Bareback(41)
Scott quickly dismounted and, holding the colt by the reins, he whipped him repeatedly across the face. The young horse dragged him several feet, trying to escape his tormentor.
“Scott!” Skyler grabbed for the whip, but Scott was quicker. He brought the quirt across Skyler’s face, its rawhide cutting into her cheek.
“Stupid bitch! Get out of my way!” he screamed. He was out of control.
He swung again at Skyler, but she was ready this time and ducked, grabbing the hand that held the whip. She twisted Scott’s arm to force him to the ground on his stomach, and put a hard knee in his back.
“I had better never, ever see you raise a hand to one of our horses again. Never, never, ever,” Skyler growled through clenched teeth. Her face was scarlet as she held the boy’s face in the sand.
Scott struggled underneath her strong grasp. “Get off me, dyke! You just let me up and I’ll take care of you. No woman is going to tell me what to do.”
Worried for both of them, Jessica was about to intervene when Charlie came running from West Barn with Clint in tow. “Skyler,” Clint called. “Let him up. I’ll take care of him.”
She stared up at Clint for a long minute before recognition began to register in her glazed eyes and she relaxed her grip.
Clint grabbed the boy by the collar and snatched the whip from his hand. “That’s it, Scott. Let’s go find Kate. It’s time we talked about whether you should be here at the center.”
Jessica followed as a dejected Skyler led the colt to the barn and cross-tied him in the wash stall. Skyler’s sure hands and low voice calmed the anxious animal as she examined his head and eyes closely for injury.
“Well, he looks okay, but we better keep an eye on him,” Skyler told Jamie, who stood at her elbow. “How about rubbing him down for me and putting him in the last stall for tonight,” she told the girl.
“Sky?” The girl hesitated. “All the other kids are afraid of Scott. We’ll be glad if you guys throw him out of the program.”
“That will be up to Kate.” Skyler stared at her boots. “I shouldn’t have handled Scott that roughly. I would never intentionally hurt one of you kids. You know that, don’t you, James?”
“We all know that, Sky. Scott is so big and strong, there wasn’t anything else you could do.”
When the girl led the colt away, Skyler leaned her forehead against the wall of the wash stall and closed her eyes. She flinched when Jessica laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, you okay?”
After a moment, Skyler turned. She didn’t speak, but the haunted look in her eyes communicated more eloquently than words.
Jessica touched the blood oozing from the welt on her cheek. “That’s a nasty cut. We better clean it up. Do you have something more than horse first aid stuff in the office?”
Skyler cleared her throat. “In my medicine cabinet upstairs.”
“Come on. Let me take care of that for you.” Jessica took Skyler’s hand and guided her up the stairs. She sat her on the bed and went to find the supplies she needed in the bathroom. When she returned, Skyler’s shoulders were slumped and her head bowed. Tears trickled down her tanned cheeks.
Jessica knelt before her and spoke softly as she wiped at a tear with her finger. “Hey, what’s this, tough stuff?”
Skyler gave a hard shake of her head. “I never should have roughed him up like that. Scott has a lot of demons to deal with, and he can’t control his temper tantrums yet. I’m supposed to be the one who stays in control. Instead, I give him the same rough treatment that put him in the program in the first place. Just like my father, I just can’t seem to stop being a fuck-up.”
It tore at Jessica’s heart to see the strong trainer so emotionally fragile. She sat on the bed and gently grasped Skyler’s hand. “You can’t save them all. Scott needs more help than a few good role models and horses to play with. It has nothing to do with you failing him.”
When Skyler didn’t answer, Jessica reached for the medical supplies she had set on the bed. She gently cleaned the welt with a peroxide-soaked cotton ball, using her soft hands and low voice the same way Skyler did moments earlier, to gentle the injured colt.