Page 115 of Beautiful Chaos

I guess I was his boss for now, at least until I decided what to do with my father’s empire. I couldn’t keep Luka in his place because he never wanted the position, but someone had to be in it to prevent the Whitlock family name from appearing weak to the other crime families. Appearing weak caused too many opportunities to be overtaken. There were too many ruthless monsters to fill the space, who would do more harm than good.

As much as I hated my father, his empire was large and thriving. Despite his involvement in trafficking, drugs, and guns there was lots of possibility of taking over for myself. Many wrongs could be righted.

“No, we will be walking the property. If you have any problems, call my cell. Do you know if the arrangements I asked to be made have been taken care of?” He glanced in Harper’s direction and quickly answered.

“Yes Boss, it’s been arranged.” I nodded, placing my hand on the small of Harper’s back, and nudged her forward. We walked across the horse pasture, covered in brown and green grass. Winter was on its way and the grass wasn’t as lush as it was in the summer.

“I would spend the whole day running around here, from sunrise to sunset,” I recalled with a smile, thinking back on the days of youthful freedom and roaming the earth barefoot.

“Wow, there are so many hills and so much open field,” she said staring into the distance, admiring the view.

“I could get lost in the view alone. It’s so beautiful here.” She whispered still in awe.

“Wait till you see the horses.” I pointed toward the stables in the distance.

“Horses? Do you ride?”

“I do, my mother forced me to learn. I hated being forced to do things so I pretended to hate it but it is one of the most thrilling experiences.” I answered excited to see my Steed Harrison. He’s an old horse and he was mean and grumpy. The only person he ever allowed to ride him was me. He was originally my father’s, but he gave him to me after he got bucked off him three times.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t imagine you in riding gear.” she stood laughing at the idea.

“Hey, I look good in anything I wear.” I teased as I opened the doors to the barn.

Tomas met me at the stables that housed four horses. Harrison is one of them.

“Mr. Whitlock, Good afternoon. Should I prepare your horse for you and one for your guest?” he said in broken English. Tomas, an elderly Hispanic gentleman, had been employed by my father from my early teenage years. He became a familiar face as I often hid at the stables to avoid the training imposed by my father. I would hide out with the horses and Tomas was always the one to find me.

“NO sir, we are just passing through,” I said as I noticed Harper’s shoulder dropped.

“We can go riding another time. I have a surprise waiting for you elsewhere.”

She smiled.

I walked her towards Harrison keeping her behind me shielding her with my body in case he got mean. When we got close enough Harrison started to huff and pace. I rubbed his snout and fed him some sugar cubes Tomas brought out for me. I placed one in Harper’s hand and guided her to his snout. He licked it from her and then rested his head against her hand. She started to rub down his mane, and he stood still to allow her to do so.

Even Harrison knew she was good.

Chapter 81

HARPER

We hung out with Tomas for quite a while. I really got a kick out of hearing about Jasper’s childhood antics. Tomas adored Jasper. When we said our goodbyes, Tomas made him swear to stay connected. You could see tears in his eyes as we walked away from the stables. Jasper mentioned that there were living quarters on the other side and that Tomas had been there for a long time.

What would happen to Tomas when Jasper signed the papers to sell? Will the new owners hire him, or will he be forced to leave? I didn’t want to ask Jasper and damper the mood, so I kept my concerns to myself, intending to bring it up later. I’m sure Jasper could find him somewhere to go if he was forced to leave.

My thoughts were interrupted when I spotted a beautiful apple tree just ahead. It was the single tree in the middle of a never-ending field. Apples had fallen from the tree and were now lying on the ground but even so, the tree was huge and gorgeous. Getting closer, I could spot something spread out ahead of us. Jasper kept shooting looks my way, probably to catch how I’d react to what was up ahead.

A few steps later I realized it was a blanket laid out under the apple tree and a picnic basket sitting on the blanket.

“Oh My gosh, are we having a picnic?” I squealed with excitement.

“Yes, do you like it?” Jasper asked nervously.

“I love it!” I clapped my hands together and walked faster grabbing Jasper’s hand and dragging him behind me to get to the blanket quickly.

I turned around and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him, when I couldn’t reach him, he playfully huffed and leaned down the rest of the way to give me access to place a small kiss on his cheek.

“This is the best surprise I’ve ever gotten. Thank you for planning this for us.”