novelxo Savior Complex: Chapter 9
Javier had fallen asleep against me so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to escape last night. Darn.
Luxuriating in his warmth, I’d hoped to sleep in since Ant wouldn’t be getting up early for work. It was all going to plan until Sparrow texted Charlie and me before seven, the buzzy notification against Javier’s side table enough to wake me. He’s coming by with a rescue horse, and even through text there’s an urgency to his tone.
Sparrow used to be the foreman over at Rebel Sky but then pivoted and is now training horses full-time. We get our horses from Rebel Sky, Sparrow takes them for the first round of training, and then Charlie and I work together for the advanced search-and-rescue and therapy training.
Sparrow’s super sensitive regarding the treatment of animals, yet he’ll go into the worst horse auctions to save who he can. He once admitted he finds them traumatizing and will only go if he’s had a dream. I’m guessing he didn’t sleep well last night.
Sliding out from Javier’s grip is the last thing I want to do, but a top-tier dicking is not a good enough excuse to shirk my responsibilities. I quietly shower and put on my Slaughter band T-shirt, blue-jean overalls, and black Kickers—all perfectly worn-in—then send a quick text to Ant to join Charlie and me at the quarantine paddock when he gets up.
It’s a gorgeous day as I jog over to the barn to pick up some apples, carrots, and sugar cubes. I won’t call them magic, but they’re pretty potent tools for neutralizing a horse’s anger and fear response.
Stuffing everything into my front pocket, I head to the quarantine paddock by the tree line, where Sparrow and his husband, Luke, are waiting for me. It’s a temperate blue-sky day, and the trees provide the perfect amount of shade over the enclosed area.
I open the big gate, and Luke backs up the trailer so we can unload the horse directly into the paddock. It’s connected to a small stable with two stalls, where we keep our rescues until they’re given a clean bill of health.
Luke hops out of the truck and races to the passenger side, letting Sparrow out. That’s not usually how they do things, so I take note. Sparrow grabs Luke’s hand and gingerly exits the truck while holding his hip, his usually calm demeanor dark.
“Are you okay? Do we need to take you to the hospital?”
He shakes his head. “Saw the kick coming, was able to shift away from it at the last minute.”
The clench of Luke’s jaw tells me he disagrees with his husband, but we both know trying to convince Sparrow to do something he doesn’t want to won’t work. Just as I’m about to lean into Luke and quietly suggest we send a message to Sparrow’s mother, a loud bang comes from the trailer, rocking it from side to side.
My brows rise, and Sparrow is already rubbing his forehead. “He’s got a pretty vicious kick. We got him out of that fucking auction house, but I’ve got that huge order for Charlie,” Sparrow explains. “There are two horses to a stall and no space to quarantine him. Luke here is the horse whisperer, and even he couldn’t get this guy to pay him any attention, let alone settle down. I’ve called Lynn to meet us here, just in case.”
Lynn is the local large animal vet, and a horse that cannot be tamed has to be put down because it can kill people. While my specialty is people, my minor is in equine psychology, and there are a few things we can check out before having to make any decisions about this horse’s future.
“I had this paddock put up so we could help with rescues. We’ve got you covered,” Charlie says, walking up with Ant…and Javier.
My face heats when his eyes meet mine, but I ignore him and nod in agreement with Charlie. Sparrow, far too observant for his own good, tilts his head to the side, looking between Javier and me. Turning his back on Charlie, Sparrow faces me with crossed arms and an amused brow. I scowl at him, and he bites back a laugh.
Meanwhile, Luke smacks the side of the trailer. “Charlie, you mind getting behind the wheel? Once Levy gets the stall ready, I’ll let him out, you’ll pull forward, and I’ll grab the gate.”
“Sure thing.”
Grateful for the distraction, I run over to the first stall and ensure there’s fresh water, hay, and feed, sprinkling a few sugar cubes on top of the feed.
Charlie instructs Javier and Ant to walk toward me and away from the gate. Once everyone’s in place, I shout, “Let him loose, Rodeo King!”
Luke, a retired world-class bronco rider, rolls his eyes and opens the trailer, jumping out of the way as a gorgeous, if neglected, blue roan Appaloosa comes barreling out. Charlie pulls the truck forward, and as soon as he’s clear of the gate, Luke jogs over and closes it.
The Appaloosa has a stunning color pattern—black points which bleed out to gray with a white body dotted with black spots.
