Anthony's POV
The second she said Kitty was still outside, I was gone.
I barely registered her calling after me as I rushed out the door. The wind hit me like a wall. Leaves whipped through the air, stinging my face. The sky had darkened, bruised with the promise of thunder, and rain fell like it was being thrown, not poured.
Goddamn it, a horse. I'm in the middle of a damn storm looking for a horse.
But I wasn't angry. Not really. I was scared—for her.
Kitty had run off somewhere on the property, and if anything happened to that horse… I didn't want to think about what that would do to Camila. The way she screamed that name when she woke up—pure panic. Pain had nothing on that fear in her eyes.
Branches cracked above me, and I ducked as a sharp gust of wind shook a nearby tree. I muttered under my breath, heart racing.
She better be worth it. Hell, she already is.
I would remember to ask her about that guy on the motorcycle not in a jealous way or anything. Just to ask
Lightning flashed across the sky, and for a second, I questioned my sanity. I was running through ankle-deep mud in sweat pants and a soaking T-shirt—for a girl and her horse. A girl that I wasn't even sure liked me I chuckled bitterly to myself, rain hitting my tongue.
"She's got me out here like some lovesick fool," I muttered, wiping rain from my eyes. "And I don't even care."
Camila's POV
The door slammed behind him, and I flinched.
I stared at it for a full minute, heart pounding in my chest. The storm had picked up fast. The windows rattled, and I could hear the low moan of wind pressing against the house.
He went out there. For Kitty. For me.
I looked down at my foot. The pain was dull now, more of a throb than a sting. The bandage was still wrapped neatly. I shifted and realized I could move—awkwardly, hopping on one leg, sure—but I could. The shock of the injury had hit harder than the wound itself. I hoped up stears to my brother room and grabed a shirt and some sweats and some socks for him I grabbed a towel from the wash room and placed them on the sofa
Guilt curled in my chest like a fist.
He shouldn't have gone alone. What if something happened to him out there? What if a branch fell? What if he got struck by lightning?
Tears stung my eyes, and I wiped them away angrily. "This is stupid. I should've stopped him."
But I hadn't. I let him go. For Kitty.
God, Kitty.
The thought of her—my stubborn, beautiful mare—out there in the wind and rain, possibly terrified and hurt, made me feel like my heart was splitting. She wasn't just a pet. She was my one constant over the years. The only one who'd stayed, who'd listened.
I gritted my teeth and tried to pace but settled for hopping to the window. I pulled back the curtain and squinted into the blur of rain.
Nothing.
"Please be okay, both of you," I whispered.
Anthony's POV
I found her near the edge of the barn. Kitty.
She was shaking, head down, soaked to the bone. Her tail swished in panic when she saw me approach. "Easy, girl," I murmured, reaching out.
It took a few minutes, but I managed to calm her. I wrapped the rope around her halter and led her carefully through the mud, shielding her face with my body from the wind as best I could.
The barn wasn't far now.
Jesus, I thought, as thunder cracked overhead. This horse better like me after this.
The real fear wasn't the horse.
It was Camila. Alone in that house. Hurt. Probably blaming herself. And here I was—muddy, soaked, and cold—more worried about the way she looked at me when she was scared than I was about the damn lightning in the sky.
What was this girl doing to me?
Camila's POV
I sank onto the floor near the window, arms wrapped around myself.
The power flickered once. Twice. Then stayed on.
Thank God.
I stared out at the trees, lips pressed tight.
He didn't have to go. But he did. And he didn't even hesitate.
Anthony made me feel safe. Like someone cared, not just when it was convenient, but when it was hard. That scared me more than anything. Because if I lost that—lost him—I didn't know how I'd come back from it.
I closed my eyes and whispered into the quiet room, "Please come back to me."