Cowgirl Cat

Prologue

Aiden Quinn

The light barely filtered through the lowered blinds that covered his bedroom windows. The sun had not fully risen yet. The house was quiet; the sounds of morning apparently still sleeping along with the inhabitants. In the bed, under a pile of blankets, fifteen-year-old Aiden slept beside his Border Collie, Jackson, both of them completely and blissfully oblivious to the emerging dawn.

As a rule, mornings were Aiden's favorite time of day, except the part about having to go to school. Studying was not the highest priority on his list. Horses, however, were. He never needed reminding about that. Most days, Aiden awoke well before sunrise so that he could spend at least an hour taking care of his horses. Sometimes he even saddled up for a ride along the trail behind his house, hoping to sneak up on a herd of deer grazing near the river.

Colorado mornings were like that: perfection.

Today, however, was not one of those days.

The previous night, he'd gone to a family reunion outside of Denver. By the time they'd gotten home to their ranch on the outskirts of Westcliffe, it had been well past midnight. He had been looking forward to sneaking in an extra hour of blissful sleep before his alarm went off.

But the bliss ended abruptly when Aiden's cell phone buzzed on the nightstand and began, vibrating against the lamp. As if the fact that someone texted him so early in the morning wasn't bad enough, the noise, sharp and jarring, was a rude awakening from what had been a not-long-enough sleep. Again.

Rolling over, Aiden covered his head with his pillow. Beside him, his dog, Jackson, groaned, complaining at the movement and shifting his outstretch legs so that his paws pushed against Aiden's back. Ignoring the Border Collie, Aiden started to drift back to sleep. After all, it was too early to wake up. Whoever had just texted him needed to just go away. Far away, so that he could return to his dream: winning the Denver Rodeo-All-Stars in team roping with his buddy, Clayton Wade.

In just a few weeks, spring would slip into summer and he'd spend the entire summer working on the ranch with his father and riding the trails with his friends. They'd have overnight camping trips (on horseback, of course) and some adventures trying to herd the cattle in for sale. And of course, making his cowboy-in-training videos for YouTube.

But that was still a long way off. Today was Monday and that meant school. Summer couldn't come quick enough for him.

After a few minutes of quiet, the cell buzzed again.

"Stop texting me!" He shouted at the phone as he threw the pillow off the bed and ran his fingers through his hair, the dark curly strands sticking straight up.

His phone buzzed again.

"Come on!" Lifting his head, he could barely see. Only after blinking a few times could he focus on the small screen where a photo of his best friend stared back at him.

"Leave me alone, Clayton!" he muttered as he grabbed the phone and flopped back into his pillow. It wasn't even 6:30. He had another fifteen minutes to sleep before he needed to get up and make his way to the barn. While there was no time for a ride this morning, the horses still needed to eat.

Swiping his finger across the screen, Clayton's text message popped up. It took Aiden a minute to focus on the words:

Yo, bro!

Congrats on 2000! You da man!

Best friends or not, Clayton was pushing it with sending cryptic texts so early in the morning. His brain wasn't awake yet. And on a Monday, nonetheless.