Dark Harmony: A Vivienne Taylor Horse Lover's Mystery (Fairmont Riding Academy Book 2) Read online

  CHAPTER two

  How was Christmas?” Tristan asks.

  “It was good. My mom was busy as always. My little brother was a pain as always. My grandma drove me bananas as always.”

  He laughs. “Yeah. Family. I get it.”

  The edge in his voice as he says the word family tips me off that his time at home left something to be desired, but before I can ask how his break was, he says, “And how was your other favorite guy?”

  With a sinking sensation in my stomach, I stare at him for a few seconds. How is it possible for him to know about Austen?

  Then he glances over. “Dean. How was Dean?”

  “Oh,” I reply, hoping I don’t sound too relieved. “He was amazing. He’s such a great horse. I wish he could be here, too, but you know, he’s an old guy and my little cousin Ren adores him. They seem to have really connected. It’s pretty cool that he’s bonding with a new kid.”

  “That’s good. I wish I had a horse to be with at home. I hate saying good-bye to Sebastian every time I leave school for break.”

  “I’m sure he missed you, too,” I say. Sebastian is Tristan’s gelding. “So, how was your Christmas?”

  He shrugs. “Formal. Our holidays are always formal, which is another reason why I can’t stand them. Like I said, I get the family thing.”

  I look over at him and there is something in his eyes that makes me realize that he has never talked much about what his life is like at home.

  “Are you okay?” I reach for his hand and give it what I hope is a reassuring squeeze.

  “Oh, totally,” he says, a little too quickly. “Fine. I’m just happy to be back, and more than happy to see you. I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk much over break.” He sighs. “My dad has this lame rule that when I’m home I need to be with the family. Like I told you, he puts limits on my cell phone and computer use.” He shakes his head. “It’s stupid.”

  “I understand. My mom likes for me to tone it down, too,” I say. It’s not totally the truth. I mean, sure, she would get on me if I started spending all my time on the computer or phone, but I don’t, so it’s not really an issue. Besides, it’s not her style to be all over my case about anything. I do think that Tristan’s dad sounds a little bit over the top.

  “Here we are. Good to be back.” He slows the car and turns into the front gates of Fairmont.

  “Agreed,” I say. “It was great to see my family, and my friends back home, but this feels like my life now.”

  I look out the window and the familiarity of the campus envelops me. The green pastures that overlook the expansive Pacific, the horses grazing—some taking naps as the sun’s rays beat down on them. In this moment, I’m glad that at Fairmont they allow students to return and work on riding lessons for a few days before kicking off the academic part of the school year. I especially am excited to get back to my riding lessons with Holden Fairmont. Holden and his wife, Kayla, run Fairmont Academy, and Holden teaches the dressage lessons, which I think Harmony needs to work on. I have to say, I have total confidence in Holden’s teaching abilities. All of my instructors are pretty great, and I realize that I am a very lucky girl.

  Yep. I’m actually telling the truth. I am happy to be back.

  “Should we unload our stuff first?” Tristan asks. “Or should we . . .”

  “Horses first,” I say, finishing his thought for him.

  He parks the Jeep and reaches for my hand as we make our way down to the barns.

  “It is really good to see you,” I say.

  “You have no idea how good it is to see you, Viv. I really, really missed you. I missed being around you, talking to you . . . I even missed the way you smell.” He pulls me in and smells my neck, sending a shiver down my spine—a good kind of shiver. “God, did I miss you.”

  We pass some new landscaping going on around the pond and say hello to a few workers planting rosebushes. Our pace quickens as we get closer to the barn that houses both of our horses. It’s kind of perfect luck that Harmony lives in the stall next to Sebastian. I mean, it doesn’t get better. Right? I love that my boyfriend’s horse is always right next to mine. I’ve even wondered if the two horses might have some kind of equine love connection. That would be kind of cool. I’d never seen either of them get after each other through the corrals, but I had also never seen them groom each other, which is common for horses that live side by side to do. Did they dislike each other? Or like each other so much they avoided contact? Humans do that, but I don’t know about horses. They are herd animals and typically make strong bonds when they live side by side. I made a mental note to ask Harmony what her story with Sebastian might be.

