Farm Girl Meets Bad Boy (#1)

Chapter Six

Side by side, we gallop back to my farm. The sound of hooves echo’s over the flat land, until we reach the small curve of the hill that overlooks the barn. Mary pulls Patch to a stop, and I do the same.

“Is that him?” She puts her flattened hand over her eyes to block the sun as she squints. Sure enough, Emery is leaning against the barn, doing nothing and probably watching us. I’m sure Dad had told him to spread some hay or pour fresh water into the troughs, but as we learned earlier, Emery isn’t much for work.

“Yes, that’s him,” I mutter. Mary grins at me, before putting Patch in a full speed gallop down the hill. Sighing, I follow her and do the same.

When I catch up to Mary and we slow to a stop in front of the barn, Emery is staring at us in shock. He looks surprised, and is that worry upon his face?

“What’s wrong?” Chirps Mary. “Never seen a horse before?”

We slide down off our horses, still holding the reigns as Emery shakes his head no. Mark strokes Patch’s head, as I lead Silver towards Emery.

“You’ve never seen a horse before? Seriously?”

“No, not in person.” I raise my eyebrows in shock. How had he not seen a horse before, when he had been hiding out in my family barn in the middle of horse country? Which reminds me, that I still need to figure out why he was in my family’s barn, anyways.

“Here, this is Silver,” I walk Silver closer until she’s a foot away from Emery. He moves to the right, avoiding the grey horse that is towering over him. “Don’t be afraid, touch her.”

“No.” Snaps Emery, taking another step back.

I move Silver back towards Emery, who moves again. “Just pet her, Emery. It’s not a big deal.”

He moves out of the way again, as Mary watches holding in her laughter. “Cut it out, River. I said no!”

I step my horse towards him again, ignoring the stern use of my name. When Emery realizes that I’m as stubborn as he is, he slowly reaches out towards my gentle horse.

“See, it’s not so ba-“ I don’t get to finish, as just before Emery’s fingers gently trail Silver’s nose, she rises to her back legs and neighs loudly. Emery stumbles backwards; looking scared, and falls into a pile of hay. It’s like deja-vu from when I found him in the barn.

“You stupid bitch,” Emery growls at me, as I restrain Silver and back her away. Emery jumps to his feet and brushes himself off. “I told you no!”

I know I’m in for it as he beings to walk angrily towards me, but somehow, Mary gets in the way. She stands between us, and holds out her hand.

“I’m Mary, and you must be Emery.” Relieved, I lead Silver into the barn and begin to unsaddle her. I watch as Emery ignores Mary’s waiting hand, and stalks into the barn. I’m putting the saddle on the rack when Emery stops in front of me, with Mary holing Patch behind him.

I know he’s about to do something harmful, or say something rude, but before he can, Dad walks into the barn. I know this wouldn’t stop Emery, just delay him.

“Hello Mary. Lovely day, isn’t it?” He holds onto the end of his cowboy hat and nods.

“Lovely indeed, Mr. Snow,” she replies, brushing Patch.

I avoid the glaring eyes that Emery is clearly boring into the side of my head, and focus on picking out Silver’s hooves.

“Are you staying for dinner? It’s in half an hour, and we wouldn’t want you walking home and missing dinner, now would we, River?” I bite my tongue. The first time I would have dinner didn’t seem like a suitable place for Mary to be. What is Emery tries to stab my neck with a fork?