Bev's Five

Chapter Five Niki

Chapter 5 Niki

I turn around to see Sam standing there with his arms in the air looking up at the sky. "Well, he seems quite happy for someone who is supposed to be in France," I say aloud to Trish. He looks over at me, I put my head down “Oh s**t" I say to myself “I look up and see him coming over to me." Hey Niki, what's up? This is a first time seeing you at the bon fire."

I clear my throat “yeah my plans fell through so my little sisters wanted to come out so I thought I would keep an eye on them." "What are you doing here? I thought you had other plans."

"I did but something came up and my plans got changed too. So here I am." He didn't seem too thrilled about his current situation.

"So do you have plans yet for the summer?" I ask. No matter how much Sam wouldn't be my first choice of conversational partners it was better than standing here by myself.

“Yeah actually, I got a job out at Black Stables."

"No kidding?"

"It's pretty cool. Mr. Black just got a new horse. She's a mustang and my job is to care for her this summer."

"That's very cool. I love animals it's been forever since I went horseback riding."

"Well, Mrs. Pringle has a riding school there. You should come out and take a ride and I can show you Thunder."

"Cool, that sounds good. I can bring the twins out too."

"Yeah they would love it, but I got to go meet some people. I'll see ya later." As he starts to walk away he turns around and yells “you should really come out"

"I will" I answer with a smile as I wave goodbye. Well, that was interesting. Why would I want to hang out with Sam? Why was he being so nice? I thought to myself. It would be nice to take the twins out horseback riding; I'll ask them to see if they are into it. I stand there for a minute alone looking around and then ditch my beer. I'm just not a fan of beer.

The bon fire had already been lit and it was huge. I look over to the right and see the twins with all their friends. I see no cups in their hands so I think I will just hang back and watch the fire for a bit before we head out. I turn to walk back a ways and find some logs laid out so I take a seat on one of those. I can still see the twins. I see some of my old classmates walking by. We all say hi and wave. It is getting late now and I want to get going before things start to get out of hand and it is probably going to take a couple minutes to get the twins to go.

I get Brittany's attention and she comes running over. I tell her it is time to go and of course she asks for ten more minutes. I tell her to get Megan and meet me up at the jeep and they only have ten more minutes. She agrees and goes running back to her friends and Megan. I go up to the jeep to wait and am happy to see that no one has blocked me in.

I sit down and open my phone to check my e-mails. Mel has written back. She says she is bored at the hotel but they do have a great pool so she has been swimming and sun tanning most of the day. I smile thinking that's how I spent my day too. Oh, I missed her. I have so much to tell her. She said she will be back Monday night. Oh no, I'm going to have to wait all week before I get to hang out with her. I write back wishing her a safe trip and that I hope we can make plans for the weekend if she is free because I start work at the gallery on Tuesday.

Just as I finished sending my e-mail I heard the twins coming up to the jeep chatting to each other and giggling. "Hey, guys did you have fun?"

"Yes, we made plans to meet with Stephanie and Amanda for frozen yogurt on Monday," Megan said.

They quickly hop in and we head home. My parents meet us at the door

"How was it? Did you all have fun?" my father asks.

"Yes," the twins say as they run upstairs probably to change since wearing a sweater in the hot heat of the summer is just ridiculous.

"It was fun" I answer in a slow monotone.

"Oh it wasn't that bad," my dad says with a laugh

"No it was alright I ran into some old classmates we chatted, I'm kind of tired though so I'm going to up to bed I'll see you in the morning" and I head for the stairs

"Okay sweetie my mother calls out” Love you, good night"

I look back as I am half way up the stairs “love you, good night"

I smile then head to my room. I undress and grab my favorite p.j's I brush out my hair and hop into bed. I lay there thinking about Sam and his horse info. Mel wasn't going to be back before I start work and did I really want to just hang out at home? I'm going to be spending enough time with my mom for the summer; I don't really want to hang out with her on my days off too. So I think I'll ask the twins in the morning if they want to go horseback riding tomorrow.

