Innocence Lost (Lone Mountain Ranch Book 1)

Chapter 29

Chase rolled the blanket up haphazardly and walked over to Onyx. His gait was much longer than Kylie's. She needed to jog after him to catch up. He tied the blanket to his saddle and moved quickly to help Kylie get back up on Spirit. He barely looked at her, but she could see the skin of his neck was red with fury. She did not need to see his facial expression for confirmation. She knew Chase was hurt.

Chase was upset, but he did not let his feelings keep them from enjoying their ride. They rode side by side the entire way back. Kylie took it as a good sign, although he did not smile or look at her once. Even the horses could feel a shift in the energy between them. Kylie's mind was full of thoughts the entire ride home. She tried to stay in the present, but was not the self-assured rider she was on the way there.

As they rode through the countryside, both animals seemed to float through the air, carrying Chase and Kylie back to the barn with them. The trees whooshed by in streaks of green and brown as they galloped and trotted every chance they got. The trip back seemed quicker, like Chase could not wait to get away from Kylie.

When they arrived back at the barn, he opened the gate for her and gave her a cordial smile, but he still acted very cold towards her. She could not blame him. She walked Spirit over to the post he was standing at this morning and waited for Chase. He walked up next to her and dismounted, securing Onyx to the fence before helping Kylie. He held her gently around the waist as she slid down the side of Spirit, and his heart skipped a beat. Kylie felt her heart skip a beat when his hand touched her. She turned towards him, but he already turned to secure the reins around the horn of the saddle and tie Spirit to the post with the lead rope.

He did not bother to look at her when he said, "Well, I guess this is goodbye. Sorry I can't walk you back to the house, but I need to clean and feed these two before moving onto the rest."

"Chase, I really am sorry. I hope you can forgive me. I know I have a lot of things to work out, but I hope you will see me again once I do. Is it okay to text you once I have finalized the divorce with my husband?"

Chase could barely muster an answer, but he was too polite not to say anything.

"Sure," he said with his eyes dropped to the ground.

Kylie found hope in his wimpy response.

"Okay. Thank you again for everything!" Kylie said trying to sound enthusiastic. She turned on her heels and headed towards the gate. She walked through it and turned around to close it behind her when she saw Chase running up to her.

"Kylie, I hope you find whatever it is you are looking for. If that includes me, please contact me when you are done with your divorce. We can give things a try. If it does not include me, please, move on to someone else," Chase said trying not to imply Jax as the 'someone else'.

Kylie looked up at him. He looked hurt. More hurt than Jax looked. Her heart sank. She never intended to hurt these two men. She really liked them both. They were so nice and so sexy. All they wanted was to show her a good time during her weekend away. Somehow, she managed to mess it all up. Now, she really felt all alone, and she felt worse than she did when she arrived.

Kylie walked back to the house. Lost in thought, her eyes were focused on her feet, so she would not trip. She opened the door and almost fell over her huge pile of clothes. She kicked it with her foot, and it slid out of her way. She sat down and pulled off her boots and started undoing the buttons on her top. She flung it off into the pile and picked up the white button down from earlier and put it on. She shimmied her jeans off and felt the sting of her legs flare up. Everything else which went wrong that afternoon had numbed the feeling in her legs until now. She winced from the pain and walked over to the kitchen to grab two more aspirin and more water.