Page 28 of Strong as a Horse

My horse let out a low huff and I no longer had to wonder. She was more jealous than I was. Apparently, she’d fully embraced our mates while I teetered on the edge of acceptance.

El seemed to notice and a wicked grin spread across his face. “She offered to give Riven, here, a good time.” He was not afraid to cause chaos and watch everything burn afterward.

Now was my turn to stand and be forced back into my seat by an exasperated Zathrian.

“Sit down, Nyla,” he groaned. “We can’t win if you’re in jail.”

“Remind me why jail is bad?” I said dryly.

“No coffee, shared showers, and all women,” he said without skipping a beat. “You’d miss my dick.”

“Good point,” I sighed. “And your tongue.”

Riven and El both looked smug at my obvious jealousy and I refused to look back. I may be giving them more of a chance now but I still wasn’t diving headfirst into this, instincts aside.

As if my gaze were magnetized to my former mate, I spotted Lance sitting in the back of the restaurant. His chair was turned where he could watch me and it was impossible to miss the longing and sadness on his face. I hated how much it hurt to see him like that because at the bottom of all my pain was that girl who still loved him. Lance and I spent years together, planned a future and talked about a whole lifetime that he threw away in a second. It was hard to convince my heart that it wasn’t my job to fix that look on his face.

He didn’t look away from me, either. Even as one of the guys touched my hand I couldn’t pull my gaze away. Hell, I couldn’t even focus on their voices.

“Nyla.” Riven’s harsh words had me finally blinking and looking away, breaking the moment. He reached over and brushed my cheek. I hadn’t even realized that tears were falling. My horse let out a soft, sad whine that broke my heart. She was hurting just as much as I was and I hated it.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“No,” El said. “We don’t apologize for existing and feeling things. You have every right to face what you’re feeling, whether it’s anger, frustration, or hurt. Don’t hide yourself from us, Nyla.”

I didn’t have any words to offer in response, so I just nodded.

“So, what do you guys think is coming our way tomorrow?” Zath was obviously changing the subject and I could have kissed him for it.

“They don’t exactly tell us what’s coming. I have no good guess, but as long as they don’t stick me next to Boobs McGee I’ll be fine,” I joked.

El snorted. “I can second that one.”

Zath nodded. “I think we’re pretty well prepared. I watched all of the previous competitions and we did some practice rounds at home.” We shared a smirk at that memory. It was less practice and more play, but it still paid off.

“So did we,” Riven said. “I’m not the type to go in completely unprepared. I think that’s why yesterday’s big challenge was so easy. Though, the mojito was impressive.” He raised his glass to me.

My cheeks warmed at the compliment. I wasn’t used to this kind of sweet talk and they weren’t afraid to throw them around.

“Thanks. I think we both did pretty well that first round.”

“Not so great the second and third rounds,” El joked. “We both got our asses kicked.”

“On the bright side, team one didn’t get any points, either,” I added. “Four and five are the ones to watch now.”

“I’m glad we’re all petty here,” El laughed.

Zath cackled at that. “Oh, petty is our middle name. Just ask Nyla about Candy.” He was already fitting in so well with them, it honestly made me like them more.

“Candy?” Riven asked as he leaned back, waiting to hear this story. I was saved by our food getting dropped off. Everyone dug in a bit before he prompted again. “I’m still waiting on that story.”

“So, Candy was the first waitress we hired,” I started reluctantly. “She was this bubbly, but admittedlyveryditzy, woman. Every Friday she wanted to come in later because she had a call from her mother. It was a tradition or something and we didn’t mind adjusting her hours to be a bit later and we’d already started some new girls by then.”

“Until I overheard her talking out back one day,” Zath jumped in. “I’m not exactly the best person for family norms, but even I wouldn’t be talking dirty to my mom.”

“Oh, shit,” El said, cracking up.

“So, of course, he comes in and tells me. I figured, it was fine as long as it wasn’t on the clock,” I picked it back up. “But then she told us her mother suddenly died the next day and she needed a week off to go out of town.”