Her Cowboy (Book One Of The Brave Series)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

M.

We took our time with our time at the café, and I enjoyed it with every fiber of my being. Mom hadn't been this happy in a long time. I was glad she was finally smiling. We joked for a while and she threw fries at me for making a dumb joke. Then she snorted and we both laughed our heads off. I told her about the lady at the register and the application and she said she was happy I found something to do in my free time.

I didn't want to go home yet, but I knew it was inevitable and when we finally pulled up the driveway to the house I saw my mom mentally preparing herself. I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked at me.

"It's going to be okay Mom. This is the beginning of a new life, I feel it." she smiled slightly and reached over to hug me.

"I love you Sweetheart." she whispered.

"Love you too Mom." I smiled.

We pulled back and grabbed our bags. With one more look towards each other we entered the house. And I wish we hadn't. It was destroyed, lamps smashed, curtains torn down, chairs broken. Mom gasped and there was a choked sound and I knew she was trying not to cry. A loud smashing sound snapped our attention to the back of the house and we rushed towards it. The sound led us to the open back door where we found him, beer bottles scattered, and one smashed to the side. He stood there, baseball bat in hand and throwing up glass cups from the kitchen and smashing them with the bat. Most of them were smashed at his feet, probably because he was too drunk to hit them.

"Peter, what are you doing?!" Mom screamed. He turned then, his eyes bloodshot red.

"Oooh, look who deshides to show up! Where have ya been?" he asked, his anger clearly visible. He then stomped up to her and got right in her face. Her eyes widened, and that's when I realized. Mom was afraid of Dad. Deathly afraid.

"Where. Were. You?!" he screamed.

"She brought me to get some clothes!" I butted in quickly. His head snapped towards me and that's when he seemed to register that I was there. He stepped back from my mom.

"Tch!" he tsked, and then turned into the house before slamming the door behind him. Mom jumped at the sound and her body was so stiff I thought she was frozen.

"Mom, are you okay?" she turned to me and tried to recover her usual face. She failed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Alright, I've got to get dinner ready. Come on let's get your stuff put away." she turned and shuffled into the house as fast and quietly as she could. I shook my head. Something was wrong. More than before anyways. I followed Mom's footsteps and entered the house, but this time, I had a while new outlook on things, and I was going to watch for the signs that I had been missing before.

Dad left the house shortly after the incident in the backyard, and I was grateful. It was ten at night now, and Mom had long gone to sleep. I on the other hand was wide awake and staring out my window. The forest that surrounded the house was lit up by the moon, the snow letting the light reflect off it in pure white. It was so beautiful, quiet, and peaceful. I decided I would break in my new boots tonight. I tossed on my new flannel and jacket, then headed out the back door, being sure not to let it make a sound so that I didn't wake up Mom.

Turning I headed into the forest. The only sound was my footsteps and breathing. The crunch of the snow and wet tree branches beneath me was calming, almost soothing. The moon's reflection was bright enough to illuminate the different bushes and trees. I could see a clear path in front of me and followed it straight through, that way I wouldn't get lost on the way back. I was so caught up in the view around me that I barely noticed the separate snap of twigs aside from my own footsteps. Then came a low growl behind me and I froze. I turned my head and that's when I saw it. The animal behind me wasn't the everyday average house, it was much larger, it's eyes flashing brightly in the moonlight. It opened it's mouth in a loud hiss and it's paws moved as if about to pounce.

"Damn." I whispered before it started coming at me.

A.

I was in the middle of Axel's family's ranch, a bonfire kicking high as we kicked back and relaxed.

"Today was crazy weird, huh?" Axel said as he sat down on the opposite side of the bonfire as me.

"Yeah, but it was kind of fun too, refreshing to say the least." Riley replied.

"It seems like fun." Daniel said, as he dusted off the snow then leaned on the back on the hand made wooden bench.

"Yeah," I said as I took a sip of the hot chocolate in my hand. Axel's mother, Mrs. Gaines was famous for it and wouldn't let us go to the fire pit without a few thermoses of it. "seems like it." I agreed as I sat there and stared up at the snowy sky, the image of a raven-haired girl floating in my mind.

"What are you thinking about?" Riley asked enthusiastically, getting into my personal bubble without a second thought.

"Thinking bout the new girl." I said honestly. I had sent them to that café because I saw her reading at lunch. I figured she would enjoy the quaint little bookstore, though I wasn't certain. I wanted to see the look on her face when she saw all those shelves.

"Oooh, do I see a new romance for our star quarterback slash Cowboy in the future?" Daniel nudged my shoulder with his own as he smirked at me. I shook my head.

"Highly doubt that, she's just a city girl." I said, even though I didn't really believe it myself.

"A city girl? Maybe she came from the city but from what I have seen today, there's more than meets the eye with that one." Axel said. I looked at me. He sounded fond of her after only one day.

The sound of tree branches being squished, snow being crunched on, and bushes rustling brought us to our feet quickly.

"What the hell is that?" Riley asked.

"I can only assume it's an animal." Axel said in response.

But we were half wrong because what popped out of the woods wasn't just an animal. First came a person running so fast they looked like a blur and following was a grown bobcat running after them.

"Shit, wild cat." Axel said as he ran to the truck a few feet away where it held a 12-gauge Remington. I squinted to look at the person running, when they turned sharply and started sprinting towards a low hanging tree branch. They jumped, grabbed onto the tree branch and swung upwards onto another branch of the same tree and landing safely away from the cat.

"Hey, someone get this thing away from me!" I recognized that voice even a hundred feet away.

"Madeline?!" I called out as Axel came up with the Remington in hand.

"Cowboy?!" she called out and I chuckled as Axel laughed and handed me the 12-gauge.

"What happened to cause this?" I asked as the cat turned towards us and began hissing loudly.

"Hell, if I know, one minute I'm taking a night time stroll and the next it turned into an all-out marathon!" I laughed as the cat's shoulders tensed, low growls reverberating from its throat. I turned the safety off the gun.

"Well, lucky you ran into us huh, Maddie?"

"Oh, shut it you idiot, just help me already!" I took aim as the bobcat charged.

"Yes ma'am." I said as I pumped the gun, aimed, and took the shot.

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EDITED VERSION

Making slow but sure progress!!!

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J. Vas