the chemicals react .

[brittany nicole hale]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 420px; border: 1px dotted grey;] like i'm walking on broken glass , Britt sat at the computer in the barn’s office. She waited for the thing to start up. It felt like it took forever, but when the welcome screen popped up she was quick to connect to the internet. Kaler Scott was a mystery to her. In all the time that they had talked she felt like she knew absolutely nothing about him. He was almost secretive, and she felt like he never really talked about himself at all. She could probably name on one hand all of the things she actually knew about him. Which wasn’t a lot. She hated not knowing, too. She didn’t know why, but she felt there was more there. So, she had decided to go to the internet. Surely there was something there. She was getting nowhere with prying information out of him personally, and if she couldn’t find anything here she didn’t know what she was going to do. She opened the internet browser and typed his name into the search engine. Immediately she noticed several links. She felt like she was looking up a celebrity or something. She found a website of a barn, and made her way through several pages about the young man. She clicked on a couple videos, mostly competitions. Some were of clinics, though. All minor league sorts of things but Britt could tell that he had talent. The more she read the more it became clear to her that Kaler was a lot bigger than their tiny little barn. She quickly turned on the printer and printed off a couple pages, then shut the computer down and headed out to find Kaler. She caught him carrying a saddle into the tack room, and she quickly followed and shut the door behind her. “I googled you,” she said, holding up the sheets of paper in her hand to show him her evidence. “Should I tell you what I found or would you like to tell me?” She totally had him now. There was no way that he could deny who he was. Finally she was going to get somewhere! It felt pretty good to unravel the mystery that was Kaler Scott. tagged: kaler ryan scott // words: 362 // notes: braler <3 made by luna. do not use.

[kaler ryan scott]

Things at this facility had been going pretty well for Kaler. It was small, much smaller than the operation that he had been working in Texas, but in a way he almost seemed to like this better. He was just an instructor here, and no one was expecting more of him than that. It was a nice mental break after everything that he had gone through, and even working with his students wasn’t so bad. The people here were genuinely interested in learning and he had yet to bitch slap anyone off of a horse, so that was always a plus, right? Kaler had time to work with his mares, and often times worked them late at night when no one else was around. It was peaceful, and Kaler was allowed to keep to himself and do his own thing. But, today he had had to teach a few early lessons on his older mare, Israel. People really didn’t know that the mare was a champion reining horse, or that she had qualified at world levels, but then Kaler never offered up the information either. Israel was retired now, obviously, and was a very good lesson horse for the people that were just beginning to ride. Kaler’s last lesson for the earlier half of the day was done now, and Kaler had offered to cool the mare out and untack her since the family had had to take off to get somewhere else, the details of which Kaler hadn’t cared enough about to pay attention to. He had gotten the mare cooled out and groomed; now he was just taking the saddle back to the tack room, and he hadn’t even noticed anyone else in the barn. It wasn’t until he actually heard the tack room door close behind him that he knew that someone else was there, but Kaler took his time to place the saddle on the saddle rack before he turned around and saw Britt standing there, papers in hand. His eyebrow arched the moment he heard the word “googled,” and he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Britt was a good person, and he enjoyed having her to work with as the other instructor at this barn. He had also known that she was fishing for something, anything personal about him, but Kaler was very good at answering her questions in a way that kind of blew them off without a real answer. Kaler knew it bugged her, but he never thought that she would go to the internet to satisfy her curiosity. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. ”How about you just tell me, since you seem so proud of yourself.” He sighed, knowing that his cover was blown for sure now. Fucking internet.

