Country Girls Do It Better... Book 1 Of The Healing Through Horses Trilogy

Chapter 14

Hunter locked eyes with me and made his way across the cafeteria and toward the table that Chase and I were sitting at. He plopped down next to me and pointedly ignored Chase.

"You weren't on the bus. What happened?" He had a look of concern mixed with something else on his face.

"Chase gave me a ride." I said in a matter-of-fact tone and went back to eating.

"Chase gave you a ride? Chase? What did your dad say?"

"He was actually fine with it. Now go get something to eat."

He huffed before getting up and walking over to the lunch line.

Chase smirked and looked down at his mac and cheese. "Your boyfriend getting a bit jealous?"

I whipped my head around to face Chase. "Boyfriend? What? We don't even like each other."

"Doubtful."

"Fine. Don't believe me? Ask him." I crossed my arms and set them on the table.

He put his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. "But see, that's the thing. I don't need to ask him. You just answered me without even realizing it."

I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted by Hunter sitting down again. "What are we talkin' about?" He drawled.

"We weren't talking about anything. Kate and I were talking." Chase glared at Hunter across the table and Hunter glared back.

"Oh my gosh. You guys are acting like two year-olds whose pacifiers got switched. Get a grip, you are both seniors."

They both looked back down at their plates and mumbled something about the other one under their breath. I rolled my eyes.

"So, Chase. You're coming straight to my place after school for your riding lesson, right?" I looked at him. I noticed that he had a bunch of mostly black bracelets running about three inches up each arm.

"Yup. I can just give you a ride too, so you don't have to take the stupid rust mobile, otherwise known as a bus."

"You really don't have to, Chase."

"I know. But I want to." Most of the warmth in his eyes that I had seen during history class was back.

"Okay. Why not?" I heard Hunter mumble something under his breath again, but I caught the word 'she'. I felt a small twinge in my stomach. I scratched it off as not eating enough so I stuffed my mouth full of the plastic Mac and cheese. "Hunter. Do you work today?"

His head shot up and he grinned at me. "Yup! I was actually gonna ask you about that."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Are you cleaning the stalls today, or am I, and do we have more hay to deliver anytime soon?"

"You're cleaning stalls because I have a lesson." I gestured towards Chase. "And we don't have hay right now to deliver, but probably next week."

"Cool. I don't think I'm ready for a repeat of last week anytime soon."

I started laughing so hard I choked on my food. "Me... Neither." I got out between coughs and laughs. When we both calmed down, and I could talk again, I said, "You're probably going to need to ride out and check the fence too."

He blew out a breath. "Yeah, No problem."

I glanced over at Chase. He had finished eating and was looking down at his empty lunch tray. "Hey, Chase. You ok?"