At 4:25 the next morning Eric made his way downstairs to the kitchen in the dark house. When he finally reached the first floor and found his way through the door he could see the outline of someone leaning against the island in the middle of the big kitchen with what looked like a coffee mug in it's hand.

"Wow you actually made it on time. Gotta say didn't think you had it in you Myers," Taylor laughed when she saw him make his way to her. He just grumbled a 'fuck you' as he took the coffee mug that was sitting full and steaming beside her and downed the straight black coffee in 2 minutes.

"Damn that's some strong coffee," he said once he set the mug back on the counter.

"We don't have time to waste on weak coffee around here. One cup is all we got time for. Let's go. We'll run back to the river so you can see where the caves I was talking about yesterday are," Taylor said as she put his and her cups in the sink and made her way to the back door. As they walked out the crisp October Oklahoma air hit them and Eric realised why she was wearing a jacket. He looked at her like she was crazy as she stretched her legs out. When she saw he wasn't doing the same she thought it best to warn him.

"While I know most people think Oklahoma is just flat prairie, we do have our fair share of hills so I suggest you stretch or you'll regret it," she told him. She smirked when he started to stretch his calves as he looked over the land and saw some pretty good size hills in the distance.

Pretty soon they were making their way past the barns as the workers were making their way into them to feed for the morning before workouts started. After about a fifteen minute steady jog over flat land they finally reached a big hill. Taylor glanced at Eric and smirked before taking off at a run up the hill. Eric looked at her and shook his head as he took off after her. By the time they reached the top of the hill Eric had caught up to her and beat her to the top.

"You're spending too much time in the office Earhardt," he said as they came to a stop at the top.

"We'll see who's laughing when I get you on a horse Myers. Just you wait," she said shoving him out of her way as she looked around. "Look over there. Just on the other side of the river is that set of caverns I was talking about. It's hard to see them through the trees but there just about 100 yards off the river."

"So how are you supposed to get across the river?" he asked as he tried looking for a low spot but couldn't find one.

"Bout a quarter of a mile north there is an old wagon bridge that you can cross at," she said pointing that way. "Not sure what kind of shape it's in though. We might have to cross it on foot and finish the trek that way."

Just as Eric was about to reply the heard a scream from down below them by the river. Eric subconsciously moved closer to Taylor, who just smirked.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Mountain lion. Sounds like she's teaching the pups to hunt," she said looking around for the maker of the sound but not finding anything. "Bet you their on the other side of the river. Nothin to worry bout."

"Well maybe we should head back to the barn anyways. Just to be on the safe side," Eric said as he too scanned the surrounding area.

"You realize you don't want to run from a big cat right? Then they think you're prey and will run after you and pounce on your back and break your neck just like they do deer and cattle," Taylor said before Eric could take off running. He then moved even closer to her. "AWWW is lil Eric afraid of a kitty cat?"

"No of course not. Just protecting you. If they come after us they'll go for the weak one first," he said smirking at her.

"So will you run by yourself tomorrow?" she asked smirking at him.

"Running by yourself is so overrated. I much rather prefer a running partner, even if it is you Earhardt," Eric said as they slowly made their way down the hill until the river was out of sight.

"Mhmm that's what I thought. Now let's go. I still have to change before I work horses," she said as she took off at a fast paced jog back towards the house with Eric following behind her looking over his shoulder every once and a while to make sure they weren't being followed. By the time they got back to the house Taylor had fifteen minutes to change into her riding clothes before she had to be at the barn. She ran up the stairs to her room passing her dad as he made his way to the kitchen for his morning coffee.

"Morning Taylor. You goin to help us work horses today?" he asked shocked to see her awake.

"Beats goin to the gym everyday," she said walking backwards up the stairs.

"Ok see you in a few. I'll have some assigned to you on the board," he said as he continued on his way down. Taylor didn't reply just turned back around and finished running up the stairs as Eric started making his way up he called after her.

"Do I need to change Earhardt?" he asked as he reached the second floor as he heard her bedroom door close.

"I'd suggest putting on a jacket and some long pants," Ryan said as he walked out of the bathroom beside Taylor's room.

"What are you doin here?" Taylor asked as she walked out of her room slipping a long sleeve tee over her yellow sports bra.

"Makin sure you were awake. Already had your coffee?" he asked as they waited for Eric to change.

"Yeah we got up and ran for a bit," Taylor said as Eric exited his room and they made their way back downstairs and out the back door towards the barn.

