Sorrel Hill: Recovery Ranch (BK2) |COMPLETED|

Chapter Twenty One

Sneak peek at the next cover!! This isn't the official cover for the next book, but it's one I thought of putting!!😁 Are y'all excited for book THREE?
Only four more chapters to go!

  Your fears are lethal until your friends are in trouble, then your fears are dead. -Henslee McWhorter

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         -Two Different Deals-

  Upon reaching them I noticed Leia having a flicker of accomplishment in her eyes. What was happening? "No, that's final," John demanded his face heated. Leia smirked, "Ms. Tyler, such a pleasure to meet you in person. As for the Mr. Kades' I could say otherwise."
  Jessie's eyes softened seeing me from his previous argument with Leia. I walked over standing between John and Jessie still as confused as ever. Leia smirked, "You know the terms, tell me John do you value your son's well being over a thousand acres?" She turned and left without another word.
  I was frozen in shock... what does she mean? Jessie moved my John placing a hand on his dad's tense shoulder, "It's okay, it's just one race." John shook his head, "One race could be fatal, you know what happened last time when you went up against that-" I didn't cuss so I'm not planning on cutting that word in... but it rhymes with witch.
  "Dad this is our home she's threatening to take, this ranch has been in our lives for six generations. We can't just move, what about Danny and his kids? Or Racheal and Sky? Where will they find work or a home?" Jessie sighed trying everything possible to comfort his dad.
  "QuickSilver won't let anything happen, plus we know what to expect now," Jessie tried again. It took Jessie about an hour to convince John to go through with Leia's offer. I eventually had all the clues I needed, the offer? Have a rematch against ChainBreaker and QuickSilver, same jockeys same place, or lose the family ranch.
  I was kicking rocks walking back to the house. "You know on the cattle drive, you said you'll learn bareback if I do racing again?" I nodded kicking another stupid rock. "How about we do that tomorrow?" My head shot Up meeting his eyes, "What??" I was planning on all that being a year or so from now not tomorrow!
  "Please, Kiley, just this once until I'm comfortable with racing?" Ugh, why do I have to have such a sucker of a heart for second chances! "Fine, but you're going first." "Deal."