His nostrils are flaring and his eyes seek to eviscerate anyone in his way. I don’t often see angry horses in my line of work, but when I do, it sets my teeth on edge. Appaloosas are known to be gentle and well-mannered…unless they’ve been abused.
This one’s doing hot laps around the paddock, kicking out dirt, neighing, upset as all get out. Ant and I have worked through his nerves around horses, so I shoot him a quick look to see how he’s doing. Instead of fear, however, I see curiosity.
I gesture him over to me. “Whaddya think?”
He shrugs, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Seems pretty mad to me. Probably has a damn good reason for it too.”
“I agree.” Pulling out the pocket on my overalls, I show him my stash of treats. “Time to go make friends.”
“Think he’s a hopeless case?” Charlie asks, coming up to stand next to Ant and Javier.
I shake my head. “Absolutely not. He’s already losing steam, which is a good sign.”
“You comfortable going in there with him? Or should we give him a little space?”
Running my fingers through my beard, I shake my head. “Something tells me we shouldn’t wait.”
Charlie nods along. “Sounds good. Just be careful, yeah?”
“You got it, boss.” Turning back to Sparrow, I ask, “Before I go in—is there any reason to think he’s in pain?”
Sparrow grips the gate, his jaw set. “I don’t know. He’s not favoring anything, but it’s impossible to get in close.”
Luke rubs a calming hand up and down his husband’s back, but nothing short of getting right with this horse will make Sparrow feel better.
I know for a fact this horse would rather be peaceful than angry. All we’ve got to do is figure out a way to move him closer toward the calmer end of the scale. Hell, just giving him some space has already adjusted his mood a little.
“I’m not going to approach the horse directly. Instead, I’ll see if he’ll come to me.”
Sparrow gives the horse a long look, then sends me a nod. I’m cautious as I let myself into the paddock, watching his every move.
“You sure you wanna do that?” Luke asks, reflexively running a hand over his shoulder.
When Luke and Sparrow first met, he’d been thrown from a horse and outed in a big rodeo event. His shoulder had been wrenched out of its socket and had to be reset in the field. I remember watching it on SportsCenter, thinking he was one tough son of a bitch.
Now that I know him, he’s both exactly that tough and, conversely, exactly that soft.
“Let’s have you two wait there in case he’s still associating y’all with what happened to him. He doesn’t know me, so I’ve got a better shot at being friends.”
“I’m keeping my hand on the gate in case I need to run in after you,” Luke calls out.
Sweet guy.
“Sounds good,” I call back.
Javier’s brows come together. “Levy, are you sure this is safe?”
“Levy’s good with the horses,” Ant says. “He won’t do anything unsafe.”
Charlie nods and puts his hand on Ant’s shoulder. “Ant’s right. Levy’s as good as Sparrow and Luke when it comes to managing a ruffled horse.”
As we talk, the horse, whose name we weren’t given, finally sees me and immediately goes to the other end of the paddock. I’m more accustomed to this sort of fear response, so I send Javier a quick wink and focus on the task at hand.
The horse is unsettled, he’s in a new place, and I’m a new person. Time to make his first memory here super positive. Instead of trying to approach him, I cross the paddock until I’m opposite from where everyone is standing.
With his focus now on me, I sit with my back against the fence, crossing my legs. I respect his space while making myself as small and unintimidating as possible.
Reaching into my pockets, I pull out an apple and my knife. Cutting the apple in half, I take a big noisy bite. The Appaloosa’s ears quirk in my direction, and I take another big bite, chewing loudly enough for the sound to make it across the paddock.
He starts making his way over, and I’m guessing he’s pretty hungry because he’s not wasting any time. As soon as he gets close, though, he slows to a cautious plod, eyeballing me, probably looking for any fast movements.
True story, the horses don’t give a shit about my tattoos and have never once been intimidated by my piercings. Horses are all about the vibes. Considering I got fucked really well last night, my vibes are immaculate.
Better yet, I have sugar cubes. Taking one, I crunch down on it, and that really gets his attention. Apples are one thing, but sugar cubes…sugar cubes are heaven.
He moves in a little closer but still well out of reach. I take another bite of the apple, crunch down on another sugar cube, then hold out my hands. One with an apple half and the other with a couple of sugar cubes.
Since horses are prey animals, once trust has been broken, you’ve often got a slow walk to them feeling comfortable around humans. That said, as a prey animal, they’ve got pretty damn good instincts about people. Instead of assuming it’ll take a super long time, I’m trying—gently—to see if we can establish something quicker. It works about half the time.
