Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (37 page)

“Holy crap! Did you see that second
spin to the left? I don’t think his pivot leg moved an inch!” I
patted the little grey horse on the neck.

Jasper grinned. “That was impressive.”
He looked past me and his eyes narrowed. I glanced back and saw
Dave staring back at him. He had his arm around a young blond
woman. His free hand held a beer. I heard the low growl that
escaped Jasper’s throat and my heartbeat quickened.

“Jasper.” I put my hand on his
leg.

“What?” His eyes never left
Dave’s.

“Get that look off your
face.”

He blinked and the killer look slipped
away. He took a deep breath. “That’s as close as he gets, Hayden.
If he gets any closer than that, he dies.”

It was my turn to take a deep breath.
“Fine. Here. Switch me horses. I’m up right away.” We made the
exchange and I moved closer to the in gate. I looked back at Jasper
to make sure he was alright and almost laughed out loud. Shade was
now standing between a sorrel horse and a black one. Their riders,
a couple of pretty blonds that looked to have just gotten out of
high school, were both laughing, leaning slightly toward him. He
smiled, shook his head then pointed to me.

“I’m just watching him for Hayden,” his
voice floated toward me. They looked at me and I smiled at
them.

The announcer called my name and Tika
and I ran through the pattern. Though our run was decent, I knew we
wouldn’t be placing. I gave Tika a pat on the neck, angry with
myself for letting Dave distract me.

“Sorry, my girl. That was my fault. My
mind was elsewhere.” I looked up and saw Jasper looking at me,
nodding absently at something the blonds were saying. I stopped
Tika in front of Shade.

“Take a deep breath, Shlova. He’s
gone.”

I looked across the ring and let my
breath out slowly. I looked back to Jasper and smiled. “So, who are
your new friends?”

Both girls blushed.

Jasper grinned. “Hayden, this is June
and Katie. Girls, this is my wife, Hayden.”

June’s pretty lips pursed into an ‘o’
and Katie turned a deeper shade of red. It took everything I had
not to burst out laughing.

“Nice to meet you, girls. Did you have
your runs yet?”

Katie nodded and June shook her
head.

“Hey, Hayden!”

My heart jumped into my throat and I
turned Tika so she was facing Dave who was standing just outside
the holding pen.

I looked back at Jasper. “Hun, not
here.”

The two girls were looking at him,
their eyes wide. I couldn’t blame them. I had seen what Jasper
could do when his face looked like that. I was hoping to god it
wouldn’t happen in front of all of these people.

I nudged Tika forward and rode to the
fence. Jasper pulled Shade to a stop beside me.

“What do you want, Dave?”

Dave looked up at me, then to Jasper,
and finally back at the ground. “I…” He swallowed and cleared his
throat. “I wanted to apologize.” He took a sip of his beer and
looked me in the eye. “I’m sorry. About everything.” He glanced at
Jasper but kept talking to me. “I’m glad he stopped me. I don’t
remember much from that night. I was pretty drunk. Anyway, I don’t
imagine you’ll want to have much to do with me, but I just had to
let you know that I realize what I did was wrong, and I’m sorry for
it.” He took another drink, gave Jasper a nod, and walked
away.

Jasper looked over at me and I knew
that the surprised look on his face matched the one on
mine.

“Did that just happen?”

He shrugged then frowned. When I
followed his gaze, I saw Dave, leaning against a fence post,
staring at us.

“I don’t trust that man,
Shlova.”

“Me neither.”

“Well, so long as we agree. Now,” he
smiled and stepped off of Shade. “We had better switch so you can
get your ribbon with the right horse.”

I laughed. “You think so?”

“I know so.” He kissed me softly before
getting on Tika.

We settled ourselves near the fence and
waited for the rest of the class to be done.

Chapter Ten

Jasper set his end of the brown couch
down and looked at Shawn. “This is where she wants it?”

