JUMP GIRL (The Go Girls Chronicles Book 2)

by Leigh Hutton

  Ebony spotted Dallas’s truck parked in a side lot of the Alegria restaurant, South Calgary. She swung into a vacant spot a few cars down from his. She would have let her car idle, to allow herself to enjoy the heater while she checked her makeup job on this cold, clear night, but then she didn’t want to seem like a weirdo, sitting in a running car. So she killed the engine, flicked down her sun visor, a bright light illuminating.

  She’d removed her eyebrow stud for the first time since having it done, just after Cecile’s death. At first, staring at her face in her bathroom mirror, she’d felt a little naked. But as she dressed, in black boot cut jeans, a black top and her white and black leather jacket that Cecile had brought her back from Paris, Ebony started to feel more at home in her increasingly natural state. She also found her perfume and was smelling especially flowery and girlie, but edgy, also — she loved the scent. She’d slipped on her only pair of fancy shoes: black leather pumps with killer heels, that she’d bought for the one and only ball Cecile had managed to drag her to.

  She allowed herself another quick look in the mirror of her Mustang, and liked how her hair was down, straight and glossy in the moonlight — she’d literally had to wipe the dust off of her straightener. The white eye shadow she’d applied to accentuate her jade eyes wasn’t too over the top, she was sure. Ebony thought she looked pretty good, not quite Megan Fox, but hopefully Dallas would consider her in the same stratosphere.

  She was hit with a blast of chilly night air when she opened her car door, and walked with as much grace as she could muster on the icy parking lot in heels she wasn’t accustomed to.

  Dallas hopped out of his truck and came to greet her, his arms outstretched. She was suddenly petrified he was going to come in for a kiss — she wasn’t sure she even remembered how — when he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. My second hug for the day, she thought, breathing in his incredibly sexy scent. I must be getting lucky. Or something.

  ‘You look so nice,’ Dallas said, putting his arm around her waist.

  ‘Thank you …’ I think.

  ‘Let’s get inside.’

  The blonde hostess’s face lit up when she saw Dallas. ‘Table for two, near the window, please,’ Dallas said. The hostess nodded, keeping her eyes on him for a fraction longer than felt comfortable. Ebony smiled at Dallas, and they burst into laughter as they settled into their corner booth — when the hostess was out of earshot. ‘She a fan of yours, Cash?’ Ebony asked, flipping open the drinks menu and surveying for a Shirley Temple. She and Cecile had always ordered Shirley Temples.

  Dallas laughed and put a hand to his forehead.

  Ebony got the impression Dallas had a lot of female fans. He was blushing, though; feeling awkward at the attention. She had basically no experience with guys, but she thought this was quite a good sign.

  He folded his drinks menu and rested it on the table. ‘What can I get ya?’

  ‘Shirley Temple, please.’

  Dallas smiled. ‘Sure.’ He waved a waitress over, which wasn’t hard, as Ebony could feel most of the female eyes, and even some of the male ones, on her gorgeous date.

  It was an Italian joint, Ebony didn’t even have to look at the selections to tell. The garlic and butter smell from the kitchen was delish. The only time she ate anything other than drive-through fast food was when Winnie did Taco Tuesdays for her and Clancy at the barn. The last time she’d eaten at a restaurant was with Cecile, the night before she’d left for Thunderbird. They’d eaten Japanese at a cool Sushi train restaurant and laughed all night as neither of them seemed to be able to get a piece of food off the boat and into their mouth without, A: losing it in the water, or B: dropping it from the chopsticks into their lap.

  Suddenly, the sadness of this occasion, and what it had come to symbolise within her mind; her last moments with her mother, caught her off guard and dropped like a black, heavy horse rug over her heart. Her soul ached for the woman she still loved so dearly.

  Ebony bit her bottom lip to keep it from quivering and squeezed her eyes tight. ‘Damn, this mascara!’ she said, holding her eyes closed until she was sure no tears would fall out. She took a deep breath and shook her shoulders, like she was about to break into a dance routine. Harden up, Ebony, she told herself firmly. There’s light in the present. ‘Winnie told me I should switch to natural stuff.’

  Dallas handed her a napkin.

