My Despicable Ex (Book 1) (10 page)

We’d be staying at the popular and historic Phantom Ranch, in
a cabin equipped only with bunk beds,
bedding, a toilet, a sink, some soap, and a few towels.
Fortunately, there were showers not too far away. It was the only
place to stay below the rim of the Grand Canyon, and the isolated
accommodations could only be reached by hiking, rafting, or mules.
We’d take the Bright Angel Trail down, eat lunch at Indian Garden,
then ride along the cliffs of the Inner Gorge until we crossed the
Colorado River via suspension bridge and rode up Bright Angel
Canyon to the ranch. If I hadn’t been traveling with someone I
loathed, it would have sounded like some grand adventure right off
the pages of a Hemingway novel.

“
Goodnight,” I said.

“
Goodnight,” he echoed, then went to make himself comfortable
on the couch.

I stayed
outside for another hour, just enjoying all the moonlight and stars
and doing a lot of pondering. I wasn’t sure what I felt about Jake
anymore. Part of me would always love him, but there was a part of
me that still hated him for what he’d done to me. Part of me wanted
to throw myself into his arms and feel his sweet kisses again, but
the other part, which seemed to be speaking the loudest in my head,
wanted to slap him across the face.

Chapter 7

I woke up
early, showered, and got ready for the day. I slipped into a pair
of blue jeans, a long-sleeved shirt. I finished my ensemble off
with some stylish hiking boots Nadia had bought me prior to one of
our fall hikes. Since I’d worn them a few times to break them in, I
knew they’d be comfortable. I put on minimal makeup and pulled my
hair back into a long ponytail. I was sure it’d be chilly, since it
was only April, so I grabbed my favorite denim jacket, with a
vintage wash and bronze buttons. I also made sure to slip my
sunglasses into my front pocket.

Suddenly, something caught my eye on the table: a bouquet of a
dozen white roses. My curiosity piqued, I slipped the card out of
the small envelope and read it under my breath:
“
A life with love will have some thorns,
but a life without love will have no roses. I love you so much.
Please forgive me.”
I bit my lip and thought about those words. Jake couldn’t move
on with his life knowing how hurt I was. Maybe he needed to hear me
say I’d forgiven him, but I couldn’t lie to him like
that.

Jake was on the patio when I walked out to see the sunrise on
the rim, one of the most glorious natural displays I’d ever seen.
Horizontal layers of pink and orange streaked across the gorgeous
morning sky as the sun peaked through. He was dressed casually in
dark-washed jeans, a long-sleeved button-down shirt, and
brown hiking boots with thick soles for
traction.
His
shirt showed off the solid wall of muscle underneath. He looked
like he was ready to go on a desert mission, and I somewhat missed
his tropical, wind-blown look. Jake stared at the beautiful sight.
“A show like this gives the start of a day a whole new meaning,” he
said, holding a cup of coffee.

“
Without a doubt.”

He gazed up at
me and smiled. “You look stunning, as usual. I gotta admit, I’m
kinda jealous of those jeans, squeezing you in all the right
places.”

“
Um, thanks,” I said, a bit taken aback by his bluntness, “and
thank you for the flowers.”

“
It
was nothing really. I have a lot of making up to do.”

I stared at
him, confused. “It’s too late to fix things, Jake. You can’t put a
Band-aid on open-heart surgery.”

He set his
coffee down on the patio table. “I’m not one to give up on things,
Ashly. You, of all people, should know that.”

“
Really? Because you gave up on us.”

He cleared his
throat, shook his head, and took another sip of coffee.

I couldn’t
meet his gaze and stared at the patio table. “I guess you were
never one to quit before, now that I think about it,” I said,
throwing the poor guy a bone. “The roses and that card were,
uh…thoughtful. But let’s not turn this experience into something it
isn’t. Let’s just get through this as painlessly as possible for
both of us.”

He motioned me
forward. “C’mere and look!” he said, pointing.

I glanced down
from the balcony and watched deer grazing on dew-laden grass, a
sweet scene like one in a painting or on a greeting card. “How
cute,” I said.

