Cowgirl Up ✔️

Chapter Sixty-One

With my heart in my throat, I clamped a hand protectively around my phone and snapped my head up to find myself looking at the long, lean, yet muscled form of Jaxon.
"Nobody."
I whispered through barely moving lips.
Why was he looking at my phone anyway?
Wasn't that a bit weird?
He might be Blayze's cousin and he may have taken my Mum out on a couple of dates, but I don't know him.
Jaxon eased himself down to take a seat beside me, sitting some foot or so away from me so as not too encroach too much on 'personal space'.
"You seem a bit jumpy for it to be 'nobody'."
I shot a quick glance toward where Blayze and Heath were still among the group, chatting animatedly.
Slowly I turned my gaze back to Jaxon.
"Ease up Turbo."
I rolled my eyes.
"He's a friend, would be my classmate if I was going to school this year."
Jaxon looked surprised.
"You're not at school? Blayze and Kylie both told me you're seventeen."
I shook my head.
"No, I'm not doing school."
"Why not?"
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Did you finish school?"
To his credit he looked almost sheepish.
"Well no..."
Now I smiled.
"Well there ya go."
Smiling, Jaxon shook his head.
A mostly comfortable, yet slightly awkward silence fell over us.
Although I'm gradually getting accustomed to Jaxon Rowan the person versus Jaxon Rowan the famous singer, it's not always totally smooth sailing to differentiate between the two.
I'm so used to fangirling!!
"I realise I can't tell you what to do, but please don't hurt him."
Jaxon finally broke the silence.
"What?"
I snapped my gaze quickly back to his face.
What the hell is he on about?
"I know you guys are finding your feet and all but he does care about you."
Jaxon insisted, angling his head slightly across the yard to where the group of guys were still gathered, talking and laughing.
My heart began to beat harder in my chest.
Why is he telling me this?
"I- noth- it-"
I felt like a stuttering idiot.
No coherent words would come out and join together to make anything intelligible.
Jaxon smiled, giving his head the smallest of shakes.
I felt a red hot blush burn its way over my cheeks.
"From the stories I'm hearing, the two of you are two peas in a pod."
Jaxon mused, propping his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand.
I rolled my eyes.
"We generally get along pretty well but I don't know about two peas in a pod."
There are certainly many differences between Blayze and I.
"You guys have got the foundation to make something good."
Jaxon insisted.
"It's just up to the two of ya what you're gonna do about it."
I shook my head yet again.
"Once again, I don't think it's that simple."
In many ways, we may seem compatible.
We've had a substantial number of years to get to know each other.
Yet there was a lot that was stacking up against us.
- Age
- Emotions
- Tameron
- Rikki
- Impending Parenthood
- Rodeo (would I be able to handle being with Blayze and raising a kid with him, but he bugger's off to Rodeo every few weeks?)
"You've just gotta try to understand that for Blayze, for much of his life, everybody he's close to has left, in one way or another."
Jaxon cut into my line of thoughts.
I felt a lump growing in my throat.
Not the heavy talk...
I stared down at the grass between my boots.
"I... Well obviously I wasn't around, but he's told me about the big moments."
Like the pool incident with his year older brother Arley.
Like his sister and family having to deal with years of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Like his parents both gaining drinking problems.
Like Madison's passing after not being able to beat the cancer.
Like his Mother turning to alcohol and gambling.
Like his Dad's extensive drinking problem and tendency to be violent.
Like his Dad being hauled off to jail the day before Blayze's sixteenth birthday.
Jaxon made a humming type sound, his gaze briefly flicking across the yard towards the guy in question.
"I've seen a change in him lately."
He explained.
"I'm not a hundred percent sure what it is."
"He- he told me he's going- going to s-see his...Mum."
I forced myself to find the courage to look at Jaxon's face.
A smile lit up Jaxon's tanned face.
The true happiness I could see sparkling in his eyes, reminded me once again how much he really does care about Blayze.
"And it won't be easy on him."
He said.
"But I know that he knows it's what he needs to do."