Camp Nerd: Walker Hills #1

by Bella Jewel

  “Me too,” I say, taking out my toothbrush. “I don’t think I’ve ever done watersports, so that’s going to be something new.”

  “I’ll be falling off, on purpose, of course. If it means those edible pieces of human candy will come and save me, I’ll break a leg to make sure it happens.”

  I shake my head with a grin. “I can see it now, your show should be entertaining.”

  She winks at me and disappears into her bedroom. I go to mine and climb into the beautiful new bed, that I just know I’m the first person to sleep on. Then I take out my phone and research Rhett a little more. Now I’ve met him, I can’t help but wonder about his past. Of course, I read the main articles about this place, but there is sure to be more than that hidden beneath the surface.

  He sure makes me wonder.

  I start by typing in his name, Rhett Walker. The first few pages of search history are about the ranch, some good articles, some bad. A few critics saying this place is a waste of money and will fail, and others saying that it’s just what this town needs and people will come from far and wide for the chance to stay there. I am certainly on their side. I think people will do what they can to stay at a place like this.

  It’s perfection.

  I stumble across an article about Rhett’s father and how the two of them had a falling out when Rhett was the one to take over the ranch. It would seem like his father was meant to be the one who got it, but instead it was his son, and this caused major problems in the family. Not long after, he lost his mother to suicide. There is a big article about it, and it has someone giving a statement that they heard multiple fights between Rhett’s parents and called the police in regard to domestic abuse.

  Is that why his mom killed herself? The rumors are sure there, but I wonder what the real story is.

  Why didn’t his father get the ranch? There must be a good reason for that, too.

  I read a little more, mostly about him being a ‘play boy’ who runs illegal business around town, but I don’t see why you would start up a retreat if you were running the risk of being shut down over illegal business, but then, in saying that, I know nothing about how anything works so I’m not going to even try to understand.

  I close off my phone and nestle into the pillows, wondering about Rhett and his family, wondering how this month is going to go and feeling relaxed for the first time in a good long while.

  I drift off to sleep with a smile on my face.

  Ready for tomorrow.

  Ready for all of it.

  3

  I’m not ready.

  I lied.

  I lied so hard that the lie knew I was lying before I even told it.

  I grunt as I shovel up the biggest mound of horse shit I have ever seen in my life. They weren’t kidding when they said we would be put to work. I know it’s good for us, and our mental health, and blah blah blah, but that doesn’t mean I like it. I’m the most uncoordinated, clumsy person you would ever meet and they’re going to trust me to be able to figure shit out on my own?

  Doubtful.

  I glare at Diablo, who is in his stall still, stomping his hoof every single time I try to get the shovel into the shit. I give him an expression that I hope scares the demon horse, but he just snorts at me and slams his chest into the stable door.

  “Oh, settle down,” I mutter to him. “You’re all talk, I can see it. You want to fight me? While I’ve got the shovel, scooping up your shit? You think you’ve got rage, buddy, you don’t even know the meaning of the word.”

  He snorts again.

  I snort right back.

  His eyes widen and his nostrils flare, but he doesn’t snort at me again.

  “You might be bigger than me, but I can promise you I’m far more determined than you. So give it up.”

  “Still talkin’ to my horse?”

  I spin around to see Rhett walking into the barn, a hay bail in his arms, making his muscles bulge in a way that has my eyes widening. Holy shit, is it possible for him to look better? I didn’t think so until right now.

  He dumps the hay over the fence into Diablo’s stall, and then turns to me. “Nobody ever showed you how to shovel shit before, did they?”

  “Why,” I breathe out, “in the ever-loving hell would someone show me that?”

  His mouth twitches. “Most people don’t get taught these life skills.”

  “Life skills?” I scoff. “You call this life skills? I don’t think everyone just has a horse rolling around in their yard that they have to clean up after. What the hell do you feed him, it sure as hell isn’t just grass!”

  Rhett grunts, but his eyes are playful. “Diablo gets fed like a king, because he works like a king. Speaking of working, I’m saddling him up to go and move my cows into their new paddock. You want an experience, I can give you one.”

