Free Stabled (The Stables Trilogy #1) by Penny Lam

waited.
     
    It took a long time, but slowly Bane calmed down. She kept whispering to him. She was waiting until he stilled completely before moving to the gate. Then she waited some more. She talked to him, explaining what she was going to do. Open the gate. Take him for a little walk. Let him stretch his legs.
     
    “It’s been a hard time for you, Buddy,” she admitted. “I don’t want to talk bad about my boss, but keeping a gorgeous horse like you locked up in here is wrong. So we’re going to prove ourselves to them. Will you help me? Will you help me show them?”
     
    Bane snorted.
     
    Slowly, she undid the lock and let the gate swing open. She didn’t wait for Bane; holding the lasso, she started walking toward the pasture. It tugged, then she heard the clop-clop of hooves behind her.
     
    Maple tried not to smile. Her chest ached from the thumping of her heart. Her teeth ached, she was clenching her jaw so hard.
     
    As soon as Bane was out of the stable he bucked. The rope tightened in her grip and she stepped back. “Whoa, Boy. Whoa,” she called, trying not to let her fear infiltrate her voice. In the wide open space, Bane seemed larger and much scarier. It would take nothing for him to trample her.
     
    Take a deep breath, Maple. This isn’t about you.
     
    This was about trust. He had to know she trusted him.
     
    He continued to buck and jump around. She took tiny steps toward the pasture, never tightening the rope around his neck, but never letting go, either. He moved with her.
     
    Slowly they made it inside of the pasture. Maple kicked the gate shut and locked it. She couldn’t let the rope loose, so she walked and jogged with Bane. He kept trying to scare her, but he stayed the same distance apart. She could work with that.
     
    Soothing voice. Movement. Maple just waited him out.
     
    It may have been another hour before he stopped bucking so hard. His jumps and stomps seemed more for show than for threat. Maple kept speaking quietly. It pleased her, having something to focus on.
     
    Maple thought if she could help Bane, she would know she was strong. If she was strong, she could rebuild the wall. She could push Tony’s memory back in. She could bury her desires.
     
    It happened. Bane stilled. They stood, neither moving, evaluating the other.
     
    “Bane, may I touch you?” It was silly to think the horse could understand her, but it felt better to ask permission. When the huge, muscled body stayed put, she took a tentative step closer. And another. Until she was standing close enough to see the veins throbbing in Bane’s neck.
     
    She placed her hand gently on Bane’s shoulder. The corded muscles twitched underneath, but he didn’t bite or yank back.
     
    I did it!
     
    Her hand stroked softly as she reached her other to grab the rope. He needed a lot more time outside. If she could get the rope off, she could lock the paddock and give his stall the deep clean it desperately needed.
     
    Fingers clasped rope. Slowly, so slowly, she inched it up Bane’s neck. She smiled, silently cursing how tall the horse was, when Bane stomped a foot in warning. She froze--
     
    Footsteps and shouts, running right at Bane and her.
     
    The horse’s eye rolled, her only warning before he reared up, his hooves whipping by her skull. Maple scrambled to the side on instinct, falling back. The ground shook when the massive hooves came crashing down less than a foot from her. Shuffling in a crab crawl, she backed away from the horse, who’d begun to buck again in horrifying earnest.
     
    She was so focused on the horse that her hand struck down on a large pile of rocks. Fiery pain, like a knife stabbing her, flew up her wrist. Maple clutched her arm to her chest, but the knife-pain struck again at her side.
     
    Rolling away, she turned right into the boots of Raúl, his eyes huge. “What the fuck are you doing?” There wasn’t time to answer before he hooked his hands under her armpits, dragging