"I thought spring in the south was warm," Eric said as the cool weather sunk right through his shirt.

"When the sun's up it's not bad but until then a good jacket is always needed," Ryan said tossing him a spare Eagle Farms jacket that was sitting in his office. Taylor walked through a door in the office that lead into the tack room and walked over to another door at the back of the room. Eric was confused to where that door led since on the other side of the office was stalls, but when he saw her open it he realized it was a locker of some sort that held a few saddles in bags and boots. Taylor pulled out on old pair of paddock boots and turned them upside down and beat on the bottom of them.

"What in the world are you doing Earhardt?" he finally asked. She just looked up at him as a dead spider fell out of the boot in her hand.

"It's a good hour ride to the closest hospital, I'd rather not go for a spider bite," she said slipping that boot on her foot and doing the same with the other before putting it on. She then reached back into the locker and pulled out a helmet and slung it over her arm before motioning Eric to follow her through the tack room and out another door that led to the center of the barn. They joined Ryan and Nick at a dry erase board that had about twenty names of horses on it. As Eric was looking at the names he would see Ryan write a T or a R beside certain names and others would have a W beside them.

"What do the letters mean?" Eric asked Taylor but it was her dad that answered.

"The T means Taylor is going to ride and the R means Ryan is going to ride. The W means that those horses are just going to go on the walker. Would you like to ride one Eric?" Nick answered while pointing out to the hot walker that was behind the barn then turning back to him.

"Oh no I'm good," Eric said shaking his head.

"I'll give him a lesson later in the week," Taylor said as she started to walk away to grab her first horse out of his stall that she was going to work.

"As long as it's on Batman," Eric said chuckling. Ryan turned to him and violently shook his head.

"Oh no you don't want that horse to do your lesson. He's the roughest horse we have in the barn," Ryan said as he pulled out his own horse and two guys started brushing on him and saddling him up.

"I just make it look easy," Taylor said walking back with a big black horse beside her. "Why am I being put on the babies?"

"That's a baby?!" Eric asked shocked thinking it was a full grown horse.

"He's 4, but they still have what we call baby brain until they are almost 6. Very short attention span, tend to still spook at a leaf blowing by things like that. I want to see what they do with someone else besides me on them," Ryan said looking at Eric then to his sister. "If I didn't think you could handle it I wouldn't do it you know that sis."

"Eric why don't you come sit with me in the lookout tower. It's warmer up there then on the side of the track," Nick said patting him on the shoulder as the black horse was saddled in the smallest saddle Eric has ever seen. That's when he remembered Taylor grabbing a helmet and was a little more at ease leaving her side with the so called baby horse. He looked at Taylor and at the nod of her head he followed her dad back outside to the lookout tower beside the track. That's when 3 dogs came running over barking at them. Eric tensed up ready to fight them off if needed but then Taylor's voice rung out in the cool morning air.

"Duke! Maverick! Goose!" the dogs stop barking and look around for the voice. And when they locate it they take off after it. Eric looked after them as they ran towards Taylor and the horse by her side. Soon the three dogs had reached her and were jumping up and down to get her to pet them. She laughed a little as one was able to jump up and lick her face before she sent them back into the barn for their breakfast. She straightened back up and that's when Eric noticed the helmet on her arm as she pulled it off and onto her head latching the throat latch before getting a leg up onto the black horse. As soon as she was seated on his back he started dancing around. That's when Eric realized he was standing by himself. He looked around and noticed Nick walking up the stairs to the tower and he walked behind him catching up in no time as Nick opened the door and walked in. When Nick sat down Eric could see another figure in the room and knew who it was, the ex of the girl out on the track. Eric was punching the guy in the face in his mind as he sat down next to Nick as Taylor and Ryan rode side by side on the track below them.

"Shoot I forgot my stop watch in the office. I'll be right back boys," Nick said standing up again and walking out just as Taylor started to canter the black horse. That's when Jarod spoke for the first time that morning to him.

"Damn seeing her ride reminds me of old times. Never had anyone like her that's for sure," Jarod said not letting his eyes leave the blond on the track. Eric looked at her a moment longer before he realized what he was talking about. The urge to punch him grew stronger.

"Well maybe if you didn't cheat you'd still have her. But now you've lost her forever. I mean you said it yourself 'you've never had anyone as good', and you never will again," Eric said after thinking about his words for a moment.