Jake came from behind and
wrapped his
hands around my waist, pulling me close.
“Do you see the babies?” he said, his
hot breath hitting the skin on my neck, sending shivers down
my spine.

I tried to pretend like his
touch didn’t faze me, but it was hard to tune out the gorgeous hunk
wrapped around me.
“Yeah, I see them,” I said, turning around to face him. Once I
was free of his grasp, I slowly stepped back.

“
I
love this place. All this nature and quiet makes you slow down and
think about the important things in life,” he said, staring into my
eyes.

This time, it
was my turn to clear my throat and shake my head. “So, anyway…are
you, uh, all packed for our overnighter at Phantom
Ranch?”

“
Ready as I’ll ever be.”

He smiled as
if he was sure I was smitten with him all over again, but I most
definitely wasn’t. I had gotten over him a long time ago, and I
refused to let his charm and handsome swallow me up again. I knew
Jake would have no trouble with the ladies wherever he went. Even
the receptionist at the lodge had shamelessly checked him out and
flirted with him with me standing right next to him, checking in to
the same suite. He hadn’t flirted back, but I was sure that was
just because he was trying to impress me. For the time being, I
only had to tolerate him, and it would be quite easy to ignore one
jackass while I was bouncing atop another on my way down into the
Grand Canyon.

Jake reached
under his bed and grabbed a plastic bag. “I bought something for us
at the gift shop,” he said. He then pulled a brown cowboy hat out
of the bag and put it on, leaving some of his bed-head hair out to
sweep his broad shoulders. He looked hot and I wondered if he ever
wore a cowboy hat in Texas.

I really
didn’t want to accept a gift from him, and I thought it best to
tell him so. He’d already gone overboard with the roses. “Um,
that’s nice and all, but I don’t really need a hat. Thanks
anyway.”

Ignoring me,
he slipped the hat on my head. “Yes you do. The sun will be beating
down on us all the way down. It’s a five-hour ride on donkeys. This
will keep the sun off your face.”

I looked in
the mirror. “It doesn’t look too bad.”

“
It’s cute…and it matches your outfit.”

“
I
look like a real cowgirl, huh?”

“
Honey, I’d lasso you anytime.” He smiled and led me out the
door before I could possibly object to him talking to me that
way.

After a
rundown on proper mule-handling, I mounted my ride rather
easily.

Our tour
guide, a man with a scraggily beard and greasy cowboy hat of his
own, patted the animal. “This is Earl. He’s a good one, but he
likes to sway a little too close to the edge.”

I swallowed
hard. “Can I have a different mule then?”

“
Hmm. I s’pose I could put you on Harvey, but he’s a real
risk-taker. I think it’d be better if your boyfriend rides
him.”

I blew a long strand of
black hair from my eyes, frustrated that yet another stranger had
presumed we were a couple.
“Jake is not my boyfriend.”

The man
grinned. “Really? Coulda fooled me, girl, ‘cause he sure was
checkin’ your ass out as you climbed aboard Earl.”

I couldn’t
help but chuckle, flattered that I still had it. I glanced over my
shoulder at Jake, and he winked at me. My cheeks burned with
emotions I couldn’t quite determined, perhaps a little bit of anger
and embarrassment all rolled into one.

All of the
sudden, a gust of wind blew the guide’s hat off his head, spooking
my mule into a bucking fit.

“
Calm down, Earl,” the guide softly coaxed.

“
Is
he gonna act like that on the walk down?” I asked
nervously.

“
Nah, he’ll be okay. He just gets a little jumpy sometimes,
that’s all. But I assure you Earl’s completely dependable and safe.
He’s made a ton of trips down, and he ain’t never lost a
soul.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Absolutely. Mules have
been haulin’ people in and out of the canyon for as long as I can
remember. Heck, these asses have been haulin’ asses since the
1800s, and no one has ever died.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “That’s
good to know.”

“
Just watch out for
wasps.”

“
What?” I glanced at Jake,
and he smirked.

“
Yesterday, a wasp stung a
mule on the trail. He snorted and jumped something
fierce.”

