by Bella Jewel
I blink. “Yes,” I squeak.
“Then stand up, I’m takin’ you on the jet ski.”
“Oh, no. You don’t understand. I don’t go near things with motors, or heartbeats, or minds of their own ... you saw how it ended with Porky.”
He shrugs it off, as if he’s unbothered by my resistance. “Stand up, you’re gettin’ the whole experience.”
“No. Nope.”
“Yep, let’s go.”
He reaches for me hand and hauls me out of my chair as if I weigh nothing, and I know for a damned fact I do. Kara wiggles her brows at me and gives me a thumbs up, so much for her protecting her best friend in her time of need.
“Thanks a lot,” I mutter as Rhett pulls me away.
“Damsel in distress, honey, now is your chance,” she calls with a laugh.
Bitch.
Rhett takes me outside and I protest the entire time, which he completely ignores.
“Seriously,” I say, as he hands me a lifejacket. “You don’t understand, this won’t end well.”
“It’ll be fine. I’ll go easy. Come on, put the jacket on.”
Go easy.
Does a man like Rhett go easy?
“I just ate ...”
“An hour ago.”
“It’s still in my stomach ...”
“You’ll be fine. Get on the jet ski.”
I stare at the jet ski and shake my head. “Nope. No. I can’t.”
“I’ll pick you up, Lei, and I’ll throw your ass on. Get on.”
I blink at him and then cross my arms, cocking my hip out to the side. “You couldn’t lift me if you tried.”
No way in the world he’s getting me off the ground.
He steps toward me, leans down, and throws a shoulder into my stomach. With an oomph, I’m thrown up and over his shoulder. It’s effortless, like I weigh no more than a child. I squeal in a mixture of delight and horror as he throws me down onto the jet ski that’s sitting at the edge of the water. I land on it, wobbling all over the place as I try to get my balance.
“I could lift five of you, sweetheart.”
He gets on in front of me, while I’m still in shock. He’s taking the chance to make sure I can’t argue, because I’m still in utter awe that he just lifted me the way he did. Not to mention how good it felt to be thrown around. I’m starting to believe it when the girls say he’d be a wild time. A man like Rhett would make every person that came after him nothing more than average.
“You’ll want to hang on.”
I reach around his waist, cheeks going rosy at the proximity of our bodies. My groin is pressed right up against his bottom, and I’m not going to lie, it feels really good. He takes off, catching me by surprise. I squeal and my grip tightens as he flies across the water. It only takes a mere moment for my squeals to turn into delighted laughter as a rush goes through my body. We bounce through the water, getting sopping wet, but it feels as though I’m flying. I don’t think I could ever tire of this feeling.
It’s exhilarating.
I laugh until my mouth hurts and scream until my voice is hoarse. We stop out in the middle of the lake and Rhett turns the engine off before glancing over his shoulder at me. “You want a go?”
“Me?” I breathe. “Drive this thing?”
“Yeah.”
“I mean ... I kind of want to. Are you going to stay on?”
“Yep.”
He stands and maneuvers around so I can scootch forward, then he sits down behind me and reaches forward, curling his hands over mine to show me how it all works. I lose all the air in my lungs as his hard chest presses against my body, his breath tickles my ear and his hands capture mine in a way that makes my heart race. I can’t think, let alone pay any attention to what he’s saying.
“You get that?”
Shit.
I shake my head, slowly. “I don’t ... I don’t think I should drive this.”
“You’ll be fine. Just go steady. I’ll help you. Ready?”
I nod.
He twists my hand and the jet ski lurches forward. I scream and then laugh wildly as I realize the power just beneath my palms. I twist it again and we fly forward, but this time I don’t let it go. I can hear Rhett’s low chuckle behind me as I spin around the lake, having the time of my life. I’ll never admit it, but I’m glad he made me get on now. This is the best thing I’ve ever done, hands down.
