Every Second Counts Read Online Free Page A

in a good-natured headlock. “I see that bull’s horn didn’t puncture your ego, half-pint.”
    “Stop it, you Neanderthal.” Ryder extricated herself from Skyler’s grip. “I can’t believe you’re still calling me that. You guys are only a few inches taller than me.”
    Skyler cocked her head at Tory. “What do you think? Should we let her test her skills on your Tennessee firecracker?”
    Tory grinned at the mention of her feisty partner. “Now, that’s just mean. The kid’s already injured, Skyler. Leah would cut her to shreds.”
    Ryder strutted between them. “Bring her on. No woman alive can resist the old Ryder charm.”
    Skyler shoved her toward the restroom entrance. “You keep thinking that, half-pint. Tory and I will be around to pick you up when you find your ass in the dirt with seven seconds to go before the buzzer.”

Chapter Three
     
    A determined songster in a nearby tree and the scrape of Bridgette LeRoy’s charcoal pencil across her sketchpad were the only sounds as she worked to capture the antics of Sure Thing, a midnight-black Chincoteague pony, cavorting with a larger yearling in the pasture below her. The slightly overcast morning provided perfect lighting as she sat on the trunk of her car and observed the two colts in their mock battle over a herd of imaginary mares.
    The larger colt clumsily half reared and pushed forward to knock Sure off-balance with his heavier weight. But the Chincoteague was fast and agile. He leapt to the side and reared high to plant his front hooves against his friend’s shoulder.
    Bridgette drew quickly, ignoring detail to outline a panel of poses. She congratulated herself. She couldn’t wait to show Leah. This was good.
    Her life was good. She’d been skeptical when her cousin, Cheryl, called her about a teaching position open at Earnhardt College. She had always been a world traveler, a vagabond artist, but had reached a point in her life where she needed something constant, something solid. So she applied for the job and discovered that she loved teaching budding artists.
    When Bridgette moved to Cherokee Falls, Tory became her first friend, a friend with intimate benefits. The nature of their relationship changed, however, when Leah captured Tory’s heart. Although the sex between Tory and her had been hot and wonderful, Bridgette was fine giving that up for a more traditional friendship because she couldn’t offer her heart as Leah did.
    Despite her past with Tory, she and Leah became friends, too. They also were business partners in a very successful series of children’s books with Sure as the subject. Leah, the writer, usually came up with the ideas and the words, but Bridgette was delighted to be able to supply the subject of their next story. She could easily develop the figures on her paper into a lesson on bullying.
    The colts’ joust lasted a few more minutes before it became a game of tag and they disappeared over a hill at a full gallop. With the yearlings gone, Bridgette began to fill in detail while her memory was still fresh. She was thoroughly absorbed when a piercing whistle jerked her attention from her work.
    The thirty acres behind East Barn were divided into three pastures, each extending outward from the building to allow easy access to different groups of horses. In the narrow pasture that ran up to the back of the barn, a figure stood inside the fence.
    Bridgette stared. Dark hair just touching the shoulders implied that the person was female, but the muscular shoulders encased in a form-fitting black T-shirt seemed to belong to a lean teen-aged boy.
    The boy raised his hand to his mouth and released another sharp whistle.
    A white Arabian appeared at the top of the rise and stopped. The horse stared down at the source of the summons and then lifted its nose to test the morning air.
    “Walker!”
    The horse twitched his ears forward and then charged down the hill at a full gallop, his tail a flag held high in the