Hard Road Back by Andrew Grey

Author:Andrew Grey [Grey, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64405-612-7
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2020-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

THE FOLLOWING morning, I walked Storm into Scarborough’s barn. Dad had already arranged to take his horse home, and I slipped Storm into the paddock. He seemed like such a different horse than the one I’d first met. He was almost docile and didn’t seem bothered by me or my proximity in the least. Still, I hadn’t wanted to move him in a trailer, and walking him home seemed like good exercise for both of us, even if it took a while and was hot as billy hell.

“Your wayward boy is back home,” I told Scarborough as I closed the gate. “He did really well.” As soon as he was alone in the paddock, Storm raced around the perimeter, seemingly checking things out, and then settled once again, but he didn’t start eating. Instead, he seemed to watch me without getting closer.

“Maybe I just bought a horse that’s crazy.” Scarborough leaned on the fence rail as Storm began to eat. “I don’t get it at all.”

“I think part of what we’ve been seeing is conditioning,” I told him. “The snakes and things. That horse has had something traumatic done to him with snakes.” The more I talked about it, the more the idea solidified.

“But why would someone want to do that, and why come here?”

I nodded and turned to him. “It’s something Iris said at the reunion. Maybe he was used for testing of some sort, and maybe he was sent to auction by mistake.”

“That sounds like grasping at straws,” Scarborough said as his gaze met mine. I tried not to react to it, but damn, the air around me grew ten degrees warmer, I swear.

“No. That’s just thinking. The straws are yet to come.” I flashed him a smile. “So if he was sold too early, they still needed something from him. They came here and put the snakes in his paddock to see how he reacted. Then they returned to watch him as he calmed down with no further adverse stimulation. Maybe they were giving him some drugs or something, and they’ve been working out of his system. I’m not really sure.” Even what I was saying sounded a little nuts, but it sort of fit what we had been seeing. Maybe some part of it reflected reality.

“Okay. So what sort of people test stuff like that on horses? They’re big animals and expensive to keep,” Scarborough asked, and I shrugged. “No university is going to do it. Sounds way too unethical to me.”

“The military?” I offered, and he rolled his eyes. “Government, maybe something they sponsored?” It was sounding even more far-fetched by the minute. “Okay, that’s sounding really stupid, even to me, and I was the one who came up with the whole thing. If someone shows up again, we need to catch them and find out what the hell is going on.”

“Agreed,” Scarborough said, to my surprise. I had expected resistance. “If anyone shows, I’ll call you for backup and—”

“They’ll be long gone before I can get here.

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