Her Cowboy (Book One Of The Brave Series)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter 24

M.

The ride back to the house was bumpy and I knew the only reason why I wasn't crying like a baby and shivering was because of the morphine the hospital had given me before I'd left. Now I am an honest person...so right now, I was honestly high as a flying kite.

"Annaaaaa, you're so fricking prettyyy. You're my bestest friend." I mumbled.

"Aww, you're my best friend too Sweetie." She said patting my head as the boys laughed.

"Why y'all laughing at me?" I turned and glared at the boys who promptly shut their mouths.

"That's what I thought. I will go all kung fuuuuu on yo butts." I dragged out as my hands slowly formed stupid chops to the air.

This time they didn't try to hide their laughter and just keeled over. I frowned and turned to Anna.

"They're being mean to me!" I cried out as I laid my head on her chest.

"So much boob! Daniel, I understand it allll now." Laughter continued as the truck slowed to a stop. I shot my head up but paused when I felt the pain in my body. A noise rumbled throughout my chest as I looked down at my wrapped-up stomach.

"Are you growling at yourself?" Axel asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said as everyone unloaded themselves from the truck. I slid to the door and let my legs dangle outside the door.

"Can you stand Mad?" I looked at Anna.

"Well duuuh, I have legs!" I said as I set myself on my feet and sank to the ground.

"Oh nooooo! My legs aren't legs! They're noodles!"

"No, they're not, guys, can you get the door open and get the house ready for this high little demon?" Asher said and they all went off to the house. When the door was open they went into different directions.

Asher stood over me. I growled.

"Are you growling at me?" he said narrowing his eyes. I glared back at him full force and turned my head refusing to speak to him. I mean, I had liked the guy. But he had a girlfriend and now I had a messed-up rib because she was psycho and thought I was going to take him away from her. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.

"Silent treatment huh?" he said, shrugging.

"Guess we're doing this the hard way then." He said and before I could even ask what that meant he'd bent down and scooped me up into his arms, carrying me towards the house.

"Oh, I do declare. Such a strong man has cometh to whisk me away. What about my other loyal suiters?" the sarcasm dripped from me like venom from a snake. He froze.

"Screw this." He muttered before leaping up the staircase and towards his room. Shutting the door behind us he quickly walked over to his bed and set me down. Not roughly, but not gently either.

"Okay, fine. You want to keep up this crappy attitude towards me when you have no freaking clue what's going on?" he asked as he paced back and forth in front of me.

"Fine, now it's time for you to hear everything."

A.

She stared at me wide eyed as I began to tell her everything.

"Chloe and I met through Anna. Eighth grade. Anna had befriended her because she was new to town and wanted her to feel welcome just like a decent human being would do. So, she introduced us at lunch one day. The story Anna tells is that Chloe fell in love with me the day she met me. Whatever, I didn't care. I was nice to her because she was my sister's only friend. So, when she came to the house to hang out with Anna and I found her in my room or wearing my clothes to bed, I let it go. I didn't care about girls, just hanging out with my friends.

"Well, when high school rolled around things changed. Girls became the "thing", and everyone thought that Chloe and I were the 'it' couple and somehow, I got pressured into asking her out. So, I did. Well, as I got to know her I started liking her more and more until I thought it was love. Goes to show how good of an actress she was because the summer after Sophomore year I came the find out, the day I decided to finally be intimate with her, that she had cheated on me with one of my best friends. Stewart, the creeper that met up with you in the lunch line the other day." She grimaced and looked like she wanted to puke a little.

"Yeah, I felt sick to my stomach too. So, I broke up with her and the whole school found out so, humiliated, she ran away to her grandparents' home. I thought she was gone. Good riddance. Well, I was wrong. She came back and for some unknown reason she still thinks we're together. The kiss you saw. She surprised me, but I was about to push her off when your clumsy little butt decided to fall from behind the wall.

"No matter how many times I tried to explain everything I'm telling you now, you wouldn't have it. You wanted to ignore me or yell at me and now here we are. You with busted ribs and me being your servant, because I'm not going to let the girl that I like be alone while she heals up from something that I caused. So, there you have it. The whole thing. Does it make more sense now?" I looked up after sucking in a breath and found her eyes wide.

"Y-you're going to stay here with me? The entire time?" she muttered sluggishly. I nodded.

"Just the two of us?" she asked. Another nod.

"Madeline, do you understand everything I just told you." She nodded and looked at me.

"I understand...I'm not hurt anymore." She mumbled to herself before giggling.

"Why are you giggling?" I asked nervously. She shook her head.

"Nothing...my throat's a little dry. Can you get me some water please, Man Servant?" she smiled slightly, and I felt a small weight lifted off my chest.

"Anything for my royal lady." I responded, leaving the room and heading downstairs.

Anna met me in the kitchen.

"So?" she asked eagerly.

"I told her everything." I said getting her water.

"Thank God, finally. What do you think about Mrs. Madeline Ray Tyler? I think it sounds ni-oh my God you're blushing!" I jumped.

"W-what no I'm not! Geez Anna your imagination is ridiculous." But I felt the heat in my cheeks.

Boof! The sound of Mozart running up the stairs caught both our attention and we took off running trying to catch the giant beast before he jumped on Madeline.

The door was already opened before we got there, and we came to a halt when we saw Mozart laying around Madeline's head as she slept peacefully. He looked at her and whined before licking her face and resting his head back on his paws. Anna sighed.

"Mrs. Madeline Ray Tyler. I'm telling ya." She said before walking back down the stairs. I looked at Madeline.

"Mrs. Huh?" I shrugged.

It did have a nice ring to it.

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EDITED VERSION

J. Vas