Cowboy Like Me.

Chapter 8

'Tay,' I whispered as I shook her gently. We had just arrived back at her house after our trip away; she had insisted on driving the whole way home, but I'd managed to get her to let me take over for the last few hours, and she'd fallen asleep. 

I reached out and stroked her face. It had been the first time I'd touched her  since our last night in the cabin; after that, we had stayed one night in a hotel with separate beds, and neither of us had slept, probably because we were so used to being next to one another. Still, neither of us had wanted to be the first to give in either. 

Things between us had been strained ever since our heart-to-heart that had quickly turned into a heated argument which had ended with us tangled up in bedsheets all night, only stopping when we couldn't physically take anymore which I definitely wasn't complaining about; it had been incredible as always. 

However, we did that thing that we always do where we pretended like it never happened and then emotionally and physically distance ourselves from each other until one of us caves. Only, this time, I wasn't sure that would happen because Taylor was leaving for three months tomorrow. 

'Kar?' Taylor's sleepy voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I snatched my hand back just as her eyes began to flutter open, though I was sure she had felt it. 

'Yeah, we're home… well, we're at your home, anyway; I don't live here, obviously,' I rambled awkwardly as I unhooked my phone from the car's Bluetooth. 

'Obviously,' Taylor said through a yawn, followed by a stretch before she sat up and looked around; her eyes seemed to focus on something through the rearview mirror. 'Oh no, that isn't good,' she murmured, seemingly talking to herself. 

'What isn't good?' I asked her, confused as I watched her scramble to find her phone in her bag, which was in the footwell. 

She ignored me as she unlocked it and started frantically scrolling. 'Oh Jesus, Karlie, this is so bad!' She raised her voice at me after a few moments, 'Tree is going to kill me.' 

I was caught off guard by her sharp tone and snapped my head around to face her. 'What is bad, Taylor?' You're not making any sense,' I snapped back at her. 

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the car window that almost had me jumping through the windshield in fright. 'Who the fuck is that?' I screeched as I clutched my chest and glared at where the noise had come from. 

Taylor pressed the button to make the window go down, and a few seconds later, a very irritated-looking red-headed woman had her face in the car. 'Taylor, nice of you to finally come home. I've been trying to contact you for over a week since apparently you just forgot to mention that you were taking a trip,' she said as she raised her eyebrow and gave Taylor a scolding look. 

'I know, Tree; I'm sorry, I just needed a break from it all, and it was a last-minute thing. I'd forgotten I'd put my phone on do not disturb mode, but Joe and Matt were there with me, so it was fine,' Taylor replied, sounding more exhausted than I'd ever heard her. 

'We'll talk about it more inside, but you have a lot of explaining to do.' Tree replied sharply before she took a step back from the window. 

'What the hell is her problem? She knows you're a grown woman, doesn't she? You're entitled to some freedom and privacy even from your publicist,' I said, annoyed at how Tree had spoken to Taylor and how Taylor had just allowed it. 

'That's not how it works, Karlie,' Taylor rolled her eyes at me before she added, 'Let's just get inside and get this over with.' 

I didn't say anything else for fear of getting my head bitten off, and instead, I opened the door and stepped out of the car, making sure my hood was up, and my sunglasses were fixed firmly on my face as I walked toward the entrance of Taylor's home.