Make Me Dream (The Sage Creek Series Book 1) by Dillon Bancroft

Author:Dillon Bancroft [Bancroft, Dillon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781736901229
Published: 2022-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

23

DEREK

I’ve never skipped a day of running, and I’m not about to let an impromptu trip to Chicago ruin that for me. The porch swing groans under my weight as I lazily reach for my tennis shoes and pull them on.

It’s a beautiful day, and while I’m usually working at this time, I have the day off and I need to find my normal before my head runs off with the little minx I left at the barn.

I stand up from the porch swing and stretch, allowing my back and joints to pop before I start my three miles. The back pasture is the perfect place to run. For the most part, the ground is pretty flat, and there aren’t any holes I need to worry about. And it’s close enough to home that I won’t have the women of Sage Creek ogling me as I run or catcalling me to take my shirt off.

Pass.

When I step down the hill, the sound of clumsy and panicked hooves against the concrete grabs my attention. I look to barn number three, and find Coley prancing out of the aisle. Her whinny is panicked. The cross ties have been ripped out of the wall and fly freely, still clipped to her halter.

It’s not enough she’s escaped. She has to let the whole world know about it. I jog that way, and when she spots me, she gallops towards me, skidding to a stop when she’s six feet away, and nervously prancing.

“Hey, you. What’s going on?” I reach for her halter, but she turns on a dime and canters back into the barn.

Shit.

Something happened.

I jog into the barn and follow Coley until she skids to a stop. Aria lies on the ground, unconscious. Her face is flushed and red, and what makes my heart pound in my chest is she’s not sweating. At all.

“Aria?” I crouch down beside her and roll up her sleeves. I remember the scars from that first day she came back home. Most of them are faded, but they still remain. She’s been through hell.

I gently pat her cheek repeatedly, trying to get her to come to.

“Ace? I need you to open your eyes. Can you do that?”

Her eyelids don’t even flutter. There’s literally no change.

“Shit,” I hiss under my breath.

My phone is at the house. Time is of the essence.

“Aria, baby, I need you to open your eyes. We need to get you to a bathtub…”

Nothing.

Okay. This is happening.

I gently scoop her up in my arms. She lies like a ragdoll. Her whole body is dead weight and it’s difficult to walk. Coley walks beside us like she’s Aria’s guard dog. She has to make sure Aria’s getting taken care of.

I get it, girl. I don’t want anything happening to her either.

I walk as fast as I can, stopping a few times to adjust my grip on her. I nearly cry when I reach the hill to the cul-de-sac, but I press through it.

When I reach Annie’s house, I don’t bother ringing the doorbell.

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