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Chapter 2

I walked up to the porch and just started crying. Chris came up to me and gave me a hug and just said soothing things to me. She knew this was what was going to happen when I got here, and she just let me cry, she knew I needed to let it all out.

When I finally stopped crying Chris asked me "How are you doin' sweetheart" in a motherly tone I haven't heard in forever.

"Good now that I'm away from that town" I said with a hoarse voice.

"It's okay, you're safe now with us, nobody's gonna hurt you here" She said with a sad smile

"Where's Levi?" I asked, wanting to see him knowing he'd make me feel better. Back when Chris, Jeff, and Levi lived in Minnesota, I would always hang out with Levi, even though he's 8 years younger than me. He grew up with 2 older sisters, Alyssa and Amanda and 1 older brother CJ. Amanda's the oldest, she's 8 years older than me, Alyssa is 5 years older and CJ is just a year old than I am.

"In the house. He's gonna be so happy to see you!" she said honestly. I just smiled and walked inside the house behind Chris.

"Levi!" She called,"She's here!" Suddenly we heard some running towards the door, and then Levi came running around the corner full speed at me. The small 10 year old boy I've known since he was born, jumped on me and gave me a big hug.

"I missed you so much, Vanessa!" Levi screamed

"I missed you too buddy!" and for the first time in months I actually smiled, a real smile. I put him down and he said, "You have to come see the horses!" he said as he put on his cowboy boots and his cowboy hat. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the door. I didn't know where Chris went, so I just followed Levi. I was wearing jeans and cowboy boots and a flannel, but it was almost too hot down here to be wearing a flannel and jeans, but I knew that Levi and I would end up going horseback riding and you do not want to go horseback riding with uncovered legs, that hurts.

When we got to the horse barn, I looked around at the horses they had. There were only about 4 or 5. I loved horses. Always have, always will. I walked around in the barn and stopped when I saw a beautiful black mustang.

"We just got her, mom knew you always wanted a black mustang and talked dad into buyin' one for you. He didn't really like the idea of getting a mustang, but mom's magical." Levi said while looking up at me

"She's mine?" I asked in complete shock

"Yep! And she doesn't have a name yet so you get to name her too" he told me

Almost instantly I said "Flicka", the name of the wild black mustang from my favorite movie

"Wanna take her for a ride? I mean she seems pretty calm around you. She's not calm around most people" Levi asked

"Sure!" I had been here for 20 minutes and I was smiling so much more than I had in the past year back in Minnesota. Levi showed me where everything was and I saddled up Flicka while Levi saddled up his horse, Bandit. When we were ready, I followed Levi out of the barn and we rode our horses and just talked about random stuff like my life in Minnesota, the days when Jeff, Chris and Levi lived in Minnesota, our favorite movies, books, games, school subjects, stuff like that. We were riding for around 2 hours before we went in.

We brought the horses in and gave them food and water then headed to the house. Before we went in, Levi and I grabbed all of the stuff I brought and he showed me to my room, which was next to his and across the hall from Jeff and Chris.

We started putting my stuff away and organizing my room when Chris called us down for dinner. Chris makes the best food, and I haven't eaten a good home cooked meal in a good year at least. I sat next to Levi and we started eating. Jeff and Chris made steak, mashed potatoes, corn, and garlic bread, and for dessert was apple pie and ice cream.

When we finished eating it was about 7:30. Levi and I went up to my room and started watching movies on the tv that Chris and Jeff got for me. We watched super hero movies, transformers, and even some of my chick flicks. Levi ended up passing out in my room around 11. I finished watching The Lucky One,it was after midnight and I turned the TV and DVD player off and fell asleep next to Levi.

The next morning, I woke up around 10, as usual, and Levi was gone. He always got up before me. I got out of my bed and went downstairs to see Levi playing the xbox. Unlike my biological brother, Levi asked if I wanted to play with Halo 4 with him. I said sure and grabbed a controller. We ended up playing on "flood", because that's all I knew how to play on that game.

I found out that Jeff had gone to work, he works in construction. When they lived in Minnesota, Chris would always get up around 11, because of her bartending job. Now she just works on the ranch and Levi helps out.

When Chris got up, she made breakfast for us. When she started serving us, a tall, muscular, good looking boy, with short brown hair, walked through the door. He couldn't much older than I was. I gave Levi and Chris a confused look. Chris smiled and said, "Vannessa this is Scotty, he helps out 'round here, he's 18, goin' to be graduatin' this year like you" So he was the same age as me. "Scotty, this is Vanessa, a family friend, she'll be livin' here with us." Chris added

Scotty came over to me and shook my hand, and I looked into his ocean blue eyes, "Nice to meet you, Vannessa" he said with a country accent, and a deep voice.

"Nice to meet you too, Scotty" I said with a smile

"You showed up right on time Scotty! I just made breakfast!" Chris said with lots of energy,"Come sit down!" I sat next to Levi, like last night, and Scotty sat across from me. I started blushing when I remembered that I was wearing a pink shoot the minnow tank top and a pair of blue pj pants that had little white pigs and said "I <3 Bacon" all over them.

We all began to eat the delicious breakfast Chris had made, and like usual, I loved it. Chris was such a good cook. When I finished eating, I put my dishes in the sink and went up to my room to get dressed. I put on my bright yellow shoot the minnow tank, jean shorts, and a flannel over my tank and left it unbuttoned. I then walked into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, did my hair, and put on a little bit of mascara and concealer, then walked downstairs.

When I walked down into the living room, Chris was sitting on the couch watching TV and drinking her coffee.

"Where's Scotty?" I asked her

"Went to work" she answered

"Where's Levi?" I asked

"Gettin' ready" she told me

"Okay, can we go horseback ridin again?" I asked her

"You ask a lot of questions, and you don't have to ask me, it's your horse and you live here now, you can do whatever you want" she said while smiling

"Okay" I answered with a smile just as Levi walked downstairs

"Hey Levi wanna go ride horses?" I asked him

"Sure! Let's go!" he said excitedly. We went over to the mud room and put on our cowboy boots and cowboy hats then left for the barn.When we got there, I saw Scotty feeding the horses. He was wearing jeans, a light blue flannel, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. Damn did he look hot.

"Hey, Scotty wanna go ride horses with us?" Levi asked. I walked over to Flicka and took her out of the stall and started petting her.

"Sure if it's okay with your mother" he said with that deep voice that for some reason pulled me into a trance. I gave Levi my phone and he asked Chris if Scotty could go with us. She said it was fine so we all saddled up a horse and went riding.