Cloud Riders(97)

Arriving back at the farm to drop the guys off, she felt tender and not very sociable. All she wanted was for Kayden to take her home so that she could just feel miserable and sore all by herself. However, they had other plans. The guys knew what she would be feeling and were refusing to let her be miserable. They propped her on their couch with pillows and told her to sit still while they organised cinema food and a movie. They fed her hot dogs and ice cream while watching a chick flick. How they had one in the house was beyond her. She had thought she would have to watch a rerun of Seinfeld or a gory man movie. She cheered up that they had gone to such an effort.

Dawn was beginning to throw light across the sky when she woke the next morning. They’d made her sleep all night on the couch to prevent her from rolling over in her sleep, hurting herself. What she hadn’t realised was that they had all crashed there on the floor around her. Aw, that is so sweet, she thought, looking around the room at everyone sleeping. She found Kayden wrapped up in a sleeping bag right beside the couch. She sat up and groaned with the tenderness.

Kayden sat up. ‘Are you alright, honey?’ he said a bit groggily.

‘Sorry I woke you. I am okay, just moved too quickly,’ she whispered.

‘You don’t have to whisper,’ Woody said. ‘We’re like doting parents waking at your every murmur. Boy, you talk a lot in your sleep.’ He chuckled and she heard little sniggers from around the room.

‘Shut up! What did I say?’

They all laughed.

‘You were growling most of the night at Marco, calling him everything,’ Jason stirred.

Kayden chuckled. ‘Enough, guys. You didn’t move all night, honey, they’re just being stirring shits.’

She threw back her covers. ‘Well, if it’s okay by my doting dads, I have to make a trip to the bathroom,’ she giggled with them.

Kayden helped her to stand up and it pulled a bit on the tattoo. She groaned. ‘Next time I get a dumb idea like this, remind me not to.’

‘And that would stop you?’ Kayden asked, still fussing over her.

The boys were all sitting up now, watching. They had her going—now it was their turn. She walked a little bent over and complained a bit. Then looking back at their concerned faces she stood up straight and smiled. ‘Gotcha!’ she giggled as she went up the stairs.

She heard them all laughing. Woody just shook his head. ‘Little bitch! She had us all going for a minute. I’m going to slap her backside when she comes back down.’

Kayden got all defensive, ‘Like hell you will! No one touches her sexy tush but me.’

Later that day, Kayden checked her tattoo and took off the bandage and they all came over for a look.

‘She’s like us, now,’ Jason said. ‘Heals fast now she’s linked with our team magic.’

Cassie grinned, happily looking down at it. ‘It does look cute though, hey?’

‘Just wait until I have you on your own and I’ll show you cute you are,’ Kayden whispered in her ear before getting up to help with dinner. The BBQ smelt delicious and Cassie lay back, relaxing and sipping her cocktail while she waited. As the evening stars glittered in the sky, she wondered what mischief her father was conjuring up. He’d be bored now that she was gone and would no doubt be up to no good.

Woody came and sat next to her, looking up at what she was studying.

‘Do you miss her?’ Cassie asked, turning her head towards him.

‘A little, but she’s no good for me.’

‘You know why I asked that, don’t you?’

‘You want to forget where you left a piece of your heart too?’ Woody said, understanding where she was coming from.

Cassie nodded. ‘I find it strange that evil can walk both sides—be rotten to the core but also be almost perfect. We that love them can see both sides and yet choose to ignore the evil, preferring to only acknowledge the perfection. They have such an advantage on us. They see us as a challenge, using our kind hearts to get what they want. It’s hard to get over their perfect side, isn’t it?’

‘You have it down pat, Cass. We’re players for their amusement and if we dare end it, the rejection drives them insane. They have calculated our every move, not putting a foot wrong. It kills them to think we have worked them out. I’ve not heard the last of my Ella, or you of your father. They view it as a game, one that they lost and will continue to play until they win us back or become bored with it.’

‘Tell me, Woodsta, how are we to say no when we see them next in all their perfection, smiling at us like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths?’

‘We replace them with a real friend, one who understands because they’re going through the same thing.’