writtenbykenna
Seventeen-year-old Hadley Brooks has always understood horses better than people.
She grew up on a cattle ranch, competes in barrel racing, works after school at Silver Creek Equine & Large Animal Clinic, and has basically had her entire future planned since she was little: graduate high school, major in Animal Science, go to veterinary school, and eventually become an equine veterinarian.
Her life is busy, predictable, and mostly exactly how she likes it.
Until Beckett Hayes pulls into the clinic parking lot after hours with an injured palomino mare in his trailer.
Hadley has heard of Beck.
Everybody has.
The Hayes family has the kind of reputation that makes parents lower their voices when they mention them. Beck is quiet, guarded, and clearly doesn't care what anyone in town thinks about him.
Hadley assumes the palomino is a one-time thing.
Then Beck brings another horse.
And another.
By the fifth horse, Hadley wants to know where the hell he's finding them.
Beck refuses to give her a straight answer.
Then comes Number Seven.
A dark bay mare arrives scared, underweight, and nothing like the horse Hadley remembers-but there's something familiar about her.
A tiny star.
One white hind sock.
The shape of her face.
An old scar.
Hadley has seen that horse before.
Hundreds of times.
Her registered name is Famous Last Goodbye, a once-famous barrel mare Hadley idolized as a little girl.
Except Famous Last Goodbye disappeared years ago.
Her former owner said she'd been retired and privately sold.
So how did a missing champion end up in Beck Hayes's trailer?
And why does Beck look terrified when Hadley recognizes her?
That's where the real story begins.