Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (3 page)

“Hey, Buddy.” I picked a piece of straw
out of his forelock and fed him a crunchy. “I’ll be back after the
lesson.”

I moved on to Lena’s stall and got her
ready. Once she was saddled we made our way outside to join the
other reiners that trained with Dale.

Tara was loping a smooth circle at the
far end of the arena, her dirty blond hair pulled back into a
ponytail. She looked up and her caramel colored eyes squinted in
the sun. Foxy, her sorrel mare, stopped quickly when she was asked.
Ben was on his gelding, Baldy, a big brown and white paint with
brown eyes that matched Ben’s. Ben ran a hand through his light
brown hair and shook out pollen fuzz that had landed on his
head.

We waited another ten minutes while
four other riders either walked over from the barn or pulled up
with their trailers.

Dale pulled up with his trailer and
walked one of his colts off.

By ten o’clock the lesson was underway.
By noon, we were all sweating and hungry.

“Ok, guys!” Dale dismissed us. “Have a
good weekend. I’ll be here at six on Wednesday if you want to get
one more in before next weekend. And remember, we are leaving at
four on Friday so we can get to Carefree Stables early enough to
have a quick lesson before we bed the horses down for the night.
Joan, try to make sure you’re there for that one, it will give
Spike some time to get used to being away from home.”

I hopped off of Lena and loosened her
cinch. We headed back to her stall where she ate her oats while I
unsaddled and brushed her.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Dodge as I
passed his stall to go grab the lunch out of the fridge. I passed
Shaynna saddling Macho.

“Meet you outside,” she
said.

I got back to Dodge’s stall, saddled
him, and tied the saddle bags on. He quietly followed me down the
aisle and we made our way outside where I swung on and gave his
neck a pat.

We headed out at a walk, taking our
time in the warm afternoon. An hour later we were at the
bridge.

“Man, I’m starving!” I stripped Dodge’s
saddle off and put his hobbles on so he could wander around and eat
grass.

We were almost done eating when
Shaynna’s phone rang. She talked for a few minutes, a big grin on
her face.

“That was Shawn. He’s in town today and
wants to take me out to dinner and a movie.” She beamed. Was it
really possible to be that happy? For her sake, I hoped so. “Do you
mind if we start heading back? I need to have a shower and dress up
a bit.”

“Sure. I want to show you that trail on
the way back. Should I tell Tara you’re ditching on movie night
tonight?” I smiled when she blushed.

“I totally forgot about
that!”

“That’s ok. I’m sure she’ll understand.
Ever since she and Ben have started dating, she’s been just as
annoying as you with this mushy stuff!”

She laughed. “You know, Hayden. One of
these days you’ll meet some guy who is more interesting than
Dodge.” She frowned a bit. “And who isn’t a total jackass.” Her
mood lightened a bit and she grinned at me. “And when that happens,
I will be the first to say I told you so!”

I laughed with her, but shook my head.
“Don’t hold your breath!”

The horses saddled, we started out past
the bridge. We took a left at the forks and got the horses into a
jog.

“So where’s this mystery trail of
yours?”

“It should be just up ahead. It was
just after the clearing.”

Two minutes later we were past the
clearing. Ten minutes later there was still no trail.

“I could have sworn I saw a trail
yesterday!”

“Maybe you were daydreaming. You know
you do that a lot.” She laughed.

“Maybe.” But I didn’t think
so.

Shay’s phone went off again. I rolled
my eyes for her benefit and smiled.

“Yeah. She’s here. Hang on.” She reined
Macho in closer to Dodge and handed me her phone. “It’s
Tara.”

“Hello?’

“Hayden, where’s your phone? I’ve been
trying to get a hold of you. I have to cancel for tonight. My
pharmacology class is having a study session. I hope that’s
ok.”

“Sure. No problem. I should really
study for finals anyway. Speaking of that, can I still borrow your
genetics notes from last year? There are a few classes I know I
missed.”

“Ok. I’ll drop them off at your house
when I leave later.”

“Sounds good.”

Tara was a year ahead of me in the vet
med program.

I handed Shay her phone
back.

I looked at my side for my phone, but
it wasn’t there.

“Hang on, Shay.” I stopped and hopped
off of Dodge and went through my saddle bags. “Crap.”

“What is it?”

“I must have dropped my phone by the
bridge.” I looked back along the trail. “Why don’t you just go
ahead? I’ll run back and get my phone. We wouldn’t want you to be
late for your date!” I teased her.

“Are you sure?”

“Go. I shouldn’t be too far behind you
anyway.”

“Ok. I’ll talk to you
tomorrow.”

“Have fun!”

She smiled and turned Macho back
towards the barns. I swung back up onto Dodge and turned him
towards the bridge. “Sorry, Buddy. I’ll make it up to you when we
get back. Extra oats and some molasses, promise.”

When we got to the bridge it took me
all of three seconds to find my phone. It was sitting under the
tree where the saddles had been leaning.

“All right, Dodge. Let’s head home.” We
trotted over the bridge, took the left fork, and passed through the
meadow. Dodge stopped short almost causing me to go over his
head.

You really have to stop daydreaming! I
scowled at myself.

I straightened myself up and looked
around to see what had taken Dodge by surprise. My jaw dropped. The
trail was back!

“How is that even possible?” I had just
been here with Shay and the trail had been nowhere to be found. I
looked to the top of the hill, thinking he would be waiting. I was
surprised at how disappointed I was that he wasn’t
there.

Dodge took a few steps forward onto the
narrow trail, then stopped and pricked his ears back at me as if to
ask if he should go on.

“Well, I guess we have a bit of time
now that everything got cancelled. But not to long.” He seemed
happy with that and started forward again.

