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Or cause a riot.

“I doubt Aleks and Grigoriy will thank you if their girls see you, either.”

“Don’t you have a jacket or something in the truck?”

“I don’t, but I might have a saddle pad.”

A dirty one.

I can’t help my smirk as I offer it to him.

He frowns, but he takes it. And I have a lovely time watching him walk away, even if the view is somewhat obscured by a smelly little blanket.

17

I had no idea, when I went back to my apartment, that I was heading into an ambush.

“You borrowed my truck,” Kristiana says the moment I walk inside.

“Well, hello,” I say. “Yes, I did.”

Mirdza pounces next. “That’s a favor, so now you have to repay us.”

“How, exactly?” I pull my boots off and drop them by the front door. “Did you want money?”

“We want you to sit there.” Kris points at the fussy, over-embroidered chair by the lamp. “And you have to listen to us until we’re done.”

It’s not like I thought I could avoid them forever, but I may as well let them think they’re getting one over on me. “I’m busy.”

“Adriana, you have to,” Kris says. “Or you can’t use my truck ever again.”

I glare at her for a moment, and then I say, “Fine.” I drop onto the corner of the sofa where Mirdza likes to sit. I should’ve just taken the chair they told me to take, but I can’t help being a contrarian. Even when I was always planning to give in, orders don’t sit well with me.

“I know you’re mad.” Mirdza perches on the arm of the chair across from me, and I’m legitimately worried she’s going to tip it over. Its arms aren’t very well made. “But you have to forgive us.”

“You lied to me,” I say. “Like I was a little kid who needed her mommy to tell her that if she didn’t eat carrots, she’d go blind.”

“I think it’s more that your eyesight won’t be as good and you might need glasses,” Kristiana says.

I glare.

“Not the point,” Mirdza says. “The point is that we never should have done that, but we know you never date, and you were the one who woke up Alexei. . .”

“Guys.” I shake my head. “I know that you found your happily ever after. Or at least you found your happy-for-now.” I can’t quite bring myself to say they’ll be happy forever. “I’m glad you did. I really am, but I’ve talked to your horse czar guy, and guess what? He doesn’t even want to date me. So.” I shrug. “The only people here who are trying to shove us together?” I lift my eyebrows.

They stare at me.

I point at them both. “It’s you guys. That’s who. I’m glad that big grey horse saved me when I needed him. I’m genuinely happy—for him and for me. If my need woke him up from that curse, then bravo.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Kris says.

“What doesn’t?”

Mirdza sighs. “The only reason Grigoriy woke up to save me is that we were meant to be together.”

I arch an eyebrow. “And you know that from your sample size of. . .what? Two?” I frown. “And didn’t you say that Aleks was, like, being raced by your dad’s enemy when you found and bought him? It doesn’t sound like he did much to save you.”

“I was in trouble,” Kris says, “when he woke up. I just kind of found a solution myself before meeting him. But even so, without him, I’d have lost that first race, and then I couldn’t have bought him.” She looks flustered. “But that’s like you guys. Alexei needed your help, and you needed him to save you as well.”