Her Cowboy (Book One Of The Brave Series)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

A.

Holy crap, I almost died. I leaned against the wall outside as I tried to fix my scrambled brain. I had approached Madeline because she was shaking like a scared puppy and ended up grabbing onto her. When we touched it felt like a lightning bolt shooting throughout my whole body. And she lied to me.

I don't like you touching me. I could see the lie in her eyes and it made me feel like I won the whole world. And then she...bit her lip. I closed my eyes as I watched her do it over again in my mind. It was so innocent and sexy that it made my heart stop. Before I could do anything stupid I threw my jacket over her and walked away. Everybody watched me as I went but I didn't care. I just wanted to understand what was going on with Madeline at home, and maybe, just maybe see if there was anything between us.

　　　　"Asher!" My head snapped up just in time to dodge the soaking wet man-child that leapt at me. He landed like a ton of bricks on the ground where I once stood. He just knelt there and tried to catch his breath.

　　　　"Ha! Told you it wouldn't work!" Axel said as he walked over the Riley and helped him onto his feet.

　　　　"When will you learn your lesson Riley?" Anna said as she walked up to us, her arm in Daniel's.

"I shall never give up!" Riley wheezed out. I shook my head.

"You're crazy." I said to Riley.

"Oh, speaking of crazy," Anna said "I am hearing some crazy rumors about a certain brother of mine dating the new girl. Is this true?" she asked excitedly.

"No, it isn't." I said, even though I was wasn't exactly happy about it.

"Was that disappointment I heard in your voice big brother?" Anna asked with a smile. I looked away.

"Ooh, looks like I'll have to work on getting a sleepover in place this weekend." she rubbed her hands together and smiled evilly. That scared every single one of us.

"No, no, no, Anna, don't do anything you're thinking of doing." Daniel said as he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her through the hallway. I sighed in both relief and disappointment. Relief that Daniel would do his best to talk her out of it, since she would use all of us for whatever she needed. Disappointment because I would have liked to have Madeline in my territory. Where I would have the advantage.

Axel and Riley followed the two as I trailed behind them. I wasn't sure if Daniel would succeed, but I prayed to God he didn't.

M.

I sat in my Pre-Calc seat and waited for the class to come in. I was going over last night's homework when I felt someone sit down next to me. Then their arm wrapped around the back of my seat. I looked up at them and jumped.

"Dear God it's you again." I said as I looked into Asher's baby blues.

"Yup. Sure 'nough is. Now, I would like to warn about your impending doom, however I thought it would be funnier to watch it all happen, so be prepared." I looked at him and cocked my eyebrow.

"Hm, sure." I said disbelievingly as the last bell rang. As the teacher began his lesson I found myself being distracted. I could nearly feel Asher beside me, as though he were touching but I knew he wasn't. That woodsy spice that was already becoming familiar to me flooded my senses, surrounding me as I tried, but failed, to focus on the assignment at hand. He was getting into my head, and that needed to stop. This place may be a part of my history, however, I didn't believe I would be here long.

During the middle of the teacher's lecture and my mental war, I felt a tug on my braid. I turned my head to the side to glare at him but stopped due to the pull I felt on my hair. That little brat wrapped his hand in my hair. I gritted my teeth as I turned back to the front of the class. I twitched as he pulled off the hair tie holding the braid in place at the bottom. My elbow shot sideways to hit him inconspicuously. There was a soft grunt, barely audible, and he ignored it completely.

He slowly pulled apart the braid and since we were the last row, nobody seemed to notice what was going on, not even the teacher. It tickled and was, as much as I hate to admit it, relaxing as I felt the gentle tugs on my scalp. Before I knew it, I had rested my chin in my hand and was slowly drifting off into a relaxed sleep.

I woke up to the shrill sound of the bell and looked around in panic to find that Asher was nowhere to be seen. My hair was down and when I reached up to tie it up I noticed both of my hair ties were gone. Gritting my teeth, I silently cursed the little demon and headed off to my next class.

.....

"Evil spawn of Satan. Little mongrel. Wicked witch." I mumbled as I walked out of Ceramics class and towards the cafeteria, my hair flapping behind me. Even his sister wasn't in class today. I stopped suddenly as I turned the corner to find a group of people blocking the cafeteria doorways. I was in no mood to deal with it as I elbowed my way through.

"Excuse me, 'xcuse me, excuse m-" I stopped as I made it through the blockade of people and landed in the half empty cafeteria. The first thing I saw was the giant handmade banner being held on either side with Axel on one side and Riley on the other. The banner read

'Would you like to have a sleepover this weekend Madeline?'

Then I saw Anna as she jumped out of nowhere and threw paper confetti over my head.

"Surprise! Will you please have a sleepover with me, new friend?" my eye twitched at the ridiculousness of all this and jumped when everybody around me started chanting.

"Say yes, say yes, say yes." I looked around. This town was horrifyingly close knit and weird. I felt my face turn red at the attention as I noticed everyone staring at me. Panic set in. My body started shaking as I watched everyone expecting my answer.

"Pleeeaaaseee?" Anna gave me a puppy dog face. How could I have said no?

"Y-yeah, sure." she smiled brightly and jumped on me in a hug.

"Yaaay!" the crowd around us cheered and I felt like we were a couple and I had just agreed to marry her. Goodness, this town was weird.

That's when I noticed Asher standing off to the side with Axel. He looked my way and smiled. I narrowed my eyes at him and he raised his eyebrows at me, daring me to take back my answer. In an immature fit, I stuck my tongue out at him. I watched his mouth open as he laughed and made his way over to me.

Anna was yelling at the boys to do something and the crowd had finally dispersed to do their own thing. Asher stood side by side with me, but I refused to turn and give him eye contact.

"Doom, huh?" I said.

"Yup."

"And why is that?" I asked. I felt him lean over, and whisper in my ear.

"Because you can't run away from me there." I shivered as his voice sent tingles up my spine. I could only nod as he chuckled and walked towards his sister, yelling something to her.

My doom? Try the death of me.

----------------

EDITED VERSION

BOOM! And another one bites the dust!

J. Vas