Breaking Down (The Breaking Series Book 4) Read online

  Breaking Down

  The Breaking Series Book 4

  Juliana Haygert

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Juliana Haygert

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Manufactured in the United States of America.

  First Edition January 2021

  www.JulianaHaygert.com

  Edited by H. Danielle Crabtree

  Proofreading by Jessica Nelson

  Cover design by Najla Qamber Designs

  Any trademark, service marks, product names, or names featured are the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if one of these terms is used.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Six Months Later

  Thank you

  About the Author

  Also by Juliana Haygert

  Author’s Note

  I hope you enjoy reading Breaking Down!

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  English - Portuguese

  For a complete list of words used in the series click here!

  Note that some words and expression don’t have a perfect literal translation. The translation you see here is the one that fits the context of my novels.

  Abobaba – fool, idiot

  Ai – ouch

  Ainda bem – thank goodness

  Até depois – see you later

  Beijinho – a sweet made with condensed sweetened milk

  Bem – fine, good, well

  Boa noite – good night

  Boa sorte – good luck

  Boa tarde – good afternoon

  Bom – well

  Bom dia – good morning

  Bomba – item to drink chimarrão with

  Bombacha – typical pants used by gaúchos

  Branquinho – same as Beijinho

  Brigadeiro – a sweet made with condensed sweetened milk and cocoa powder

  Café colonial – continental breakfast

  Calma – calm down

  Carreteiro – typical dish made of leftover steaks from barbecues

  Chato – a name for someone who annoys you

  Chimarrão – herb-based drink from the south of Brazil

  Churrasco – Brazilian barbecue

  Churrasqueira – a type of a grill where Brazilian barbecue is made

  Claro – of course

  Credo – jeez/damn

  Cuia – kind of cup to drink chimarrão with

  Dança folclórica gaúcha – typical dance from the south of Brazil

  De nada – you’re welcome

  De novo – again

  Delícia – delicious

  Desculpa – sorry

  Deus do céu – Lord above/Oh my God

  Droga – crap

  E aí – what’s up?

  É assim – this way

  Eita – whoa

  Então – so?

  Eu não vou me atrasar – I won’t be late

  Eu te amo – I love you

  Eu vou te matar – I’ll kill you

  Feijoada – dish made with black beans

  Feliz Páscoa – Happy Easter

  Filha da puta (daughter of a bitch), mimada (spoiled), china (it’s like prenda, but in a bad way), rapariga sem vergonha (girl without shame), invejosa (jealous) – insulting names for women/girls

  Filho duma puta – son of a bitch

  Gaúcho(a) – people from the south of Brazil

  Graças a Deus – thank God, thank goodness

  Grande coisa – whatever

  Guria – girl

  Idiota – idiot

  Irmã – sister

  Irmãzinha – little sister

  Mãe – mother

  Me dá – give it to me

  Me deixa em paz – leave me alone

  Merda – shit

  Meu Deus – my God

  Morena – brunette, but in Brazil this term is used in a caring way, like darling or sweetie

  Não – no

  Negrinho – same as Brigadeiro

  Nossa – wow/whoa

  O que – what?

  O que é isso – what is this?

  Obrigado (a) – thanks

  Oi – hi/hello

  Ótimo – great

  Pai – father

  Pão de queijo – cheese bread

  Parabéns - congratulations

  Peão/Peões –cowboys in Brazil

  Perfeita(o) – perfect

  Pois então – well/you see

  Por favor – please

  Por que/por quê – why

  Porque – because

  Porcaria – crap/jeez/damn/shit/bad stuff

  Porra – fuck/shit

  Prazer – Pleasure, a short way of saying “nice to meet you”

  Prenda – just like a gaúcha

  Presta atenção – pay attention

  Preta – black

  Puta merda – fuck/shit/bullshit

  Puta que pariu – goddamn it, holy shit, fuck

  Que droga – crap/jeez/damn/this sucks

  Que foi – what?

  Que mentira – what a lie

  Que nada – nonsense

  Que porcaria é essa – what the hell is this?

