Cloud Riders(90)
‘Then when she goes back, your plans, Ald, have they changed?’
‘This changes nothing for either of us. It’ll be business as usual again tomorrow.’
Cassie chuckled. ‘Yes, I’ll be back out there giving Pop hell again and he’ll be throwing whatever he can back at me. He will lose of course! But I’ll let him try.’
‘Cheeky little shit.’ He grinned good-humouredly. ‘See what I have to put up with? She’s a cocky little thing who needs to learn a lesson. I am so looking forward to her leaving.’ He laughed with her.
‘Bring it on, Pops!’
He grabbed her, not even waiting for her to change and threw her in the water. Drenched, she came up still laughing. She swallowed a mouthful of water and nearly choked but kept giggling.
‘See? Even choking doesn’t work with her. She’s like a cat with nine lives.’
Even Aqua was getting into it now and was smiling at them both. She could see they definitely were father and daughter. She was happy that Ald had the chance to meet her even if they were rivals.
Cassie looked under her top and saw a gold bikini top had magically appeared. She took off her outfit and threw it at her dad. ‘You wet it, you can hang it up to dry,’ she chuckled.
Aqua bent down, picked Cassie’s top and pants up and draped them over a chair. ‘You go have some fun, Ald. I’ll organise some lunch for you both.’
‘That would be lovely of you, sweet one.’ Aldebaran kissed her hand tenderly, making Aqua blush and giggle before she left him to have some private time with his daughter.
Cassie pulled herself out, ready to dive back in, when she saw her dad just standing there watching. ‘Come on, old man. Let’s see if you can keep up with your kid.’
He smirked, threw off his shirt and flew after her, catching her on his way and throwing them both in the water. ‘Give you old man shit, you little stirrer?’ he laughed.
They spent half the morning going up and down the slides. Her favourite was the tunnel. It went very dark and you could feel weird things touching you as you went through. It made you quiver with horror before being flung high up in the air. They dragged themselves out, laughing and exhausted.
Wrapping towels around themselves, they sat in the lounges by the pool with Aqua while servants brought out savouries and ice-cold drinks. These they enjoyed while chatting about how much fun they’d been having. Aqua seemed to have a thing for her father and constantly touched his arm or hand as she talked. He seemed to enjoy her constant flirting and was kicking back, relaxing and having a good time. Cassie hated to break up the fun he was having but she knew she would be going soon and wanted a bit of alone time with him before she headed off.
Aqua asked if they could stay for dinner but Aldebaran saw the look on Cassie’s face and declined, saying that he had just a few more hours left with her so he wanted to head off. He slipped his arm around Cassie and she was not prepared for her father’s powers. Her clothes appeared on her, dry and pressed. Her hair was again dry and her makeup felt freshly applied.
Aqua grinned. ‘Your father’s great to have around the morning after,’ she said. ‘He does have a way with making a girl not only look good, but feel good.’
Cassie put her hand up. ‘Far too much information!’ she giggled, looking up at her dad.
Aqua and her father both shared a look of tenderness before Aqua disappeared from their sight.
It only took an instant to get back, therefore Cassie felt she had time to pay Starburst a quick visit to make sure he was alright. Going inside the castle, she noticed her father had organised a drink for them both. She was happy that he wanted to just sit back and chat to her. He was making her feel very comfortable and welcome.
‘You seem very connected to that horse,’ Aldebaran commented.
Cassie took a sip of drink, recalling the first time she saw him. ‘I watched him being born and it was the first time I’d ever seen anything give birth. When he came out, he was an unsteady skinny little thing that could barely stand. He wobbled and made me laugh as he tried so hard to stay on his feet. He was beautiful.’
‘You missed a lot, didn’t you, Cassandra? Like today.’
She smiled. ‘Yes but yesterday is gone and from now on I intend to make everyday count and experience all the things I’ve only read about. What we did today, to visit a water park was high on my to-do list. So thanks, Pops. It was crazy fun and I loved it.’
She got up and walked around the big study they’d been sitting in. She couldn’t help but admire the books he had crammed onto the selves. There were even moving ladders to get to the paperbacks way up on the top shelf. It amused her he would need them with all his magic. He could have just summoned one to him.