Shawn grinned. “That’s what she said.”
He stretched and grimaced at the cracking noise his back made.
“Ugh, this is the last time I do this.” He went to stand on the
porch and Jasper joined him. They gazed into the field by the
house.

“The barn’s in not bad shape. I’ll need
to fix up the roof a bit, but it should all hold up until spring. I
have a load of bales coming in the morning. I’m thinking of going
to get the horses in the afternoon.”

Jasper smiled and gave him a pat on the
back. “Let’s get the bar-b-q. Then we’ll be done. And hopefully the
girls get back with the groceries soon. All of this furniture
moving has made me hungry.”

Shawn laughed. “I agree. And I hope
they remember the beer. I could definitely use one of those right
about now.”

They got the bar-b-q out of the back of
the U-Haul and placed it on the deck.

Shawn and Shay’s new house was a three
bedroom ranch home situated on a hundred and sixty acres. He had
helped Shawn move all of their furniture and belongings during the
day while Hayden and Shay had cleaned, put things away, and then
had run back into town to get groceries.

By the look on Hayden’s face when she
had seen it, he knew that were she still living here, this was the
kind of place she would have wanted. He knew she had told him more
than once since they had been together that she was happy with
their cabin, but watching her here, riding horses, playing with
Shawn’s Australian Shepherd, he couldn’t help but wonder. Was she
happier here?

He took a deep breath. It had been
almost six months since they had crossed over. Shawn had been
right. It did get easier.

“There they are.”

Jasper looked down the dirt road to
where Shawn has spotted the dust cloud forming as a vehicle made
its way closer to the house.

Hayden’s truck appeared over a hill. It
was followed by a smaller green car.

He smiled as Hayden stepped out of the
truck. She was wearing her jeans and lace up boots and had thrown a
dark grey fleece over her red bunny hug. Her hair flowed out the
back of her black baseball cap. Her green eyes lit up at the sight
of him.

The wind picked up and tugged at his
t-shirt. Hayden rolled her eyes at him and he laughed. “You can’t
honestly be cold already.” He wrapped her in his arms and pulled
her close.

“Yes, I am.” She stood on her tip toes
and kissed him softly. “I don’t think it’s very fair that your
tiger half is gone right now and you still don’t get
cold.”

He heard her soft groan as he ran his
tongue along her bottom lip.

She grinned up at him. “Stop
that.”

“I’m just trying to warm you up.” He
grinned back at her.

The green car pulled in beside the
trucks and she turned toward it. “I picked up a couple of strays
while I was out.”

“Hey, Jasper!”

He looked up, frowned, and broke into a
wide smile. He started to laugh. “No wonder Hayden was so shocked
when she first saw you in Quelondain. You don’t look anything the
same over here.”

Tara and Ben laughed with him. When
they crossed over, Ben grew three inches, their ears rounded out,
and their earthy colored skin changed so they simply looked
tanned.

“I take it the blue bird made it with
the note?”

Ben nodded. “We crossed over yesterday.
It’s a good thing Tara still keeps her apartment here.”

“Well, you never know what’s going to
happen. I like this apartment. We picked up this little car cheap
this morning then we went to see how Foxy and Baldy were doing.
They’ve been staying at Dale’s.”

“I’m going to go get Macho from the
arena and Doc and Duncan from Roger’s tomorrow. If you want to keep
those two here as well, you’re more than welcome to.” Shawn put an
arm around Shay.

Tara nodded. “Sure. That would be
great.”

Everyone grabbed some grocery bags and
helped bring them into the house. Shawn fired up the bar-b-q and
Shay started to make a salad. Jasper helped Tara wrap potatoes in
tin foil while Hayden and Ben brought everyone a beer.

“Jasper? Can you take the steaks out to
Shawn?” Shay handed him the steaks.

“Sure thing.”

He walked outside and smiled. Hayden
wasn’t going to be very happy. Large snowflakes were falling lazily
from the sky.

