Broken Horse

Chapter 10 - Jacey

Dad: I have another potential buyer coming today. He will be here soon. Get the horse ready.

The third time I read over that text, my stomach started inching its way up my throat. I knew Cobalt would be up for sale, I just was hoping I would have him for a little longer. The other potential buyers were not ones for that one horse. Cobalt needed to go to a perfect owner, and rushing the sale would only harm that horse and what he was capable of doing.

A sleek, silver two-door car drove in and parked in the yard by my parents' truck. My heart slapped hard as I watched the suited man get out and head to the front door greeting my dad with a handshake. A city slicker, no doubt. Not one who would ever be able to handle the horse at all. Cobalt couldn't have a city boy owner. Still, Tobey hadn't even been able to do anything with him, and my dad couldn't even get close to the corral. There would be no way this man wearing a suit and driving a car that was worth more than my parents' truck and mine put together would ever buy Cobalt after seeing him.

Tossing the hay into the corral, I looked at Cobalt whose head was hanging low and his deep dark eyes were filled with sadness. We had been sneaking out in the middle of the night and working on some moves and he was picking it up so fast I didn't need to give him any direction. When the song changed, he was changing his tempo with the beat under no direction.

Turning back to the house, I watched the two men making their way down through the yard. My dad stopped at the beginning of the farmyard and held out his hand to the guest. Dad was a great business man. Wonderful. I couldn't blame him for this. Taking the horse in the first place was meant to sell later, and later came much quicker than I wanted.

The large man wearing a dark gray jacket with matching pants from a designer store grabbed my heart and twisted hard. His blue eyes reminded me of Sergei's right away, but a little older and a little wilder. As he came closer, I stepped away from the corral knowing that Cobalt did not like strange men around his territory. With this man being so tall and broad, Cobalt was going to have a major issue very soon.

"I am here to see the horse for sale." The deep thick accent rolled off his tongue, one that sounded a lot like Sergei's. There weren't a whole lot of people in this area who had that accent, so how come there were two now? Was it that I was too drawn to my teacher so I was imaging everyone being like him? "Is this him, the horse on the website?"

"This is." Looking over my shoulder, Cobalt was at the fence with his ears perked up, but showing no signs of anger. "He's a special horse and I just-"

"Beautiful, just as in the picture." Those blue eyes hadn't shifted over to the horse as he spoke. The smile that spread across his face was just as tender as the ones Sergei had given to me plenty of times. "I spoke with your father. He understands my situation. I am looking for horse. A good horse. A strong horse. I see strong in him."

"He's not for anything that requires more than riding. He's not trained for anything else." If this man wanted to put Cobalt in a harness and have him pull wagons or something, this was the wrong horse. Cobalt would never be in a harness, and I highly doubt he would even let me try. This horse was made to be ridden only.

"No problem there. No problem." Tipping his head, he ran his large hand through his dark hair. "I do look for boarding..." Cocking his brow, his blue eyes came back to me filling with sadness. "I do not want to see the horse go away from his home. I will pay to have him here. I am not here so much, and I will pay extra to have a rider to keep him up on his training."

"So, you want to just buy him to keep him here so that you can just look at him?" Tears burned my eyes not understanding this man. Why would anyone spend a lot of money on a horse to put in a field and someone else to ride him? If it were true, this was my day. This was my man to sell Cobalt to. But... this had to be Sergei's brother. They looked so much alike and those eyes... Those blue sapphires that sparked when the light hit them just right. Ones that were full of tenderness deep down under the surface.