“I’ll be in touch.”
I ignored Dan’s sign-off and just hung up. I fought the urge to throw my cell phone into the creek below. I was through with being a puppet while the powers that be held my strings and forced me to dance.
My jaw worked as I stared at the horizon. It was time to take back control of my life. Step one was getting out of this contract. Once that was done, I’d have all the freedom in the world to explore how I wanted to make music.
The golden grasses of the field rippled in the wind. Maybe I’d buy property here. I’d always wanted to build a house somewhere with enough land to have a separate recording studio. A place where I could have total creative control. Land with room for horses and cattle. A home my parents would love to visit.
I chuckled remembering the first time my mom had come to my place in Malibu. “It’s lovely,” she’d said with a look of confused horror on her face. It was pretty modern. No real personality. Notme.
I needed to build a retreat. A true home. Tessa’s face flashed in my mind. I wondered what she’d want in a house. An art studio for sure. Maybe space for her own horses? I shook my head. I was losing it.It might help to have the girl agree to a date before you start building a house with her in mind.
19
Tessa
Alightness had engulfed me since my conversation with Jensen yesterday. I hadn’t realized just how much I needed to release my burden. To tell someone my story. It wasn’t like any of my problems had been solved. Garrett could still find me at any moment, but I felt freer than I had in almost a decade.
The simple power of feeling seen. Heard. Understood.Believed.
Jensen had reassured me that she wouldn’t tell anyone what I’d shared with her, but she made me promise that I would think about going to Walker at some point. My muscles tensed at the thought. I couldn’t. It was too risky. I wouldn’t put it past Garrett to kidnap me and bring me back to DC where I had no one in my corner, no one who would believe my claims.
A chill skittered over my skin. That wasn’t going to happen. I was safe.
The late-afternoon wind picked up, so strong it lifted my braid off my back. Phoenix whinnied against the air’s force, the mare’s mane flying wildly around. I set my sketchbook on the boulder, careful to weigh a corner down with my bag so it wouldn’t fly away.
I hopped off the rock. “Come on, Phee. You need a good grooming before you get dreadlocks in your mane.”
Phoenix seemed to give me the side-eye as though she knew what I was suggesting. It had taken months for her to allow me anywhere near her with a grooming kit. Now, she at least enjoyed a good brushing of her coat. But she still wasn’t crazy about me tackling the knots in her mane.
“Come on now,” I coaxed. “I’ll give you a carrot if you stand still for me.”
Phoenix’s ears twitched. I swear the mare could understand everything I said and was negotiating. “Okay, fine. Two carrots.”
Phoenix started trotting after me. I let out a laugh. “You’re a smart little troublemaker.” She huffed.
I led the way down the fence line to where I’d left my assortment of brushes. I bent to slide under the fence. Phoenix slowed her pace. “Come on, now. No use dragging your feet. The sooner we get started, the sooner you get your treat.”
Phoenix edged closer. I scratched between her ears. “Good girl.” I made quick work of using a curry comb to rid her coat of any dirt or mud. As the weather was getting warmer, the horses were losing more and more of their winter coats, which meant…horse hair everywhere. “Geez, you needed this big time.”
Phoenix nibbled playfully at my shoulder. “You grooming me, too?”
My head snapped up at the sound of gravel crunching under tires. The movement made Phoenix paw the ground anxiously. Jensen wasn’t supposed to pick me up for at least another hour. My stomach dropped to my toes. Dark Escalade. Tinted windows. Liam.
I ran my hand along Phoenix’s neck. “Everything’s fine.” I’m not sure who I was reassuring, her or me.
Liam hopped down from the SUV. My heartbeat picked up its pace. He was dressed simply in dark jeans and a flannel. Like everything else about him, it was casually sexy, as if he weren’t even trying and still looked like he could grace the perfectly-styled cover of a men’s magazine. I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry.
Liam ducked between the rails of the fence.Shit. There was no avoiding this. I straightened my spine and headed in his direction. Liam deserved an explanation of why I’d run out on him. I couldn’t give him that, but I could at least give him an apology.
We met at the boulder, my safe space. My hiding place. I wasn’t sure how I felt about having Liam here.
He grinned, and my stomach flipped. “Hey, Tessa.”
I fidgeted with the zipper on my fleece. “Hi.”
“I hope you don’t mind, Jensen said you were up here.”
Traitor.I’d get her back for that. “No, it’s fine.”