He closes the rest of the distance, ignoring the apple in favor of the sugar cubes. Score. He snuffles it out of my flat hand, not even trying to use his teeth. Once he’s finished feasting on the sugar cubes, I place the carrot on the newly cleared hand and keep the apple in the other, holding both up to him as I stay seated. He sniffs the apple, then the carrot, and decides to eat that.
One of my favorite sounds in the whole wide world is a horse crunching on a carrot, and he’s really good at it. Finally, he takes another sniff at the apple and decides it’s good enough for him too.
Slowly, I reach for more sugar cubes from my front pocket. Once I have his undivided attention, I stand. He steps back but lingers before rocking forward to take the sugar cube from my hand. When I walk toward the open stall, he doesn’t follow, again lingering from a safe distance.
It’s too soon to break the touch barrier, and I don’t want to risk harming our relationship if I try petting him now. I leave a few sugar cubes on his feed and step out of the stall to see if he takes the invitation. He keeps an eye on me, but I know he wants those sugar cubes.
Finally convinced I won’t harm him, he steps carefully into the stall, then straight for the cubes. Once he finishes those, he starts in on the feed.
The stall doors are made of black bars so it’s easy to see inside and identify whether or not a horse is distressed. He barely reacts to the sound of the door closing.
I turn toward the truck to find Lynn has joined us.
“That was amazing,” Lynn says, her pale-blue eyes crinkling up in a big smile. “Only person I’ve ever seen calm down a horse that quickly is Sparrow.”
I shrug. “Yeah, he already had a bad interaction with the horse this morning, which is why I’m in here and not him. Sometimes it takes a really long time, but we got a little lucky today.”
Charlie, Sparrow, and I take a quick moment to identify the best course of action. For now, we’ll keep the horse isolated until we can determine that he’s healthy and not a threat to the other horses.
Javier chats with Ant in Spanish, asking if we often work with difficult horses. Sparrow up-nods Javier.
“De donde estas?”
Where are you from?
Javier responds in Spanish, “I grew up halfway between San Luis Potosí and San Miguel Allende. Where are you from?”
“En serio? I was born in San Miguel.”
“Oh wow. My family has a leather goods stall in one of the markets there.”
“Which one?”
“Mercado de Artesanías.”
“Seriously? My mom still has a studio there and goes a couple of times a year to paint for a few weeks, then sells them in the same market.”
They start speaking a million miles a minute, and I’m lost. I nudge Ant. “You understand these two?”
He runs his hand through his hair. “Surprisingly…yeah. I don’t know if I could speak that fast, but I’m getting everything they say.”
Sparrow’s eyes widen, and he turns to Ant, saying in English, “Holy. Shit. I know who you are!”
“Yeah?”
“Little Antonito. All this time and I never put it together. You went missing like…ten years ago?”
Ant nods, and Sparrow continues, “I remember my mom coming back from one of her trips completely beside herself. She knows your abuela from the market. I didn’t realize you were the same person. They had posters up all over the place.”
“Really?” Ant asks, looking to Javier for confirmation. He nods with a sad smile.
“Really. My mom even brought one of the flyers back with her. Wait,” he says, pulling out his phone. “Gimme a sec. She never throws anything away.”
His fingers fly, and Ant stands next to me, biting his lip. I put my arm around him, waiting to see what Sparrow comes up with. His smile brightens after a few minutes, and he holds up his phone.
Ofelia has sent over a picture of a flyer on yellow paper with a black and white rendition of a picture of Ant at eleven years old.
Ofelia: They continued to put up flyers for years. Never gave up on him.
Checking for Ant’s permission, Sparrow takes a selfie with Ant and Javier, telling her he’s been reunited with his family.
Ofelia: So many prayers answered <crying emoji>
I share a look with Javier, and his smile is layered with so many emotions that I dare not attempt to parse them out.
The moment is interrupted when my phone goes off. It’s a text from Charlie.
Charlie: Wimberley went in on a huge cult compound east of San Antonio. Found several trafficked people. Most are US citizens and going home. One boy is from Chile and needs a place to hang for a couple of nights.
Me: Sounds good. When can we expect him?
Charlie: Anders is on his way over right now.
I turn to Ant, showing him the messages. “Do we have a welcome kit for guys?”
He nods. “We have one more left.”
“Perfect.”
I explain to Sparrow what’s going on, and we agree that the Appaloosa, who Ant has started calling Domino, should be fine in the stall for now. He and Luke agree to hang out with Lynn while we greet our newest guest.