When You Got a Good Thing

[Sadie's POV – Dec. 5th, 2010 2:00 PM]
"Uh, Lena, I'm gonna go take a drive. I need to think about some stuff." She glanced in my general direction, a look of bewilderment setting in.

"You okay?" She asked, continuing her wiping off of the counter.

"Yeah, fine, just need to think." I waved to her, and she waved back, still perplexed as to my behavior. I made for the door, but Brian stopped me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Where're you going?"

"Out for a drive. I think I'm going to go visit a friend." His eyes lit up with excitement.

"Mind if I tag along?" Without a word, I simply made a 'come on' motion and we went out to the driveway, where my trusty old blue Acura TSX sat. The thing needed a serious wash, but I was too lazy to actually do that. I'd probably wait until Lena got pissed off enough that she cleaned it herself.

We both hopped in, Brian in the passenger side, me in the driver's. Before starting the car I turned to him, an accusing stare to my eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me when you were leaving?" He shifted uncomfortably, the seatbelt constricted as he turned.

"I'm sorry Sadie. I was going to, but I didn't know how. I didn't want to rush. You're so…happy here. This is your home." I searched the man's gaze for some shred of a lie. I felt like (deep down in my mind) he wasn't telling me something. Like he was hiding something important from me. We couldn't have that happening this early in the relationship. I felt as though he didn't want me to go, that he was going to get back together with Michelle. But that didn't make sense, because she didn't love him anymore, and she was the one who was getting rid of him. But he said he doesn't love her anymore.

My mind was conflicted, and the consequence was my judgment was clouded.

Whether it was those gorgeous chocolate orbs or the fact that he was just too goddamn beautiful to deny, I couldn't see one bit of deception in those eyes.

"Brian, it's okay. I really do want to go. I'd love to meet the rest of the family."

"You would?"

"Of course I would. I can't wait to meet the other wives." Brian chuckled a bit.

"I think you'll like Gena and Lacey. Maybe you'll even meet my dad." We sat silent for a minute and then I spoke.

"Do you realize that it only took two weeks for us to fall in love? It took such little time for us to become so attached to each other. What…how long do you think it'll be before we get married? Have children? Have you thought about that?" I stared in his chocolaty eyes. He sighed and leaned over the middle console to place his lips on mine. He cupped my face in his hands. When he pulled back, he smiled.

"Every day, baby. Every day since I met you, I said to myself 'Damn, I wanna marry that girl. I wanna settle down with her."

"Since you met me? No way."

"Yes! Really…The first time I saw you…well…you were looking at Zacky, but I was only lookin' at you. And then that day in the car, when Zacky was eyeing you through the rearview mirror…"

"Yeah you gave him a nasty look."

"Because I wanted to be the one you were looking at." He kissed me again, a little more…needy this time. As I withdrew, he took the seatbelt off, cursing it as he got slightly tangled, and then climbed into the back seat.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he kicked his shoes off.

"Come back here." I obliged for the hell of it, having a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do. As he helped me, hands gripped on my hips, eyes teasing me with that gorgeous, sexy gaze, he smirked up at me.

"Brian…wait." I stopped him as he placed me on his lap, before he could pull my shirt up.

"What?" He whined, giving me a confused, but frustrated look.

"Are we really going to have sex in the backseat of my car?"

"No." He said sternly. I cocked my head to side and my brow furrowed. He shifted me off of him and laid me on the seat. He put his legs on either side of mine as best he could. It was sort of difficult for us to both fit on the seat, as it was rather small.

"I'm going to make love to you, in the backseat of your car. Because I love you." Leaning down., he tried to kiss me but I turned to the side and his lips landed on my neck instead.

"You are such a cheesy romantic!" I sighed, and then added, "But I love you too."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Brian and I neatened ourselves up after playing around in the back seat and set out on the road.

"We have to stop at the barn and then at my friend Lottie's." I told him, as we pulled down the driveway to Finesse Equestrian Center. I parked in the front and took Brian's hand as he came around to my side.

We entered the barn and Brian's grip tightened a little. I stopped and turned to face him.

"You okay?" His eyes told me he was worried.

