek before letting my thumb linger on his lips. “Why are you worried about that?”

  A somber look settled over him. “Because things are going to change for you. People know about you now.”

  I didn’t say much after that except, “We should go back.”

  Brody rode Taffy, and I rode Shiloh next to him.

  I was impressed by how he did with her, only cursing a few times when she balked at his orders, but it was his mistake. He wasn’t reading her correctly. When we got closer and the buildings started to take shape through the trees, I thought back to his words.

  Were things really going to change for me?

  If they were, wouldn’t I have felt a sense of gravity weighing me down? I thought for a minute, searching for the knot I would expect to be twisting in my stomach, but there was nothing. I had a hard time imagining the world actually finding me. They might at the estate. That was different. No one could take that away from me and no one could keep me from coming back to the mountains.

  We stopped at the end of the second fence. There was st
ill an entire field between us and them.

  Two ambulances and dozens of cars—both police cruisers and regular vehicles—lined the driveway. Some tents had been put up on the front lawn, and there seemed to be people everywhere.

  A chill went down my spine.

  It was déjà vu. They were organizing a search party for us.

  I fought back a wave of unwanted memories. I hadn’t wanted them here then, and it was the same today.

  She left that day. No. My hands balled into fists. I pressed them down into my leg—she was taken from me that day.

  And I had felt her earlier. Shivers went up my spine.

  A shout rang out. Someone spotted us.

  As one, all of their heads lifted, and they looked at us.

  Brody glanced to me in concern.

  This had happened before in my life. They would be upset with me, having to go through this work to pull their resources, and I was healthy and fine. Again. There’d been tears before. And lectures, so many lectures. Angry words. Biting words. It was the last thing I could take back then.

  Seeing Matthew and Finn racing towards us, I braced myself for the same treatment.

  A black car was pulling to a stop just behind the tents at the same time they opened the gate by the barn and sprinted down the field to us, stopping a few yards away. Matthew got to us first. His panic was clear in his eyes, which were still wild. “You’re okay?”

  I didn’t respond.

  I couldn’t tear my gaze away from that car.

  Shiloh jerked backward. I reined her in, warning Finn and Matthew in a low voice, “Stay over there.” I still moved her back, just in case. Brody shifted, trying to put himself between Matthew and me. “She’s fine.”

  Finn gave us a shaky smile. “Well.” He glanced over his shoulder to the whole scene spread out. Among the cops, ambulances, tents were the crew and actors for the movie. They were dressed as volunteers, wearing a bright red vest, so if they got lost in the woods they could be seen easier.

  I was almost wistful of them at that moment.

  They didn’t want to get lost. That implied they wanted to be found.

  Getting lost and hiding have two different connotations, but the act is the same. If they disappeared into the woods, like I wanted to do right now.