Sorrel Hill: Recovery Ranch (BK2) |COMPLETED|

Chapter Thirteen

"A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well, under pressure." - Henry Kissinger

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              ~Friends Help~

  I ordered my food sitting down at a booth with Jessie. My friends still pulling into the lot. I had ordered number thirteen my absolute favorite! Taking a sip of my sweet tea I heard loud voices booming!
  Sadly those loud voices belonged to my friends, all of which talking their heads off. Once they'd finished their orders we moved to a circle booth somehow all of us fitting.
  Nathan strolled over sitting with us we had room for one more person, but they'd have to be extremely skinny! "You're late," Samantha murmured glaring at her cousin. "Who said I was going to be early?" He snapped looking around the restaurant.
  Xavier intervened before another fight could start, "Oh look a bird!" Luke squinted at him, "Really a bird?" Xavier shrugged but it seemed to ease the tension between Nathan and Samantha. Hannah and I shared a glance, there was clearly something bothering them. "Did you see the How To Train Your Dragon The Hidden World movie last night? It was epic!" Ben commented shoving a mouthful of mashpotaots down his throat.
  Xavier busted out laughing, "Yeah it was awesome, Luke even cried." I narrowed my eyes at Luke not quite believing what I just heard. Will laughed looking at Luke who was glaring. Luke scratched the back of his head giving Xavier a side glare. "Sure it was epic and awesome but I never found out their names!!!! They never named the Light Fury or Hiccup and Astrid's-"
  I quickly intervened, "Hey! No spoilers!" This was one of the special occasions I did not want to hear a spoiler! I loved the various movies and series they've made and my poor ears couldn't fathom a spoiler. "Kiley why??? It was such a good movie! It was even crowned a masterpiece!!" Emily stated. "Don't forget America's number one movie," Will said matter-of-fact.
  Jessie took a sip of his sweet tea, "Wait, so what's the big deal about some kids movie?" Everyone went silent. "It's for all ages first of all." Emily clarified glaring hard at Jessie. "Second of all the last movie aired in 2015 so it's been four years and that's too long," Samantha reasoned.
  "It's the best trilogy in the world," Hannah said in a surprisingly serious tone. "Okay, no more hate on the dragon film... got it," Jessie surrendered. For a short moment everyone went back to eating.
  Somewhere in the middle of the meal Xavier and Ben got into an argument over whether the Marvels or D.C. superheroes would win a battle. Emily was chatting to Samantha about some racehorse camp. Luke and Will were talking to me about some camp that opened across from Sorrel Hill.
  Claiming it was super fancy and clean. Luke went on and on about all the fancy purebreds claiming it to be a camp for stuck up people and their spoiled, bratty horses. Will wouldn't stop talking about the fancy uniforms and tack. "Wait what did you say Emily?" I asked fully focused on her. "That we should check out the Acre Academy camp?" I shook my head, "No before that."
  "About ChainBreaker the racehorse?" I nodded wanting to hear more information. I glanced at Nathan and Jessie who seemed to tense up at the mention of the horse's name. Samantha too seemed a little edgy. As much as I wanted to ask what was wrong, I know it would only lead me to more questions.
  "He apparently goes there some said he roamed wild on the plains before captured and tamed at the camp, others think he wanted a break from Leia keeping him in secret locations and ran away. But as far as I know he disappeared for two years without any trace of him, only to show up at the camp crazy and completely wild."
  I pondered on what she told me. I did remember the news ranting on about the world's chosen horse missing, but I was pretty sure he wasn't sold. Maybe he was just taking a break and needed some retraining? Yeah that's probably what happened.
  We finished up our meal and got back into the trucks. Jessie seemed to be stuck in his own thoughts the whole ride back to the ranch. He was thinking hard about something, I wanted to know but I also didn't want to bother him so I kept my trap shut.
  Arriving at the ranch it was thirty minutes past dinner, everyone worn out from the day's long events. Jessie boarded Angel along with my friends horses at the stables. Luke, Xavier, Will, and Ben slept at another guest house not to far from us.
  Hannah, Emily, and Samantha stayed with me. Nathan stayed with Jessie who  I came to find out were best friends.... yeah I have a lot of questions. I think the boys went down to eat, us girls were too tired all sleeping on a pillow fort we made. Closing my eyes I felt my entire body at ease finally feeling the cushioning of warm blankets, soft pillows, and a cool fan blowing on my face.
  Samantha and Nathan didn't speak a word after Whataburger. There was obvious tension between the two over what? I didn't know but I was going to find out soon. I walked out of the bathroom Hannah and Emily passed out on the pillows Samantha was nowhere to be seen.
  I searched the house but she wasn't there. Opening the front door I found her sitting on the steps sobbing. Her face buried in her palms as she wept. I took slow steps down sitting by her, she spared me a glance but it didn't ease her crying. "I'm here if you need to talk," I spoke softly pulling her into a hug.
  She rested her head in the crook of my neck my arm supporting her back. She cried for at least five minutes before she finally settled down enough to talk. "H-he said it w-was my fault.." her crying returned her body shaking with hurt. My brows creased together confused.
  "T-that if I hadn't caused t-he wreck... it wouldn't of h-h-happened." I tried to process what she was saying still as confused as ever. She slowed her breathing collecting herself. "What happened?" I found myself wondering.
  She took a breath, "Five years ago when we were thirteen I was driving a side-by-side. He was sitting in the passenger's seat... we were being stupid. It had rained the day before and he wanted to go in the woods on a trail we used in the summer." She looked to the ground leaning forward, her elbows on her knees her hands trembling.
  "And I said yes... gosh why did I say yes?" She muttered to herself in a grieving tone. "I drove the side-by-side at 30 mph now even thinking twice about it. There was a turn but before I could react we plummeted down the hill and landed upside down..." she sniffed her voice weakening.
  "I couldn't remember anything for the next two days. When it all came back to me I was in the hospital, with several broken bones, and a bruised spine. I had to walk on crutches for the next month or so. Nathan had broken less bones than I, but the accident triggered something that couldn't be healed..." she cried hard into her hands and I knew exactly what she was hinting at... the seizures.
  "We got into a f-fight the other night." She was hurting a lot right now and I didn't know what to do, "It was my fault... my fault... I-if I wouldn't have listened to him that day. H-he wouldn't have seizures... it's all my fault."
  I hated seeing her like this tears began to trickle from my eyes, as I wrapped her into a hug. "It's not your fault. You didn't know what would happened you were just a kid," my throat stung from holding back tears. Samantha didn't reply she was crying along with me.
  We stayed there for an hour before heading inside and going to sleep. I didn't sleep well that night, I assumed Samantha didn't either. I cleared my throat giving my friends one last glance before welcoming the darkness.

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  A/N: A little backstory on Samantha and Nathan! What was your favorite part?

SNEAK PEEK OF NEXT BOOK SERIES!!!!