My Parents banished me to my Uncle's ranch:

"Can I help you?" Nate looked at the bearded man and then to the other two workers who were standing over by the large commercial white trailer smoking their cigarettes.

The man with the black beard and beady eyes pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and and opened it up examining the fine print.

"I'm here for...uh..." He flipped the paper a little and then found what he was looking for. "Black gelding. Registered under the name of Jupiter," He folded the paper back in his pocket and flicked out his cigarette. "Mr. Richard Tiggie is reclaiming his property."

"That can't be right," Nate looked to the workers who were coming over to meet up with the beady eyed man.

"Take a look for yourself." The man handed him the paper and then turned to me.

"Hello there missy," He said winking in my direction. I normally would have said something back but I was too overwhelmed at that moment.

"Dammit," Nate gripped the papers so hard I thought he was going to make a juice out of them. "Don't you call ahead of time?" Nate snapped.

"Afraid not," The beady eyed man just shrugged, "Mr. Tiggie called us short noticed just today." The other two men were now right behind their boss. They looked big and bulky with some strange tattoos covering their arms.

"Nate?" I looked up at him but he couldn't make eye contact. Something was very wrong. They were here for Jupiter. My Jupiter.

"Nate..." I pulled on his arm forcing him to look at me. "They can't do this!" I shook him. Nate handed Ian and Isaac the paper and they looked it over also. Both of them took a sudden interest in their boots. I looked over to Steven and Danny who were standing next to Nate.

"If you wouldn't mind showing us where it is, we'll be on our way." The beady eyed man gestured to the barn.

"No!" I screamed grabbing at the paper that Steven and Danny were finishing reading.

"He's in the last stall on the left." Nate said quietly. The men headed over there.

I scanned the paper wildly going over the small paragraph of print. Sure enough it was Richards signature at the bottom giving the men the right to move Jupe from here to an auction house somewhere out of state. Since Jupiter belonged to 'Erin Tiggie' Richard had other legal documents stating that she had died and that the real papers on the horse had been lost.

"No!" I screamed again and started running for the barn. But I was engulfed in two big arms and lifted off the ground. "Put me down!" I gasped out. I thrashed and squirmed but his grip didn't loosen.

"I'm sorry Tigs." Nate whispered into my back. "I'm really sorry, but there's nothing we can do..."

A shrill neigh sounded from the barn and my thrashing started up again also. I watched as the three men came out of the barn holding onto a few ropes tied around a very sweaty, very panicked Jupiter. The whites of his eyes were visible from yards away as he bucked and kicked out in all directions. The three men pulled the ropes taunt on his neck.

"Stop it!" I screamed as I got one arm loose. I tried to hit away Nate but he only squeezed me tighter.

"Hey!" Danny shouted at the men, "Take it easy!" The men just grunted as they forced Jupiter into the giant commercial trailer and slammed the doors shut. When the doors shut I heard another agonizing cry come from inside.

I thrashed violently trying to get loose. "Nate please! Please...please..." My voice was hoars from screaming and the tears openly flooded down my cheeks now. I watched as the truck drove away. I listened as the shrill cries coming from the white trailer faded.

"Tigs I'm sorry." Nate released his grip on me and I fell to the ground from the weakness in my knees. Gone, gone, gone, gone. Jupiter is gone and soon I will be too! I scrambled to my feet and turned to see all five of the boys looking on in pity.

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I listened as Nate cursed into the phone for the hundredth time trying to get a hold of Jack. I sat on the couch curled into a little ball, hugging at my waist. I felt like Richard had just ripped away a piece of my heart.

"He's not answering!" Nate looked almost as torn up as I did. He ran his hands through his hair in a frustrated manor.

"Just forget it man, he's not going to answer." Danny was slouched in the couch next to mine. Steven and the twins were sitting in the kitchen eating lunch. It was great to know at least they still had appetites through this.

"Shit..." Nate mumbled.

But all of our heads snapped up when the phone started ringing. Nate just starred at it for a moment before clicking on the answer button. But even then it took him almost a full minute to finally answer the phone.

"Hello?" He said through clenched teeth. A scratchy voice mumbled something and Nate looked to me with a dark cloud in his eyes. "Yeah she's still here...yes sir...okay...bye."

That evening we waited for Jack to get home. No one else showed up at the ranch and for some reason I had a strange feeling it had something to do with this whole incident.

*(Nate's POV)*

"She hasn't said much..." I explained to Jack as we both watched her stare blankly towards the barn. Her blue eyes that had finally started to sparkle blue returned to their normal faded Grey. She looked like a ghost sitting there. I wondered what she was thinking about.

"What happen Jack? You were supposed to straighten things out with her father weren't you?" Danny was almost as upset as I was. Jack shook his head like he knew something we didn't.

