Chapter 7
It had been a very long time since he had trouble sleeping. Well, trouble sleeping due to his own reasons. Tossing and turning, his mind went over what had happened that day. Just as he convinced himself to sleep, the sun came up and the only rooster they had chose to crow.
He groaned and rolled over onto his stomach, "Shut up or I'll make sure Jack cooks you for dinner," he called out; a smirk graced his lips as he lifted his head up and placed the pillow over his head.
Jack was already downstairs. She opened the refrigerator and smiled seeing a big bag of what looked like pork. "Apparently, he got a pig last night and wants some for dinner," she said out loud and laughed. "Pork roast for dinner it is."
Looking at her watch she worried about Riddick who was normally up by the time that she woke. Jake was their only rooster that helped protect the dozens of chickens they had. By the time he crowed in the morning, Riddick was usually at the barn letting the horses out for the day before breakfast was served.
With breakfast now started, Jack took the opportunity to head upstairs to make sure Riddick wasn't sick or worse. She listened at his closed door, didn't hear any sounds from inside and quietly knocked on the door.
Riddick knew Jack was in the hallway outside of his room. Laying there he wished for just five more minutes of sleep, maybe even ten. Her soft knock broke the silence in the room.
"Mmmhm?" he groaned and rolled onto his back.
"Can I come in?" Jack's voice was muffled through the solid wood door.
Clearing his throat he called back, "Yeah, might as well." He closed his eyes knowing bright sunlight from the hallway would flood his room as soon as she opened the door.
When the door was opened, he could smell something new. Did she get new perfume along with that dress?
Peeking her head into the room and she smiled, "You're still in bed?" she questioned and stepped inside.
His eyes followed her as soon as he heard the door shut. "Yup, I was out late last night and couldn't seem to fall asleep once I was in bed."
The scent he had picked up on was stronger now that she was in the room. By all means it wasn't a bad smell, far from it actually. He had smelled it some place before, but not on Jack.
"Did you buy new perfume while I was gone too?" he asked with a smile, not sure if she could see it in the muted light that crept under the closed bedroom door and onto the hardwood flooring. As if picking up where it left off the night before, Riddick's mind raced to find a memory of where he had smelled the scent before.
She shook her head, "No, why?" Turning her head towards him she leaned against the door.
The bed squeaked as Riddick sat up, ran a hand over his stubbly scalp and looked up at her. It hit him then; the scent he had picked up wasn't perfume. The scent was Jack's pheromones; must be her fertile time. He sighed, So I start seeing her as a woman and now I can smell her scent?
"Riddick," she said his name for a third time. "Are you okay?"
He cleared his throat again, "Yeah, just tired." He walked across the room to his bathroom, "I"ll be down, for breakfast soon."
Jack stood there and listened to the bathroom door click shut and she shrugged a little. "Alright," she called out to him before she left to get back to cooking.
A couple of minutes later Riddick came downstairs and sighed quietly before walking into the kitchen. He grabbed his large cup and filled it with coffee.
"I'm gonna go let the horses out and I'll be back," he said hurrying out of the kitchen into the living room.
"Wait," she hurried after him. "You didn't even tell me how you want your eggs this morning," she said as she stood only a few feet behind him and smiled.
Riddick could smell her scent even stronger since coming downstairs. Why did she have to say eggs? "Oh, yeah, scrambled please," he said in a rush to open the front door. "Thanks, Jack."
She had heard the faint thanks and sighed. She wasn't sure what was going on with him today, but hoped it didn't have anything to do with the dress. Shrugging she went back into the kitchen to finish up breakfast, knowing that Riddick would be back in a few minutes to eat.
How long does the fertile window last again? Riddick thought taking large gulps of his black coffee. Fuck if I know! How am I going to be able to go back in there and have a normal breakfast with her, when I won't be able to walk straight when I stand up?
Riddick set the cup down on one of the work benches inside the barn. Smiling at the horses he patted both of their noses as they waited for him to let them out. "No way am I going to make it until it's over though, boys," he spoke to the horses as if the horses were going to agree.
Breakfast was done and Jack sat down at the table. Riddick had always told her to go ahead and start eating if he wasn't right back. So she did.
The few minutes turned into a half an hour. Jack had already finished her food, putting the dishes into the sink to soak. She thought that maybe Riddick just lost track of time, so with a smile on her face she loaded his breakfast up into closeable containers, poured more coffee into the thermos and headed out to the barn to deliver his food.
Walking into the bard she looked around. "Riddick, I guess you must have gotten busy, so I brought breakfast to you." She wore a big smile that changed into a pout when he didn't answer.
"Oh, Riddick!" she called again, walking out through one of the stalls to the pasture. "That's odd," she said when she didn't see Riddick or the horses out there.
Jack walked back into the barn the way she came, only to exit through the large side door that was open. Looking down she noticed fresh hoof prints along with Riddick's boots. She followed the markings down the large dirt path that could fit a truck, until it led to the large field. This was the third main field they had to their land and by far the largest.
Noticing Riddick sitting on the sulky plow behind their horses, she sighed. He was already plowing before breakfast. She watched as he kept his eyes on the task he was working on.
Jack sat the thermos and bag of food on a nearby tree stump, cupped her hands together and called out to him, "Riddick! Breakfast!" She held up the thermos when he looked over at her.
Glancing her way he gave her a thumbs up with one hand before going right back to leading the horses.
From what Jack saw Riddick wasn't going to stop to come eat, so she left the food there and headed back down the trail.
Jack found it very odd that Riddick hadn't bothered to eat. He was always harping on her to make sure she had a good breakfast to start the day, because it wasn't a guarantee that you would get a lunch or dinner. Although, they always made time to eat all three meals, even on their busiest days.
At dinner time Jack wasn't really in a good mood. She hadn't seen Riddick all day; he hadn't even bothered to come get lunch like normal. Although setting his place at the table, she didn't bother dishing him any food as she started to eat the pork roast accompanied with home grown potatoes, carrots and celery.
It was a shock when she heard his boots walking on the back porch. She didn't bother to look up at him as she ate.
"Whoa, look what the cat dragged in," she mumbled, taking a drink from her glass.
Riddick went over to wash his hands, "Yeah, sorry about today, Jack. I just wanted to get it done." The smell was still there, it taunted him, even called his name. Shaking his head he quickly dried his hands. "Listen, I need to run into town and see if the hardware store has any plowstaffs." He knew that he had told Jack that he would have to get one of those soon. He figured this would be a great cover.
Jack turned and looked at him now, "But the hardware store is already closed and your dinner is getting cold."
He nodded, "I know and again I'm sorry about dinner. I'll just have to run over to Mainferd and see if they have one I can buy." Mainferd was at least a three hour drive, but he figured they might have what he was looking for.
Looking at him she sighed, "Do you have to go tonight? Tonight you said we would do our training."
Shit, I did say we would train together two nights this week because I missed last week. "Tomorrow night, I promise, Jack." Kissing her hair he headed up to grab his wallet and keys.
Jack sat there, dumbfounded at what just happened. He was going to drive all that way this late in the day to get something he could just call about in the morning? It was then that she heard Riddick call out from the living room.
"I"ll be back as soon as I can, Jack. Don't wait up!" With that he was gone.
Thank you all for the feedback and for making my story one of your favorites. I know I say it a lot, but the feedback and knowing that people are reading is what keeps me writing. This is where the fun starts. Hope you all enjoy what is to come!
