Surfing Midland (Complete/ First draught).

Chapter 34

Even though I knew she didn’t want to, my mom accepted the offer to stay for a few days on the ranch. Peter and Caleb didn’t seem to mind one bit and were as eager as any man to get their hands dirty and learn the ways of the ranch. Declan, I could see was holding back a little when he was around Caleb. It reminded me of the first few weeks I had been here, where he wouldn’t really talk to me or didn’t know how to approach me.

But both my mom and Trisha kept encouraging him to interact more, even Peter spent less time around Caleb so that Declan could bond with his previously unknown son.

Like every other time that something had gone wrong, Devyn avoided me and I barely ever saw him. I kept trying to catch him where ever I could, but every time I thought I had him against a wall he would bolt out the nearest door like his pants were on fire or hell hounds were chasing him.

“Word of advice, Devyn has been heading up the mountain to watch the sun set most afternoons. You might catch him up there...try not to scare him too much, okay?” Turning to Adrian, I smiled broadly and hugged him before bolting off towards the house to change my clothes and tell Declan where I was going. I didn’t want anyone else knowing in case they assumed Devyn already knew that he was meeting up with me, the last thing I needed was for him to spook for the millionth time.

Instead of taking the horse like I should have I walked up, my ankle didn’t pain me as much and most of the swelling had gone down. Now the pain was more minor discomfort whenever I put weight on it, though when I did get to the top of the hill I was wheezing like an unfit person and my ankle was throbbing.

I didn’t have to wait long before I began hearing something, at first I thought it was a horse but when Devyn came over the small rise and stood on the same level as me I realized he had run up, was now half naked and sweating.

A few things went through my mind as soon as I saw Devyn, he was half naked, he was even hotter now...and he had abs! I had never really been a vain person but a guy with abs was always a bonus and he was well equipped.

Dragging my eyes slowly up his body I was startled from my thoughts when I met Devyn’s eyes, he neither looked impressed or amused at my being there and I swallowed hard to rid my mind of previous thoughts. “You make it really hard to apologize, ya know?” I laughed lamely at that, hoping that it would lighten the mood a little. It didn’t and I lapsed back into silence as I stared at Devyn, what the hell was I supposed to say?

“Why are you up here? Better yet, how did you get up here?” The Devyn speaking to me wasn’t the boyfriend or even the friend; he was a total stranger as he stood his ground, hands planted firmly on his hips.

Pulling my gaze away from him I swallowed hard, a lump rising in my throat at the way he was treating me. Had I hurt him that much that he had ended our relationship without telling me? For some reason the confidant girl in me vanished and was replaced with an uncertain, slightly afraid version as I looked away from him and instead looked out at the scenery.

“Leah? How’d you get up here?” This time Devyn’s voice was a little softer, though still not the same as what I was used to.

“I walked; you would have run right back down the hill if you had seen a horse tethered somewhere so I left Butter-Bean back at the barn. Why have you been avoiding me all week?” Devyn seemed a little surprised but smiled in spite of the serious situation, I frowned and wanted to wipe that smile off his face as much as I wanted to kiss him stupid.