Chapter 9
Cori
Grant was in my head. Ever since the almost-kiss, I couldn’t get him out of it. The way that he’d looked at me yesterday wasn’t helping. It made dreams about him suddenly spring to life without even trying.
Now that I was single and free, my brain was catching up with me. The breakup with Joel didn’t even feel that recent. With every passing day, I realized how much we’d been coasting for way too long.
Even when I’d been dating Joel, I hadn’t had fantasies about him. The fantasies I had—even about expanding our sexual repertoire—hadn’t featured Joel at all. My subconscious had known he wouldn’t ever do it.
But now, I was picturing Grant. In any and all situations involving him and me and our mouths meeting and clothes disappearing.
But the more I thought about it, I felt that Grant was right, too. He was a good guy, and I didn’t want to rebound off him. And yet the way his gaze filled with heat yesterday made me want to explore faster.
God, the wedding tomorrow was going to be something else. I already had butterflies thinking about it.
There were butterflies of a different kind in my stomach as I drove into the Pearson ranch. I didn’t exactly feel welcome here, but I wanted to check on Sunrise. I didn’t need to check on any of the other horses yet.
No trucks in the driveway. That was good. Easier, honestly. With the wedding tomorrow, Joel was the last person I wanted to see.
At first when I got to the stable, I didn’t think Sunrise was in her stall. Until I saw that she was. Lying on her side in the hay. “Hi there,” I said softly, getting myself into the same space. “How are you?”
A soft sound, fairly pitiful.
I didn’t need to listen to her lungs to see that she was struggling to breathe. Her side was heaving, breaths irregular. When I did listen, there wasn’t anything obstructing her lungs. No other injuries. Heart rate was high but not irregular.
This horse needed to come to the clinic. There wasn’t any other way to put it. I pulled out my phone and dialed Mr. Pearson. It was clear that he was driving when he answered. “Hello?”
“Mr. Pearson,” I said. “It’s Cori Jackson.”
“How can I help you?”
I cleared my throat. “I came out to check on Sunrise, and she’s really having a hard time breathing. At this point, tests are necessary if I’m going to figure out what’s going on.”
“No,” he said. “We’ve been working them hard training. Maybe a bit overworked and tired, but the animal is fine.”
“Mr.—”
“Look, I don’t have time to talk about this right now. You don’t have permission to remove that horse from my property, do you understand?”
“Yes.”
He hung up without another word, and I stared at the phone for a second. Mr. Pearson had always been gruff, but in the past, he’d been a little easier to work with. Why wouldn’t he want to find out what was going on?
I’d left my sample kit at the clinic. But I’d thrown a steroid shot in my bag on the off chance the horse needed it. And it did. The shot would give her system a boost and make it easier for her to breathe. And hopefully allow her to hold on until I found out what was wrong with her. Because I was going to find out.
There was no chance I was going to let an animal suffer just because the owner was being a stubborn ass about it. But there was nothing I could do today.
“Cori.”
The voice made me freeze as I was closing the gate on Sunrise’s stall. I took one long breath before I turned. “Joel.”
“Here for a horse?”
I fixed him with a stare. “Well, I’m certainly not here for you.”
“Oh, Cori,” he laughed. “You know I’ve always loved you when you’re sassy.”
What? He was talking to me like he hadn’t screamed all sorts of profanities at me last time I’d seen him.
“On the contrary. I don’t think you really loved me at all, Joel. And now that we’re over, I’m realizing that we’ve been over for a long time.” I turned and walked away from him toward the exit.
His footsteps softly crunched behind me. “I was going to call you today. Talk about when to pick you up for the wedding. You’re still going, right?”
“Are you serious?” I whirled on him, and the words were out of my mouth before I fully processed them. “You even imagine that you’re welcome at the wedding?”
Joel looked confused. “You RSVPed with my name as the plus-one. So, obviously, I’ll go.”
I laughed. I, honest to God, laughed out loud. Courage surged up my spine, and I glared at him. “No. You gave up that privilege when you decided to verbally assault me. You are, under no circumstances, welcome at the wedding. I have another date, and you can go to hell. Goodbye, Joel.”
The look on his face made me feel better than I had since that night. The combination of shock and utter disbelief gave me whatever closure I needed.
I was almost at the door when I heard him behind me again. He grabbed me, and I nearly stumbled as he gripped my arms and spun me around, backing me into the corner by the door. My back crashed against the shelves of equipment, knocking off a couple of bottles and brushes. One shoulder blade ached with a hook pressed into it.
“What are you doing?”
The look on his face wasn’t shocked now. It was dark and terrifying. Fear struck deep, and I regretted the way I’d spoken to him. He’d already snapped once without much provocation. No reason to think he wouldn’t do it again.
“You know, I thought more about the ideas you proposed,” he said in a low voice. “And I think I’ve come around to them a little bit.”
“What—”
He forced me back again, sliding me off the shelves and deeper into the hooks…where there was rope. My mouth instantly went dry.
This was not what I wanted. “Joel, I need you to let me go now.”
“Why? You were asking for something new and dirty a few days ago.” He grabbed a piece of rope and wrapped it around me.
I dropped my bag and shoved him, but he was ready for that, thrusting his hips into mine and locking my body against the wall while he managed to wrap rope around my arms.
He was stronger than I was. “Joel.” I heard the panic in my own voice as I pushed at him. How did I let him put me in this position? How did I end up here?
Something unlocked inside of me, and I fought him. I used every part of my body to force him away from me. Every bit of energy went to trying to stop what was happening. So much effort that I couldn’t even scream.
It wasn’t enough. He had me. And every second, he had me a little more tangled in the rope. I could barely move my arms.
Emotion strangled me. This couldn’t happen. This couldn’t be happening to me. “Please stop.”
Joel looped a piece of rope around my neck and drew it tight. “Why do you want me to stop? Isn’t this what you wanted? Experimenting with something new? Your kinky sex?”
This wasn’t the same. Wanting something new in bed didn’t mean that I wanted this.
He reached for my jeans, and I fought him again. Kicked. Pain cracked through me when I accidentally hit my head against the wall.
Gravel crunched, and Joel backed away and released me at the last second before one of the ranch hands walked through the stable door.
Joel yanked the rope with me in it. Still off-balance, I fell in a heap on the ground, heaving in air now that my throat was free. Above me, Joel laughed and made a comment about me being clumsy.
The employee kept walking. From his point of view, it would look as if I’d somehow tripped and gotten caught in the rope. But I wasn’t going to waste any time. I ripped off the rope, grabbed my bag, and leaped for the door.
Joel caught my arm before I made it and yanked me back. I could still see the man down the hall of the stable, and he looked back at the two of us. I hoped that he could see my panic.
“You seem to have a misunderstanding,” Joel whispered in my ear. “I’ve decided I want to keep you. To teach you about normal sex and that it can be what you want.”
“Get away from me,” I croaked in a hoarse voice. “I’ll scream.”