  I blink. “An experience? I don’t trust a single part of that sentence. What does this new ‘experience’ entail?”

  “Riding with me across rollin’ green paddocks.”

  I narrow my eyes. “Doubtful.”

  “I promise, you’re here to enjoy the ranch, the other girls are comin’. What do you say?”

  I exhale. “You better give me a nice horse, one that is so slow, I could run faster, and let me tell you something ... I don’t run.”

  He smirks. “Noted. Come on, I’ll show you how to saddle a horse.”

  Great.

  It has to be better than shoveling shit.

  How come I’m the only one doing it? Where is Kara? Emily? Grace? Maria? They’re all managing to get out of this job.

  Just as I say that, a group of them comes walking into the barn. Kara is sweating, following Enzo, wiping at her brow looking red and flustered. I take it back, they obviously weren’t out there having a grand old time. “If this is a retreat, I’m done,” Kara mutters.

  Enzo grins. “It’s life, sweetheart. You want to see how a ranch is run ...”

  “I would have happily seen that from the sidelines.”

  “I quite enjoyed it, actually,” Emily says, nodding with enthusiasm. “It was really great to see just how much work has to be put into running this place, and we’re only in the morning.”

  “Glad to see someone appreciates us.” Lake winks at her.

  Emily goes red.

  Oh boy.

  I turn and follow Rhett into the stalls, where he comes out with a short, fat, white horse. It looks like no single saddle in this world would go around its round belly. I narrow my eyes and give Rhett a glare. “What is that?”

  Rhett pauses and stares at me. “It’s a horse.”

  “That is not a horse, it’s a cow.”

  Lake bellows with laughter from somewhere in the barn.

  “How do you think my legs are going to get around that barrel?”

  Rhett looks at the horse. “Don’t listen to a word she’s saying, Porky, there is nothin’ wrong with you.”

  “Porky? You called your horse Porky?” I scoff.

  His eyes widen and he leans in close. “Have you seen him?”

  I look at the horse again. He’s still munching on hay, little bits of it coming out of the sides of his mouth.

  Jesus.

  “You’re making me ride that?”

  “He can hear you, Lei. Get a saddle.”

  I look behind me and see a row of saddles hanging on large hook like pieces of metal coming off the stable walls. “Which one?”

  “That one is the only one that fits.”

  Rhett points to a shitty old saddle at the end of the row. I walk over, taking it off and grunting as I shuffle back toward him. This is very unflattering. I probably look like a fat little gnome trying to carry this. Oh, the laughs they’re probably having each night about us ...

  Rhett helps me saddle up Porky and then we all head out and get ready to mount up. Rhett’s words, not mine. He gets on Diablo like it’s effortless, and up there, on that horse ... oh boy. I wasn’t much into men on horses, but seeing Rhett o
n that powerful beast does things for me. Diablo snorts and almost dances to the side, like he’s ready to go, ready for his duty. He is absolutely stunning and with Rhett on his back, it’s some real-life spank bank material.

  I use a mounting block to get onto Porky and am grateful when I don’t face plant off the other side of him. I manage to get my feet in the stirrups, hold the reins, and look a little like I actually know what I’m doing. I don’t, but nobody else needs to know that. When everyone is mounted up, Rhett takes off.

  I don’t expect the fat little horse I’m riding to even want to take a step, but when Rhett moves, so does he. They all do. The horses take off as if they’re being fired out of a cannon. People can be heard squealing from every direction, one of them is most definitely me. This horse is shaped like a barrel, which means he is anything but graceful as he canters off down the field. It’s like riding a rocking horse with two broken legs.

  I clutch the saddle, not caring about holding the reins to direct him. My screams can be heard echoing across the field as I bounce around in the saddle. I’m going down. I know it even before the final bounce takes me up and off the saddle. I soar off the back of the horse, not at all gracefully, and then land on the grass with a thump.

  I’m not hurt, the horse isn’t even tall enough for me to get hurt. But my shame, oh my shame. I sit up, dusting my shirt off as Rhett pulls the group up and spins Diablo around, galloping toward me and coming to a stop right beside my horrified ass. He looks down at me, and I can see his mouth twitching.