  Tristan lets out a low whistle as we enter the breezeway, and immediately Sebastian’s head appears at the stall window. “There he is,” he says.

  “And, there she is,” I say as Harmony sticks her nose out, too. I take a horse treat from the pocket of my jeans and hand Tristan one, saying with a smile, “Always come prepared.”

  He kisses me on the cheek and unlatches the door to Sebastian’s stall while I let myself in to see Harmony. She looks great, as would be expected, given the good life she has. The horses at Fairmont live as cushily as the students. They all have twelve-by-twelve-foot stalls that open up into twenty-four-by-twenty-four-foot piped corrals. Their stalls are bedded with several bags of shavings a day. Yep—Fairmont is pretty much the Ritz as far as horses are concerned.

  A few minutes later, I hear Tristan say, “Hey, Vivvie, looks like there’s a newcomer.” I walk out of the stall and into Harmony’s pen that runs alongside Sebastian’s. I can see just on the other side of Sebastian’s corral is a well-built chestnut with a stripe down his nose. He looks to be about seventeen hands, and most likely a warmblood. Harmony follows directly behind me. “Huh. Yeah. New student?”

  Tristan shrugs. “I guess.”

  Just then, the latch on the chestnut’s stall door clicks open. The slim, sandy-blond-haired guy who walks out into the pen looks vaguely familiar.

  “Oh, hello, Vivienne,” the guy says. I get a sinking feeling in my stomach as I make the connection and realize who he is.

  Tristan glances at me, raising his eyebrows.

  “Joel,” says the slim guy. “We’ve met before, remember?”

  “Right,” I say. “You’re Riley’s, uh, um . . .”

  “Friend,” he answers.

  I twist my face into a smile, although I can’t say I’m happy to see him. When I’d met Joel at Parents’ Day last semester with Riley and Riley’s parents, he hadn’t made a good impression. He’d dropped the word splendid like a normal seventeen-year-old might drop the word cool. He’d worn clothes that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. Worst of all, he’d looked at Riley with cold eyes that spoke volumes about how Joel felt about Riley ending their relationship. And Riley hadn’t trusted Joel’s motives for coming to visit on Parents’ Day—given that Riley is one of my best friends, this made me instantly skeptical about Joel.

  “I loved that visit last semester with Riley’s parents so much that I talked my own parents into letting me transfer here for the second half of my junior year.”

  “Oh,” I reply. “That is truly splendid.”

  Tristan looks completely baffled. First off, I am sure that he is curious as to who the guy is and how I know him. Not to mention the fact that the word splendid isn’t one I use in everyday context.

  I shoot Tristan a look of reassurance, but inside I’m consumed with worry about Riley. Does he know his ex has transferred here? I’d spoken or texted with him almost every day over break, and he hadn’t breathed a word about Joel attending Fairmont. And considering that Riley’s big fear is his secret coming out, well, he must not have known Joel had plans to come in as a new student after break. If he’d known, he would definitely have brought it up to me.

  Riley isn
’t going to like this news—especially since nobody at school knows he’s gay except for Tristan and I. When he hears that his ex will be living here with the rest of us, I can only imagine his feelings. Ri is scared to death of his parents, or anyone else for that matter, learning the truth. I’ve met his parents, so I get why he is afraid. They’re not what I’d call open-minded and accepting. Another reason I know he wants to stay in the closet is to fit in at Fairmont. I know firsthand what it feels like to be an outsider at Fairmont, and it’s not pretty. I’m sure that staying under the radar and fitting in is a big part of why Ri doesn’t want to be outed.

  All these thoughts zip through my head until I land on one: I have to find Riley and tell him Joel is here before he runs into him and finds out the hard way.

  CHAPTER three

  Harmony gives a little shove into my backside. “Hey, silly!” I turn around and kiss her nose, burying myself in her neck for a second to collect my thoughts. Her earthy, salty smell is familiar and comforting.

