By Fault Page 7

  Hearing that Magnus had come from New York got Vince excited, but not nearly as excited as seeing the white, upside-down-heart-shaped scar on Magnus’s left knee. It stood out against the black hair covering the rest of the knee, the result of him panicking in the starting gate, the event that ended his racing career.

  Vince forced back his excitement as much as he could. It was completely possible for another horse to have such a scar, but it would be an incredible coincidence.

  “And what’s his registered name?” he asked.

  “Magic Man.”

  Vince couldn’t hold back his laugh, which startled everyone, including Magnus, who jerked his head up. “Oh my God. I trained him!” He gave Magnus a rough scratch on the neck, unable to hide his ridiculous grin.

  “Really?” Carla asked, laughing. “That’s crazy!”

  “At home we retrain off-track thoroughbreds,” he explained, still scratching away on Magnus’s neck. “I remembered the scar on his knee. We called him Manny.”

  Jenny laughed. “I guess the world really is small.”

  Dustin came forward to rub Magnus’s face. When Vince glanced at him, he saw a fond smile on Dustin’s face.

  “You guys will do well for sure,” Dustin declared.

  Vince had to laugh. “Just so you know, I make no guarantees on my training.”

  Chapter Ten

  “SHE RIDES really well. If she doesn’t do well tomorrow, it’s not because she or Magnus aren’t good enough.”

  Dustin propped himself up on one arm in bed to look at Vince. “You’re really excited about this,” he said slyly. “You like being a trainer for people too. Admit it.”

  Vince smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. If it wasn’t for the retraining business at home, I’d consider doing lessons.”

  “Why can’t you do lessons and retrain?”

  “It would be hard to manage,” Vince explained with a sigh. “If we keep doing well, I’ll be booked full by students and people who want a horse trained by me.”

  Dustin snorted. “I thought you went to business school. If you limit your lesson availability, you’d be worth even more.”

  “Or people wouldn’t bother waiting when other trainers are available. And I don’t want to make a ton of money off it. I want to help people who can’t afford the other trainers but are serious about their riding. Most people only make it because they have money enough for big trainers and horses. I got lucky with my cheap rescue horse who was a diamond in the rough. And with my old trainer. You remember how helpful Lisa was in getting me to those first Grand Prix classes.”

  Dustin nodded. “Your advantage would be your name. Have you actually been thinking about this at all?”

  Vince rubbed a hand over his face. “Only since I started working with Carla. I tried to help Casper’s rider too, but I don’t think she took my advice seriously. She hit on me, though. I don’t think I ever mentioned that.”

  Dustin snorted. “I’m not surprised. I’m only surprised that more people don’t hit on you. Freaking sexy superwinning jumper guy.”

  Vince laughed and turned from his back to face Dustin. “That’s all you could think of?”

  “I tried,” Dustin laughed. “It’s true, though.”

  He leaned closer and gave Vince a kiss that started off innocent and mostly chaste, but didn’t stay that way for long. It ended only when Dustin pulled away with an expression that Vince was familiar with by now.

  “Not a good time for much more than that,” Dustin said quietly, looking away. “I’m sorry.”

  Vince leaned close again and kissed Dustin’s neck. “I keep telling you that it’s nothing to be sorry about.”

  Dustin just nodded. “So, about your idea for giving lessons. What were you thinking?”

  Vince ran a hand down Dustin’s arm. “Ideally I would build another barn and some more pastures. I know we have the land but Dad would have to agree to it. I’d price my lessons competitively compared to the other people at my level, but offer to let students work off what they can’t afford. The extra barn wouldn’t need any extra hands that way. Maybe I’d even build like a dorm house or something so students could come from more than our area.”

  He sighed and shook his head. “But the cost would be ridiculous. I’d have to have the barn built, which would include getting running water and electricity out there. That’s not even considering a dorm or something. I’d need another indoor arena too. Then lesson horses. Some students would have their own horses, but I want to be able to help everyone I can.”

  “That’s what I love most about you,” Dustin said with a soft smile. “You’re so damn good to everyone. Even people you don’t know. And horses.”

  “So are you,” Vince murmured, then gave him one more light kiss.

  VINCE WAS about to leave Xander’s stable row to meet up with Carla and Jenny at Magnus’s stall when he suddenly realized what time it was.

  “Fuck, I forgot about the vet inspection.”

  Dustin practically pushed him out the stable door. “Go. I’ll stay for the inspection. I’ve done it for you before. And I remember which arena you’ll be at. I’ll come find you afterward.”

  Vince turned and gave Dustin a kiss on the cheek, no longer caring who saw. “Thank you.”

  Dustin smiled. “It’s what I’m here for.”

  While Vince was excited to see a horse he had trained and a person he had helped compete, Carla was clearly a nervous wreck. She was pacing the area in front of the stables while Jenny got Magnus ready.

  “Everything I try to say to her is wrong,” Jenny complained to Vince quietly. “I finally gave up.”

  “Don’t take it personally,” Vince advised, though he found himself hoping he’d never done the same thing to Dustin. He stepped away and halted Carla’s pacing by gently grabbing her shoulder. “Stressing isn’t going to help.”