  “I can’t say I’ve ever seen someone fall off Porky before.”

  “Eat a giant dick,” I snap, angrily swiping at my shirt. “I don’t ride stupid horses. Have you ridden that thing? He’s so fat his run feels like a god damned amusement park ride. You should be ashamed of yourself for feeding him so much, it’s not fair on him. Do you know that obesity is a real problem?”

  Rhett jumps off Diablo and leans down, extending his hand to me, smothering a laugh. “Come on, I can’t have you talking about Porky like that in front of his face.”

  “No,” I huff, crossing my arms.

  “C’mon, sweetheart, get up.”

  The masculine tone in his voice makes everything inside me go to liquid. God damn, I’ve never had a crush on anyone in my life that has developed as fast as my crush on Rhett. I’m pretty sure it’s more a sexual fantasy then it is a crush, but either way, when he speaks it makes everything inside of me ache. Ache to just pounce on him, rip his clothes off, and let him do with me as he pleases.

  I take his hand and he pulls me to my feet, hanging onto me for a little longer than he needs to. I’m going to pass out if he keeps touching me. When I look up at him, with that flannel rolled up at the sleeves, a smidge of his chest peeking out through the unbuttoned top, the jeans and boots, the way his eyes look even more sexy with the sun beaming down on him, and that beard ... oh that beard.

  I’m blushing.

  I can feel it even before I see his small grin.

  I snatch my hand out of his. “I’m not getting back on that horse.”

  “You can get on with me,” he offers.

  I blink. “You’re joking, right?”

  He narrows his eyes. “Do I look like I’m jokin’?”

  “I can’t tell, you always have the same expression, but I have to assume you’re joking because ...”

  I wave my hands over my body, as if that’ll give him the answer he needs. There is no way that horse is holding all six-foot god knows what, muscled, masculine man that he is plus me and my tiny, curvy body.

  He’ll probably break a leg, and I can’t have that.

  Diablo is a king, and kings don’t break legs.

  “I’m not sure what you’re gettin’ at,” he murmurs.

  Right. Of course he wants me to spell it out. “I’m far too chunky to get on that horse.”

  He stares at me, as if he’s confused. “What?”

  “Chunky. Round. Curvy. Flabby. Whatever it’s called these days. There is no way that horse can carry you and I together ...”

  “You’re jokin’ right?”

  “Does it look like I’m joking?” I say, feeding his line right back to him.

  “You, sweetheart, are not fuckin’ chunky.”

  My lips tighten. “Now you’re just being a dick.”

  I turn and pick up my hat, dusting it off and walking toward the house, angry. I don’t care about the damn horse, it can stay there. I don’t care about the group of people staring at me, they can all bite me. I’m not going to be the pity party of a group of men that look like they do, trying to kindly tell me I’m not chunky. I am chunky. I don’t need to feel any less than I do right now.

  “Keep goin’, I’ll follow,” Rhett yells, and the sounds of horses galloping off can be heard.

  Then, I hear boots nearing behind me. “Lei, quit fuckin’ stormin’ off.”

  I stop, spinning around. “I’m going back to the house, packing my shit, and going home. I don’t belong here.”

  I can already feel my cheeks burning red from the sun, and now I’m panting from my little act of storming off. I probably look like a tiny piglet huffing and puffing, just to make things even worse.

  “Why are you so angry?”

  I narrow my eyes, looking up at him. “I know what I am, Rhett. I don’t need men that look like you, trying to make me feel better by telling me I’m not what I am. That’s all I’ve ever had in my life, from everyone who ever mattered. Oh, you’re not fat honey. Oh, you’re not chubby honey. Oh, you’re beautiful.”

  “You are fuckin’ beautiful.”

  His words shock me, so much I stare at him, mouth agape.

  I’ve been lied to and told I’m beautiful before, but nobody has ever said it in the way he just did.

  I ... I actually believe him.