  Querida – dear

  Rio Grande do Sul – southernmost state in Brazil

  Sem rodeios – without rodeos, means without dillydallying

  Senhorita –
miss

  Sério – really

  Sete de Setembro – Brazil’s Independence Day

  Sim – yes

  Tá bom/bem – okay

  Tá tudo bem – it’s okay

  Também – too/also

  Tchau – bye

  Tche – common expression used by gaúchos – it can mean many things. A salutation, an exasperated exclamation, or even addressing someone

  Te amo – I love you

  Te comporta – behave

  Tia – aunt

  Tio – uncle

  Tudo bem/Tudo bom – how are you?

  Um minuto – one minute

  Vai com – go with

  Veado – deer. In Brazil, it’s a nickname for homosexuals. Between friends, it’s used as a friendly, teasing name.

  Vestibular – an extensive and hard test Brazilians take to enter college – each college has its own vestibular test and if the student doesn’t pass it, he/she doesn’t enter that particular college.

  Você – you

  Created with Vellum

  1

  Gabi

  “Hey, pretty boy.” I reached over the stall door and rested my hand on Tostado’s muzzle. “Did you have a good night sleep?”

  My horse neighed, bobbing his head up and down. I smiled. If only he could really communicate with me. But maybe he could. I had had him for more than three years now. If he did understand, he would be the only one lately. Horse or human.

  My phone beeped. I fished it from my jeans' back pocket and checked the message.

  Priscila: Practice is canceled.

  Merda.

  Me: Why?

  Priscila: The other girls are not coming. It would be just you and me.

  Me: But the tournament is coming up.

  And I would be away for the next ten days. We had to practice now, and then hard once I was back, or we would lose the tournament. Badly.

  Priscila: That’s the other thing. The club is canceling the women's tournament. They didn’t get enough registrations, so they are only going to have the men’s tournament.

  A wave of rage swept through me.

  Me: That’s bullshit.

  Priscila: I’m with you, but unless we come up with at least three other teams before next weekend, there will be no tournament for us.

  Man, this sucked. We had barely four permanent girls to play on our team. We actually had six because one or more never could meet up for practice or games. Time and time again, there were two or three of us who showed up, and we had to forfeit games because of it.

  Women’s polo was the worst, especially in Brazil.

  I sighed.

  If only I had someone to help me. Someone who had some influence and could talk to the club and ask them to keep the women’s category, even with only two or three teams signed up.

  The person in my mind walked into the stable and a conspiring grin spread across my lips.

  Me: All right. I’ll talk to you later.

  I stashed my phone back into my pocket and turned my smile to the man approaching me.

  “Oi pai.” I greeted my father. Like all Fernandeses, my father was tall with broad shoulders and bright green-blue eyes. Although, now in his mid-fifties, he didn’t have as much hair as my brother and my cousins.

  “Bom dia, Gabi.” He glanced at my horse, then at me. “Going out for a ride this early?”

  “No. I have to finish packing.”

  His brows furrowed. “Oh, yes. You’re going to visit your brother. You’re leaving tonight, right?”

  “Sim.”

  “Don’t your classes start soon?”

  I groaned. “Sim. In two weeks.” All I wanted was to forget about that for now. I wanted to go to Santa Barbara, have a great time with my brother, cousins, and friends, and enjoy my freedom before college life tied me down. I shuddered. “I’ll be back in ten days. Four days should be enough to get ready for college.”

  There was nothing else to do, really. I was signed up for my classes, I had all the material I needed, and my accommodations and transportation were all set up—I would stay in our townhouse in the city during the weekdays and come back to the ranch on the weekends.

  “That’s good.” He reached over and rested a big hand on my shoulder. “Finally starting college. It’ll be a big day.”

  “Sim …” I pressed my lips into a thin line, trying to come up with the right words. “Pai, hm, you know the country club has a polo tournament coming up, right?”

  “Yes, we’re sponsoring it, as always.”

  “So … they said they don’t have enough women’s teams signed up so they are thinking about canceling the women’s category. I was thinking that maybe you could—”

  “That’s good,” he interrupted me.

  I gaped. “W-what?”

  “Isn’t the tournament right when your classes start?”

