Once Upon A Rodeo

Ten - [Grace.]

I was woken up on Monday morning with a loud, incessant banging.

The sun had barely risen, and it couldn't be later than six o' clock. I rolled over, pulling the covers over my head with a groan. Who could be here this early? When it became quite obvious that whomever it was wasn't going to go away, I yanked the covers off of me and stomped down the stairs.

"Why on earth are you-" I began, intending to give whoever it was a good talking to about waking me up this loudly this early.

It was Brantley.

I had been holed up on my property the rest of the evening, sure that I would run into Brantley if I stepped foot off of it. I just wasn't sure how to act around him now. We said we were friends, but we kissed. Friends didn't kiss. Especially not like that. I stopped mid sentence, unsure what to say.

He looked like he'd gotten dressed in a hurry. His shirt was wrinkly and his hair was messed up like he'd too been woken up like I had. It made me think of how I must have appeared to him, wearing only skimpy shorts and a tank top.

"Sorry to wake you up, but I need your help."

"Right now?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Mr. and Mrs. Murray, my neighbors on the other side, had some feral hogs break the fencing on their property. They've got five horses, and all of them got chased off the property. One of 'ems a foal. They could get hurt, or worse especially since one's just a baby. The Murray's are in their sixties, and can't do nothin' about it. Me and two of my buddies are going to go round them up, but we could use the help."

"Sure, of course."

"Meet me on my property  with Apollo, and bring any extra lead ropes you have."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," I nodded, feeling suddenly very awake.

Brantley smiled widely, causing my heart to jump a little bit.

"Thanks, Kennedy. I owe ya one."

Brantley was off the porch and walking back towards his truck before I had time to respond. I closed the door and went back upstairs, quickly pulling on a jeans and a clean tank top. It was already warm out. After slipping on my favorite pair of cowboy boots, I hurried into the barn.

Apollo was patient and calm as I saddled him as quickly as I could. I gave him a few pieces of apple before putting his reigns on, and put a few bottles of water and the extra lead ropes I had into his saddle bag.

I mounted him quickly and rode quickly to Brantley's.

I had seen the stables on the other side of Brantley's property. Callie had explained that the old couple used to run a rehabilitation center for horses before they retired from it. Now they just housed three of their own horses and emergency foster situations. The foal they had had been found in a field nearby, starving and near death. They nursed it back to health a few weeks ago.

But their farm hand had quit a few days ago, leaving them with out help.

After jumping over the fence the same way I had last time, I saw Brantley and two of his friends riding towards me. Brantley was on a handsome vividly black horse, and his friends were riding two thoroughbreds.

"This is Riley and Noah," Brantley said, nodding towards his two buddies. Riley and sandy blonde hair and a handsome face, though not as handsome as Brantley's. Noah had bright green eyes an short, vivid red hair. They both said their hellos, and I responded back politely.

"They saw their horses run into the woods behind both our properties. They can't have gone far, because no one on the other side of the woods has seen them. They're not long, but it's wide. We'll split up and if you see one, try to catch it. If you can't catch it, lead it towards the middle and we'll meet up there."