North Oak, Book 7-- AGAINST THE ODDS

HEAD CASE

Brooke lay awake in the hotel room she was sharing with Alex and Carol for the weekend. It was early, but still dark out.

Yeah, she'd had things to say to Alex, but it was mostly along the lines of them both still figuring things out. Coming out of the gate the way they did wasn't the best choice, but it wasn't anything to agonize over. Venus would get some more gate work and she'd be fine. Learn from your mistakes, then move on.

Brooke sighed, wondering if Dejado was up yet. They could drive over to the track in his beat up old Ford pickup and get some work done. Her own filly, four-year-old Morning Glory, still had a race to run before the day was out.

She blinked at Carol in the opposite bed, then Alex on the couch across the room, wondering why Alex was so finicky about personal space. Was she worried what people would think if she shared a bed with her best friend? Like, who cares if Alex was super, obviously, in love with her? Brooke didn't.

She half-smiled and decided to finally get out of bed. After she dressed, she left the keys to her own car with a note by the TV. She'd let her jockey sleep a while longer.

Right as she was about to knock on Dejado's door, she received a text from him.

In lobby.

Good. He was up, and ready to go. She met him downstairs where he held out a cup of coffee to her. "Morning," he said in his smooth British accent.

His smile made her skin tingle. She told people she'd moved on from her obsession with him after Pop kicked her out. Dejado had invited her to share his apartment when she had to leave behind the cottage she'd been born in.

But telling everyone she'd moved on? That was a lie. She still had feelings for Dejado. Who wouldn't? It was only a matter of controlling them.

She helplessly gazed at him over the edge of her styrofoam cup as she took the first sip of her coffee. He jangled his keys and she followed him like a lost puppy to his truck. His refined, muscular back and shoulders did not go unnoticed, nor did the way his black, wavy hair curled cutely on the middle of his neck.

They buckled themselves into the cab of the truck and pulled out from the hotel, following the road to the backside stables of Keeneland. Dejado sang softly to a honkytonk song on the radio, oblivious to the fact that Brooke wished her hand were curled around the warm, supple curve of his knee rather than this coffee cup.

She wasn't sure if it was the magic jitter juice warming her face or a blush, but she hoped he wouldn't notice.

As they pulled into the lot near North Oak's barn, Brooke's mind shifted focus to the work ahead. At least she wasn't as boy crazy as her best friend, Alex's sister Laura Showman, and could clear her mind when she needed to. Morning Glory's head poked over the webbed stall guard and caught Brooke's gaze. She whinnied to Brooke, and that alone got Brooke more swoony than any boy could.

She left Dejado's side and jogged to the filly, eager to love on her. "Morning Mags."

Morning Glory nudged her playfully.

Brooke had only had her training license a short while. She'd grown up as an unofficial assistant trainer back home at North Oak, under the tutelage of her grandfather, head trainer Joe Hendricks, aka Pop.

Now she gathered Morning Glory's things to let her out of the stall and hand walk her around the stable. Venus Nights whickered as they passed her stall, and Brooke was sure to give her a pat too. The two fillies touched noses and squealed, before Brooke headed off again.

She was proud of the way Morning Glory had grown from a horse who refused to race, into a regional filly of note, having gotten a few paychecks in stakes races. But today Mags' race was something a little more laid back— an Allowance race with an optional claiming tag.