Cowgirl Up Three ✔️

Chapter Thirty Five

I turned to rinse my spoon and set it into the drying rack, when more than one of the Dog's scrambled off the bed's.
Curious, I turned around to see Azlan make it to the door first, Zeus and Zuke just behind him.
Bandit and Zera followed behind them, hanging back a bit.
Bandit was in the habit of barking when anybody besides Codie, Noah, Blayze or myself approached the house, raising warning us of 'Intruders'.
I knew that Codie and Noah were both asleep upstairs, having trudged up to bed at around 2AM after Codie had been helping to scour out the possible places of where Blayze might be.
Eyes widening, I froze on my spot, staring towards my closed front door.
Azlan began to wag his tail, his intuitive Kelpie stare trained on the front door that was a mere foot away from his nose.
Zeus began to whine, his Staffy tail wagging hard.
My heart began to absolutely pound inside my chest.
Finally the door eased open.
All five Dog's became quivering, squirming masses of dark coloured bodies, Zeus' golden colour and white markings being the lightest of them all, apart from the splashes of bright white on Zuke, Bandit and Zera's otherwise black bodies.
While my veins positively flooded with relief when Blayze's familiar figure stepped into the House, my crazy heart couldn't seem to slow its pace.
"Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello."
I closed my eyes, inhaling a deep breath as Blayze bent to pat each of the Dog's.
He's home.
He's walking and talking.
Biting into my bottom lip, I slowly opened my eyes back up to see Blayze wipe his Dog patting hand off on the thigh of his dust smeared dark wash jeans.
I frowned.
Did he actually believe that would make said hand any cleaner?
His boots and jeans were covered in dust or dirt, one or the other.
The dirt and dust around here all had a red tinge to it, so it was hard to tell which it was.
And he was sporting a beaten up, faded black Bullzye jacket that seemed to be at least a few years old.
Wherever He'd been, He'd obviously gotten a bit cold.
But where did He even find that jacket?
Blayze currently wasn't as intuitive as He normally was, because I watched him frown as He lifted his attention from the Dog's that were crowded around his legs, sniffing his boots and jeans to try and work out where exactly He'd been and He transferred his attention to the TV that was still on.
I opened my mouth to ask him where the hell He had been, but no words would jump off my tongue.
Blayze turned from the direction of the lounge room and his usual attentiveness must have returned, because his blue-green gaze landed directly on Me.
I watched as a series of emotions crossed his face, but in my own current emotional state, I struggled to read just what those emotions were.
My heart was pounding inside my chest and I could feel the thickness in my throat intensifying with every passing second.
I closed my eyes in an effort to calm myself down a little bit.
No sleep leads to an emotional Bailey.
That was probably what Blayze was weary about.
The swish of his jeans and the dull thump of each boot meeting the floorboards had Me snapping my eyes open to find Blayze making his way towards the kitchen.
Before I even realised what I was doing, I found myself racing around the end of the bench that separated the kitchen from the dining room.
Throughout the night and the wee hours of the morning, I'd found myself alternating between being highly pissed off with Blayze's M.I.A status and being near gutwrenchingly terrified that He was in some kind of trouble,
Like had He rolled a car or wrapped himself around a tree?
The rational side of Me was well aware that Blayze know's how to drive and that He drives well.
But accidents can happen to anybody.
Right now I was flooded with relief, with only a small amount of 'I'm gonna kick your arse' simmering away on the back burner of my mind.
I noticed Blayze's blue-green eyes widening as I made a leap, launching myself at him.
On instinct I wrapped my arms around his wide shoulders and my legs around his hips as our front's collided.
We both let out a surprised breath and Blayze seemingly automatically wrapped his strong arms around my waist, supporting Me even though I held on with the professional skill's of a Monkey refusing to leave her favourite tree.
But the feel of something lumpy wedged between our bodies had Me yelping in surprise and scrambling my way down from the hug attack just as quickly as I'd performed it.
Blayze still stared at Me, eyes wide as though He was struggling to process what was happening.
"What the hell is in that jacket?!"
I yelped, my voice coming out high in pitch.
He finally seemed to snap out of his state of surprise.
"Oh."
He looked down to where I'd somehow not noticed the bulge when He'd entered the house.
Without removing his gaze from the faded and frazzled jacket which had been fashionable somewhere around five or ten years ago, Blayze reached one tanned hand into the open section at his chest where the worn out zipper apparently finished working.