We ride that thing until my wrist hurts and I can’t handle it a second longer. I take us back to the shore and Rhett jumps off, holding it so I can climb off. I take my jacket off, watching him rope it up. When he turns toward me, I know the smile on my face is huge but I can’t wipe it. I just had the best day ever and I don’t want to leave. This place ... It’s magical.
“What?” he asks, narrowing his eyes. “You’re lookin’ at me like I’m Prince Charming and you’ve just figured that out.”
I shake my head with an eye roll. “No, it’s not that. I just ... I want you to know that this place ... it’s incredible. What you’ve done here is going to change the world. I think you deserve to hear that.”
He gives me a small grin. “Appreciate that.”
“What’s next? I’m pumped and I really want to keep going!”
“Your afternoon is all yours, got massage parlors on site, if that’s somethin’ you want.”
I mean, it is but there is this big part of me that just wants to stay with him. I don’t know what it is but there is something about him that draws you close, like you could just spend every day listening to his stories, or working with him, and you’d be completely content.
“What are you doing?” I dare to ask, my voice soft and a little nervous.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m goin’ to fix the fences down the back, the cows broke them and I don’t want them gettin’ out when we move them later tonight.”
“Can I ... help?”
“Fix a fence?”
I give him a sheepish smile. “It’s stupid, I know, but would you mind?”
He studies me. “Not at all.”
Oh boy.
I swing my fist. “Then let’s go fix some fences.”
He stares at me.
Too much?
Oh well.
Let’s do this.
5
Sweat trickles down my forehead as I hold onto the wire while Rhett pulls it tighter, clamping it back to the fence post. God, I should have never agreed to come out here and help. Not because it isn’t fun, I’m actually wildly fascinated by what he does here, but instead because I’m sweating and it isn’t attractive. My face is no doubt red and puffy, and as if I didn’t look bad enough, my shirt is now soaked with it.
He’s probably so turned off, it’s not a wonder he has his back to me right now.
I’d be running down the paddock if I were him.
“There,” he says, standing. “That’s the last one.”
I release the wire and it stays put. Rhett turns and stares down at me, and my red face gets a whole lot redder. “Don’t look at me, I look like a burned tomato.”
“Burned tomato?”
“Yes. So red and awful.”
“Aren’t tomatoes already red, wouldn’t they just go black if they were burned?”
I close my eyes. “Right.”
I open my eyes and he’s grinning at me, again. “What’s so funny?” I mutter.
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re fuckin’ adorable.”
I pause, shocked. His words penetrate deep. I bite my lip, unsure what to say or do. Never in my life has being called adorable felt so damned good. “Ah, thanks. You too.”
No.
I did not just say you too.
I press a hand to my face and cringe out loud.
Rhett smirks. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to leave now, maybe find that river and drown myself before I can say anything else shameful.”
“Can’t say I’ve been called adorable before, I’ll take it as a compliment.”
I wince. Shame. The shame.
“Can we go now before I say or do something else awful?”
“One more thing before we do,” he murmurs, throwing his tools back into the bag that is strapped to the back of Diablo’s back, “I want to show you somethin’.”
“Okay,” I say, huffing and puffing as I get onto Porky.
I’m sure he gave me this horse again as a joke.
He thinks it’s funny.
I certainly do not.
Though, the little round guy is kind of growing on me.
We walk down through the paddocks on the horses, past the rolling hills and the thick tree lines. It’s beautiful out here, a paradise all on its own. Somewhere you could go and just let your thoughts disappear, and the world would fade away until you felt like you were the only one left.
I could stay here forever.
We stop at a large formation of rocks, sort of like a cliff ledge that looks down over the river we swam in yesterday. The view up here is incredible and, as I climb off Porky and walk toward the edge, I feel overwhelmingly free. Not a single thing in the world could touch me while I’m standing right here, the breeze trickling against my hot skin, the sound of water flowing below us.
