Riley jumped into the water, splashing me. Then he grabbed my feet and pulled me into the water while I kicked and screamed and tried to get away, but it was no use. He pulled me in, and my head went under the water. I came up gasping, ready to declare war.
“You are going to regret that, Riley Reys,” I said.
“Oh yeah, honeybee? What are you going to do about it?”
I launched myself at him in a water wrestling move, and we both went under laughing. In our water pro wrestling, he got more handfuls of boobs and ass than a male porn star. Meanwhile I avoided anything that would lead us to complicated feelings. I would not hook up with Riley Reys. I would not cross that line, despite the butterflies in my stomach telling me I should.
Fourteen
Ifelt lighter than air as I walked back to my trailer. I would never, ever admit the cause of this feeling, but it was there, and I couldn’t change it.
Riley and I had duked it out in the pool. He only tried to pull me under one more time before I taught him a lesson. He might be icing his balls later.
We had this easy truce that had developed. While we weren’t dating for real, there was a comfortable friendship forming. It wasn’t quite what we had before Shiloh’s death, but a lot had changed since then.
We both hit puberty for starters, and we both had to pretend that the other wasn’t attractive. Now that we weren’t at odds and overcome by anger, it was easier to admit he was good to look at.
I wasn’t sure how I would survive this without catching feelings for him. I already felt something stirring from our time at the pool and did my best to repress it. He might regret it now, but he said and did a lot of horrible things to me over the years. I might be willing to forgive, but I was not able to forget, not yet. And I was certainly not ready to be Riley’s fake or real anything. I was just trying to earn my tuition for vet school.
I settled in for the evening after taking a nice cool shower. I did some studying and took an online test, this time passing it because the power remained on. When my brain hurt from the hours of schoolwork, I made myself comfortable on the couch and turned on Netflix.
So many good movies were watched on this couch with my parents. So many good conversations and good cries. We had it all here, in this little trailer. It was up to me to live for them, to keep making good memories here. To keep our family legacy intertwined with the legacy of Golden Reys Farm.
I blamed the nostalgia on a cheesy movie.
I fell asleep on the couch, my eyes burning from hours of staring at a screen. I was in a deep sleep, dreaming about getting accepted into veterinary school.
In my dream, I had picked the school, and Shiloh was there, wagging his tail. In my dream, I saved her. Then suddenly, I was pulled from the dream by what sounded like a herd of angry horses and a loud screech, like a loud cat.
I was still half asleep, but I swear it sounded like a mountain lion. It had been a long time since we had one of those on the property, which was the way it should be.
I immediately jumped up, grabbed a large knife from the kitchen, and ran out the door, barefoot. The temperature had dropped down, and it was a little chilly. The ground felt cold on my feet, but I was quiet as I approached.
Mountain lions were clever, and I had no doubt they would try to jump through the windows into the stable. Whichever stall he picked, that horse would stand no chance, caged with a predictor like that.
“Get away!” I shouted to the mountain lion as it entered my view.
It was a large cat, and it was watching the horses through the windows, picking its victim. The horses were all screaming out and stomping their hooves. They had sensed the cat long before I did.
I carefully approached the predator while still screaming at it, hoping to draw its attention away from the horses.
“Go!” I screamed. “Get lost!”
The cat turned its head and narrowed its gaze at me. Then it turned its body and remained low to the ground. I was close enough to see the cat’s eyes dilate, finding new prey. The light from the barn illuminated the predator, and he was preparing to pounce on me. His back end was poised high, and the tail flicked back and forth.
I was in deep shit.
I held the knife in front of me as I got low to the ground to protect my organs in case it took a swipe at me. I kept the knife positioned there, so if it did jump me, it would impale itself on the large butcher knife. The cat took another small step forward, and I took one backward.
“Leave!” I shouted to the cat, hoping to scare it into leaving without attacking.
I noticed more light dance across the ground in front of me from a source behind me. Then I heard a gunshot, and then another one.
Who the hell was shooting at this cat while it so close to me?
Two more shots sent the cat in the opposite direction. It finally got the message that it was not wanted here. When the cat disappeared into the tree line at the other end of the property, I turned around to look at where the shots came from.
Riley was standing there in just his boxers holding a shotgun. The sight of him brought me some relief, but I caught myself and quickly reined it in.