                     ********

  As soon as I walked Jack out by the rail I instantly regretted the deal. Jessie had just finished walking QuickSilver in the starting gate. Hannah was on Don't Blink on the left side of Jessie, Emily astride Cash Out on the right side of him.
  Luke and Will were up in the stands controlling the gate, Xavier down in the viewing section with a timer. Nathan watched anxiously his eyes locked on Jessie, I smiled at their relationship. Samantha had her phone out in charge of photos for the sake of memories, Ben was videoing just incase an accident happened to show the paramedics. I had Jack for barebacking after.
  Jack snorted rubbing his head against the rail, he nickered ready to watch the excited horses. The boys replied back all anxious to be racing one another. The gates opened and the horses charged. Don't Blink neck and neck with Cash Out almost instantly. They ran alongside QuickSilver who raced just inches in front of them.
  Hannah moved Don't Blink against the rail trying to get an opening to pass up Cash Out. As if by memory Cash Out moved in front of Don't Blink blocking his advantage. I took this moment to watch the jockeys.
  Hannah was focused, her lips in a straight line, her posture on point, and her eyes glued between Don't Blink's ears. Emily being the concentrated girl she is, was completely trained on the task, I noticed how she held her reins at the exact location and how her tongue barely separated her upper and lower jaw.
  Jessie however looked different from Hannah and Emily. He held his reins tighter, his jaw clenched, and his legs slightly shook. He looked tense maybe even stressed. I sighed, racing was his bareback riding.
  Don't Blink moved up right on QuickSilver's tail. Cash Out was barely behind Don't Blink. They turned the curve on the straight. QuickSilver became hesitant paying attention to every move Jessie made. The big white-silvery horse tossed his head, something wasn't right.
  As the second curve neared the horses began to lean into it, all but QuickSilver who never slowed. I panicked, "Jessie move QuickSilver!" Although the wind was heavy, I was certain he could hear me yet he made no move.
  I watched in horror, QuickSilver was inches from the rail. He jumped. The Thoroughbred raced away in a flash back where I first rode with Samergia and her herd. My heart rate was skyrocketing, no one could help them. Taking in a shaky breath I grabbed a strand of Jack's mane pulling myself into him.
  My stomach did flips, beads of sweat appeared around my temple. I pushed away my anxiety focusing on one thing and one thing only, stopping QuickSilver. I moved Jack to a lope without speaking a word to anyone, we raced after Jessie.
  They were getting farther and farther away. "Okay boy, this is it. Show me what we can do," I gave him all the slack imaginable. Jack went into cheetah mode, slicing through plains of golden grass. He was gaining on QuickSilver, his sleek coat shining back at him.
  It wasn't but seconds before we were neck and neck with Jessie. At this moment I noticed QuickSilver wasn't running his full speed, he was way faster than Jack. I looked over at Jessie who started to slow QuickSilver. Jack followed in step, the both of them soon standing still.
  "Are you okay?" I freaked searching Jessie for an answer. He moved his goggles to the top of his helmet. He was... smiling? "You seem pretty chipper for someone who just nearly died!" I tried to reason punching him in the arm.
  "I mean you could of died, or QuickSilver could've fallen and got you hurt again..." I rambled adrenaline rushing around me. "Kiley-" "I'm not done! You could of broken his leg then you would have to put him down, and you'd definitely lose your family ranch." He tried again, "Calm down-"
  I held up a hand, "You know how stupid that was? You might as well just attach a crocodile to your body!" "Okay, Kiley!" Jessie shouted. I looked at him my ramble episode vanished. He unclipped his helmet putting it on his arm.
  "That wasn't Leia, that was her twin sister Lauren. We knew you were going to be heading back so we made up this fake argument, Lauren is actually really nice. That was the only way you'd do bareback riding without loads of coaxing. This whole thing was planned, which it worked beautifully. You needed to be pushed toward you weren't overthinking and from what Nathan said, freaking out over it, so Hannah thought if we put you in a situation where you weren't thinking about bareback as much it would work."
  I was dumbfounded, they did all of that for me to get over my fear of bareback riding.  Wait, I just galloped bareback! I just GALLOPED bareback!!!!!! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what the heck?? I did it! I leaned over bursting with excitement hugging Jessie. I can't believe I did it!
  I leaned back both of us grinning madly. We were once again really close; the horses' shoulders rubbing. Our heads tilted toward one another before we both leaned in.
  "KILEY YOU DID IT!!" Ben screamed sprinting across the field. Jessie and I immediately separated both of our faces turning tomato red. We almost kissed! What was I thinking??? Ben jumped around Jack throwing his hands in the air like a moron. Hannah rode Don't Blink over squeezing me with her joyful hug.
  We celebrated for a few minutes before heading back to the ranch. I was heading back from dinner when I heard something coming from the barn, walking over there I leaned against the wall. Nathan and Samantha were fighting... again. I made sure they couldn't see me, but I peeked into the barn seeing them both in the alley way.
  "I'm the selfish one? Are you kidding me? Who always has to stay up and do this and do that for you? Who never gets a thank you for defending you against Mom and Dad? You have no idea how annoying it is when I'm the only one at the house that puts in effort to help you and yet you still think I'm the selfish one?" Oh this was bad.
  She was practically screaming. "Do you honestly expect me to say thank you for something I can't control? I don't give a care of what your parents think about me. No one asks you to stay up, I can  handle myself. You act like I'm freakin' handicap or special eds, I'm fully functional and physically capable of everything a normal person can do!" Nathan was fuming glaring at Samantha.
  I sighed, I thought they were done fighting that they were good with one another. I guess not....
  "Are you? Is that what you call waking up every night with nightmares? I don't do that no one normal does that. A normal person doesn't freak out about whatever your panic attacks are, a normal person doesn't have seizures, a normal person lives with their parents, a normal person isn't you, you're not normal."
  Samantha's face was red, they must have been fighting for at least ten or fifteen minutes.
  Nathan broke eye contact, he shoved past her out of the barn luckily on the other side. "Fine leave then, that's what you always do. That's what your parents did, that's what your brother did, that's what Mom and Dad are going to do," Samantha turned in her heels and came my way out of the barn.
  I ducked behind a bush as she scampered out frustration radiating off of her. I was perplexed... should I go after Samantha or Nathan? I blew a huff of breath through my lips my mind made.

                         ******

  I had been walking for a solid hour finally coming upon a cliff that a shadowy figure sat on looking off into the sky. I was hesitant, but pressed forward, "You okay?" My voice was soft almost barely auditable.
  Nathan didn't flinch at my appearance nor turn to acknowledge me, he just stayed silent watching the stars. I crept up over to him, plopping down beside him at a respectable distance. Time passed but no matter how much I tried to get him to talk or how much I talked, nothing changed.
  He kept quiet and I kept talking about random events. I would be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit hurt. I know Nathan and I weren't the closet, but ever since we had that talk on the cattle drive he hasn't been silent. He hasn't been talkative either, but at least he was communicating.
  I laid back on the dry grass asking a idiotic question about his favorite color before I dozed off in the forest. smart Kiley, so smart.

A/N:

  Oh poor Kiley... Always getting caught up in things. What's one of your biggest fears? 

  Mines being surrounded by a mock of people.😳😬😵😰