It was a beautiful trail and I lost
track of time as we wandered down it. Up ahead, the sun seemed
brighter. The trees started thinning and we went along until we
were in a beautiful meadow. The grass was chest high on Dodge. And
there were flowers of every color imaginable. At the far end was a
clear blue creek that ran down a hill.

“Wow! This is great!” Dodge wasn’t
listening. He was too busy picking off the tips of the grass around
him.

I caught my breath at almost the exact
moment Dodge’s head snapped up to look at the far end of the
meadow. There, sitting on a large rock by the creek, was the man I
had seen on the hill.

He was staring, his eyes slightly
narrowed, as if he was deep in thought. I stared back, unable to do
anything else. For me, the meadow was gone. All that existed were
his eyes. The light headed feeling came again and I reminded myself
to breath. I inhaled slowly, not wanting a repeat of
yesterday.

Dodge took a few steps forward. I saw
the man tense and got Dodge to stop. I broke my eyes away from his
and took the time to notice the features which had escaped my
memory the previous day. His face was beautiful. A strong jaw, high
cheek bones, slightly slanted eyes and a nose that showed evidence
of having been broken at one point were all surrounded by messy,
dark brown curls and a couple days stubble. He was wearing khaki
colored pants and a white cotton shirt that seemed to cling to
every muscle in his arms, chest, and shoulders as the breeze blew
it against his body.

He stood in one fluid motion. It was so
fast I expected him to dash away. Instead, he walked over slowly,
like he was unsure of what he should do. The closer he got, the
more perfect he looked.

He stopped a few horse lengths ahead of
Dodge.

“Hello.”

My jaw dropped. His voice was
unbelievable. It was deep and soft. Shivers went down my
back.

He smiled. “Are you
alright?”

I snapped my mouth shut. God, I’m an
idiot! I thought to myself. To him I said, “I’m fine. I’m just a
little surprised to see anyone out here.”

His grin got bigger. He walked closer
and put a hand on Dodge’s nose. “Nice horse.”

“Thanks. His name is Dodge.”

He stroked Dodge’s face, staring
intently at him. After a brief moment he nodded, the movement so
small I wasn’t sure I had seen it. He looked up at me.

“I’m Jasper.”

“I’m Hayden.” I blushed. “So do you do
a lot of hiking?”

He looked confused.

“I just thought, you know. That’s two
days I see you on the trails and there isn’t much out here...” my
voice trailed off as his eyes continued to stare into mine and I
forgot what I was saying.

“Oh. Yes.” He smiled. “I love hiking.
It gives me time to think.”

“So are there any nice spots around
here?” I wanted to keep him talking so he wouldn’t say he had to
go.

“There’s a little waterfall just few
minutes away. Would you like to see it?”

I glanced at my watch. Three o’clock.
“Sure. I have a bit of time before I have to head back.”

He started leading the way and I
followed behind on Dodge. A little voice in the back of my head
tried to talk some sense into me.

That’s it, Hayden. Let’s go deeper into
the woods with the strange man...

“How old are you?” I asked, trying to
shut out the little voice.

“Twenty-eight. You?”

“Twenty-three.”

He looked back at me and smiled.
“Almost there.” We had taken another, smaller trail by the creek.
As we moved further along the sound of the waterfall got
clearer.

“Oh! Wow! It’s beautiful!”

The waterfall wasn’t big, but it was
clear and the water shone like diamonds where the sunlight hit it.
There was a little pond at the base of the waterfall and it was
surrounded by a perfect white sanded beach.

“You like it?” Jasper asked. He seemed
please.

“I love it!” I swung off of Dodge and
simply stood staring at the water.

Jasper was looking at Dodge again.
After a few thoughtful minutes he shook his head.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

He looked at me, surprised. “Nothing.
Just thinking.” He sat on the sand and patted the ground beside
him.

“I don’t think I have time.” I looked
at my watch. Three o’clock. “Hey, do you have the time? I think my
watch is broken.”

“No. Sorry.”

I pulled my cell phone out and looked
at the time on the screen. Three o’clock.

“Well, that’s weird.” I
muttered.

“What is?” He looked up at me from the
ground.

“When I checked the time a little while
ago it was three o’clock. Now both my watch and my cell phone say
three o’clock still.”

He shrugged. “Maybe you read it wrong
the first time.”

“Maybe. But I don’t think so.” I looked
down at him and decided I wasn’t quite ready to leave.

He smiled as I sat down. “So, Hayden.
What else do you do besides ride through trails?”

I glanced at him, wondering just how
much information I should give him. “Well, I’m taking Vet Med at
the university, for one.”

He nodded and looked
impressed.

“I also train horses in my spare time.
Other than that, not much. You?”

He looked surprised I was interested.
“Um...well. I’m in the army.”

“Wow! That’s great! I thought of
joining when I was younger. We had a career day in high school and
all these different schools and professions had booths set up... It
was a toss-up between the army or the police force.” I laughed.
“But I’ve always liked animals better than people.”

He grinned.

“So what made you chose the army?” I
asked.

Jasper picked a small rock from beside
him and tossed it into the pond. “I was born into it. My whole
family is military. It never occurred to me to do anything
else.”

A bird chirped overhead and I glanced
up. “I’ve never seen that many bluebirds together,” I remarked.
There were about twelve of them up in the trees.

“Hmm.” Jasper glanced up. “I’ve never
really noticed.” He tilted his head to the side quickly then
straightened it.

“Are you ok?” I frowned a
bit.

His eyes widened. “Oh. Yes. I have a
bit of a sore neck. Nothing too important.” He did it again and the
blue birds flew away at the motion.