The Fighter and the Lover: Don't Mess with Loco Tex

Chapter 2: six figure horse

|| 2. six figure horse ||

"I don't know, Bruno, maybe because you egg everyone on instead of taking it on the chin? Not that it makes them right, but it seems to be a reoccurring theme–"

"Or maybe people in this place are just needlessly cruel and insufferable," I snapped irritably. Her boyfriend's dumbassery had put me in this stupid mood and it had proven real difficult to get out of it. Hence, I had wound up seeking a place to make sense of this, only to not be listened to, again.

The repressed sigh finally left her lips, and Lily watched me quietly. Her brown, doe-like eyes reflected concern, but I also saw something else. Pity.

I had problems with this. For one, it was genuine. For two, I didn't get vulnerable like that. I merely ranted and huffed and puffed sometimes when things got rough, but speaking openly and honestly was simply not in my wheelhouse of skills. I'd help her out with anything if she asked, but I never ever leaned on others too much emotionally. It was too burdensome to deal with me, let alone what followed. I didn't want to hurt, but I didn't want to indirectly or directly hurt anybody else. My problems were my own. I couldn't let the people who were good to me deal with that. Plus, I didn't know how to do that, not in a healthy way.

As the alarm set in, my back straightened up abruptly and I cleared my throat. "Well, that's it for this week's episode of 'PMSing Bruno!' Tune in next time to witness her at the candy story: chocolates in a heart box? Or cake?" My friend gave me a weak smile from her dark pink-painted lips, piling up on pitying me as she closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly as she exhaled daintily. Crap. Try again. I blinked once, twice, and then resumed. "I think cake. More specifically Boston cream cake, that mo-fo is delicious."

Looking back up at me, she rolled her pretty little eyes and apparently decided to let me keep my pride, letting the previous topic drop. "You and your sweet tooth," she mumbled, wrinkling her pointed nose a bit in mock disgust. "Such a pig."

A grin made its way onto my face as my shoulders visibly relaxed, finding myself relieved that we could move on to some other topic. Thankfully an easy one: cake. "Oh please, like you don't sneak a slice every single time I get a cake."

The "sophisticated" blonde guffawed, glaring playfully at me. "Excuse you? I pay for it–"

I held up a finger to stop her, waggling it in front of her face. "Nah-ah-ah, your parent's money pays for it. You just wield the tool that carries it all," I retorted and smirked deviously, poking at her patience with a stick.

Rolling her eyes, she sighed and stood up. "Fine, cowgirl, you win this round. Now let's go saddle up these horses before the weather turns," she more-so ordered me than asked.

I threw my head back as I rolled my eyes, letting out a groan of irritation. I had a tendency for stubbornness, and as much as I was looking forward to this, I couldn't help but resist being told what to do. I eventually complied with her demands, following her to the barn. We arrived outside two of the beautifully stained, wooden stable doors. The barn was huge, and of course a place that blustered with wealth. Lily's family helped finance it, and they had some of the best trainers working there.

A loud, metallic sheer noise scratched the air, pulling my attention back to the blonde as she pulled out a gray, dappled mare while I led out a tall chestnut gelding. Grinning, I pat his handsomely toned neck before we both got them tacked up and headed out on a trail ride. We'd been out to this very barn a countless number of times, and since we weren't riding as individual persons, we were allowed to go on the trails without an instructor. Plus, Lily had been riding since she could walk, basically, and she knew her way around a horse.