Taming the Wild

Chapter 6

Sighing, I pick up my hat and do a one-over before walking into the living room to see Chad stretched out on the couch. His eyes open wide as he looks up at me and I blush at his reaction. He gawks at me for a few more seconds before he says something.

“Wow, you look gorgeous.” Chad mumbles as he sits upright. “You clean up well.”

“Oh, thanks,” I feel my face getting red which makes me blush even more.

“You’re welcome, but come on, we better go and get the horses ready.”

“What do you mean go get the horses ready?”

“We’re riding them to the party; everyone does. It’s like an unspoken rule.” Chad tells me and I just stare at him.

“Who will I be riding?” I ask as I pull on my cowboy boots and wait at the door for Chad.

“Either Jezzy, Annabelle or Dancer.”

“Um, okay,” I say, not knowing any of the horses besides Jezzy.

“It will most likely be Dancer, I’ll be riding Cupid.”

“Okay,” I mumble following Chad down to the barn.

Walking into the barn, I watch as Chad gets out one horse at a time and hooks them up in the cleaning areas. He grabs the saddles and bridles while I just stand there. Once he comes back out, he informs me that the dark bay/brown is Dancer and the palomino is Cupid.

I approach Dancer and take a good look at her. She has a white stocking on each of her back legs and white socks on her front ones. On her face, she has a white stripe going down to her nose. Her mane and tail have patches of black in it, but the rest is dark brown.

Smiling to myself, I start to brush Dancer and clean her. By the time, I am finished, Chad is already saddling Cupid up. I just roll my eyes at him before grabbing the saddle I am using and placing it in the proper spot on Dancer’s back. Double-checking everything, I do up the saddle and then the bridle. Chad is already waiting for me when I start to put on the bridle.

“Ready?” Chad asks me as I make sure everything is done up. I nod and Chad leads Cupid outside with me and Dancer close behind.

We get on the horses and I wait for Chad to start walking in the direction of the bonfire. After a few minutes of just sitting there, Chad finally pushes Cupid into a walk and I follow shortly behind him with Dancer. It is a silent ride but as we start to hear people yelling and talking, Chad starts to talk.

“Just warning you but sometimes these bonfires can get out of hand. Be careful and don’t drink a lot.”

“Okay, thanks for the warning but I have been to plenty of parties, so I think I can handle myself.”

“Just be careful,” Chad huffs. “Bring Dancer over here and we can let her loose with the other horses.”

I follow Chad and un-tack Dancer before letting her into the paddock with Cupid and the rest of the horses. Putting the saddle and bridle down on the ground, I make sure that I know which one I used on Dancer. Chad places Cupid’s stuff beside Dancers.

Breathing in, I brace myself for drunk and high teenagers everywhere. I smell the puke before I see it as we walk through a group of trees towards the fire. A girl is bending over behind a tree puking and I almost step in it. The girl smells like smoke, puke, and alcohol. Her long, blonde hair is dangling around her face, almost in the puke. I wrinkle my nose up as I watch the ends of her hair fall in the puke.

“That’s disgusting,” I tell Chad as I turn my attention to the fire about ten feet in front of us.

“I know, the party has barely started and people are already puking their guts out.”