Morning came way too fast I think as I lay in bed with the sun shining through my curtains. It's about eight and I feel like I could sleep all day but I know if I don't get up soon my mother will be coming in to check on me. So I roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. I look in the mirror and keep walking, too early to see such a sight. I turn on the shower and undress. After a nice warm shower, I brush my teeth and start to blow dry my hair. I decide to pull it back into a braided bun; I think if we're going out horseback riding I don't want it falling all over the place.

The heat is already getting into high temperatures. I can feel it in the air. I don't do my makeup, not like I wore a ton anyways, but I don't want any sweating off my face later. I pick out a pair of old jean shorts with a couple of tears in them and a light pink cami to go under a white t-shirt, v necked and cropped so a little bit of my stomach shows and throw on some white sneakers to finish off my outfit. I trot down to the kitchen to see what is for breakfast. I find my mother washing the dishes and a ton of pancakes on a platter with fresh orange juice.

"Good morning sweetheart, how was your sleep?"

"Good morning mom, I had a great sleep. Man, I missed my bed" I sigh. I take some pancakes, pour syrup all over them and reach for a glass of juice. I move down a bit and sit at the counter.

"Do you have any plans today?" asks my mother

"Actually I was thinking of seeing if the twins wanted to go horseback riding out at Black Stables. There is a Mrs. Pringle and she has a riding school out there."

"Oh that sounds like fun, I'm sure they would love it" Just in time the twins walk in and head straight to the pancakes and dive in.

"Good morning girls," my mother says.

"Good morning" they answer between bites.

"Niki was thinking of taking you girls horseback riding isn't that nice?"

"Eww," Brittany said "I'm not going near some big stinky horse"

"Yeah me either" Megan followed.

"Oh that's too bad because Sam was the one who invited us out; I guess I'll have to go all by myself"

"Wait Sam Wade? That Sam?"

I laugh "yes, that Sam"

"O.k. we'll go" Megan pipes up.

"I knew you guys would want to," I said as I put my dishes in the sink. "Okay, you have about half an hour to get ready". Before I could even finish my sentence they were heading to get ready. My mother reached for their dishes.

"Well they seem excited, so how hot is this Sam?"

I look over to her and smile. "He's not my type but all the girls seem to like him."

She smiles and says "Oh not your type?"

She keeps cleaning up from breakfast and I head to my laptop. Think I will send Mel a note telling her I am going to visit with Sam then go horseback riding after. The twins are ready surprisingly fast. So we head out. When we arrive at Mrs. Pringle's it looks like no one is there. We jump out and look around. I hear my name being called and I look over to see Sam waving to me. I wave back and start to walk towards him. The twins follow close behind me giggling to each other.

"Hey, there I'm glad you came out"

"Thanks, it's a nice day so I thought we could use some fresh air and a little fun. So what are you doing?" I asked looking over at the corral.

"Oh come on, I just got Thunder out to run for a bit and stretch her legs out" he walks us over to the corral. "Isn't she beautiful?" I look over at Sam as he watches the horse and think wow I've never seen him like this before

"She is very pretty, what kind of horse is she again?"

"She is a mustang; Mr. Black won her in a poker game so we're going to train her to work in the stables."

"That's if she agrees to work with us"

We all look up across the corral and see a man walking towards us.

"This is Mr. Black; he owns the ranch and the stables I'm going to be working for him this summer"

"Jason is fine," He says as he comes closer.

"So are you girl's friends of Sam here?" Mr. Black asks

Sam chimes in "Niki is one of my roommates back in college and we have gone to school together since elementary."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Niki" as he tipped his hat towards me.

"It's nice to meet you too, you have a beautiful place out here" I reply with a little smile.

I didn't know why I am so nervous meeting Mr. Black.

