Authors Note
I personally really like this story, and not just because I wrote it. I hope you readers like it but I haven't gotten many reviews. Not that the number of reviews matter (that much) I still like getting them and enjoy reading them. If you like this story or if you hate it (which I hope no one does), please review and give me feedback! This story probably won't be that long, maybe 10 chapters or so.
Note: was posted before but wasn't showing up so I deleted it and am trying again! Fingers crossed it works!
Disclaimer: I don't own it! Lauren Brooke owns all original characters, places and events! If I owned it I wouldn't have stopped the series and there would have been more Ty in the books!
The Peak
Chapter 3
Heartland, a week later (Don't worry, we will be back to Ty very soon)
A black jeep bounced up Heartland's long drive. When it pulled in front of the old farm house Lou and Scott got out and walked up the stairs to the side door. The door swung open and there stood Amy Fleming smiling at her sister and brother-in-law to be. "You're home!" she exclaimed excitedly. "How was Arizona? Was it fantastic? Was it warm?" she rambled on and on with the questions.
"Can we come in first?" Lou asked laughing as she gave her younger sister a hug.
"Of course!" Amy moved aside and they all headed into the kitchen where a delicious aroma lingered heavenly in the air. Jack, Nancy, Scott's parents Meg and Greg (a/n: don't remember their names) Soroya, Matt, and Heartland's two stable hands, Joni and Tom were preparing a magnificent, mouth watering feast like dinner. "They're here," Amy announced as the entered the kitchen.
Scott and Lou were swarmed with hugs and kisses from all in the kitchen.
Once everyone had greeted the couple, questions came full blast at them.
Jack clapped his hands together twice to get everyone's attention. "Dinner's ready! They can tell us all about their trip while we eat." Everyone moved to sit around the big dinning room table.
Once everyone had piled their plates high with the delicious food Meg asked, "So how was the restaurant you were considering for the wedding?"
"It was gorgeous," Lou gushed. "The food was delicious and the grounds were absolutely perfect, you could see Pinnacle Peak right in back of where the ceremony would be."
"So have you decided on a place and date yet?" Nancy asked excitedly her old, kind, motherly face creasing with a big smile.
"Yes," Lou said all smiles. "The wedding is going to be at SASSI, the place we visited in Scottsdale and it's going to be on April 14!"
"Congratulations!" Jack hugged his granddaughter.
"Oh but that's only six months away!" Meg exclaimed worriedly.
"There's so much to do!" Nancy seconded. "Invitations, travel arrangements, your dress, the cake, caterers…"
"It will be fine," Scott assured the stressing women.
"We haven't gotten the invitations yet but you're all invited!" Lou told everyone in the room. "Even you guys, Soroya, Joni and Tom."
"Thanks Lou!" Soroya exclaimed looking excited. "I hope mom let's me go," she said worriedly.
"Don't worry," Amy assured. "She will."
"What about Heartland?" Joni asked worriedly. "Who will watch the horses and the farm?"
"We'll find someone!" Lou exclaimed without a care in the world. Her wedding was only six months away!
"We've already booked a couple rooms at the Scottsdale Princess and eleven first class tickets for all of us. We're leaving on March 23," Scott informed everyone.
"Arizona is just so beautiful we felt that an extra three weeks would be good! You all have a ticket so save the date!" Lou put in.
"Great thanks guys!" Tom said.
"This is going to be so much fun!" Amy said. She was already looking forward to the trip.
"So what else did you guys do in Scottsdale?" Greg asked interestedly. "Anything you'd recommend for us to do?"
"Oh there was so much!" Lou said. "Everything we did was just great."
"You'll all have to see and hike Pinnacle Peak though, that was amazing," Scott put in.
"Well I'll see it but I don't think I'm up for the hike," Jack joked.
"Me to," Nancy seconded.
"Did you meet anyone interesting?" Tom asked.
"Oh you'll never guess," Scott said to his younger brother. "Do you know the famous art dealers The Laurence's?"