  ‘Thanks,’ she dabbed at the corner of her eyes and reached for the menu, ‘please tell me what’s good. I don’t really go out, much.’

  ‘’Course.’ He slid next to her, and ran his finger down her menu. His shoulder was hard up against hers and she could feel the curve of his torso, long and toned, against her own. Her heart shook, revved, and took off like Monster released into the summer field, and her body was suddenly as hot as a blowtorch. She bit her bottom lip, this time to contain the lust, and had to concentrate to keep her breathing steady, and her eyes from ogling him, as they decided on a Margarita pizza to share and some garlic bread.

  Dallas rested an arm around her shoulders and looked into her eyes. ‘You mentioned on the phone that you were going away soon?’

  Ebony held his gaze for a moment, studying the darker flecks of green in his icy eyes, before turning her attention to her red and orange drink, complete with little umbrella, which a svelte auburn-haired waitress had just set in front of her. She plucked out the umbrella, ate the yummy cherry off the end, and took a drink of the sugary Shirley. ‘Yep — sorry,’ she took another drink, ‘it’s just so good!’

  Dallas laughed, and removed his arm from her shoulders, reaching for his Pepsi.

  ‘We leave for Florida tomorrow.’

  ‘Florida?’ Dallas’s hand hovered, his drink in front of his lips.

  ‘Ah-huh …’ she said cautiously. ‘Have you had a bad experience there, or something?’

  ‘What? No.’ He gulped his drink, then turned to her and smiled. ‘I just can’t get over how similar you are to someone I used to know. In some ways, anyway.’

  ‘Ooooh,’ Ebony chucked the umbrella back into her drink. ‘Are you referring to your former flame? I’d like to get you together with Jasmine sometime, actually, if you’d be cool with it. She’d love to see you. I think she feels bad about how that all went down.’

  ‘Jasmine … Kassedy?’

  Ebony nodded. ‘She rides at my barn.’

  ‘Did they move back here?’

  ‘Her and her parents did, but she said her sister moved to Australia?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Dallas raised his eyebrows and rested back in the booth, his hand falling on her thigh. ‘I can’t believe they’re up here too now. Crazy. For sure, I’d like to see Jazz. She’s a sweet girl.’ He gave her thigh a squeeze, sending those butterflies into overdrive flapping around in Ebony’s stomach. ‘Thank you,’ he said, sounding relieved. ‘For not getting freaky about it.’

  ‘That’s totally cool.’ She turned towards him and rested a hand on his chest, her cheeks went hot. But she didn’t remove it. ‘The past takes with it many things that shouldn’t be clung to by the present. Too many people won’t let go.’

  Dallas rubbed his chin. ‘That’s very wise, Senorita Ebony.’

  She laughed. ‘I suppose it was.’ She’d surprised herself with that one, that’s for sure.

  ‘There’s nothing to tell, anyway.’ He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. ‘I messed it up, and I made a lot of mistakes, but it’s worked out in the end. I’m sure she’ll find what she’s looking for, and I might never have moved up here if I hadn’t needed to get away. I’m glad I did, ’cos I feel like I belong here, you know?’

  ‘Yeah. I really do.’

  ‘Man, you’re so easy to talk to.’ He ran a hand down his jaw. ‘I had some issues with anger, and that … Travis, the guy you met on the road that day … did you see the scar on his cheek?’

  Ebony nodded.

  ‘I gave him that.’

  ‘But you two have obvio
usly made up?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Dallas smiled. ‘He forgave me, we’ve been friends for a very long time. I’m doing better, with the anger, and that, now.’

  ‘Well, I’m certainly no expert on the subject.’ Ebony sipped her drink. ‘Bet I’m angrier than any chick you’ve ever dated.’ She laughed lightly, to try and soften the blow of what she’d just said, but Dallas didn’t seem to mind. He’d moved even closer and was watching her, an intense curiosity playing on his handsome features.

  ‘Angry, sure,’ he said. ‘But you seem to be able to control it. I haven’t been so controlled in the past and I’ve done things, hurt people, and I regret it now …’ A band of muscle rippled in his jaw. He reached for his drink. ‘How d’you deal?’