“My mom used to bring me here when I was a kid,” Rhett tells me, walking up beside me. “There’s a pond you can only see from up here, where the water collects within some rocks before it rolls into the river. We used to paint stones and throw them in there, can you see?”
I squint and peer down toward where he’s pointing and, sure enough, within the water sitting amongst some rocks, is a rainbow of colored rocks in the water. There looks to be hundreds of them, all different colors, some of them surrounding the small pool of water, most of them in there. My heart swells, and everything inside of me feels as though it might explode. It must have been horrible for Rhett to lose his mother, especially the way he did.
That’s rough, no matter who you are.
“That’s really amazing,” I say softly. “I bet you guys missed heaps when you were throwing them in.”
He sits down. “Yeah, but eventually, we could get them in nearly every time.”
“Can you get to that pool?” I ask, sitting beside him.
“You can, but I don’t.”
He doesn’t say anything else, and I’m not going to push. There is obviously a reason he observes that memory from afar, perhaps getting too close makes it hurt far more than he can handle.
“It’s beautiful up here, it really is.”
“Yeah,” he murmurs.
We sit in blissful silence for some time before Rhett asks me, “You got a man?”
The question takes me by surprise, so much so I make a squeaking sound instead of answering. God, how do I answer that without looking even more lame than I already am? “Me? A man? I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would you say I doubt it?”
“Men don’t come easily for a girl like me.”
“Like you? What’s that meant to mean?”
“I’m short, I have freckles, I’m curvy, and I don’t have giant boobs. My face isn’t picture perfect and my skin isn’t flawless. I’m not a supermodel.”
“You think that’s what men want?”
I look to him. “If you’re going to try and tell me they don’t, I’ll probably punch you.”
He studies me. “I’m goin’ to tell you they don’t, so go ahead. Do girls like that appeal to us? Fuck yeah they do. We take them in, we fuck them, and we throw them out. We don’t have conversations, we don’t have babies with them and we sure as shit don’t marry them. Girls like you ...”
“The ugly ones ...”
He glares at me. “Who the fuck in your life told you you were ugly?”
“Society told me I was ugly. The lack of interest in my life told me I was ugly. I don’t need you to tell me otherwise, Rhett.”
I’m angry now.
Frustrated with this conversation.
I go to stand up but his hand lashes out, pulling me back down.
“Listen to me, because I don’t fuckin’ say shit unless I mean it. Society has taught you that those flawless women are where it’s at. Society is fuckin’ wrong. That’s not what we want. We want real, we want natural, we want a woman who will stand by our side through thick and thin. We want women like you, the problem is women like you don’t believe it and you walk around with a wall up so we can never get close.”
“I don’t have a wall up,” I scoff.
“Bullshit.”
I swallow the thick lump in my throat, the anger swirling around in my chest like a hurricane. What would he know about walls? He can get whoever he wants, whenever he wants. He doesn’t have to try, he doesn’t have to go above and beyond, he just knows it’s there for the taking any time, anywhere. He has no right to tell me I’m the reason men don’t look at me. I’ve tried, god knows I’ve tried.
“You can take your wall—” I snatch my hand out of his “—and shove it up your ass.”
I get on Porky before he has a chance to fight with me, and I kick him into a canter the entire way back to the barn. I unsaddle him, noticing Rhett hasn’t followed me, and then I take my sweaty, stuffy ass back to my cabin. I go in and slam the door, leaning against it, a rage inside of me that isn’t healthy.
I also feel stupid because right now I’m acting like a giant baby and Rhett is no doubt thinking he should have just left me with the group.
An immature brat is a better sentence.
“I think I’m too afraid to ask if you’re okay,” Kara says, walking out of her room.
“I’m fine,” I tell her, huffing and wiping the sweat off my face with the back of my hand. “I’m just sick of people like Rhett telling me that I’m the one walking around with walls up because I don’t believe a man like him would go for a girl like me. Then I feel dumb for thinking that because I’m an insecure brat and that is my problem, not his.”