“
Um…okay. I’ll try to stay
clear, but it might be hard on a narrow trail.”

The guy gave Earl an encouraging pat.
“You’ll do just fine, pretty lady. I can tell already that Earl’s
got a crush on you.”

I looked down
at the smelly animal, nodded, and smiled halfheartedly. “That’s
good…I guess,” I said.

We
started out through the
ponderosa pine and
juniper forest.
It
was so peaceful, and we were serenaded by chattering squirrels and
chirping birds. We even saw a few elk and a mule deer grazing away,
as if they didn’t care that we were there.

After a while, the path narrowed until it was
just wide enough for the mules to go
single-file.
Minutes later, the trail sloped a bit. As we trudged along,
the terrain grew rougher, and the landscape seemed to get steeper
with every edge-teetering step. I leaned back in the saddle, hoping
Earl would live up to his sure-footed reputation. My feet pushed
against the stirrups for stability. The first few minutes were the
scariest.
Right
side, red rock wall. Left side,
I thought, gulping,
a big, huge drop!
My mule snorted as I stared down at the jagged,
prickly slope that seemed to be getting more menacing by the
second. I hoped he knew what he was doing. I was also thankful for
the cowboy hat, and I made a mental note to thank Jake
later.

As we rode
down the narrow path to the bottom, I bounced up and down, hanging
on for dear life over the steep terrain as my mule teetered
precariously near the edge on the hairpin turns. I sucked in a deep
breath, hoping Earl didn’t have a death wish. If he made one
misstep with any of his four hooves, I knew we’d both tumble
thousands of feet.

Finally, when I realized that Earl knew what he was doing, I
just enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. I couldn’t stop
marveling at the beauty of the canyon’s colorful
pinnacles, buttes, and mesas.

Jake was riding in front of me, his
broad shoulders hunched forward as he held the reins. I chuckled as
his body jerked up and down atop Harvey. I loved the way Jake’s
thick, wavy hair whipped around in the wind, and the morning sun
made his black locks shine beneath his hat. A rush of heat spread
across my face as I remembered the first time we’d ever made out,
how I’d buried my fingers in that hair as we’d engaged in hot,
passionate kisses.

“
Okay, folks, the next
stretch will be along a 3,000-foot drop-off. If you get scared,
just focus on the mule in front of you,” the tour guide said,
interrupting my reverie.

I was nervous for a few seconds, but
it was something I’d been hoping to do for my entire life, and I
couldn’t give up. I gazed all around me, completely awed and
inspired by the dramatic view. Earl was a daredevil, walking ever
closer to the edge, but he never lost his footing and just clomped
along as if he didn’t have a care in the world, gravity least of
all. It was a thrill ride even more exciting than any rollercoaster
I’d ever ridden. Earl couldn’t go as fast as an amusement park
ride, but he sure got my heart pumping harder than any loop-to-loop
ever had.

I watched an adorable rock
squirrel scurry away from us. As I glanced around, I was really
shocked by all the trees and how green everything was; from the
surface, the Grand Canyon had always looked like a big, dusty,
barren, deep, red hole, but it was teeming with animal and plant
life.
I brushed my
hair behind my ears, but the wind blew it around again and again
beneath my hat. The breeze carried the scent of desert herbs, sand,
and sweet, dusty earth. I glanced up at the dazzling blue sky and
felt sunshine on my face. My heart raced as I peered down at the
rock-strewn, desert landscape below. It was as if we’d landed on
Mars, the red planet itself. Crimson-colored sandstone gorges, from
sugar white to deep orange, shimmered in the glaring brightness.
Little whirlwinds of dust, sand, and gritty dirt danced below.
Fantastic rock formations, swirled with bands of colors, seemed to
stretch out into an endless horizon.
What
lay before my eyes seemed to defy mere words, and I was sure even
high-definition photos wouldn’t do them justice. I marveled at the
Colorado River, snaking its way along the canyon floor for 300
miles, through all those time-hewn gorges.
I smiled as an endangered California condor
flew majestically over us; it’s wingspan was wider than any bird
I’d ever seen, like some kind of pterodactyl from a science fiction
movie.