Surfing Midland (Complete/ First draught).

Chapter 25

For the remainder of the afternoon I washed down horses, Trisha emerged an hour or so after Devyn had vanished and informed me that I had done a good job. She didn't offer anything else as she walked off in the direction Devyn had gone, I hated doing this work, but I was getting paid and I was away from Valerie and Trisha's kids, who had begun to drive me a little crazy with their constant talking, babbling or crying. It was safe to say that I didn't like kids, it wasn't my fault, how is someone supposed to love something that they had never been around or grown up with?

It was another hour before I finished up washing the horses, by that time I was covered in small clumps of wet horse hair, I was soaked from shoulder to feet and I wasn't in a particularly good mood. Aside from Devyn and Trisha, no one else had emerged to see if I needed any help, I could have injured myself and have lain prone in the barn for hours and no one would have noticed. I guess no one really cared what I did or where I did it, so as soon as I had put the last horse back into its stall for the night I marched straight up to the bathroom, showered, dripped water through the top level of the house and then finally changed into clean and dry clothing. 

Trisha didn't say anything about the small puddles of water all over the floor, if anyone else had left the water there I bet she would have been raving mad about it but she didn't even bat an eyelash. I skipped dinner that night too, just to see if anyone would come up and get me...they didn't and I more or less starved through the night. Sure, I could have gone down to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat, but I wanted to see how long I could go unnoticed before someone actually noticed that I was missing.

"Leah! Wake up already!" The sudden shaking woke me from my sleep and with a scowl so fierce I sat up from my bed, flinging the covers back as I glared at Valerie, who was already dressed and ready to go for work.

"Someone better be dying!" I exclaimed, my plan wasn't going to work if Valerie shook me awake violently. It might put me in the hospital and give me a real reason for not appearing anywhere but the way she was looking at me, I figured this was about as much caring as I was going to get at the ranch for the next few weeks. Without her having to say another word I went to the bathroom, washed, changed and went downstairs. My head was pounding by the time my butt hit a sit at the breakfast bar, Trisha and Declan were already sitting at the table, but neither said anything as I sat there, nursing my sore head.

"Everything okay Leah?" If I could I would have flipped the bird at Declan, I felt as if I were on the verge of vomiting. Before another thought could pass through my mind, however, I was running towards the downstairs bathroom to empty what little contents my stomach held. I hated the bitter taste that bile left in my mouth, I also hated the feeling of my empty stomach heaving as it tried to get rid of whatever was causing the problem. 

Large hands rubbed soothing circles over my back, it helped a little bit, but not a heck of a lot as I felt another wave of nausea rip through me. When I was finished, I rested my head against the toilet seat, I was so tired and felt like I could sleep happily for a hundred years and still not have had enough sleep. Just as I was drifting off I felt someone lift me away from the toilet seat, I didn't need to open my eyes to see who it was. Declan had broad shoulders that were made for carrying, so I let him carry me back up the stairs to my room, trying to keep myself from thinking of motion as wave after wave of nausea hit.