  ‘Well …’ There was no way she was going to spill to him about how she’d taken the shovel to Annika’s garden shed, the day she’d finally snapped. ‘There are ways to deal with the anger and the frustration, I try not to let it build up too much. Riding helps so much, to clear my head and that. I sketch a lot, too. And, it’s probably also why I do this.’ She showed Dallas her nails, chewed down well below the line of her skin.

  Dallas shook his head. ‘Stop that.’

  Ebony smiled tightly.

  ‘So, you like to draw?’ Dallas asked.

  ‘Horses mainly. But they can get pretty demonic looking in my darker times.’

  ‘Too bad I can only draw stick people,’ he said.

  ‘But you can slap a hockey puck pretty hard, I’ve watched you online.’

  ‘Cyber stalker, are you?’ Dallas’s face lit up with a playful smile.

  ‘You’re kinda famous, hey?’ she asked.

  ‘When you get back from Florida, you can come watch me for yourself.’

  ‘Love to.’

  Their food came and tasted delicious. After their second slice of oozing, cheesy pizza, Dallas paused, his face freezing back to its serious perfection. ‘You do well, Ebony,’ he said. ‘You’ve obviously been through a lot … and a lot of kids who’ve had such a hard go turn to some pretty badass things to cope.’

  ‘I have my horses,’ Ebony said, smiling at the thought of Monster, probably sleeping like a baby in his stall after a hard flat session today, and Johnny, sprawled out and snoring his gorgeous head off. She couldn’t wait to see them again in the morning. ‘And I have found some creative ways of dealing when I actually snap. I’ll tell you about them one day.’

  Dallas grinned. ‘I hope so.’

  ‘No, seriously, though. It is really hard.’ She grabbed a white napkin and wiped her mouth. ‘I think I’ve learned to let go of a lot of the past stuff, because if you don’t, it will destroy you. It’s the present unfairness-es — if that’s even a word — that I struggle with. The day to day, I guess. It gets on top of me sometimes.’

  ‘I can relate.’ Dallas clenched his jaw and his eyes went flat and cold. ‘I’m still really angry with my mother.’

  Ebony was nearly swept over by an intense wave of relief; this guy was human after all. And a lot more like her than she’d originally thought. She also got the feeling that Dallas’s mother was not a person he discussed often.

  ‘What happened? Ebony asked.

  ‘She left us when I was in Grade One. It was hard, growing up without her. I struggled at school, had to repeat Grade Two, so I was always a year older than everyone else, like I was stupid or something. That sucked. And my dad doesn’t talk a lot.’

  ‘How old are you?’

  ‘Nineteen,’ he said.

  ‘Birthday?’

  ‘July fifth.’

  ‘No, way — mine’s the eleventh!’ Ebony said.

  ‘So we’re both crabs,’ he said.

  ‘It’s cool to be a crab.’ She rested hand on his shoulder.

  ‘I’m sorry about your mom.’

  ‘You can’t apologise,’ Dallas said. ‘You’ve had it way worse than me.’

  ‘That doesn’t change anything for you!’ She rubbed his shoulder. ‘Have you seen her since?’

  ‘At Christmas, two years ago. It was horrible. I won’t see her again.’

  ‘Does she try and stay in touch?’

  ‘She rings Dad, most weeks.’

  Ebony took a deep breath. ‘I don’t know your mom at all Dallas, and it’s none of my business. But the fact she still wants to see you shows she loves you and wants you in her life. You’re lucky for that.’

  Dallas was staring hard at the table. Ebony was afraid it might get frightened and run away, taking the rest of their pizza with it. She ran her hand soothingly down the middle of his strong back.

  ‘I know, thanks,’ he said finally. ‘Thanks for hearing me out. It’s pretty good to talk to someone about it, actually.’

  ‘My pleasure.’

  ‘Did you ever get to meet your parents?’ he asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Are you mad at them?’

