Chapter 15

Raina could feel the breeze of the warm morning air on her skin. The sound of the leaves rustling in the trees. Birds chirping their morning songs in the air. She turned her head on her pillow to come an inch away from Luke's face. Now, she realized that his arm was wrapped around her. Her body reacted a bit, causing Luke to stir. He pulled her in tighter. She froze, waiting to see if he was really awake.

"Luke?" she whispered. This just made him snuggle in closer. Raina felt her skin starting to turn hot out of embarrassment. She tried to move his arm. Suddenly, she felt the weight of his arm go on its own. Turning back to him, she saw that he was now awake and sat up. Raina sat up beside him. Luke stretched out his arms and yawned.

"Morning." he said as he glanced around the. "Well, I guess I better get moving. I definitely slept in too long today. I have to make up for it." He said as he got up and headed straight to the stables. Raina stared after him, a bit confused. She decided she should get moving as well. As she came into the house, she found Leon standing and drinking coffee.

"Getting cozy with your foreman isn't the best way to start out a work relationship..." Leon spoke softly as he stared at his coffee. Raina stopped in her tracks and turned towards Leon.

"Really??? Luke and I have been close for years. You know this, obviously." Raina said, feeling a bit attacked. Leon moved closer to her.

"That's not what I mean, Raina, and you know it." Leon said, staring down at her. He grabbed onto her hoodie string.

"Luke and I are just friends. We just fell asleep looking at the stars last night. That's all that happened. Nothing more, not that I need to explain myself to you." Raina explained, feeling perplexed as to why she felt the need to explain herself at all. Leon shook his head.

"...I wish this hoodie could protect you from everything..." Leon said, barely audible. "And I'm not quite sure what you're thinking walking around like that in a house of men...wear a little more coverage, please." Leon added as he zipped the hoodie up to her chin. Then he began to walk away. "I'll be working in the main house today so that you can move in as soon as possible."

"Wait, are we still heading out to go camping later?" Raina asked. Leon paused in his tracks.

"Yeah, we're still heading out." Leon said as he headed out the door. Raina's excitement could barely be contained. She started packing everything up right away. The text notification went off on her phone. Picking it up, she saw it was a text from Asher. He apologized for the way he acted and asked about the camping trip, wondering if she still wanted him to go. A sigh passed her lips as she texted back a reply. Even though she still felt irritated, she did not want to leave things as they were and told him that she still wanted him to go. It did not take long at all to get a reply saying that he would be there with a smiley face. For some reason, Raina felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. She continued to get ready to leave.

After a while, Raina heard Leon and Luke coming into the house. It sounded like they were arguing about something. Raina could not hear what they were arguing about it sounded all muffled from in her room. She decided that she would just wait for things to cool down before going out to see what was going on. Until all of a sudden, there was a loud crash onto the ground. Raina ran out of the room. When she came to the kitchen, the two guys were wrestling each other until Leon ended up dragging Luke out of the house. Raina chased after them. Now Luke stripped his shirt and got into Leon's face.

"Will you two knock it off!" Raina yelled at them. But neither man seemed to hear her as they began to punch each other back and forth. Raina ran back in the house, grabbing Leon's shotgun he kept by the door. She loaded a round in as she walked out the door, and off the porch, she fired the shot into the air. Both of the guys instantly stopped and stared at Raina. Leon dropped his head first and ran his hands through his hair.

"There won't be a camping trip this weekend, Raina. I'm sorry." Leon said as he began to walk past her. Raina sighed.

"I'm all packed, Leon. I'm going with or without yall. Whatever yall are disputing about so bad to come to blows is between you two, but I'm still going..." Raina said as she turned and walked back to the house. Leon had stopped to listen to her but began to walk back after her.

"You're not going by yourself, Raina..." Leon said as he trailed behind her. Luke was now coming in behind them. Raina had her bag in her hand. Luke took the bag from her.

"She's not going alone, Leon." Luke spat as he grabbed her hand to lead her out of the house. Leon stopped Luke by putting his arm across the doorway. Then, he pressed his finger on Luke's chest.

"You're not taking her anywhere!" Leon grunted. Raina was now tired of their ongoing dispute. She yanked her bag from Luke and pushed through them both. Raina kept moving through the house. She saw a car pull in the drive, but she ignored it as she ran out the back door. In the distance, she could hear someone calling her name, but she did not care. Finally, she had Artemis saddled up and ready to go. As she placed her hands on the saddle, a rough hand landed on top of hers. It was Leon. She stared into his blue eyes, and her own eyes showed that she had made up her mind. Her determination was evident to Leon. He sighed as he helped her up into the saddle. Raina gave him a questioning look.

"You're not gonna try to stop me?" she asked. Leon pulled his pistol from his holster and put it into her saddles holster.

"No, you've made it clear that there is no stopping you... Asher just got here right after John had pulled into the drive. Asher and I will head out in a little while..." Leon answered.

"What about Luke???" Raina asked. Leon rolled his eyes and scoffed. "What was all of that about??" she added. Leon shook his head.

"Don't worry about it... As for Luke, I'm sure he'll make it to you before we do... usual spot, Raina. Be sure to set up your camp and start your fire first." Leon said as he led Artemis out of the stables. "You be careful!" Leon said as he gave Artemis a slap on the rear-end. Artemis began to gallop off. Raina turned back to see Leon growing smaller in the distance. She then turned forward and headed towards their usual camping spot.

Raina could feel all of her care and worries melt away as the wind beat against her. She found herself dropping her reins and stretching her arms down to her sides. Peace... she could always find peace on Artemis back. She leaned down and patted Artemis. Before she knew it, they had arrived at the camp. "Woaahhh." she told Artemis as she picked back up her reins. The creek was lower than normal due to the lack of rain. She rode Artemis upstream to make sure there was nothing in it to cause contamination. Thankfully, there was not, so she came back downstream and allowed Artemis to drink while she began to make camp. First, she gathered some kindling and wood to burn. Her fire started quite easily thanks to the dry weather. Then she was on to set up her tent. As she was putting in the last stake, she heard horse hooves in the distance. It only sounded like one set. She quickly moved to Artemis and grabbed the pistol out of the holster. She was positive it was just Luke, but until she had eyes on whoever it was, the pistol stayed in her hand. The horse could finally be seen. However, it was hard for her to see the person riding. She squinted her eyes, placing her hand over them to block out the sun. It was still hard to tell until she heard a familiar whistle. It was two short notes. A sigh escaped her lips as she let out three short notes in response. It was Luke. Finally, she placed the gun back in the holster. Her hands began to wave as high and as big as they could. A big smile grew on her face as he got closer.