"Of course," everyone said and nodded their heads in confirmation. The Laurence's sold art all over the country and were well known for their top of the line, pricey, best in the business clients.
"We met their son, Mick, at SASSI."
"And than we saw him and a bunch of his friends at Pinnacle Peak," Lou put in.
"So what are the kids around there like?" Matt asked. "Better than around here I hope," he said jokingly as he nudged Soroya and Amy, two of his best friends, in the sides. Amy and Soroya rolled their eyes at each other before bursting into laughter. Fortunately, everyone missed the nervous look Scott and Lou exchanged quickly.
"They were just like normal kids, I suppose," Scott said. "They were a bunch of rich teenagers with fancy cars and acted like they owned the place."
"How so?" Jack asked curiously.
"They didn't stay on the trails like you're supposed to for one thing. Just wandered off into the brush and wildlife."
"Were they cute?" Soroya giggled as Amy elbowed her in the side.
"Girls," Matt shook his head. "Always forgetting the most important thing, what were their cars like?"
Everyone laughed before Lou replied, "Well we only saw one of them get into a car but that was a black Ferrari convertible, with the top down."
"Nice," Matt said appreciatively.
"Did you get his name? He sounds like my kind of guy," Soroya giggled again.
Scott and Lou looked at each other again, "Well," Scott started. "His friends were calling him one thing but he told us his name was Brian."
Lou looked across at Soroya and added, "I wouldn't bother with him. We'll probably never see them again and besides he looked like a stoner."
"Oh," Soroya said disappointedly. "But if he's hot, has a hot car and tons of money than I don't care."
"Roya," Amy said. "Aren't you going out with Matt?"
"Oh right," Soroya tried to sound disappointed but you could tell she really wasn't. Matt was a good catch.
"Gee thanks," Matt said.
"You can have this Brian guy Amy," Soroya turned to Amy.
"Um okay thanks," Amy said awkwardly. She didn't exactly have a lot of experience with guys. Even though she was 16 she had never had a boyfriend or been kissed or gone on a real date or anything before. She didn't have any interest in any of the guys at her school or that she knew. The only guy she had ever liked disappeared two years ago and she had realized her feelings too late to do anything about them.
"You need to forget about Ty and find another guy," Soroya said matter-of-factly.
Amy blushed and looked down at the table. There was an awkward silence. "I don't know what you're talking about," Amy mumbled to the tablecloth feeling tears prick at the back of her eyes.
"Sure you don't. Look I'm your best friend I know what's going on. You just need to forget about him."
"You make it seem like he's dead."
"Well we don't know what happened to him, do we? You'll probably never see again, if he cared at all than he would have contacted you right? I guarantee that if he is alive and well that you'd know about it. His dad or whoever moved him wouldn't be able to keep him from you," Soroya said firmly but with care.
An awkward silence hung over the previously joyous group and everyone's eyes were trained on Amy. Amy's head was bowed and her long, light brown hair fell across her face.
The silence was broken by Joni. "So have you gotten your dress yet?"
The Peak
Scottsdale, Arizona
March 25, Saturday
Ty woke up on his king size bed at 1:30 on Saturday afternoon to his beagle, Phoenix, jumping onto his bed and licking his face.
"Ugh, Nix ge'off me!" Ty moaned as he tried to shield his face with a pillow but the active dog just shoved his wet nose under the pillow.
He heard a laugh from the door and looked up to see his younger brother, Lee, standing there with his hand on the door knob. "Are you seriously still sleeping? Guess you had a late night, huh?" Lee raised his eyebrows suggestively at Ty.
Ty chucked a pillow across his large bedroom and Lee easily dodged it. "I'll take that as a yes," Lee said grinning like mad like he knew something that Ty didn't.
"Fuck off Lee," Ty growled. He was feeling slightly hung-over and pissed off at being woken up before he was ready to get up.
Lee tutted, "Now what would mom and dad say if they heard their precious Ty using such 'vulgar' language?" he said quoting their parents and using air quotes around the word 'vulgar'.