TAG: BRITTANY HALE

[brittany nicole hale]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 420px; border: 1px dotted grey;] like i'm walking on broken glass , ”How about you just tell me, since you seem so proud of yourself.” Britt narrowed her eyes at him slightly. She did not enjoy being mocked. “Well it’s not like you told me anything of substance. I had to use other resources.” She shook the papers in her hand to make her point. “You worked at this barn in Texas, umm…” She glanced at the sheet. “Scott Ranch. Which you and/or your family obviously owned as it is your name.” She gave him a look to cut off the smart ass remark or eye roll she knew was sure to follow as he was rather notorious for them. “You won several reigning championships. You gave numerous clinics, though nothing very big. You turned down the Equine Affaire.” She stopped, giving him yet another look. “Should I continue?” She placed her hands on her hips, keeping her stance in front of the door in case he made a run for it. But she had him. She had cornered him. “And don’t try to deny it. I found your picture.” She held up a news article she had found which showed Kaler and one of the mares he had brought to Pine Hollow with him. She had repress a smug smile from crossing her lips, which was extremely difficult. There was a certain feeling of accomplishment to go with this. She had found out something about him, things that he hadn’t wanted to share. Sure, she supposed it could be prying, but she couldn’t stand not knowing the guy she worked with. Cause they worked very closely with one another, being the only two instructors at the barn. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?” It was the one question she couldn’t find in internet articles and websites. She was curious why he would keep something like this secret and not brag about it like she would almost expect him to do. He was not a small time trainer like her and the others around these parts. He had been places and seen things and done things that she could only ever dream of doing. She just didn’t understand. tagged: kaler ryan scott // words: 355 // notes: braler <3 made by luna. do not use.

[kaler ryan scott]

He supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised by her efforts. Kaler knew that Britt wished to know more about him, and working as closely as they did day in and day out, you would think that they would know a reasonable amount of information about each other. He thought that he did know things about Britt, and he definitely knew more about her than she had ever gotten out of him. It wasn’t that he meant to be so reserved or cold with her, but there was nothing about his life before coming to Pine Hollow that he thought was worth talking about. It was almost amusing that she was blaming him for all of this and forcing her to use these other resources, as she had called them. It was also amusing that she had thought that she needed to print out her proof, but Kaler didn’t comment. He just let her go, and it seemed that Google had had a lot to tell her about him. She had found his family’s ranch, and the moment he had been about to roll his eyes at her for making that connection Britt shot him a look. Fine, he wouldn’t roll his eyes at her this time. He sighed again instead, listening as she talked about him and told him things that he obviously already knew. Yes, he had been something of a hotshot in the reining world, and before that he had won awards in many other western events. Yes, he had been a trainer for many clinics, and he had been on his way to becoming very well-known once upon a time. Britt had him and she knew it, so there really was no need to continue. She had a news article that contained a picture of him with Israel, Kaler glancing at the picture long enough to remember what that article had been about. It was clear to him that Britt was enjoying this very much, and it while it was still somewhat amusing it was also irritating. A person really couldn’t keep a secret around here, could they? ”Why wouldn’t you tell me?” That would be the big question here, wouldn’t it? It probably looked very odd, seeing that he was not just some run of the mill trainer and instructor, and seeing that he had seemingly walked away from a very good life without much reason at all. Kaler just gave a shrug of his shoulders. ”It didn’t seem that important. I’m just an instructor and I didn’t need everyone to know who I almost was to prove a point around here.” At Pine Hollow, no one needed him to be anyone special. Here, there were no expectations and they just didn’t give a damn. All they needed him to do was instruct, and he was good at that. ”I mean, I obviously loved what I had and I really had a lot going for me, but that was exactly what I needed to take a break from. Out there, I had a waiting list that was a fucking mile long for training horses or people wanting lessons or to schedule clinics. But life happens and it got to be too much, so I came here.” He said it as if none of it had ever really mattered, or like it wasn’t a big deal when he knew the truth of it was that it was all a really big deal. Not a lot of people that ride ever get to go on to become something big, and Kaler didn’t know someone else that had his gift that had ever thrown it away. He supposed that made him unique. Or, maybe it was stupid… ”But, since you’ve got me here, what else do you want to know?” Britt had been the only one here to ask beyond what Kaler was willing to tell, and he figured that there had to be more questions bouncing around in that pretty little head of hers.

