Page 64 of Ace of Spades
“We’re literally about to be running a guest ranch, people would love them! Guarantee it would be a great selling point.”
“Right. Well I still think we oughta teach you how to ride one day, squirt,” Rafe tells her.
“We’ll bubble wrap you from head to toe if that makes you feel better,” Chance adds.
“You guys only want me to learn so I can warm up your horses for you at rodeos.”
“Not true,” Weston defends.
“Fine, I’ll try. But only if Hailey will teach me.”
“Excuse me, but you do realize that your brother is a professional horse trainer, right,” Weston states.
“Yeah, but you’re mean.”
“What are you talking about? I’m the most patient teacher ever, you’ve watched me teach the kids at the trailer park.”
“Yeah, but that’s because you’re not related to them, so you had to be nice.”
“I’ll teach you,” I tell her. “It can be our girl time.”
“In that case, count me in, too! I’ve been needing some girl time. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the time with Debbie and Rhonda, but they’re like having two moms around. I say the three of us bring the horses out to the creek one of these days and let loose,” Chelsea says.
“So how did you guys find this creek anyways? There are hundreds of acres out here, how did you come across it?”
“Well, somebody had a little too much to drink one night when we first started the ranch,” Rafe looks pointedly at Chance. “Long story short, we all spent the entire night riding through the woods and rounding up the horses. We ended up finding most of them there. Unlike all of the other creeks on the property, this one wasn’t on any of the maps, so we decided to keep it a secret. That’s why we call it the hidden creek.”
“So you really haven’t brought anybody else there?” I ask as we turn off of the trail and into the woods, the branches obscuring the moonlight as we merge into a single line to cut through the dense shrubbery. Rafe takes the lead, Weston putting himself at the back.
“Nope.”
“Then how come you guys were okay with letting me in on it?”
“Because you’re one of us now, silly,” Dakota tells me, as if it were obvious. My heart warms, my chest tightening at the thought of being welcomed into this tight-knit group.
“I don’t even know how long I’m going to be staying,” I admit. As nice as it feels, I can’t let myself get too attached. This is just an escape, and I’ll have to go back to reality at some point, though the thought of leaving here makes my stomach turn sour.
“You’re planning on leaving?” she asks.
“I mean…I don’t know. Not anytime soon. But I can’t stay here forever. I just… I’ll have to go back to my real life eventually.”
The group falls silent, nothing but the sounds of our hooves and the brushes ruffling as we walk past.
“Well, just know you’re always welcome here as long as you’d like,” Dakota finally says.
We reach the creek, breaking through the trees into the clearing. The light of the moon glints off of the running water, the stars fully visible at this time of night. I slide off of Vegas, Chance getting off of Odessa before helping Dakota down as the rest of the group follow suit, all of us tying our horses wherever we can find with enough leeway to let them graze.
“Last one in is a wet chicken!” Chance yells, pulling his boots off and unbuttoning his jeans before pulling those down as well, leaving him in just his swim trunks as he runs down the bank and cannon-balls off of the ledge into the deeper water where the creek runs into the river.
“Not it!” Chelsea hollers, throwing her boots near the backpacks and taking off running as well, Beau hot on her heels as he catches up and throws her over his shoulder. Her scream echoes through the clearing as they follow Chance over the ledge.
Weston and Dakota run in next, shoving each other out of the way as they race to get to the water first. I look around for Rafe, only to find him a few yards away at a rope swing that I hadn’t noticed last time, taking a running start and flipping into the river.
“Hey Hails, grab me a beer before you come in, will you?” Chance yells from where he floats in the water.
I nod my head, walking to his backpack and pulling out a handful of them to pass out.
“Oh and don’t let me forget, Rhonda gave us some leftovers to bring you since you missed dinner! They should be in the backpack.”