"I've never um…been around horses…before." I simply laughed and pulled him forward.

"Don't worry! They won't bite!" I led him toward the office and poked my head in. The barn owner, Marla was sitting in her rolling chair at her computer, on the phone. I retreated and pulled Brian out the side door of the barn, down to the paddocks.

We stopped at a large paddock, where my older stallion Stormy, stood sun bathing. It was chilly, as it was December, and Stormy had a medium-weight blanket on to help keep him warm.

"Stay here for one second Bri." I told him, letting go of his hand. He nodded and stood still, rubbing his hand together and blowing on them.

I opened the gate to the paddock, taking the lead line and halter off of the hook on the fence, and walked toward Stormy. He pricked his ears at my footsteps and gave a soft whinny. He started to ambled to me and allowed me to slip the halter over his head. I draped the lead line over his neck and patted him. I clapped my hand against my thigh, gaining his attention, and asking him to walk with me to the gate.

Brian stiffened as we came closer, and I opened the gate. Stormy marched out, turning around to face me as I closed the gate. I took Brian's hand again and then offered our linked hands to Storm.

"See, Brian. He likes you already." Storm rubbed his top lip over our hands and licked a few times. Brian smiled, letting the stallion examine his other hand.

Storm wasn't a small horse. As we walked back to the barn, I observed his size compared to Brian. The top of Storm's shoulders, the withers, were only about two or three inches shorter than Brian, including his spikey hair. The stallion was well muscled too, not skinny like most Thoroughbreds.

My horses were usually a very good indicator of whether or not the guy was worth keeping. Stormy's licking of his sweatshirt and hands and the occasional soft nicker told me Brian was definitely a keeper.

I left Brian to brush my horse off and went to chat with the barn owner. I poked my head into the office, where Marla was writing something in her notebook. She looked up and smiled.

"Sadie! I thought you weren't coming today."

"Well, I wasn't going to, but I have to discuss some things with you. About um…me…going away." Marla gave me a questioning look and sat back in her chair.

"Oh? And where are you going? And how long? And who's taking care of your horses?"

"Well….Brian is going home for the holidays. To California. And We're leaving on the tenth so I'm thinking we should be back after New Year's. My dad actually wants to take Stormy for the month. Jaylen and Brent were going to take care of the other four and Caitlyn was going to take my lesson kids." She seemed surprised that I'd had it figured out already, but didn't argue.

"Sounds good to me. I'm glad you always have things planned out."

"And you don't mind me going away?"

"Well of course not. You've worked your ass off since you got out of college. Emily didn't win the Maclay by herself. You deserve a vacation."

"Thank you Marla." I gave her a quick hug and walked back out to Brian and Storm.

The Maclay is a national championship for junior riders. Junior riders are anywhere from thirteen to eighteen years of age. A girl that I had been training had won it this year, finally. She'd been going since she was thirteen and she'd always been in the top ten. This year, her last junior year, she finally won. All those years of hard work really paid off.

I had yet to tell Brian just how involved with horses I really was.

After another ten minutes, I took Storm back outside, giving him some hay to snack on and saying goodbye. I went to say goodbye to my other horses as well. We went back to the car and hopped in, turning the heat on to warm up. It had gotten chillier since we'd been at the barn.

"I didn't know you had so many horses." Brian said, taking my hand in his.

"Five isn't a lot. Not in the grand scheme of things. You should see the farm my dad's had for the past few years." I started the car, the little blue Acura protesting before fully purring to life.

"Your dad owns a barn too? Why don't you keep your guys there?" I cleared my throat and did not answer.

"Sadie?"

"It's complicated." I said, glancing over at him. His eyes showed a worried but curious glint.

"You know you can tell me." He kissed my hand as I stopped the car at the end of the long driveway.

"It's…a part of my past that…I'd…rather not…re-live…at the moment." He heard the anguish in my voice and apologized.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine, Brian, you didn't know. You don't know anything about my past."

"I want to know. If it's something you're struggling with I want to help you." I bit my lip and forced back tears. I swallowed hard and turned onto the main road, on our way to my friend Lottie's. I needed to see her now.

"Trust me. Not even you can help me."