Intertwined

Six

Houston

I only agreed to participate in the rodeo because Beckett asked me to; for some odd reason, it could be fun. However, I never expected to invite Cassidy. It just happened.

 She was sitting on the porch watching Beckett and me, and I wanted to include her in something. Everything after was when the words tumbled out, inexplicably inviting her to every other rodeo I had signed up for the summer. I didn't expect that to happen. She was only a friend to me, that was all.

Besides, tomorrow I had that date with Kate. 

Cassidy leaned over my shoulder as I drove to the fairgrounds, her floral perfume being the only thing I could smell. She whispered in my ear, "Can you turn the A/C down, and roll up your window, please? I'm cold."

I almost turned to look at her before remembering I was the one driving, and I had to pay attention to the road. I nodded in reply, then remembered that Beckett had asked the same thing twenty minutes ago.

But I only remembered when Cassidy asked for it, much more politely though. I rolled up my window and turned the heat up instead, immediately feeling the stifling heat throughout my truck. There were ten minutes left until we would be at the rodeo, so I would have to suffer through the insufferable heat for Cassidy's sake.

This was the only time I would let her ask me to do anything, though.

The next question she asked, leaning back in the backseat, almost startled me, "So how's your brother?" 

"Y-You want to know about my brother?" I questioned, glancing in the rearview mirror and making eye contact with those green eyes. "Wh-Which brother? Wait, who told you about my siblings?"

She shrugged off the question, looking outside at the flat plains of Texas, "Beckett. You have more than one brother?"

Of course, Beckett would tell her more information about me.

I cleared my throat, adjusted in my seat, and replied, "I have two brothers and three sisters. They're all older than me."

"And how are they?"

Her curiosity about me was getting annoying; why should Cassidy of all people know anything about me?

I still answered her question even if I did not want to, "Well, I still eat at the kids' table with all my nieces and nephews, so that sums up everything you should know."

As I pulled into the rodeo and found a parking spot to fit in, Cassidy stayed silent even as I got out and took the horses out of the trailer. Beckett left the moment I put the truck in park, mostly to pay all the fees while Avery grabbed her horse from the trailer to start practicing.

Which meant Cassidy and I was left alone with each other.

I tied the leads to the side of the trailer and started putting the saddle on Rebel, as Cassidy did the same to Beckett's horse. I had a feeling Cassidy would inevitably say something, but she never did.

I was thankful she hadn't said anything when both of us were alone. I was also worried because she hadn't said anything.

My worries were answered when the girl I was supposedly so excited to go on a date with walked up to my trailer. She pulled me unexpectedly in for a kiss and took the cowboy hat I wore from my head, all while I felt someone's eyes on me. The kiss already felt so wrong to me, not just because it was in front of Cassidy.

I shouldn't be kissing Kate right now or anywhere.

I asked stuttering, "Wh-What was that all about?"

"A good luck kiss," Kate answered, biting her lip seductively and then noticing Cassidy, who was still right by the trailer. "Houston, who is this?"