  It would actually be a week later. “Yes …”

  “It would be hard to play the games and attend classes. This way, you can focus on college. Besides, we both know that there’s no future in polo for you. You’re a great player, Gabi, almost as good as your brother and cousins, but you know that women’s polo isn’t going anywhere. You can fight for it, but you’ll only be wasting your time. Better to focus on college, which is a more concrete path.”

  I clamped my mouth so the words of outrage and frustration didn’t spill past my lips, and clenched my fist. I knew he wasn’t trying to be harsh. He was just stating the facts—and he was right. I knew he was right. But that didn’t mean I had to accept it.

  If I had to go to college to satisfy my parents while I worked toward my dream, so be it. One way or another, I would play polo for a living. I would live my dream. Someday.

  With a happy sigh, I plopped down on the couch and propped my legs on the coffee table. Now, here was exactly where I wanted to be.

  “Hey, if you’re gonna put your paws there, take off your shoes.”

  The company, though.

  I rolled my eyes and lifted my hand, giving my brother the finger.

  He groaned, and beside him, Hilary chuckled. “Gui, let her be,” she said.

  “But her boots are dirty,” he complained. I glanced over my shoulder and witnessed as my brother, my big, strong brother, pouted at his girlfriend.

  Hilary chuckled again and waved him off. “You do that all the time.”

  “That’s different,” he snapped, glaring at me.

  Shaking her head, Hilary whirled around and grabbed a tub of ice cream from the fridge.

  “Oh, I want some too,” I said.

  “One scoop? Two scoops? Three scoops?” she asked, grabbing bowls from the cabinets.

  Gui took the tub from her and began serving the ice cream—our Friday afternoon snack. Looking at them moving around the kitchen like they had been doing that for years, no one would have guessed they had only been dating for six months. And, last week on Valentine’s Day, Gui invited Hilary to move in with him. And she had accepted. They were moving her stuff in this weekend, and I would probably help, since I was here visiting.

  We had a big party with lots of food coming up tonight, so I just said, “One scoop is fine. For now.”

  “Aren't you going to ask how many scoops I want?” Gui asked her sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and handed him a chocolate bar. He wasn’t a fan of ice cream, but he always made some kind of joke when we were all eating it.

  I picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned on the TV. Even Netflix here was different from in Brazil—there were more movies and series options here. And I wanted to find a new obsession to binge during the remaining nine days I had here. Not that I wanted to spend my time watching TV, but everyone else was busy. Gui, Leo, Ri, and Pedro had practice, Bia and Garrett went to vet school, Hilary would go back to L.A. on Sunday night for her classes, Hannah had the ranch, and Iris was in college. They would all be busy during the day and I would be alone. Sometimes, I wondered why I even bothered visiting
them outside of holidays.

  A soft shuffling sound came from the hallway leading to the bedrooms and Pedro came into the room, dragging his flip-flops across the hardwood floor. He looked like shit—apparently he and Iris had had a big fight and hadn’t spoken in four days. And Pedro refused to tell anyone about it.

  “I heard the word scoops.” Even his voice sounded like shit. He glanced at Hilary, then shifted his gaze to the bowls of ice cream. “Can I have some too, please?”

  “Sure,” Hil said. She reached behind them and grabbed another bowl, and Gui served him.

  Pedro plopped down on the couch beside me and started devouring his ice cream.

  I couldn’t take his miserable looks. “Want to talk about it?”

  “No,” he grumbled.

  “Okay.” I scooted a little away from him, pretending I was afraid of him. “Sorry for asking.”

  He sighed and looked at me. “No, sorry. I’m just …” He sighed again. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Hil and Gui joined us in the living room. They sat on the other couch and Gui put his feet up the coffee table—but he had on socks.

  Trying to break the awkward silence, Hil glanced at me. “Gui told me your classes start in March. Vet school without pre-vet. So cool.”

  In Brazil, there was no pre-vet, pre-med, or pre-law. A person wanting to become a veterinarian only needed to apply for it and take a test called vestibular. If the person passed it, she was in. Those majors took one or two years longer than other degrees.