  “I said you’re not chunky, because you’re not fuckin’ chunky,” he goes on, “you’re curvy in all the right fuckin’ places and believe me, I’ve been lookin’. You’re fuckin’ sexy in the nerdiest most fuckin’ random way I’ve ever seen, Lei. I’m not a liar. I don’t fuckin’ tell bullshit stories to make people feel better.”

  I’ve never ... I have no words. Nothing. Zero.

  I stare at him with my mouth slightly agape.

  Nobody has ever said anything like that to me before.

  Never.

  Not once.

  “You don’t even know me,” I mutter. It’s all I can manage.

  “I don’t need to know you to have an opinion on how you look to me.”

  God damn.

  My crush is going to explode into full blown love if this man doesn’t stop speaking.

  “Now, get on the fuckin’ horse because we’re goin’ to ride and we’re goin’ to give you the best time you’ve ever had here at the ranch.”

  I blink.

  “I’ll fall.”

  “Won’t let you fall again.”

  Well.

  It’s official.

  I’m in love.

  Someone help us all.

  RHETT IS RIGHT.

  This is actually fun.

  When I finally get the hang of riding Porky, it is actually enjoyable. Rhett takes us all to the cattle yards, and we watch in absolute awe as they all ride beside the cows, pushing them into another paddock with nothing but their horses and a few dogs to do it. It’s the best thing I’ve ever seen, and I can’t take my eyes off Rhett as he moves on that horse in a way that makes me feel things I’ve not felt before.

  In places I’ve not felt them for a very, very long time.

  “God damn,” Kara sighs. “I could stay here forever. I would be happy never to leave, just so I could come here every day and watch this.”

  “It is the best thing I’ve ever seen,” Grace sighs, leaning forward on her horse.

  “I have to agree,” Emily murmurs, eyes following the men as they move.

  “I see why it’s called a retreat now,” I tell them, watching Rh
ett. “This is all the therapy I’ll ever need.”

  Everyone laughs.

  I rub my hand down Porky’s neck, and he snorts, which Rhett told me means he’s happy and relaxed. I scratch his ears and just like that, the two of us are friends. I apologize for all the mean things I said about his weight, and promise to come and get him out more often so he feels a little healthier. I watch Rhett on Diablo, and oh boy do the two of them make a god damned gorgeous pair. That horse is muscled, sleek, and moves like lightning.

  Rhett makes it look easy.

  “You’re giving him lovey eyes,” Kara murmurs, leaning over so only I can hear her.

  “It’s hard not to,” I admit.

  She nods in agreement.

  “Okay,” Lake calls to the group, riding over, “we’re going to finish up here, you can all head back to the barn to unsaddle your horses. After that, we’re goin’ to the lake where we’ll have some lunch. I promise you, you’re in for a good time there.”

  I go to turn but Rhett puts a hand up. “Leave Lei here, I want to discuss something with her. You take the group back to the barn.”

  Lake nods, and I stare at Kara who wiggles her brows.

  They all ride away, leaving only me with Rhett and the other guys that are still working. Rhett talks to Enzo for a minute and then rides Diablo over to where I’m still waiting. “Come with me,” he murmurs.

  He opens the gate and comes out, and then he kicks Diablo into action and begins riding toward the thick line of trees. Nervous as all hell, I turn Porky around and ride after him. It’s hard to keep up, and poor little Porky is grunting and snorting trying to catch up to Diablo, but, eventually, he does.

  We reach the line of trees and ride down a path that goes deeper and deeper into the woods.

  “If you’re going to murder me,” I yell out, “I have to warn you that I run about as fast as Porky.”

  Rhett turns, grinning at me over his shoulder. “So you’ve said.”

  Calm down, stomach. He doesn’t want us. He’s just being nice.

  We walk along for a few minutes more before we come to the most beautiful little river I’ve ever seen. Surrounded by trees and rocks that climb up the mountain behind it is a crystal-clear body of water that is running from a waterfall up ahead. It’s absolutely beautiful. I stop Porky and watch as Rhett dismounts Diablo and ties him to a tree. Then he walks over, extending a hand.