I watched him in a mixture of curiosity and apprehension, waiting to find out what would be revealed.
What he pulled out was a weather washed clump of something that was in grey, brown and even near black tones.
But the general shape of the listless thing He held tugged at some part of my memory.
Why did whatever it was seem so familiar?
It had a rounded part, with long, stiff yet kind of bent parts attached and the body had what almost seemed like arms or legs hanging off it.
Blayze changed the angle of how He held the creature and a gasp fled my mouth when I realised He'd turned the thing to face Me.
He was battered and what appeared to be weather damaged, but even eleven years on, I would recognise Thumper.
Uncle Lukas and Aunty Bridey gave the stuffed toy version of the Rabbit from Bambi (my all time favourite of the characters) when I was three years old.
Bambi was the first movie that I would sit through as a Toddler and I'd adored Thumper.
I'd cherished that Toy to no end and been more than devastated when I'd lost him when I was almost nine years old.
Grandpa, Grandma, Mum, Uncle Lukas, even Blayze who'd been around for about a year by then, had looked for my favourite Teddy for Me.
Thumper was never found.
My tear's had eventually subsided, but I'd still found myself missing the Rabbit.
When I turned eleven my Grandparent's got me my own real life grey coloured Rabbit for my Birthday.
Of course I named him Thumper.
Just before I turned thirteen my real life Thumper got killed by a wild Pig who broke his cage one night.
It seemed Thumper, real or plush, was doomed in the hands of Bailey Grace Harley.
But here Blayze stood, holding the battered and beaten back of Thumper who was practically dirty beyond recognition.
If it wasn't for the fact that I was obsessed with the character for a good ten years, I might not have been able to recognise what was in front of Me now.
I looked from the nearly unrecognisable Thumper teddy, to Blayze, at a complete loss for words.
He'd found Thumper?
He went looking for Thumper?!
Why?
"Before you go thinking my plan was to find the stuffed Toy you lost almost eleven years ago, that's not what happened."
Blayze declared, breaking the silence between us.
He didn't go looking for Thumper?
Then how the heck was He standing in front of Me holding him?!
"But when I did find him..."
Blayze's voice trailed off as His gaze fell to the Teddy who had definitely seen better days.
Where the heck did He even find him?!
Everybody searched high and low to find the Teddy, to no avail, just to try and calm my distraught eight year old self!
Blayze lifted his gaze from Thumper to meet my eye again.
"He made me realise to get my arse back home, where I should've been all along."
He explained, His voice little more than a whisper.
Eight, nine, or even ten year old Bailey might have believed Thumper could pass on such wisdom
But Bailey was grown up now.
I folded my arms under my chest, wrapping them around my ribs, as if the gesture alone might protect Me.
"Where the hell were you all night?"
I asked, fighting to keep my emotions out of my voice.
Blayze looked from Me, to the beaten up Thumper He still held, then He sighed, the exhale moving His shoulders.
Slowly and seemingly cautiously, He took a step towards the lounge room, closer to the back of the long lounge and carefully set the bedraggled Thumper onto the top of the back of the furniture.
Thumper still sat up pretty well, regardless of the fact He looked like He'd come out of World War Three.
"I was sick and tired of fighting my emotions."
Blayze explained, His gaze locked on my old Teddy even though He'd set him down.
It was almost like He believed Thumper might give Him the strength to open up to Me.
I clenched my jaw, waiting for Him to explain himself more.
"I was at my Horses' Paddock and... one thing led to another."
He shrugged.
"I was tempted to saddle Roo or Row, but managed to remind myself it was an idiot idea in the black of the night. Roo, Row and Aviator got bored of Me and wandered off to graze, but River stayed."
He dragged his gaze off my old Teddy and turned to face Me.
"I didn't wanna come back and get the Dog's, or the Ute, so I opened the gate and River ambled out. I just started to walk and without being asked, He followed. It was a dumb idea really, but my head wasn't exactly thinkin' all that clearly. He clearly smelt the freedom He once knew, yet He never strayed more than six feet behind or to the side of Me."
Blayze shook His head.
"We walked. And walked. I only stopped when my god damn knee's decided that bending and straightening was no fun anymore."
