Ray's panicked exclamation to the negative did him little good when Asher was no longer there to do anything about it. His feet hadn't even been in the stirrups when Beau took off, and Ray was sliding out of the saddle and up the horse's neck before he had time to register it. A split second before it happened he knew he was going to fall and the shout wasn't pretty or manly. One moment the ground was rushing by beneath him, the next he was hitting it shoulder first and tumbling to a stop, the thunder of Beau's hooves slowing after his unplanned dismount.

Face down in the dirt was actually how he'd imagined his first lesson but only in his worst nightmares. He groaned to make sure he was still alive, then rolled awkwardly onto his back, sucking in breaths while the world stopped spinning. "Fuck," he coughed and pushed himself to his elbows with a wince, gaze narrowed at the barn. "He did that on purpose."