Free Lost and Found by Trish Marie Dawson Page A

tools.
    "Have fun brushing them, but be careful, ok? I'm going to check on Connor and see
     if he's still pissed off at me." I waved at Kris, who seemed to have found her happy
     place amongst the horses while I backed away toward the trail.
    We could do this, the horses were already trained, I could tell. They were healthy;
     they were strong - why not ride them, instead of noisy and unreliable motorcycles?
     I didn't understand Connor's reservations about taking them to Los Angeles. Especially
     since he admitted he could actually ride a horse. On the drive back to the lodge in
     the truck, I decided to cut back on trying to convince him to take the horses and
     focus on making them healthy and happy first. He'd come around. Connor always did.
    My thoughts had been so preoccupied with getting the trailer onto the property and
     not startling the horses that I had almost forgotten about the mutilated one we found
     in the barn. The gruesome scene came flooding back to me as I climbed the porch steps. 
     Out of habit, I looked over my shoulder at the quiet woods. I wondered, not for the
     first time, what lived inside the gloomy shadows that flanked the tall pine trees.
     I just hoped whatever it was that had attacked, eaten and dismembered the stable horse
     was long gone and not in our woods, watching us; waiting for its moment to invade
     our little community.
    I squared my shoulders at the tree line and muttered under my breath, "Not on my watch."
     
    ***
     
    Connor punched the closet door so hard three of his knuckle impressions were left
     in the painted particleboard. He flinched, staring at the caved-in spots with animosity,
     as if it was the doors fault his hand hurt, and not his own.
    "Damn!" he cursed at the wood, rubbing over the raw parts of his hand with his other
     thumb.
    She couldn't go, not on a horse, not all the way to Los Angeles. What if she was thrown
     or the horses got spooked and left them stranded in the middle of nowhere? What if
     he was thrown, his neck broken and not able to take care of her? With a sigh, he ran
     a finger over the amygdaliform of one of the indents, tracing the almond shaped hole
     carefully. She did this to him, riled him up inside; tortured his heart and clouded
     his mind. It was all her fault that he was falling apart at the seams. But he didn't
     mind, of course he didn't, because he loved her. And love was…well, messy.
    She'd find a way to leave. Even if she started out on foot - he knew she would. Because
     Riley was the most stubborn woman, he had ever met. That damn heart of hers was going
     to get them both in trouble - or killed. And now Kris wanted to go.
    "Damn it!" he yelled again into the empty bedroom.
    He kicked at one of his boots and watched as it flung into the side of the bedframe
     and bounced to a stop below the open window. Still cursing under his breath, he strode
     over to the sill, brushing the sheer curtains aside in irritation and peered out into
     the woods, watching the shadows as they flicked in and out of the safety of the trees
     as sun shined down through their canopies. Before he turned away, he thought he saw
     a more solid shape take form but when he squinted to see it better, it shifted and
     blended in with the rest of the forest shadows.
    "Great, now you're seeing things. Right. Just…brilliant," he muttered to himself as
     he stomped toward the bathroom, kicking the door open and cursing some more when it
     banged into the wall and swung back into him, catching his elbow painfully.
    After splashing cool water on his face and staring at his rugged reflection in the
     mirror, he wondered what it was that Riley saw in him. His face looked gaunt; the
     dark circles under his eyes becoming more and more pronounced each week. He hadn't
     bothered to shave in more days than he could count on both hands - and his hair -
     what a mess that was.
    "Oh my God, you look like shit. Complete and total shit," he hissed at himself.
    He rummaged