“It’s been a strange fall,” commented
Shawn. “It usually snows in October. Considering it’s almost the
end of November, this is a treat.” He took the steaks from Jasper
and gave him a quick glance before turning to the bar-b-q. “You
seemed kind of quiet today. Is everything alright?”

Jasper shrugged.

“Are you thinking of going back
early?”

Jasper shook his head. “No, just the
opposite actually. I’m not sure we should go back.”

Shawn stayed quiet and waited for him
to continue.

“We have to go back. In the spring, I
mean. We have to finish this. I’m just thinking about after that.
Maybe we should come back here.” He shook his head. “I don’t know.
I want Hayden to be happy. She’s happy here.”

“Is she happy there?”

“Yes. At least I’ve never felt anything
from her to suggest otherwise. But I was watching her yesterday,
riding Shade.” He smiled at the memory. They had been here for
merely a week when word had gotten around that she was back in town
and she’d gotten a few calls about training. She was so peaceful on
the back of a horse. Granted, she had Dodge back home, but this was
different. Dodge was her best friend. These were her students and
she was a terrific teacher. “I don’t know. I have never been this
completely confused in my entire thirty years.” He glanced up at
his friend.

“I can’t tell you which is the best way
to go. We didn’t have much choice in the matter. Shay almost died
crossing over. After that, there wasn’t much thinking to do at all.
I can’t live without her. This was the only choice.

“I was going to tell you. I talked with
Roger. He said to let you know that once you get back from your
trip to Scotland to visit your family, you’re to come back to work.
Said you’re turning out better than he’d hoped.”

Jasper smiled. “That’s another thing.
It’s not only that Hayden is happy here. I like it here. I like
working for Roger. Coming home after work and finding her waiting
for me. I feel useful here. There’s not much for me to do in
Quelondain now that I’m not on the guard anymore. I hunt, I fix
things and protect her. It’s nice to have a job to do again. If we
stay there, I can’t go back on the guard. I mean, I’m sure Melana
would have me back, but I just can’t leave Hayden for weeks at a
time.”

Shawn nodded, knowing fully well what
he meant. He had gotten Jasper a job on the cattle ranch where he
worked. The owner, Roger, had agreed to take him on and had given
him three weeks to prove himself. Thankfully, Jasper was a quick
learner and could now rope accurately as well as operate all of the
trucks and tractors on the ranch.

Jasper saw a furry red form move by the
barn and make its way closer to the house. Cooper came trotting
onto the porch and sat beside Shawn, waiting for his pat on the
head.

“You know, though. There is one thing I
can do for her, whether we come back or stay there. Maybe you can
give me a hand.”

“Sure. What do you need?”

Jasper heard Hayden’s voice getting
closer through the door. “I’ll tell you later.”

The door opened and he had to remember
to breathe as his eyes locked with hers.

Hayden smiled, wrapped her arms around
his waist and looked up at him. “Why so serious?”

He shrugged. “I was just thinking about
things. The future. You, know, things like that. How to keep you
happy.”

Her smile and eyes softened and he had
to remind himself that Shawn was standing a few feet away. It
wouldn’t do to start tearing her clothes off. She pulled him down
to her and kissed him softly. “That last one is easy enough,” she
whispered against his lips. “It doesn’t matter where we are or what
we’re doing. So long as you’re with me, I’ll be happy.”

He took a deep breath and pulled her
close. He couldn’t help but wonder at what point was just having
him around going to stop being enough.

Chapter Eleven

Christmas with my family had always
been a big thing; the supper was enormous and the company was
great. It was also a fairly formal event and this year had been no
exception. I’d worn the same dress for supper since I had been
seventeen. This year, I went out and bought a new one. I had loved
the look on Jasper’s face as I walked down the stairs. The dress
was a halter top style, dark green and slightly higher than knee
length. My mom had curled my hair and I had left it
loose.