Ty threw off his mound of black, gray and dark blue covers and pillows and dragged himself out of bed. He was only wearing a pair of boxers and his tan, muscular, defined chest and arms were visible. He walked over to his door and slammed it shut in Lee's disgustingly perky face before staggering back over to his bed and collapsing face first onto the downy mattress. Phoenix padded across the bed and snuffled at Ty's hair.
Ty pushed himself off of his bed and grabbed a pair of faded jeans and a slightly fitted black t-shirt. After he pulled them on he plopped down in his black leather desk chair. Phoenix jumped off of Ty's bed and his black collar with small, flat, silver studs jangled as he trotted across the room to Ty. He jumped easily up onto Ty's lap.
Ty scratched Phoenix's black, white and brown head and fingered the tip of one of his silky, black ears. "I bet you feel better than I do," Ty said as he pushed his dark brown hair out of his eyes. Phoenix gave a short bark in reply. "Great rub it in why don't you?" Ty said grudgingly as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. There'd been a wild party last night celebrating the Coyotes win against the Scorpions yesterday. And seeing as Ty was the quarterback he had been in the middle of it all, but that hadn't bothered him. He hadn't gotten home until around 3 in the morning.
Phoenix let out another bark before he bounded up onto the top of Ty's desk. The desk top was almost completely empty. It held only a black laptop, a black iPod video, a fancy fountain pen, a notebook, a math textbook that had never been opened and various remotes for his TV and sound system and radio and lights, fan, air-condition and heat. Phoenix perched on top of the desk, his tail waving like mad.
His swinging tail knocked over the lone notebook. Phoenix looked over the ledge of the desk at the fallen book before looking up at Ty. He had his head cocked to one side and his mouth was slightly open.
Ty groaned but bent down to pick up the notebook anyway. He shuffled up the few papers that had fallen out and stuffed them haphazardly back into the notebook, some of them ended up being creased down the middle but Ty could seem to careless. His attention had fallen on the picture that had fluttered out of the notebook to land on the floor next to one of the wheels on his chair.
Ty bent down to retrieve a photograph that was worn around the edges. He had found it tucked away inside one of his books when he first moved here but he didn't remember ever putting it there. It confused Ty; he didn't understand what it was of or when or where it was taken or who he was with in the picture. Sure he recognized the girl he was with from dreams he had had but that was it. Upon his arrival to his new house 2 years ago he had asked his dad about his life before, more specifically the things he had seen in his dreams, laughing and joking around with a girl, horses, beams falling… his dad had dismissed it all with a curt wave of his hand saying, "Dreams, that's all it is. Just dreams…" before turning back to whatever file he had been working on at the time.
Ty turned the picture in his hands and studied it intently even though he'd seen it a million times before. It showed him when he was around 15 sitting on top of a fence with a brown haired girl that was his age or maybe a year little younger. In the back round were huge leafy green trees, the kind you almost never see in Arizona. It was some kind of forest. He and the girl both wore huge smiles on their faces and there was that ever present mischievous glint in Ty's green eyes. They both looked happy.
Ty had never shown the picture to his father for fear he would throw it away. He didn't know why but the picture had always been special to him.
He sighed and tucked it back into its home inside the notebook. He turned back to Phoenix and stared at his dog while he leaned back in his chair stretching his long arms out in front of himslef.
"So," he contemplated. "What are we going to do today?"
The Peak
Later that day
Pinnacle Peak
Amy, Matt, Soroya, Lou, Scott, Joni and Tom were cruising down a deserted road on their way to have their hike at Pinnacle Peak at a fair speed, about 55 mph, in a dark blue 2005 Dodge Durango.
"You guys are just going to love it!" Lou exclaimed turning around to face the next to rows packed with teenagers. "It's…"
"Look at the hottie behind us!" Joni said appreciatively leaning over the back of the third row of seats.