  “Looks like you were missed,” Joel says.

  Tristan is still giving me an odd look, so I figure I’d better make the introductions. “Yeah.” I try and laugh, but it doesn’t lighten the tension I’m feeling. All I can think about is how seriously I need to get to Riley so that this isn’t just sprung on him. “I’m so sorry, Joel,” I say. “I was so busy saying hello to Harmony that I didn’t introduce you. Um, this is Tristan.”

  Joel brings his hand up and waves once. “Hey. Joel Parker.”

  “So you know Riley?” Tristan asks.

  “Oh yeah, since we were kids.”

  My brain is scrambling to find a reason to escape the barn. I blurt out, “I hate to run off, Joel, but I am actually starving. Just realized I haven’t had lunch. I didn’t even eat the snack on the plane.” I turn to look at Harmony, hoping to make her understand that I’m only leaving so quickly because I have to find Riley.

  “Tristan?”

  “Yeah. Okay.” He gives Sebastian another pat on the neck and says, “Nice to meet you, Joel. I’m sure we’ll be seeing you around.”

  “Splendid,” I mutter under my breath. I shut Harmony’s stall and meet Tristan back in the breezeway.

  He’s looking at me with his arms crossed and a suspicious frown darkening his green eyes. “What’s the story?”

  “Come on.” I grab his hand. “We have to find Riley,” I hiss.

  Outside the barn, Tristan places a hand on my shoulder. “Stop, Viv. What’s going on? You got really weird back there with that Joel guy.”

  I sigh. I’m not sure just how much Riley confided in Tristan, and I don’t want to betray my friend’s trust. Of course I also want to be honest with Tristan. The irony of this thought isn’t lost on me—and I roll my eyes at my own hypocrisy as Austen’s face flashes through my mind.

  “We just really need to find Riley,” I say.

  “Vivienne?”

  “Okay,” I say, heaving a sigh. “Riley and that guy Joel were—” I search for the right words—“I’m not sure, exactly.” I stop there, since I feel like anything else is Riley’s story to tell.

  Understanding dawns on Tristan’s face despite my curt explanation. “So you’re worried that Riley doesn’t know Joel is here and that he’s going to lose it when he does find out. You want to deliver the bad news to Riley before he, say, sees Joel in line at the dining hall and chokes to death in shock.”

  I stand on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “And that is why I am totally crazy over you. You’re a genius.”

  He kisses me back smack-dab on the lips. A familiar floaty, light-as-air feeling bubbles up inside my stomach.

  “Oh, please.” A girl’s sarcastic voice jolts me out of the kiss. “What obnoxious PDA.”

  We stop kissing and turn to see Lydia Gallagher and a couple of her friends—Alicia Vincenzia and Shannon Burton, charter members of the DZ, to be specific—coming toward us on the path to the barns.

  “Happy New Year, Tristan,” says Lydia, batting her lashes.

  I resist the urge to roll my eyes. The DZ enjoyed making my life as uncomfortable as they possibly could the first semester, and I am sure this semester will be no different, considering that I am now dating Lydia’s ex. Plus, I helped to put her brother behind bars, which surely didn’t endear me to her. Lydia shoots me a cold look. “Hey, Scholarship. I’d wish you a Happy New Year, too, but I’m not totally sure you’ll have one.”

  Tristan puts an arm around me. “Call her Vivienne like everyone else,” he says.

  “Oh, now you’re going to be like that? It didn’t seem to bother you when I made up that nickname for her just a few short months ago. In fact, if I recall, you even laughed the first time you heard it. Besides, she is here on scholarship, and that’s obvious from her clothes, so it’s not like I’m making up insults. I’m just calling it like I see it.”

  He shakes his head.

  We walk past them and, as we do, Lydia pipes up again. “By the way, T, how’s the fam? Your mom still hidden away? Your dad still playing the ponies?”

  I feel his arm tense around my shoulder. We keep walking. “Once a bitch, always a bitch,” he says to me.