"Her father's a real chess buff you know that..." Jack sounded like he was rambling but we decided to sit down all together at the table and let him explain.

"He's...smart." Jack said scratching at his beard with one hand. "He's always one move ahead of me. I went to go talk to him about Tiggie staying for the whole summer. I played the wrong card though. I told him she was finally starting to settle down. Y'know stop running and stuff..." Jack's fists balled up and he stopped scratching his beard.

"What'd you tell him?" Danny asked anxiously.

"I mentioned she was taking an intrest in her mother's old horse, I'm a damn idiot. He still blames that horse for her mother's death."

We all just sat there, knowing the mistake Jack had made. Even without ever meeting this Richard character we could all sense he was controlling. I could understand her father's protective side. He wanted Tiggie to stay away from Jupiter for her safety. But it wasn't Jupe's fault. As far as I had heard the accident occurred because of a default in the course. The horse was too young and inexperienced to handle it.

Was her father blind? Could he not see how much Tiggie was hurting inside? It seemed like ever since she had laid eyes on Jupiter the two were meant for each other. And now they were being taken away. Both of them. He couldn't do this to her...

"He never legally sold Jupiter to me. He just left him here along with the rest of her belongings. There's no way I can get them back. He's got legal attorneys up my ass about that horse..."

There was more silence. Silence that was filled with thought. It was almost like you could hear our minds working furiously trying to figure out what to do. I couldn't help but steal another glance at Tiggie. I wondered if she had blinked since the last time I had glanced at her. From what I could tell that was a no.

"We'll buy him back." Danny said shrugging. "No one would want him anyway. You saw how he almost killed those three guys."

"Unfortunately we don't have that kind of money. He's a purebred. Finest bloodlines you'll find. Besides, I don't think Richard cares about our money." Jack said flatly shooting Danny down. His face fell and he went back to thinking.

"Well if we can't buy him back then, what do you suggest Jack?" Steven asked harshly.

"I don't know..." For once we saw one of the toughest cowboys we knew cry a single tear. It wasn't one of those emotional tears--it was worse. This tear was from the pain bottled up inside him. We knew how much Tiggie reminded him of his little sister. Hell, even Joe the oldest trainer we had wouldn't shut up about it. Apparently they could have been twins.

That night during dinner there was a heavy silence. Conversation was minimal. Of course as expected Tiggie was locked away in her room. I wanted so badly to try and comfort her but I had no idea what to tell her. I couldn't believe this was happening. Soon she would be gone. I didn't want to think about that. Instead I focused all my thoughts on her. The first time we spoke. I had to laugh a little. She was bent over out back spewing up her lunch because she saw a dead bird on her plate.

"Go away!" Those were the first words she had told me. I'm not going to lie and say that the moment I set eyes on her I fell in love--because that wasn't true. I mean, sure there was a physical attraction but I'm sure all the other guys felt that too.

I can't exactly put my finger on the exact time but I think it was when she wrapped her arms around me and begged me not to leave. In that moment all my world around me faded into the blackest shades of night and all that I could see was Tiggie's beautiful face tucked into my chest. All I could hear was her heartbeat fluctuating against my own. And all I could smell was the richest scent of her body nestled against mine. I knew at that moment, protecting her was what I wanted to do for possibly the rest of my life.

Yeah, I think that was when I--

"Nate? Helloooooo, Nateboy?" Danny waved his hand in front of my faces and I swatted at him annoyed that he broke my thoughts about Tiggie.

"What?" I spat out.

"Dude chill we thought you went into a coma or something." I looked around the table to see everyone--accept Jack who had excused himself earlier--starring at me.

"What's up with you man?" Danny finally stopped waving his hand in my face.

"Nothing..." I grunted as I took a lazy bite of my bread trying to stuff my mouth before all my girlie emotions spilled out on the plate sitting in front of me.

"Spill," Steven set down his silverware and the other followed suit. That was the last thing I wanted right now. Four sets of eyes starring at me expectantly.

"There's nothing to spill..." I grunted again.

Steven folded his arms and cocked his head to the side.

"Alright fine...but the look on your face says otherwise." I gritted my teeth. They knew me too well.

"C'mon Nateboy..." Danny was starting to annoy me with his old nickname.

"Yeah really man, just talk to us. We want to help." Isaac added.

"Fine..." I swallowed the last piece of my bread and decided to give them the short version. "I'm uh...I really uh--" I paused and looked at the hallway that lead to Tiggie's room. This was harder than I thought.

"Yeah..." Danny raised his eyebrows.

I couldn't do it though. I couldn't tell the guys before I told her. She needed to hear me say it. I didn't really care if she didn't feel the way I did, I just had to let her know.