"And who are these two lovely ladies?" Mr. Black asks pointing to the twins.

"These are my sisters we thought it would be nice to come out and go for a ride but Mrs. Pringle must be out."

'Well, it is very nice to meet you girls" as he tipped his hat to them too.

"Hi I'm Megan and she's Brittany, so Sam can you join us on our ride?" The twins smiled as they wait for his response."

"Sorry girls I have to stay with Thunder and help her get her footing here she's still new."

"Oh it's ok you can take the girls out if you would like I'll stay with Thunder"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah no worries she's good right now"

"Ok thanks, I guess I will be joining you on your ride"

“Yay" the twins squealed and run to either side of Sam each grabbing an arm and they start to walk towards the stables.

I look over to Mr. Black and smile. "It is nice to meet you, Mr. Black"

"Jason and it is nice to meet you too Niki" and he smiles back at me.

I stumble on my step backward for a second then whip around and run to catch up with Sam and the twins. I look back for a second and see Mr. Black, I mean Jason, watching us. I turn to look at Sam for a minute and he has a big smile on his face listening to all the questions the twins are rambling about.

We get to the stables just in time for Mrs. Pringle to be arriving back with her group.

"Good Morning Mrs. Pringle," Sam says "my friend Niki came out with her sisters and we were hoping you could take us on a ride if you have an opening."

"Why of course Sam, hello girls," Mrs. Pringle says with a huge smile.

I smile back to her "Hello."

She walks towards us and goes over all the horse safety and then lets us all pick our horses. The trip is beautiful there is an amazing trail and the ocean is the best place on earth. We don't have a picnic as we know Sam can't stay long. Sam takes the twins down to the water and looks around with them.

I sit down on a nice rock by the pier and look out at the ocean. I can't seem to get Mr. Black out of my mind. He is older than I am but he certainly doesn't look his age. I am guessing he is about thirty. He has a great smile and tanned skin and a straight jaw line. His eyes are dark and look slightly mysterious. I don't know anything about the Blacks; I don't know anything about him. He was wearing a pair of tight jeans that looked like they had seen better days and his muscles showed through the white muscle shirt he had on under a black short sleeved button down. His chest didn't look hairy and it also looked like he might have a tattoo on his left peck. His arms were big and tanned. I could see the veins outlining the muscle in his forearms. He didn't have a huge build but he looked like he was all muscle and it was all held in by the big belt buckle that rested at his waist. His boots were dirty and old looking but how he was leaning against the fence had left enough room for me to slide in between him and the corral. I bet he kisses with a vengeance and he probably smells amazing. I remember seeing a bead of sweat roll down his brow to his jaw line. I'd be more than willing to lick it off and to taste his salty masculinity.

"Niki, are you coming?"

"What? Yes, yeah I'm coming" I stammer and shake my head. I slid off the rock I was sitting on thinking to myself what the hell was that. I totally spaced out and wow I couldn't get the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach out and images of him raced through my head. I ran towards the group and grabbed my horse trying not to stumble from the haze I was in.

"Are you alright? Couldn't you hear us?" Sam asks looking concerned

"Oh sorry, I had just spaced out for a minute. Lots on my brain lately" I said with a smile.

"Well, it's summer so turn your brain off and enjoy” Sam replied with a big smile.

"Yes it is and it's a beautiful day thank you for coming out with us" I smile back as we start on our way back to the stables.

The twins were riding in front of us looking back with smiles towards Sam. When we get back we help Mrs. Pringle put the horses back in the corral so they could cool down and get a drink. Sam was saying bye to the twins and they were promising to come back out soon to see him again. I look around but don't see Mr. Black. He had already left. I wasn't sure why I was even looking. Curious I guess.

I thank Sam once again for inviting us,

"We had a great time."

He smiled at me and gave me a hug good bye making sure I promised to come back again soon. On the drive home, all the twins could talk about was Sam. Of course.