I gasped before I could stop myself. I covered my mouth, praying he didn't hear it.
No such luck.
He spun around, looking directly at the door. "Who's there?" he asked.
Instead of answering him I spun on my heel and quickly ran down the stairs.
"Amy there you are!" said Lou's voice making me wish she hadn't come at that moment.
"Uh . . . hey Lou . . . what's up?" I asked.
"Well you missed Mr. Forest and Stephanie but they filled out the application and put down a deposit, so we just need to make sure Storm's tack trunk is packed for tomorrow by ten, and hopefully Storm will do well enough to go to a new home," she said.
"Yeah . . . uh . . . that's great Lou," I replied not really paying attention. I couldn't get the image of those scars out of my mind.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm . . . I'm fine," I replied.
"Okay . . . well did you give Ty the message?" she asked.
"What message?" asked Ty's voice as he came downstairs, with a different t-shirt on, and stood next to me.
"Uh Grandpa wants to know if you can help him fix one of the fences," I replied. "And yeah I just did."
The silence that followed was too much; I turned my eyes to the ground, wishing someone would break it.
Lou looked between me and Ty, probably thinking that something more was going on. "Is everything okay with you two?" she asked.
"Nothing we can't handle," said Ty since I couldn't think of anything to say at that moment.
"Okay . . . well I'm gonna go run into town, do either of you need anything?" she asked.
I shook my head.
"No, I'm good," said Ty, and I could feel him staring at me.
Basically meaning I'm not gonna escape from this I said to myself, wishing I could disappear.
"Okay, see you two later," she said and left.
"I'm gonna go get the evening feeds . . ." I began, turning to go toward the Feed Room when he grabbed my arm, making me stop and turn toward him.
"You saw my back didn't you?" he asked.
What could I say? It's not exactly a secret thanks to Lou blowing any chance of me saying 'no I didn't'. And, unfortunately, I never could lie. "Yeah," I muttered. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," I added.
He sighed. "Yeah well . . . those scars are a part of the truth that you're not ready to listen to just yet," he replied.
"How do you know unless you actually tell me?" I asked.
"So you're saying you trust me enough that if you fell backwards, while blindfolded, you would trust that I'd catch you?" he asked.
Okay, he had me on that one.
"Maybe someday we'll have to test that theory," I replied.
"Maybe," he said, letting go of my arm. "Just . . . don't mention it to anybody else about the scars."
"Okay," I said and began walking toward the Feed Room when, for some reason, I turned back toward him. "Hey um . . . Ashley's having a bonfire in a couple of weeks and . . . I was wondering . . ." I began, wondering how exactly I was going to invite with him without sounding like I did trust him.
"If I would like to go?" he asked.
"Yeah," I replied.
He shrugged. "Sure, not much else going on," he replied.
"Okay, I'll let Ashley know," I said and left, feeling the adrenaline rush flowing through my body at having done something I thought I'd never do. Too bad I'm not at a competition, I definitely would have won the class for that one I thought.
The rest of the afternoon and evening passed by smoothly; I made sure Storm's tack was cleaned and polished, and everything he owned except for the traveling wraps and his grooming kit was packed up. I spent an hour with him doing T-touch to help him relax.
"Guess what boy? You're going to a new place for a bit to see if you're compatible for their riders," I whispered to him. "I know you're gonna do great there . . . just behave and do your best. Stephanie looks as though she knows what she's doing and I know she's gonna take care of you."
He snorted, but was too relaxed because of the massage I was giving him to do much of anything else.
After helping Lou with the supper dishes, I worked on my schoolwork so that I didn't have to worry about it tomorrow considering not only did I had to send Storm off, but I also was going to be busy with settling Starlight into his stall.
I don't know if it was because I talked to him or because I was wondering how he had gotten those scars on his back, but I barely managed to finish my schoolwork by midnight, and by then I knew everyone was already asleep.
Maybe a visit to Spartan will help me calm down I thought, closing my textbook and binder, and grabbing my jacket before quietly heading downstairs.
The house was quiet and dark, but I didn't need to turn on the lights in order to see where I was going; I knew this house better than I knew the back of my own hand, having lived here my whole life.
I slipped my jacket on and grabbed my boots, not wanting to wake up Grandpa, and quietly eased the door open and slipped out, gently closing the door behind me. I walked down the steps and sat down, pulling on my boots, before walking toward the barn.
The sounds of contented horses settling in for the night greeted me as I entered the barn, trying not to alert Ty that someone was in the barn.
"Hey boy," I called softly to Spartan when I reached his stall.
Spartan let out a breath and came over to the door.
"Yeah, you missed going out on trail rides all the time huh?" I asked him. "Well guess what? Starting tomorrow, we'll be able to go riding; maybe we'll even enter a small show, wouldn't that be cool?"
"Yeah that'd be great, braiding my mane and tail and riding around like a crazy lunatic," said a male voice from within the stall.
"What the . . ." I began, wondering who the heck was in my horse's stall, when the answer came in the form of Ty standing up from where he'd been kneeling in the straw. "Ty!"
He laughed and walked over to me. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist," he said.
I punched him in the arm. "That's not funny," I said.
"Oh come on, you can't tell me that every time you talk to one of the horses, you don't expect them to talk back?" he asked rubbing his arm where I'd hit him.