Kara’s eyes widen. “Wait a damn second, you’re telling me that Rhett wants a piece of that, and you told him no?”
“That isn’t exactly how it went,” I mutter.
“Tell me exactly how it went then.”
I huff, but I tell her how it went.
“Honey, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but that man is into you and he sees something in you that it’s very clear you don’t see. Why the hell would you fight him when he tells you the truth?”
“Because it’s not the truth, men like Rhett don’t look at girls like me.”
“Don’t you think that’s his call to make? It isn’t up to you to decide if he’s into you or not. It’s up to him. Why don’t you relax and just let him feel what he feels, you might just be surprised. You’re a gorgeous girl, maybe it’s about time you saw that.”
I sigh. “Why do you always have to be so right?”
She laughs. “Because I’m smart, and you should listen to me more.”
I grin and shake my head.
Where would we be in life, without our best friends?
“ANY IDEA WHO EMILY is going to pick for first chair this year?” Kara asks me over breakfast the next morning. “She’s meant to be announcing it before we leave the retreat. Gosh, I hope one of us is up for it. Between you and me, she did tell me she was going to pick me.”
She had told me the same thing, and honestly, there is no better person for the job than Kara. She’s smart, she’s talented, and she’s the best player in our group. There is only a few close behind her that are deserving and that would probably be Tai, one of the guys in the group. He’s really incredible and has been hanging for first chair for about as long as Kara has, but Emily has told her it’s most likely to be hers, so we’re all pretty confident who will get it.
“I’m pretty certain it’ll be you,” I tell her. “Without a doubt you’re her favorite and I�
��m certain she’s going to pick you, especially if she said she’s going to.”
“Are you two talking about first chair again?” Grace asks, joining the conversation. “I hope I’m in for a chance, but I doubt it. Taj is way better than me, and Emily really likes him.”
I can’t say I’ve ever seen Emily interact with Taj in a way that would tell me she really likes him, she tends to hang out with the girls more, but I do know she sees his talent and it’ll be a close call.
“Well, either way, I’m sure we’ll find out soon,” Maria pipes up. “I heard we’re going on a big hike today, I can’t wait.”
Hike.
Did she just say ... hike?
Nope.
I don’t hike.
There is no way in hell I’m hiking anything around here.
The mountains are huge and I’m so unfit.
I’ll make a fool of myself.
“Ladies, I hope you’re all enjoying breakfast. Men, I hope you’re ready for today,” Enzo says, coming into the room. “We’ve got a big day planned, so get your hikin’ boots on and meet us at the barn when you’re done with breakfast. Lunch and all the equipment will be provided.”
He leaves before I have the chance to protest.
“I can’t hike,” I squeak to Kara. “No way in hell.”
“Come on, honey. We’re here to stretch our comfort zone and do something different. Give it a go, you might just be surprised.”
I hesitate, but she’s right. If I don’t at least try, I’ll feel like an idiot for bailing out. But still, I really, really don’t hike and I pant a lot when I’m walking. The thought of Rhett seeing that makes my skin flush and we’re not even out on the trail yet.
“Fine,” I tell her. “But if I break a leg, it’s on you.”
She grins.
An older gentleman walks into the kitchen just as we’re finishing up. He’s the sweetest, kindest looking man I’ve seen in some time. He’s probably in his sixties, silver hair and moustache, an old, tattered cowboy hat, blue eyes and flannel shirt. You can tell he’s been around the block a few times, has probably lived on this ranch since he was a boy. I wonder who he is?
“Mornin’ folks, you haven’t had a chance to meet me yet, I’ve been visitin’ my daughter but my name is Ben, but you can call me Ranch. Been around these parts my whole life, and Rhett is like a son to me. You’ll be seein’ me gettin’ about, but I wanted to introduce myself first.”