TAG: BRITTANY HALE

[brittany nicole hale]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 420px; border: 1px dotted grey;] like i'm walking on broken glass , Britt had been called stubborn many times in her life; most of those times by Kai, her twin brother. And her grandparents on most occasions. And she truly was. She wasn’t the type to let something go easily, as she had done with this right here. Though this was more of a relentlessness than anything else. She had needed to know the man she was working with, and so she had sought out the information that she needed. Or maybe more wanted. But it felt like she needed it. In response to anything, Kaler just shrugged his shoulders, though, which slightly irritated her. ”It didn’t seem that important. I’m just an instructor and I didn’t need everyone to know who I almost was to prove a point around here.” Britt could understand that, but she wasn’t everyone. And she wasn’t a gossip, either. ”I mean, I obviously loved what I had and I really had a lot going for me, but that was exactly what I needed to take a break from. Out there, I had a waiting list that was a fucking mile long for training horses or people wanting lessons or to schedule clinics. But life happens and it got to be too much, so I came here.” He said that as if it were nothing, but the words leaving his mouth said otherwise. ”But, since you’ve got me here, what else do you want to know?” She couldn’t stop the smile from sliding onto her lips. “Well I guess that all depends. How much are you willing to tell me?” It was nice to finally get somewhere with him, to know at least something about him other than his name and the fact that he could ride a horse. It gave her something to work with. “And for the record, I’m not everyone. I won’t tell anyone what I found out about you.” Her smile softened. “I have no control over google, though. It’s a gossip if there ever was one.” Her lame attempt at a joke. She folded up the papers in her hand and shoved them into her pocket, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Life happens, huh?” The smile slid off of her face. “I know a little something about that. What kind of life happened to you?” Probably not the best start to all this, but Britt couldn’t say that she was a stranger to tragedy. Life hadn’t always been good to her, but thankfully she had her brother and her grandparents. Otherwise she couldn’t say where she would have ended up. It was hard to say, and Britt didn’t really like to think about it. tagged: kaler ryan scott // words: 444 // notes: braler <3 made by luna. do not use.

[kaler ryan scott]

Kaler didn’t know why Britt was so fascinated by him and all unknown things about him. He hadn’t thought that she even cared that much for him and merely tolerated him as a coworker. Why would it matter to her where he had come from or what had happened in his life that would push him out of that life and into this one? She knew that he could successfully ride a horse and didn’t suck at passing on his knowledge about the skill to others. Shouldn’t that be all that she cared about? He was just perplexed by this idea that she cared, and admittedly he was a little annoyed by it. He had gotten used to flying under the radar and not having anyone in this world recognize who he was or what he had done, but now he might as well have been an open book to this blonde haired woman with those curious blue eyes. She was proud of herself, too. Kaler could tell that she thought that she had just solved one of the greatest mysteries of her time, and it irritated him that all she had had to do was type his name into an online search engine. She was stubborn, and Kaler knew that there was no point in trying to deny her what she wanted anymore. He could have been a real bitch about it, got mad and upset and used cutting words to make her drop the subject, and that was probably what he would have done had it been anyone else that was blocking his exit. However, it was Britt, and there was something about the blonde that made Kaler stay despite every unwanted memory and feeling this little session would dredge up. He had yet to quite peg down what I was that was so alluring about her, but that was a thought for a different time. How much was he willing to tell her? ”Just ask your questions,” he told her, knowing that they would both know full and well when he was done with this. Kaler was slightly relieved to know that he had a confidant in Britt, and even though her joke was a terrible attempt at some humor there was a small smile that came to play on his lips. No, there was no way of taking his name off of the web completely, but at least he didn’t have to worry about what would come tomorrow because Britt had gone and ran her mouth. But, then she was doing as he had suggested and asking questions, causing the smiles to fade from both of their faces. It was a loaded question, and probably the most difficult one that she could have asked. ”In all your research, did you happen to read that it was my mother who founded and operated our ranch? She built it from the ground up long before I was in the picture, and when I got old enough, good enough…calm enough, she let me run it with her.” Kaler had definitely had his wild streak, and still did. He had always been serious about his career in the equine industry, but Bethany Scott wasn’t willing to let him have a big part in their business until he had really committed to it and stopped chasing bulls, whiskey and women. ”Then it turned out that I had some talent, and it has mostly been my business for the last few years. But then my mom died and the world shifted. I couldn’t be there in that barn, or in that house… So I looked elsewhere and Pine Hollow was the first place that seemed safe.” It was a lot to admit, and definitely more than he had ever imagined that he would say to her. Maybe Kaler just needed someone to listen, and needed someone to know. Hell, maybe he even needed someone like her to care.

TAG: BRITTANY HALE