Chasing McCree by J.C. Isabella

to Chase, rubbing his face on him,
licking his cheeks and chin.
    “ Well,” Chase looked back
at me. “Want to go for a ride?”
    I frowned. “Aren’t we supposed to be
leaving?”
    “ He’s got different ideas
and wants to go for his morning run.”
    Ten minutes later we had trotted down
the street and neared the school. It was early Saturday morning,
and the biggest piece of empty land around.
    “ Are you sure we won’t get
caught?” I asked, holding tight to Chase as Ash galloped into the
football stadium.
    Chase laughed. “I doubt anyone will
notice us.”
    I looked around the dark stadium and
felt almost bad. I mean, we had a horse on school property. What
kind of punishment would we be given if we were caught?
    But, I decided after a few minutes,
that I just didn’t care anymore.
    It was time to have some
fun.
    Chase brought Ash to a stop and helped
me to the ground. I sat on the bottom row of the bleachers and
watched in awe as he trotted Ash into the grassy center. Then they
were off, flying down the field. I was on the edge of my seat. I’d
never seen them move so fast together. On the far side of the field
was a low chain length fence. I held my breath. Ash cleared it
gracefully, running farther out into the practice field on the side
of the stadium. He came back over it just as easily.
    I clapped, whistling, and stood on my
seat, watching as they circled the football field.
    “ Fancy seeing you
here.”
    I jumped clear out of my skin and off
the bleachers onto the track. Behind me, coming out of the tunnel
under the stadium, were Nathan and Alex.
    “ What are you doing
here?”
    “ Oh, just came to throw the
football around.” Nathan grinned, tossing it to Alex. His nose was
purple and red, bandaged up. He looked like he was recovering from
two black eyes as well. “Guess we lucked out. I’ve been hoping we’d
run into each other.”
    I gulped and looked at Alex. He wasn’t
going to be any help. In fact, he was going to side with Nathan on
this one, I could tell by his sly grin.
    Shit.
    “ So, what, are you going to
do break my nose as payback?” I asked.
    Nathan shrugged. “Sounds like a good
start.”
    Horse hooves thundered behind me. The
ground trembled under my feet. I glanced back to see Chase racing
across the field for us.
    “ Looks like we’ve pissed
off the hick.” Alex laughed.
    I turned back just in time to face
Nathan. He grabbed for me, but the thing about being a boxing
legend’s granddaughter was…I kind of knew how to fight.
    I punched his already busted nose and
boxed his ears. He went down on the ground wailing.
    I rounded on Alex. He lunged for me,
his clenched fist heading for my face.
    Lightning went off in my ear. The crack
so loud I flinched and turned away.
    “ Fuck,” Alex screamed. His
legs flew out from under him and he landed on his ass with a
thump.
    Where had Chase gotten a
whip?
    I looked at Alex’s foot and grimaced.
The leather was wrapped around his ankle.
    “ Sucks to be you,” I
accepted Chase’s outstretched hand. He pulled me up behind him on
Ash and retrieved the whip with ease, not even getting down from
the horse. Then we were off like a shot, over the fence, and
barreling back to his house.
    This time Ash went right into the
trailer, seeming satisfied with the morning’s excitement. We were
loaded up and ready to go, so we went inside and said goodbye to
Chase’s mother.
    “ You leaving?” She asked,
standing from the breakfast table.
    Chase nodded. “Yeah,”
    She sighed and smiled. “I can’t talk
you into staying, can I?”
    Chase hugged her. His decision was
harder than I originally thought. His mom wanted him to be happy,
but it also upset her to see him go. “I wish I could, but I just
can’t.”
    “ You tried.” She nodded and
let him go. “Your father would be proud of you. He knew what he
wanted when the rest of us had no clue.”
    I smiled at Mrs. Carter as we headed
for the stairs. Chase wanted to check his room a