"Let me see!" Soroya exclaimed excitedly turning around to. Soon enough every female in the car was turned and staring, as best they could, out the back mirror.
There was a dark haired boy driving in a black Ferrari that had the top down. The wind was sexily blowing his hair around his face. He was wearing a pair of tinted sunglasses so his eyes were not visible. He was taping his fingers on the steering wheel looking impatient.
He checked behind him and on the other side of the road before jamming his foot down on the gas and swerving around the Dodge. He lifted a hand in a half hearted wave before speeding off down the road going well over 100 mph.
"That guy just gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, 'put the pedal to the metal'," Matt said appreciatively wishing that he was the one driving the Ferrari.
"Hey, was that that guy you were telling us about before?" Soroya asked Lou and Scott curiously.
"Could be," Scott said after a nervous glance at Lou who just shrugged in return.
Five minutes later they pulled into the visitor's parking lot at Pinnacle Peak. Indeed, the black Ferrari was parked there glinting in the sunlight. The one they figured was the driver was leaning against the driver's door casually and was surrounded by a group of 5 other boys.
The only available spot left was next to the Ferrari so Scott pulled into it. They all piled out of the truck, blinking in the bright afternoon sunlight.
The caught a bit of the group's conversation.
"Killer party last night," the driver said lazily.
"Definitely," the blonde haired guy agreed sounding a bit out of it.
The group started to walk towards the hiking entrance when something stopped them.
"Hey look who it is!" the blonde drawled out lazily. "It's Scott and Lou, back again!" he was slurring his words slightly as if he hadn't quite recovered from whatever party he had been at the night before.
Scott and Lou stopped which caused everyone else to skid to a stop in back of them.
"Oh hey, Mick, right?" Scott called out.
"Si senor," Mick said in a fake Spanish accent. He picked up a hand a gestured for them to come over. Scott and Lou went willingly enough but the others dawdled behind awkwardly.
"So what are you doing back so soon in wonderful AZ?" Mick asked throwing his arms above his head and looking up at the sun glaring over their heads. "Ow, headache," he mumbled and he looked back down at the ground rapidly blinking to try and rid the blurry spots from his eyes.
"We're getting married at SASSI in 3 weeks," Lou answered with a grin.
The group murmured congratulations.
Mick's intense blue eyes fell on the group behind Scott and Lou. "So who is this?"
"Oh right," Lou said. "This is my sister Amy, her friend Soroya, Scott's brother Matt and Tom and Joni, the stable hands at my family's farm." When their name was called each individual raised a hand.
"Nice to meet y'all. This is Rob, Nick, Alex, Dan and…" he stopped on the driver of the Ferrari, Ty to those of us who know him. "And I'm not sure what he's calling himself these days but…"
"My name's David," Ty drawled lazily sounding like he found watching grass grow more interesting than the current conversation or people.
"Didn't you say your name was Brian last time?" Lou asked confused.
"Last time I checked my name was David," Ty challenged back.
"Don't listen to him," Mick said pointing to Ty or David. He grinned insanely before saying, "He's just pissed because he didn't get any at the party last night."
Ty glared icily at Mick. If Mick hadn't been his best friend he would have been eating sand and lizard poop by now. "Me? I don't think so; it's you that didn't get any. You're just jealous of my outrageously good looks," Ty said with a wink that sent Joni and Soroya swooning. But it had no effect on Amy which pissed Ty off; he wasn't used to people not instantly falling for his charm.
Amy was staring at the pavement trying, unsuccessfully, to convince herself that 'David's' voice did not sound familiar, sure it was older and deeper but still familiar. She looked up slowly and took in his appearance. Perfectly tanned and muscled body, a pair of faded jeans that fit in all the right places, worn and scuffed black Converse All Stars and a black t-shirt. His dark brown hair was falling messily in front of his eyes. Than green eyes met gray…
Amy gasped and looked back down at the ground. Ty furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, he was almost positive he had seen this girl before.
"Well we should go," Scott said. "While the weathers nice and all."
