Page 14 of Growing Into Love

“I wasn’t riding him, Jaz.”

“I only meant you’ve got the competition to think about.”

“I know. I didn’t forget about Windy Acres. That groom was going to try to euthanize a horse just because he had a bit of a scare,” Cass snaps. “Did you think I was going to stand by and let that happen?”

“I—didn’t—meant…” My voice trails off. I’ve always been terrible at talking to girls, but this is Cass. I don’t like feeling flustered around her.

“I can take care of myself, you know,” Cass says. “I’m a fucking grownup.”

“I know that.”

Her head whips around. “Do you? Because sometimes it seems like everyone in this town still thinks I’m a little kid. Not to be taken seriously. Like they can ignore me if they want.”

Her eyes widen a fraction, as if shocked by her own words, and she turns to glare out the window. Is she talking about the text? Does she think I’ve been ignoring her? I thought she’d want me to ignore it. But then, I’ve never been good at reading women. And Cass was never one I thought I had to read. Her face is almost too expressive—besides, she always says what’s on her mind anyway. Or she used to at least. But now she sits in terse silence, staring out the window. Even without Conversation Cat, I wouldn’t know what to say. I can’t parse out the proper thing to do in this situation. And I really wish my eyes would stop flitting to her legs.

By the time we get to Oak Hill, the tension in the car has reached unbearable levels. Every shift of her body sets me on edge. The words from her text keep replaying over and over in my mind.

Your chest pressed against mine. Making me wetter than I’ve ever been.

Maybe I could make a joke of it.How about that sext message, eh?Oh god, I cringe at the thought.

When we pull down the Oak Hill drive, I see that Declan and the rest of the Wrights have returned from Scotland. I feel a sudden lurch of panic that Declan will know I’ve been looking at his sister’s legs.

I get out of the car like I’m being pulled by marionette strings. My movements are jerky and awkward. Declan is getting the bags from the boot. He puts them down when he sees us.

“Hey,” he says, coming over. He hears a thump from the lorry and frowns. “Thought you were leaving Gal at Delilah’s.”

“That’s not Gal,” Cass says tartly. She points a finger in his face. “And I don’t want any shit from you about this, got it?”

Declan looks confused. “Shit about what?”

Cass opens the back of the lorry and Naturally Sweet gets out quietly, the sedative doing its job. Declan’s eyes bulge as Autumn joins us.

“Did we get a new horse?” she asks excitedly as Declan cries, “Cass, what the hell is that?”

“It’s a horse, Declan,” she hisses. “And keep your voice down, you’ll frighten him.” Autumn seems surprised by her tone—Cass is usually so bubbly and cheerful. “I rescued him from Del’s. They were going to put him down. His name is Naturally Sweet.”

“Aw, that’s cute,” Autumn says.

“It’s fucking stupid and I’m changing it,” Cass says.

“O…kay,” Autumn says, glancing at me as if I can provide an explanation for the attitude.

I can’t so I shrug. Clive pulls up in my car and gets out.

“So, you’ve met the crazy horse,” he says.

“Crazy?” Declan says, his eyes bugging.

“He’s not crazy!” Cass snarls. “I’m taking him to Gal’s stall. He can stay there while I’m gone.”

“What—no he can’t, Cass—hey, wait!” Declan says, as she leads Naturally off to the barn.

“What’s going on?” Autumn asks me.

“Long story,” I say.

Just then, May comes out of the house. “Jaz!” she exclaims. “Lovely to see you. Did we get a new horse? I saw Cass taking one into the barn.”

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