Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Would her mother have wanted this?” Saxon shot back at her.
“That’s hard to say, and it truly isn’t of importance here. You’ve grown up in this world. You know how things are done and how they are handled..”
Frowning, I tried to figure out what she had meant by that exactly. How things were handled? In the horse racing world? What did that have to do with me?
“Dammit!” Saxon shouted. “Can you talk to Garrett? Can Dad? Someone needs to fucking do something. She has no one protecting her.”
Was Saxon this scared of Blaise? I wasn’t being beaten and held against my will. Maybe I needed to explain things to him. Saxon had this idea of Blaise that was far scarier than reality.
“She is more protected now than anyone in the family. There is no better protection. You’re letting your feelings for her get involved, and, son, if those feelings are deep, you had better check them now.” She sounded like she was warning him. Her voice had lowered, and she’d snapped out the last part.
“That’s it then? We just stand back and let Blaise have her?” Saxon sounded defeated.
“He’s the boss,” she replied.
“Not yet!” Saxon argued.
“He might as well be. Loyalties are already shifting. You’ve seen it too.”
The boss? Loyalties? What in the heck were they talking about? I needed to google horse racing, apparently.
Melanie’s heels clicked on the hardwood as she began to walk. I hurried back to the kitchen and slipped out the side door before either of them saw me.
My gaze went to the stables as the conversation I’d just heard replayed in my head. Those other questions I had for Blaise had just tripled. Tonight, I needed some answers.
Did he know that the Houstons were scared of him? Or that Saxon thought he was taking me against my will? He’d said he’d let Melanie know I was with him. Wouldn’t he know if they were concerned?
I heard footsteps inside coming closer, and I took a deep breath, put a smile on my face, and opened the door, as if I were just getting here. Saxon was inches from the door when I walked in, and he was scowling when his eyes met mine. It fell away, and he seemed to instantly calm down.
“Hey,” I said, hoping I sounded surprised to see him.
“Uh, hey, Maddy,” he replied. “You’re back.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I am.”
“Oh, there you are, Madeline,” Melanie’s voice called out from the other side of the kitchen.
The awkwardness I had worried about was gone. Instead, I was now struggling to pretend I hadn’t heard anything they said. As if I wasn’t confused and baffled. I was never a great liar.
“Yes, I am sorry I didn’t take my phone. I forget I have it at times,” I told her. That sounded like something I would have said before.
She shrugged and continued smiling at me. “I understand. It’s fine. Blaise let me know the moment you left with him. Are you staying for a while, or do you have plans? I can make sure Mrs. Jolene brings you lunch to the house.”
Melanie was an excellent actress, which didn’t make me feel better.
“Oh, yeah, I’m going to stay here for a bit, if that’s okay. I can go eat lunch out at the barn kitchen though.”
Melanie shook her head and waved a hand, as if that was silly. “No need. She will be coming up here anyway. Saxon, honey, let Mrs. Jolene know to bring lunch up to Madeline,” she told him with a smile that was a little too tight.
I might not have caught it before, but I was looking now. She was giving him a silent warning.
What did she think he was going to say to me? I decided to push this a little.
“I’ll go with Sax down to the stables. I need to do my chores too,” I told her.
She frowned. “No, those have been handled. You are free to relax, enjoy the pool, read a book.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll go visit the horses then. They’ll wonder where I am if I don’t show up with their treats,” I said.
“Is Blaise here?” Saxon asked before Melanie could come up with a reason I shouldn’t do that.
“Yes,” I replied.
Saxon looked at his mother. “She’ll be safe then,” he said before opening the door and walking out.
I turned my attention back to Melanie to see her expression. She shrugged and shook her head, smiling, as if to say she didn’t understand Saxon’s response. I debated on confronting her with what I had heard, but she hadn’t sounded like the one I would get my answers from. Going down to the stables, I doubted I’d get much information either. I decided to get my phone and google horse racing and the Hughes specifically.
Twenty-Four
Nothing. Google knew nothing. At least nothing more than the number of champions the Hughes Farm had in their ranks. It also had pictures of Blaise with more women than I cared to see. Rarely did he take the same female to a race or event. That should make me feel better, but the fact that he went through females so quickly didn’t. Also, my age stood out. He had women on his arm. They were his age. They weren’t teenagers. I only had two months before I wasn’t a teenager anymore, but twenty wasn’t a big deal.