  She shook her head and didn’t look at him. “What else am I supposed to do?”

  “Take a few deep breaths and tell yourself this is just a schooling show.”

  “But it’s not. That’s where I should have started, though.”

  “You know how to ride, and Magnus knows what he’s doing. You’ll be fine. Just breathe and make yourself believe this is schooling show.”

  “I’ll try,” she said with a sigh, dropping down to sit on the tack box outside Magnus’s stall. Vince watched her close her eyes and take at least a few deep breaths.

  He hoped it would help.

  Carla was much calmer a few minutes later when it was time to go walk the course. Vince was happy to go along without being asked so he could try to give her advice on how to ride it, but he pulled her aside before they got more than a few feet from Magnus’s stall.

  “If anyone asks, I’m helping you because I trained your horse,” he told her, glancing back at Jenny to make sure she heard too. “I don’t have the time to help all the people who would probably want me to.”

  Both girls nodded in understanding and Vince made sure to text Dustin the same instructions while walking to the arena.

  It wasn’t the arena Vince competed in and had no stands for spectators. There was just the fence around the arena where people could stand to watch. Most of the people were family and friends of competitors, but Vince knew he wasn’t going to go unnoticed. He cringed inwardly when the first wandering photographer found him.

  He kept his focus on the course and on Carla, giving her advice on which jumps seemed the trickiest and where she would be safe to ask Magnus to extend his stride. The fences were a good two feet shorter than Vince was used to competing over, but taking in the course with Carla reminded him of when he used to compete on lesson horses. He remembered all the times Lisa had walked a course with him and helped him learn the basic physics of the sport—the speed, angles, and distances needed. He did his best to pass on what he could, hoping he was doing enough to be a useful coach.

  Dustin found them at the warm-up ring later. He stepped up beside w
here Vince was resting his arms on the fence. “How are they?”

  Vince put an arm around Dustin. “She’s nervous as hell. I’m trying to be as helpful as I can be.”

  “You have been helping,” Jenny said from his other side. “She’s not as anxious as she was before you came this morning.”

  “She has nothing to be anxious about,” Vince assured them.

  Vince was the one who was anxious. Despite knowing that Carla and Magnus were good together, and despite telling Carla that the show wasn’t important, he wanted them to do well.

  He found himself holding his breath at every jump, and cheering with Jenny and Dustin when she went clear. During the jump-off he gripped the wooden arena fence so hard his knuckles were white. And when she cleared the final fence and came away without a single fault, Vince held a fist in the air triumphantly.

  He felt guilty when he caught himself hoping that the other entrants would drop rails or come in over the allowed time, but when it was clear Carla had actually won, he pushed those thoughts away.

  “Thank you so much!” Carla told him after the award presentation. “Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you anything?”

  Vince smiled and shook his head. “Just take good care of Magnus. Keep working with him too. I’m really interested in knowing how he does and what he’s up to. Keep me updated.”

  Carla nodded. “I will, but I know you’re busy. Am I allowed to hug you?”

  Vince laughed. “Of course.”

  The feeling of satisfaction that Vince felt after that class lasted all day, even when he didn’t win his own class that afternoon. He was just so glad he hadn’t let down his first student, even if it had been a temporary arrangement. It was also great to see the success of his horse training firsthand.

  Maybe he actually could do well with students.

  He was going to have to seriously start considering it, not just fantasize about being able to do it.

  VINCE HAD been doing interviews for equestrian news agencies ever since his first win, and the interviews had become more detailed as he won more and more. Then, after he had finally made his relationship with Dustin public, several news agencies that specialized in reporting on gay athletes had begun contacting him. In the space of a week, Vince had scheduled even more interviews than he used to. He had no idea how these groups had found him, but he was happy to bring the sport to a wider audience. Even if it meant sharing more about his personal life than he usually liked to—the equestrian news people usually only asked horse-related questions.

  Saturday morning Vince had an interview with reporters from one of the gay sports agencies. He couldn’t even remember which one now that he’d been dealing with a bunch of them all week. Usually he talked on the phone, but this time they wanted to do a detailed article and a video for the website, and had sent a small crew to talk to him so they could introduce their audience to the sport before reporting on all his results.

  Vince and Dustin met the crew at the spectator entrance of the showgrounds. They turned out to be a pair of recent college graduates who reminded Vince of Cade, which was probably because he knew Cade had a degree in journalism. The girl was apparently in charge of the camera equipment while the guy was in possession of a leather folder. They were bickering about Camera Girl’s driving skills—or lack thereof—but stopped when they recognized Vince.

  After the necessary introductions in which Vince learned that Camera Girl was Miranda and Note Guy was Tom—of course neither of them wore logos so he was still at a loss as to what agency they worked for, but oh well—Vince showed them the international arena.

  “There’s another class going now,” Vince explained, “but this is where all my classes are.”

  “You compete this afternoon?” Miranda asked.

  “At seven,” Vince answered. “We’re under the lights,” he added, motioning to the spotlights around the arena, which were currently off.

  “It’ll be really exciting,” Dustin elaborated. “Vince and Xander are pulling in a huge crowd every time he competes. Tonight will be even better, because if he wins, he’ll have won half a million dollars in seven weeks.”