  I know Lydia was just trying to get under Tristan’s skin, but I can’t help wondering what her comments mean, exactly. Why would Tristan’s mom be hidden away? And so what if his dad is into horse racing? I don’t get it, but then again, I don’t understand much about Lydia Gallagher. All I do know is that blonde, beautiful, and bitchy is never a good combination.

  CHAPTER four

  I drag Tristan to his dorm suite in search of Riley, and when I open the door, there he is, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. His posture says that he already knows about Joel, but then when he looks up, a huge smile spreads across his face.

  “Thank God you’re here!” He jumps up and throws his arms around me.

  “Hey, what about me?” Tristan asks.

  Riley pulls away from me and high-fives Tristan. “Good to see you, too, man.”

  Tristan then pulls him into one of those quick guy hugs, which endears him to me even more.

  Suddenly, I realize that I’m not sure if Riley knows about Joel or not.

  “So, did you hear?” he asks.

  “What?” I say.

  “Christian Albright is our new jump coach.”

  I feel my jaw drop open. See, Christian had been engaged to the vet who owned Harmony, Dr. Serena Miller—the woman who was murdered last semester. Her killer, Newman Becker, was a retired champion rider who had once been an instructor at Fairmont, and had also been one of my childhood idols. Yeah—not so much once I learned he was a criminal.

  Anyway, after Dr. Miller’s murder, I’d noticed Christian getting close with Kayla Fairmont—close as in definitely more than just friends. I’d witnessed the way they’d hugged each other when Kayla’s husband, Holden, wasn’t around, and while I am no expert by any means when it comes to relationships, I am also no idiot. What made it all worse was the fact that Holden Fairmont and Dr. Miller were cousins. I didn’t want to care, but I couldn’t seem to push away my feelings about it. I can guess why, I suppose. First off, I really like Holden and Kayla, and I like the idea of people sticking it out and being together. That is what people who get married are supposed to do, isn’t it? Maybe my strong feelings over the whole thing stem from my dad leaving my family when I was little, but I don’t like to think too deeply about it. There’s another reason why the thought of Kayla possibly cheating on Holden really bothers me, and it’s selfish. As the married co-owners of Fairmont, what might happen to the school if Holden and Kayla have issues and break up? Furthermore, what will it mean for me? For my scholarship? I have opportunities and advantages here at Fairmont that I would never have anywhere else. Don’t get me wrong . . . I love home, and my old trainer, and my friends. But Fairmont
represents the promise of really going somewhere, not only as an equestrian who has Olympic-size dreams, but also academically. It’s not just me who truly values the education that I am receiving at the academy—it’s colleges around the country from the Ivy League on down.

  Most important, though, is Harmony. I don’t own her. The Fairmonts do. So, I have to wonder: If their marriage fell apart, what would that all mean for me and for my horse? Could I . . . would I lose everything?

  The affair I’m suspecting seems even more likely now that Christian Albright has moved from Virginia to the West Coast to teach here at Fairmont. I am so going to put those kinds of thoughts out of my mind. I try and cover up my deer-in-the-headlights look that I am certain is reflected on my face.

  “Then who is going to teach the summer riding program?”

  “You mean the one back east?” says Riley.

  “Yeah, the one at Liberty Farms in Virginia. Everything Kayla has told me so far about the summer program there involved Christian Albright heading it up. It seems weird he’d give up that job to come to Fairmont and teach jump lessons.”

  Riley and Tristan don’t appear to share my curiosity. It’s probably less important to them than it is to me to win a spot in the summer program. They have rich families who can probably pay for them to get lessons with the country’s best coaches. For me, winning a spot in the summer program—which Kayla promised my scholarship will pay for—is probably one of the only chances I’ll ever have to ride with the premiere coaches on the East Coast for the summer.

  Riley shrugs. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll go back there in the summer and do it again. Maybe his stay here is temporary. I’m sure we’ll get the lowdown.”

  “I guess so,” I say, hoping that my suspicions about the affair aren’t valid. I’ve worked too hard to get here to have something as stupid as cheating adults change my life.