  ‘Why would I be angry at someone I’ve never met?’ she said. ‘I’ve met enough horrible people to be angry at and been forced to live with them.’ She kept her hand on Dallas and was surprised to feel herself relax, so continued to stroke him. She’d never spoken about her parents, not even to Cecile. She’d never pressed the subject, because the future was all that mattered. But it did feel kind of nice, Ebony realised, like acknowledging that she had indeed come from two people made her more human and more capable of all the feelings, and relationships, that regular human beings enjoyed. She rested her chin on his shoulder. ‘When I was little, I remember asking my foster moms, ‘when will I meet my real mommy? When is my daddy coming to see me?’ When I realised they were never going to come, I was really sad. Then I got angry. I hated them for a while, but as I got older, I thought, ‘screw them!’ I don’t need them if they don’t need me. I knew who I was without knowing them, I guess.’ She took a deep breath, and found herself really wanting to open up. She knocked off her second Shirley Temple, and the words started to flow from her like a bubbling, summer stream, ‘but even though I don’t need them, it still makes me sad sometimes — that I’ll never know them — but that’s life. It can be cruel and unfair — it certainly was to me, before I met Cecile.

  ‘As I got older, and I met people — other kids with no parents, like me, and some decent social workers — I started to understand the full story … One of the only pieces of information I have about my birth mother is the assumption that she was most likely very young and very scared. Maybe even a victim of abuse herself. She gave me life. She gave me a chance. It could have been a lot worse for me. You know, I’ve never told anyone this before, but it wasn’t only me the janitor found that day. There was also a note, written on a sheet of blank white paper. It read:

  I’m sorry, Ebony

  ‘My social worker showed it to me on my ninth birthday. It was proof; my mom named me and she apologised for having to give me up.’ Then she pointed to her silver lightening bolt, the first earring in her right ear. ‘And she gave me something, too. It was fastened to the note.’

  ‘Oh my God …’ Dallas was so close to her now, his face was close enough to kiss. His eyes seemed to calm her, deep, green, like the sea. ‘What d’you think it means?’ he asked.

  ‘I think she was telling me to make an impact, to be strong, brave, and to be myself,’ she said. ‘It’s how I’ve always tried to be.’

  Dallas shook his head, and looked down at his big, hockey-stick-rough hands. ‘You are strong, Ebony. I think you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.’ He grabbed her hand and kissed it gently. ‘You deserve everything in this world … I just hope that I can get the Will for you. I’m close. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve got any news.’

  ‘The girl is crazy, Clay!’ Ebony paused on the stairs, to listen in to Annika’s conversation with Mr. Prince. The pair had been dating ever since her win on Johnny, much to Ebony’s horror. The last thing she needed was the evil Annika getting her claws into her biggest sponsor. But the pair certainly hadn’t asked for her
blessing. ‘Why she would want to bounce along in that truck with the grooms all the way across America is plain ludicrous!’ Annika was saying. ‘I spoke to Paisley and all the other riders are flying . . . It’s just so generous that you offered both of us a seat on your jet, and I’m incredibly embarrassed that she has turned it down … Mmm … Yes, but — that’s what the grooms are for, to mind the horses!’ Ebony could tell that Mr. Prince was defending her decision, and she couldn’t help but smile. ‘Ah — yes, I suppose I can see your point,’ Annika said. ‘But I still believe that the girl is disturbed!’

  Ebony chuckled to herself — Annika was sounding more and more nuts by the day, it was only a matter of time before everyone else noticed, too. She winked at Annika and smiled tightly as she brushed past her in the kitchen, her suitcase in hand, and headed to the barn for departure to Florida.

  Ebony drove in the Poplar Ridge Farm’s horse semi-truck and trailer with Winnie, Clancy and the barn’s horses, with the exception of Dougie’s and Mantina’s, which were collected two weeks earlier by Dougie’s flash Californian horse hauler, the very same one that had taken Gallant from her. They were headed for the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, which they would all call home until the end of March.

  An SUV full of the giggling girlie grooms Marcus had on his staff followed, but they lost the truck somewhere in North Dakota after they stopped to no doubt buy CDs, snacks, silly hats and other trinkets from a 24-hour servo.

  They stopped to fuel up before the border and with the extra tanks Marcus had installed, they’d go until Wisconsin before needing more fuel, and there was no need for the trio to stop for anything other than super quick toilet breaks as Winnie had packed them a full bag of delicious fajitas, corn chips and bread, homemade salsas, apples and bananas. Ebony had scored two boxes of mixed donuts after her last shift at work, and they proved a huge hit, especially with Clancy, who loved the strawberries and cream and jam-filled cinnamon ones.