  Both Miranda and Tom stared at him with wide eyes.

  Vince cleared his throat awkwardly. “There is that. But Saturday nights are always exciting because that’s when the big money, seriously international classes are.”

  “So, uh, what’s the difference between this class right now and yours?” Tom asked after a moment.

  “The height of the jumps and the prize money,” Vince answered. “These jumps are probably just under five feet right now. The ones in my class later will be just over five. I don’t know what the prize money is for this class but tonight it will be well over a hundred thousand dollars. Which draws in the international competitors. You have Olympic riders here from Great Britain, Canada, and of course the US. Plus some of the other top riders in the world who aren’t as experienced but are really starting to do well.”

  “Which he’s one of,” Dustin interrupted. “Ranked number two in the country and eleventh in the world.” He smiled when he saw Vince’s slightly embarrassed look. “He doesn’t like to brag so I do it for him.”

  “Well I’m definitely more interested now,” Miranda declared. “I had no idea it could be so competitive. I was just in this for the weather.”

  “Do you guys want to see Xander now?” Vince asked, pushing aside his awkwardness. “Or do you just want to talk to me and see him tonight?”

  Tom waved a hand at Miranda. “You’re the footage master.”

  Miranda nodded. “If it’s not inconvenient for you, I think some extra footage of you with the horse would be good. Are we allowed to wander around after we talk to you? I don’t want to take up your whole day, and I’d love to see some of the other stuff around here.”

  Vince motioned for them to follow him as he started toward the back area. “As long as you’re around the arenas and not the barns you’ll be fine. And remember that horses always have the right of way if you’re around the arenas. I was going to lunge Xander anyway, so it’s not inconvenient at all. We can do that first, then talk.”

  “I’ll go get him and meet you back at the arena,” Dustin offered.

  “Thank you,” Vince replied with a smile.

  He took a detour to show Miranda and Tom where to find the food vendors, bathrooms, and merchandise vendors, and where they could see other competitions. By the time they reached the schooling arena Dustin was just getting there with Xander.

  “That’s a big horse,” Tom declared, clearly a little hesitant.

  Vince smiled. “He’s probably about average size for the sport. You guys can pet him if you want. He’s not going to bite or kick you.”

  Dustin offered a sandwich bag containing four baby carrots. “He’ll like you even more if you give him these.”

  Vince showed Tom and Miranda how to hold the carrots on their palms to avoid accidental bites. Just as they were giving over the second carrot each, Vince noticed a middle-aged man approaching. He had the look of another owner Vince was going to have to politely decline riding for: neat graying hair, tidy goatee, blue polo shirt tucked into khakis, and dress shoes.

  “Mr. Anderson?” the man asked politely.

  Vince nodded. “Hello.”

  The man motioned for him to step away from the others, which Vince reluctantly did. Vince noticed that he had “USA” embroidered on the breast of his polo, which wasn’t very surprising. He was practically surrounded by people who had competed in the Olympic Games or at the World Equestrian Games.

  “Greg Dugan,” the man said, offering his hand. “American chef d’équipe. Were you planning to be here next week too?”

  Vince nodded. Why was the coach of the American equestrian team pulling him aside to ask that? “I’m here until the end of the series.”

  “Any interest in riding in the Nations Cup?”

  Vince blinked in surprise. Oh, that was next week, wasn’
t it? He hadn’t let himself even think of being on the team so he wouldn’t be disappointed if he wasn’t asked. He’d just been planning to give Xander a break. But there would still be two fewer classes for them than usual, even if they did add this class to the plan.

  “I’d love to,” Vince answered with a smile. “Thank you.”

  Greg laughed. “Thank you. I think there would have been a coup somewhere if I didn’t snatch you up. I know you’ve got things to do, so we’ll talk Monday. Sound good?”

  Vince nodded, still smiling. “Definitely.”

  The conversation ended with one more handshake and Vince was left smiling to himself on his way back to the others.

  “What was that about?” Dustin asked, his expression curious.

  Vince rubbed Xander’s neck. “Looks like we’re on the Nations Cup team for next Friday.”

  “Is that something different?” Miranda asked.

  Vince nodded. “It’s a team event they hold at big international shows like this. Teams of four for every country that competes. It’ll be a good experience for both Xander and me. We’re used to competing on our own. Well, Xander doesn’t know the difference. I better start working him before someone else wants the arena.”

  “So what are you doing with him?” Tom asked, leaning on the fence.

  Vince clipped the lunge line to Xander’s halter and handed the shorter lead rope to Dustin. “Lunging him. Basically just giving him a light workout without me being on him, since I’ll be riding later.”

  Dustin held the gate while Vince led Xander inside and passed over the lunge whip. Vince took Xander to the center of the arena. A couple flicks of the wrist got the string of the whip unwound from the stick and Vince lightly ran it over Xander’s back and neck. It was a method of desensitizing that had helped Xander be less reactive back when Vince had started working with him. Vince still did it just to remind him that the scary stick in Vince’s hand wasn’t going to hurt him, even if it made a loud sound or moved sometimes.