Page 16 of From the Ashes
“We’re not done talking about this,” she informs me.
“Cassie, I love you, but yes, we are. There’s nothing to talk about unless you want to finally cave and ride my face like I’ve been begging you to do.”
My joke pisses her off. “Don’t deflect. And definitely don’t deflect using sex. Not with me. We’re deeper than that.”
I smirk. “Iwouldbe deeper if you’d finally agree,” I tease again, wrapping an arm around her torso, pulling her to me, grinding her against my thigh in the water. Thankfully Cassie has a lot of sense, whereas I have none. She knew Jake and Dylan were endgame, and that she and I will be in each other’s lives for a long time. Not wanting any awkwardness between us if we were to sleep together, she wrote me, Hud, and Knox off as potential love interests from the start.
“I swear to God, Phoenix, you’d better not be fucking my sister in this nasty ass lake right now!” Dylan yells from a float somewhere to my left.
Cassie flips him the bird. “Worry about your own dick!” sheyells before lowering her voice as she wraps her arms around my neck and her legs around my torso with the pool noodle between us keeping us afloat. “What the hell are you running from, Phoe?”
“Something I’ll be running from until the day I die,” I finally admit, letting my forehead fall against hers.
“Somethingor someone?”
“Both,” I whisper brokenly.
“I knew it,” she declares before pressing a gentle kiss to my lips. “Admitting it is a good start.”
Start towhat, she doesn’t say.
When I get home,there’s a voicemail on my business phone. It’s the arena letting me know there have been three late add-ons for the upcoming rodeo, and they want to know if I have enough animals to accommodate the riders.
Sure, no problem.
There’s a heaviness in the clouds tonight, guaranteeing rain is on the way, so I throw on my boots and make the rounds in the barn to ensure my horses aren’t freaking out and kicking holes in their stalls.
Trisha, my farmhand, came by while I was out on the lake and took care of the evening chores, which she does while I’m at the fire station as well. I’m fortunate to have her. Good help on a farm can be difficult to find. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I can afford to pay her three times what the average farmhand makes, but it’s worth it.
The skin-safe flame retardant I patented ensured that I was set for life once my meager earnings from the rodeo ran out. I’mfortunate to be able to keep my farm runningandwork at the fire station. Neither job provides an extravagant income, but they keep me mostly fulfilled—more so than any other career I would have chosen after bronc riding, at least.
I’m headed back inside when my personal cell phone rings this time. Seeing Knox’s name, I answer right away. He’s not usually one for meaningless conversation, so what he has to say is probably important.
“Knox, what’s up?”
“Everyone’s worried about you, but they’re too chickenshit to call you and find out what’s going on.”
I scrub my hand down my face even though he can’t see it.
“Christ Almighty, you bunch of motherfucking hens. I’mfine.” Note to self: don’t answer Knox’s calls anymore. “Besides, it’syouthey should be worried about. When was the last time you had a day off or I don’t know…smiled?”
He ignores my comments about him entirely, answering as if I didn’t say a thing. “I told everyone to get off your back, but Cassie has them all on her side.” In a very uncharacteristic chuckle, Knox adds, “You know how she is.”
“Irresistible?” I clarify.
“Precisely,” he confirms before adding, “And in an attempt to drag it out of you, Cassie has convinced everyone we’re going out to Tomahawk.”
“Tonight?We were together all day on the lake. I’m fucking exhausted and I haven’t even showered yet,” I whine.
“Which one of us is in his forties?” Knox teases. “I know floating in the water must have really tired you out.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I bite back. It’s lost some of its power though because despite my best efforts not to, a grin is lifting one side of my mouth.
“Look, if you want everyone off your back, get showered, meet us at the bar, take a woman or two home with you, anddeal with your demons in private,” Knox says, offering some rare, but good advice.
Spoken like a man who has experience fighting his own,I think to myself.
Knowing he’s right, I relent with a groan. “Ughhh,fine.See you in thirty, but Cassie’s buying my beer!”