The group of boys looked up at the blue sky; the only cloud in sight was a wispy, wimpy little thing that could hardly he classified as a cloud. "Oh yeah," Ty said sarcastically. "That'll bring a drencher I hope you remembered your rain gear."
Lou and Scott laughed lightly be they started to lead their group away but were stopped by Mick saying, "You want to see the Peak the real way?"
"What do you mean?" Scott asked turning around in his tracks.
"Come with us. The trails are boring and crowded with tourists, we know the good spots," he said, challenge evident in his voice.
"What?" Ty asked slowly like he was talking to a bunch of kindergarteners. He wasn't pleased that Mick had just invited a bunch of… tourist, of all people onto his trails to see his spots.
"They can come with us," Mick said facing his best friend. "Come on, it will be fun."
Ty narrowed one eye and sighed not really in the mood to fight. "All right fine, come on. Let's go." He turned around and started walking off into the desert, the complete opposite direction from where the trail head was located. Dan, Alex, Nick, Rob and Mick all followed after Ty without question. Mick turned back around and called to Scott and Lou who were still just standing there,
"Come on! Hurry up!"
The group reluctantly began to follow. "Sheesh they've got their own little dictatorship going on here and this David guy is like their Hitler," Matt said.
The Peak
3 hours later
Ty was lying on his back on a huge bolder basking in the sun just like some of the lizards they had seen earlier waiting for the others to catch up with him. As usual Ty had reached their 'point' first.
He was pulled from his thoughts as someone bumped against his leg. He opened his eyes and leaned up on his elbows. "Oh sorry!" the pretty brunette said quickly, what was her name again? Oh yeah, Amy. She sat down awkwardly next to Ty, well not really next to him; she was more on the other side of the rock.
"No problem," Ty drawled lazily, he was drunk on the sun.
Amy fiddled with a few small pebbles and Ty took the time to study her. She was slim with long, light brown hair pulled away from her face in a simple ponytail, reveling her smoky gray eyes. Her dark denim Bermuda shorts revealed long, beautifully tanned and toned legs. The muscular calves turned to slender ankles before her feet disappeared into her Nike Shocks running shoes.
"Do you run?" Ty asked conversationally gesturing to her running shoes.
Amy looked up, surprised that he had even been talking to her. "What? Oh sometimes just to… you know, clear my head," she clamped her mouth shut and tossed a rock over the side of the boulder looking like she had said to much.
"That's why I like it up here," he gestured to their surroundings.
"It's beautiful," Amy murmured as she took in the view, the cacti, desert, and mountains, the pure green of golf courses in the distance and the luxury homes at he base of the mountain.
"I suppose it is, isn't it?" Ty said sounding like be had never really thought about it that way. He turned his attention back to Amy, "Well if you don't run that what do you do?"
"Oh uh I ride horses." She quickly looked in Ty's direction. "Have you ever ridden?" she asked before she could even comprehend it in her head.
"No," Ty answered simply. "Well at least not that I remember."
"Oh," Amy looked down at the rock uncomfortably and scuffed the heel of her show against it. This was all too familiar, she would have said the person sitting next to her was her old friend, Ty Baldwin but… 1) Apparently his name was David, 2) He acted nothing like the old Ty had, 3) He said he had never ridden and 4) He clearly didn't have any idea who she was.
Just than Mick's shaggy blonde head popped over the edge of the boulder. He grinned and plopped down in between Amy and Ty. "So," he turned to Amy. "How are you getting along with T- I mean David here?"
"Fine," Amy said.
"He can be an ass," Mick said with a shrug of his shoulders as he misinterpreted Amy's brief, simple and unexplanatory answer.
"Thanks," Ty said.
"Well it's true." Mick shrugged.
Ty looked across Mick at Amy. Almost as if she sensed his eyes on him she turned to head to face him. She slowly raised her eyes and his emerald greens met her smoky grays for the second time that day.
And suddenly Ty knew, this was the girl from the picture.
A/n: Review!