The Heartbreak Horse

Because She Can Drive a Harley Better Than You Can.

It doesn’t take the ambulance too long to get there, but it’s long enough for Val to insert herself into the equation.

“Excuse me,” Val says primly as she steps over to Riley, “but who exactly are you?”

Riley ignores her. I’m talking completely, one hundred percent, ignores her. She doesn’t even look up, look at me, or anything. She just stands there, staring at Kate. I’d wonder whether she heard Val or not, but you can’t really not hear Val when she screeches at you.

“Val,” Cyan shouts, following her into the ring. “Leave them alone.”

I have a feeling Cyan finally figured it out who Riley is. Matt probably told her. Judging from the way Zoe is alternating between staring at Riley and yelling at Matt, I have a feeling Zoe figured it out, too. Matt is going to have a lot of hell to pay; Zoe used to think of Riley as a daughter, just like Oliver did. Really, Riley was the thing that brought Zoe and Oliver together the most.

“Why should I leave this b***h alone?” Val asks Cyan in a tone so insulting, I’m a little disconcerted. Val can certainly be mean, but usually it’s underhanded or passive-aggressive. “She came here on the back of your brother’s motorcycle, who, by the way, happens to be engaged, and scared Kate’s horse so much that--”

“Shut up, Val,” I snap.

Val’s eyes bulge as she turns to look at me. “Excuse me?”

“Shut up. If you could ride on the back of Matt Herrington’s bike, you would. You’ve had a crush on him since you met him. And you never even bother to say hello to Kate, so don’t act like you care about her now.”

I catch Kate smirking from her spot on the ground.

I suppose this is a pretty pivotal moment for me—something you wouldn’t expect me to be able to accomplish for many more months, if ever—standing up to Val. But it doesn’t feel hard. Val just seems so ridiculous when Riley is there next to her. Riley’s presence makes it feel easy to stand up to Val—especially if it means defending her.

The ambulance gets there at that moment, so Val doesn’t get the chance to screech any high-pitched retorts, and I don’t get to see what Riley thinks of my show, except for a bit of a smirk.

They tell us that only family members can ride in the ambulance with Kate, but Oliver doesn’t like that, and since there isn’t anyone else, he announces that as her trainer, he is obligated to come. So they let him come, but no one else. Riley tries to convince them she’s Kate’s sister, but they don’t believe her, and I’m not surprised.

When the ambulance drives off, Riley is back at Matt’s side in seconds. “Matt,” she says, grabbing his keys out of his pocket in what I consider a very blatant violation of personal space. “We need to go to the hospital. Now.”

Matt groans. “I told you, I have to get back to Atlantis! Fiona gets back today and if she knew...” He trails off when he remembers that two of his family members are there—family members who like the fiancée and wouldn’t enjoy hearing that he’s sneaking around.

“Look, I don’t give a s**t about your stupid engagement, Matt,” Riley says; “this girl is going to the hospital because of me, so just take me to the f*****g hospital!”

Matt groans again—this time much more agitatedly. I can tell from this conversation alone that Riley is a lot to handle, even for the guys she willingly spends time with. I consider offering to take her to the hospital myself, since I’ll be going anyway, but figure it’s sort of pointless, since this argument is well underway and she’d probably say no, anyway. “I will take you,” Matt says, reaching out to reclaim his keys, “back to Atlantis. We can visit your friend--”

But she’s already running up the hill, swinging his keys around her finger.

“Riley!” Matt shouts angrily. “Riley!”

But she’s already on his bike by then. He races up the hill to stop her, but she peels out onto the road before he gets the chance, leaving all of us behind in her dust.