"That's all you know isn't it? That I cheated and that's why we broke up? My brother didn't tell you more did he?" Jarod asked scooting into the seat beside Eric.

"That's all. You got caught and she left. I guess I should really be thanking you. If you hadn't she wouldn't have come to California and we would have never met," Eric said not turning to look at him just keeping his eyes glued to Taylor as she worked around the track.

"I was set up man. I had the perfect relationship. Hell I was going to propose to her in two weeks. The only one that believes me is her dad. My own family doesn't. I think Tara does a tad. I still love her," was all he got to say before Nick walked back in. Eric just glanced at the middle aged Gentry while he moved back to his other seat as Nick sat back down and pushed a button on a headset that Eric was just now seeing.

"Alright Taylor lets do the full track. We won't break from the gate but just start him at the wire," Nick said. Eric could see Taylor shake her head as Ryan laughed and he could only imagine the words coming out of her mouth. She gathered the young stallion in her hands and crouched a little higher over his withers. When they passed the tower the horse picked up his speed at a cue from Taylor that Eric couldn't see. As they flew around the track Eric realized what Jarod was talking about when he spoke earlier. With power like that in her legs she could ride someone for a long time. And damn if her ass didn't look amazing in those tight pants she was wearing. Eric couldn't tear his eyes off the blonde as she flew around the track. When they rounded the turn at the back and started coming down the stretch towards the wire again Eric could see the horse lengthen his stride even more as Taylor let him have more rein to stretch his neck out. As soon as they crossed the tower again Eric heard a click beside him and looked over at Nick and Jarod as they compared times on their stopwatches and then looked back at Taylor as she slowed the black horse down to a trot.

"That's the fastest time he has ever run," Nick said as the two of them stood up and started making their way out the door and down the stairs before Eric realized they were leaving. He quickly followed after them as they reached the entrance to the track where Ryan and Taylor stood waiting for them on their horses. Eric noticed that the black horse had stop dancing but wasn't breathing as hard as what he thought he would be.

"Well what was the time?" Ryan asked as he saw his father and friend come into view.

"22.03," was all Nick said. The shock was evident on Ryan's face.

"Holy shit! That's 4 seconds faster than his fastest time. That's it you can't leave," Ryan said turning to his sister as she patted the horse on the neck and jumped down off him before a groom can and took him from her to finish cooling him off.

"Doesn't weight have a lot to do with it?" Eric asked as Taylor took off her helmet and shook out her hair.

"Yeah it has a lot to do with it, but jockeys ideally need to stay under 118 lbs and last time I weighed in I was right around 125, so Ryan is lighter than me," she said as another horse was brought out to her. "Thanks Mike. We're going to be working horses for the next hour or so, why don't you go check my truck. There is a work truck you can take into town to get some fresh gas if you need it."

Eric nodded at her then went to turn around to walk to the truck when he realized he didn't know where the truck was. When he turned back around he saw Jarod giving Taylor a leg up onto the chestnut horse. He cleared his throat when neither of them looked away from where his hand still rested on her leg. When Taylor looked up at him she saw multiple expressions go across his face. Confusion, anger and she even saw a tinge of jealousy which confused her.

"Oh right you probably want to know where to truck is. See that barn over there?" she asked pointing to the other side of the track to an old wood barn that had a big sliding door that looked like it was the only thing holding up the barn. "Just be careful when you open the door that's the original barn so it's old as shit."

"And if you see an old man in there just ignore him. If he asks who you are just tell him you know Tay, he loves her," Ryan said laughing at the look that Taylor shot him.

"Ghost don't exist," Eric just mumbled before walking towards said barn as Ryan and Taylor trotted out onto the track again. Right as they were rounding the first turn Eric had reached the barn and looked at the old door thinking of the best way to get it open without taking the whole barn down on top of Taylor's truck that they desperately needed because there was no way in hell he was getting on a horse. As he finally figured out how to open the door Ryan and Taylor were on the backstretch of the track right beside him. As the door slide open it made a huge screech that caused the horse Ryan was on to spook and take off running, bumping into the horse Taylor was on in the process making that horse spook. Though instead of running the chestnut mare reared and seeing as the roached the manes to reduce wind resistance there was nothing for Taylor to hold onto and she slid off the back side of the horse landing on her left side and rolling away from the horse that was landing back on all four feet and taking off at a run after the other horse.