"No because I don't usually have a smart-alec guy hiding in one of the stalls," I said. "What are you doing up so late?"
"I can ask you the same thing," he replied.
"I couldn't sleep is all," I said.
"Uh-huh and do you always come down to the barn to talk to Spartan?" he asked.
"Well he's a lot better listener than most people," I replied. "You should try it some time."
He thought about it for a second. "Yeah maybe I will," he said and turned to Spartan. "So what do you say Spartan? You want to be my counselor?"
Spartan whickered and shook his head.
"No? Well what if I paid you?" asked Ty, making me laugh.
Spartan surprised me and actually bobbed his head up and down.
"Really? Alright, let me get back to you on the price later on and we'll talk," said Ty.
Spartan snorted and walked into the back of his stall.
Ty shook his head as he came out of the stall and closed the door. "Crazy horse," he replied.
"Yeah, he's always been crazy, but he has a good heart," I said.
"So . . . do you want to stay here? Or go back up to the house?" asked Ty.
I shrugged. "I don't know, I can't really sleep, I'm too wound up," I replied.
He nods his head. "Well if you would like some company, I'm not tired myself," he said.
"Sure," I said, for some reason following my heart instead of my mind.
Don't do it, you'll regret it later said that annoying voice.
Oh shut up I said to myself.
"Can I show you something?" he asked.
"Sure, where is it?" I asked.
"Follow me," he replied. "Hopefully Jack won't mind if we drive off for a bit."
"Drive off? How far is this place?" I asked following him out to his truck.
"You'll see," he replied opening the passenger door.
I stepped into the truck and settled myself into the seat before he closed the door behind me. He walked around the front and got into the driver's seat, turning the ignition on, and driving out of the driveway.
We drove for about an hour; he seemed to know where he was going, but, while I recognized the Heartland property, I couldn't recognize anything in the beams of light coming from the headlights of the truck.
Suddenly, he pulled off to the side of the road, cut the ignition off, and grabbed the blanket that was lying in the back. "Come on," he said getting out of the truck.
"Ty, where are we?" I asked getting out of the truck as well and following him to the back where the bed was.
He lowered the tailgate and climbed in, spreading the blanket out.
"Just trust me," he said holding his hand out for me to grab so he could help me up.
I accepted his hand and allowed him to help me climb into the bed of the truck. "Okay, so what are we doing here?" I asked as we settled ourselves onto the blanket.
"Well a few nights ago, I was out here one night, and I came across a beautiful sight at about this time," he explained.
"And what was it?" I asked, but my answer came almost before I even finished my sentence.
Several whinnies came from the direction of the mountains and, just as the clouds uncovered the full moon, I looked to see Ghost, the horse we had rescued five years ago, come trotting into view with his mares and foals.
"Oh wow," I said, watching as the herd settled down to rest and graze.
"Yeah, I thought you would like to see them," he replied.
"Wait a few nights ago? How long have you been back?" I asked.
He sighed. "About a week," he replied. "I've been coming to visit the farm ever since I got back into town."
"Why didn't you come back sooner?" I asked.
He sighed. "I didn't know if it was a good time to come visit," he replied.
At my confused look, he looked down at his sneakers. "Amy, when my mom married Wade, we fell into a lot of debt because of his gambling problem," he explained. "And, seeing no other way out, I joined a gang so as to help pay off some of his debt."
I stayed quiet, not wanting to ruin this moment. Ty was trusting me enough to talk about his past and there was no way I was going to interrupt him. "Go on," I said.
"It was alright for a while, every bit of money I earned from them went to pay the bills, payback loan sharks and the like, I even earned the leader's respect, and we made a deal when I was fifteen," he said.
"What deal was that?" I asked.
"That when I turned eighteen, I would be allowed to leave," he replied. "The problem was . . . I got arrested and sent to Juvenile Detention a month after making that deal. After that I got sent here."
"But . . . you don't have to go back do you?" I asked.
He didn't answer me right away, which made me worry that I would lose him again. "That I can't answer just yet," he said. "I still have some unfinished business to attend to."
I don't know if I was more upset that he wouldn't tell me the answer, or that he might have to go back to the gang he mentioned. Either way, I couldn't . . . lose him again, or else, I would not be able to come back from it.
I looked down, feeling hot liquid pooling in my eyes, but I didn't care if I was crying. "Please stay," I whispered.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I want you to," I replied back, my voice breaking for a bit. There I had said it; the one thing I kept in my heart that I never mentioned to anyone besides Spartan.
I felt his warm hand on the side of my face and I looked up to see him looking straight at me.
"Amy, I didn't want to leave the first time, but . . . I left so that you would be safe," he said, his thumb wiping away the tears that slid down my cheeks. "I will have to go back for a few days so as to settle some unfinished business, but I will be coming back." He leaned his face closer to mine until our foreheads were touching.
I felt my breath catch in my throat and I stared into his brown eyes.
"I promise," he breathed before closing the gap between us, and our lips met for the first time since that night in the barn five years ago.
Okay, so you know part of Ty's history, the rest will be coming soon, and I know I made Caleb a jerk, can't help it. It's an AU and I never did like Caleb anyway he was just too egotistical for me to even like him. I will update as soon as I can and hopefully within the next few chapters we will find out more; but I'm thinking that I'm almost coming to the end. Will Fiona and Starlight get along? Who knows. That part might wait until the second story.