Lou grunted as pain shot through his chest. He had been trying to call Barbara ever since he got home but she hadn't picked up. She wasn't there to greet him like she usually did either. He swiped his thumb across the phone to get back to the clock on his home screen to double check. She should be home by now, he thought to himself as he looked up the stairs.
"Barbie," he yelled, cupping his hand around his mouth. "You home?"
The house remained silent. He ran a hand through his curly brunette locks but winced when he stretched a bit too far.
"Shit," he said.
He moved to the stairs and sat down on the third step, making sure he eased himself down with help from the wooden railing. He thumbed his phone as he sat, skimming through his apps to see if he had missed any notifications relating to her. He found nothing, and that concerned him. Barbara was far from the type of person to go out and do things without letting him know. Hell, if it wasn't for him, she'd be a shut-in at college who only left her room to go to class.
Her parents would still be paying for the dorms, too, he thought to himself. The pain he felt in his chest was separate from his worry for her whereabouts. It also wasn't exactly guilt at being the cause of her getting disowned by her parents, either. It was hard to feel guilt when it was her asshole of a father that broke his ribs. They couldn't have taken her back without me knowing, he thought as he leaned back. He still checked his phone again.
Barbara really fought to get permission from her parents to go to college. They weren't Amish, but they were damn well close enough. At least as far as it allowed her dad to be able to work a factory and get drunk at the bar with his friends. Her mom and siblings all worked on their farm at home, but Barbara was just too smart for that life. It was thanks to her dad's drinking habits that she convinced them to let her go, under the condition that she didn't go too crazy.
Lou didn't think that their dating was all that crazy. Sure, he tried taking her out to clubs and parties on occasion, but she never jived with that crowd. She was as simple and plain a country girl could be, and he was happy with her being that way. But her parents didn't seem to agree when she finally built up the courage to introduce him to them.
Her parents weren't thoroughbreds, but they definitely preferred to be purebred. The anthro equines were shocked and appalled to see their daughter coming home with a human. It was a short reunion, mostly filled with shouting from her family, demanding why she would be tricked into having relations with a human while Barbara cried. Lou had done his fair share of yelling too, ultimately leading to them getting kicked off their land.
It was when they were leaving that her father got violent, chasing after the human male and threw out a punch. Lou was lucky to have dodged it, having slipped back enough to avoid his head from getting caved in. He was less lucky when he threw his own punch in retaliation, his knuckles bruising under the force of striking the older equine's chest. Her father just laughed at that while making snide remarks. Her family was a close equivalent to feral Irish Cobs. Not the biggest breed of equine, but still mighty, sturdy, and easily 3 feet taller.
Barbara said at the hospital that her father must have been impressed that Lou even tried to fight so he held back on the hook that went into his side. Lou said nothing as he was too hopped up on morphine. Even months later he still felt pain. He was happy he didn't end up with a pill addiction, and even more happy when the bruise in the shape of her father's fist cleared up. He massaged the aching side as he scrolled through his contacts, stopping at G.
Ms. Grace was one of the cleaners that Lou's father had employed at the estate he and Barbara now lived in. There used to be others, but once Lou's parents vanished and were presumed dead, they all ended up leaving. Except for Ms. Grace, who seemed to have been given a postmortem payroll in the will. Everything about it was weird to Lou, his whole life his father had been very strange and distant. But he had a well paying job, even if he didn't know what it was, and his family had plenty of money thanks to his great grandfather.
It was his great grandfather that originally built the house, but his family never did any sort of farming or ranching that he could find. At most someone may have kept some animals, but even that he wasn't sure. There weren't any family photos of someone riding any horses or shearing any sheep, but they did have a large barn not far from the house.
Lou took losing his family well, never having been too close and it was only his father that he really knew. His mother had died when he was young, and his dad tended to have a few women on cycle to play the role of wife. Lou never even spent his childhood at the farm, only recently exploring it as it was left in his father's will. Convenient, as made for a free place for the pair to live together while he worked, and she got her degree. He had grown up self-sufficient, having had to learn how to cook with a caretaker until his dad visited him on the weekend in the apartment he owned. His unique upbringing had something to do with his father not wanting Lou to grow up having to move frequently, but it came at the cost of any sort of familial bond.
He didn't care too much, he filled up his life with friends and loved ones, and currently the whereabouts of Barbara were more important to him. He had the finger next to his ear as he listened to the dial tone. Ms. Grace usually left before he got home, but he knew she was around when his girlfriend got back. He hadn't even realized he was holding his breath until he heard the maid pick up.
"Hello? This is Grace speaking."
He gasped.
"Oh, Ms. Grace? This is Lou, Gordon's son," Lou said.
