Ten Year Grudge

Damn my conscience.
Right about the time my parents split up, I'd developed a nasty guilty conscience. It reminded me of things I was suppose to have done or kept me awake all night asking if I'd done the right thing. Now it was bugging me about Ace.
What the hell had me meant anyway by I wasn't the only one that had had it rough? It made me think of scenarios of how life could have been for him before my father had scrounged up enough money to get him over the border. And that made me think that maybe he'd needed help too and that made me feel guilty. And I wasn't too happy about it.
I rolled over again and punched the pillow. Max looked up and whimpered.
I sighed. "Sorry I guess I'm keeping you up huh?"
He crawled closer to me and snuggled up against my side. I ran my hand down his back and tried to think of some way to shut my brain down for a few hours. Ironically, the only thing that came to mind was a Carlos Santana song. I began humming it, still stroking Max's back, and somewhere along the line, fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The alarm rang much too soon. I pulled a pillow over my ears, and it still didn't block out the shrill ringing. Unfortunately, a double-bell alarm clock was the only thing that woke me up from my coma-like slumber. I grunted and reached one hand out to search for the snooze.
I didn't hit the clock, but the ringing subsided and the smell of strong coffee drifted up to my nostrils. Of it's own accord, my nose followed the smell.
I blinked my eyes open to see Ace, fully clothed, holding out a mug of coffee to me. Unable to talk, I grabbed it and took a sip. I had to admit, it was good.
"Thanks," I said grudgingly.
"I figure it's a peace offering. What do you want me to start on since I'll probably be down at the barn before you."
"Feed my horses, then let them back out except for Claimer, Tribute and Bayou. Make sure Talegha has finished all his grain, he sometimes eats around his supplements. Bring in the boarders and feed them after the others have gone back out. I'll handle the rest when I get down there."
"Alright boss." He got up to leave and turned at the doorjamb. "And I'm-uh-sorry about my mother calling in the middle of the night like that. Her and your Papa were out late last night and they came home and I was gone. It freaked her out a bit."
"Spare me the details," I muttered, putting my mug on the nigh stand. I tossed off the sheet and rubbed my eyes.
"Uh-Nik..." Ace said. His eyes were near the vicinity of where mine had been glued last night.
I glanced down, dreading the worst. Sometime during the night, I'd kicked off my sweatpants, leaving my lower body clad in just my underwear. And no fancy thong from Victoria Secret either. Old ratty Fruit of the Loom cotton bikinis. Great.
I looked back up to see Ace still staring. "I'm not paying you to sit around here ogling at me," I snarled.
He shook his head once. "Right," he said and turned to leave. He bumped his shoulder on the door frame, bit off a Spanish curse, and made his way down the hallway.
This is why I don't hire men, I thought to myself, searching under the covers for my sweatpants. Staring turns to touching and touching can escalate to other adult relations. What I didn't want to admit was that Ace's glance already felt like he was touching me. He'd have work-roughed hands that would be hard on the lead of a misbehaving horse, or gentle on a frightened one.
I shook my head, trying to keep my thoughts PG. Or at least PG-13...

I went right to the ring instead of the barn when I came out of the house. Max stayed right next to me as I set up jumps. It was time for the horses to get a little more exercise than just hacks and flat. I still loved to jump even though I had never come near my dream of jumping Grand Prix and my horses all either tolerated it or loved it.
I set up a cross-rail line, and oxer, a few verticals, a barrel and a few trot poles to work with. I looked towards the barn to see Ace leading one of the boarders in. I went in through the opposite door and grabbed Tribute. I threw his hackamore on, ran a brush over his body, and went in the tack room to get tack.
The stallion shifted a bit when I tossed a pad, then the English saddle on his back. He was trained in both English and western, and he loved to jump. But it had been a while since he'd jumped anything but poles.
I grabbed my helmet and half-chaps and was zipping them up when Ace came into the barn.
"What's next?" he asked.
"Get Claimer ready for me to get on. His tack's in the tack room. The brown Steuben saddle and the D-ring bridle above it. There's gray open front boots laying around somewhere in there and a breastplate with the bridle."
"Jumping? You jump?"
"Since I was about ten, yes I jump." I zipped up the other chap and put the helmet on. "Come on Tribute," I called, walking out of the barn. Tribute turned in the isle and walked calmly after me. Max stood from his position next to Bayou's stall and followed me.

I spent the morning working my two horses and the five clients horses' I had in for training. I rode Bayou last. Then I took him back out on the range to look for the herd again. We didn't run into Leah's crazy stallion again, but we didn't find the herd either. There weren't signs of them coming into the holding pen the night before, so there were no tracks to follow. I'd walked a mile in each direction on the creek bank with no luck. I guessed Trial was trying to keep his mares hidden from the other stallion, not to mention Toledo. I saw no sign of the strawberry roan either.
I wasn't happy when I rode back into the yard. I worried about my horses, especially if that stallion was crazy enough to attack Bayou with a rider on him. He probably wouldn't think twice about going after a lone horse, especially one of the smaller mares.
"How were they?" Vic called from a stall as I led Bayou into the barn.
"I don't know," I responded. "I couldn't find them."
"Couldn't find them?" she asked, sticking her head out of Talegha's stall.
"Yeah. It worries me. I walked two miles along the creek."
"Trial normally keeps them pretty close to home."
"He's also got two other stallions out there to compete with now," I pointed out. "I'd like to find Toledo and bring him in if I can. If I can get Leah's stallion it would be even better."
"Do you want me to get here early tomorrow and we can take some horses out and find them?"
"Yeah maybe two would work."
I untacked Bayou and hosed him off, then put him back out with the rest of my horses. He circled a few times and rolled. I made sure he got up okay before re-entering the barn.
"Where's Ace?" I asked, realizing I hadn't seen him.
"Out getting some of the youngsters," she said,referring to two of the colts that I was going to start putting in to slow work.
"Why the hell didn't you help him?"
"Worried about him?" she teased.
"More about my horses," I snapped back, not liking her tone. Leah had used the same tone when she'd been playing match maker. "They're not cheap horses."
"Uh-huh."
"Do you want me to look for your replacement?" I threatened.
"So you two can be alone?"
I was about to retort when I head hoof beats behind me. When bringing in young colts, you had to bring them in together so they wouldn't have a meltdown being taken away from their friends. This normally required two people. Drake hadn't ever tried to get two youngsters by themselves. But to my shock, Ace had two colts, one in either hand. He was holding them up by their halters. One went to take a nip at the other, and he gave a slight jerk to redirect their attention. And it was working. I checked quickly to make sure my jaw wasn't hanging open before he came into the barn and saw I was impressed. Which I hated to admit, I was. The boy with the rough hands had a way with horses.