He sighed, leaning back to rest against the back of our lounge, casting His gaze to the polished floorboards that were coated in a layer of dust and god knows what else.
"So much was goin' through my head and I just didn't know what to do."
He admitted.
"I promised you after my wreck in Mawson Districts that I wouldn't attempt to cope with my problems with alcohol again, so I didn't even finish off the six pack Codie brought down to the shed when you obviously let them know what happened."
Finally He lifted His gaze to meet mine again.
Guilt gripped at my heart.
It wasn't exactly my secret to tell, yet within the first six hours I'd told Noah and Codie, Mum, Heath, Uncle Lukas, Grandma and Grandpa.
My throat felt thick with a round of unshed tear's.
"I'm sorry."
I whispered, lifting my left hand to press a couple of fingers to my lips.
He had every right to be mad at Me for sharing the information without permission.
And He might not even know yet that I told my Family and His Brother about it too.
Might as well get it over with.
"When the Kid's were all asleep, I called a meeting with Mum, Uncle Lukas, Grandma, Grandpa and Heath."
I admitted, mentally crossing my fingers and toes that He wouldn't get so mad that He lost his shit all over again and played the disappearing card after only just returning home.
I waited with baited breath for His reaction.
A slight wince crossed His face and He closed His eyes for a couple of seconds before reopening them and shaking His head.
My heart began to hammer inside my chest.
Was I off the hook, or not?
"I already knew you'd tell 'em."
He shook his head once again, as if trying to clear His thoughts.
"Of course there's still a part of Me that doesn't like it, but I know by now that nothing stays secret at Harley Crest."
He muttered, His stare back on the floorboards that I definitely needed to sweep and mop.
Maybe He wasn't too mad at Me then.
"Want a coffee?"
I offered, shifting my weight.
"I was just starting to make one when you walked in."
He dragged His evidently exhausted eyes up from the floor and met my gaze once again.
"Coffee would be good."
He agreed.
"But I'm gonna take a shower and get changed before I sit on any of our furniture."
That sounded like a bloody excellent idea:
Trying to lighten the mood, I lifted my right hand to pinch the end of my nose.
"Yeah. I was gonna make that suggestion."
I joked.
He rolled His eyes, but the slight lift of the right side of His lips told Me He was at the very least slightly amused.
A smile tugging at my own lips, I dropped my hand and crossed the few feet of space between us.
Blayze watched me curiously.
With every step that I took, my heart picked up its best inside my chest until it was racing as though I'd just run a sprint.
I lifted my hands, gently grasped Blayze's face between my fingertips and I leaned the remaining space forward to press my lips against His.
The sparks that erupted in my stomach and tingled across my lips made Me reluctant to pull away.
His lips answered mine, their caress gentle, but strong and His hands found their way to my waist.
I knew that any moment now, our House Guests would come downstairs, or one or more of our Son's would wake up.
Reluctantly, I dragged my lips off Blayze's.
His blue-green eyes were clouded with something like lust and longing and I felt confident that mine would most likely mirror them.
Blinking slowly, I placed my left palm against His cheek, feeling the warmth of His skin and the barely there prickle of soon to be growing beard stubble.
The part of Me who tends to listen to Noah too much and wanted to give Him a kick up the arse for worrying Me all night, was for once just outweighed by the recently more matured version of Bailey Grace Harley that was immeasurably glad to know that he was safe.
I held Blayze's gaze, the front's of our bodies just barely brushing and tried to slow down the racing beat of my erratic heart.
"I love you."
I reminded him, my voice strained due to the emotions and tear's that I was trying hard to hold back.
I felt him stiffen just slightly and His blue-green eyes widened just enough to notice.
I frowned.
Reminding Him that I love Him is suddenly surprising?
Blayze shook His head.
"I wasn't expecting this reaction."
Arsehole.
I let my hand drop from His face and stepped back.
"Where the heck are you going?"
He asked, arms tightening around my waist to draw Me back in.
Thanks to His dumb response, I didn't want this reaction from Him right now.
I frowned and gave His solid chest a push.
Of course He didn't budge.
"Let Me go."
I grumbled, averting my gaze.
"Hey."
One of His hands left my waist and suddenly cupped my chin, forcing Me to turn my head back in His direction.
I swallowed hard.
"I fully expected my return to mean you castrating Me."
He explained, His straight expression oozing sincerity and a marginal amount of surprise.
"That's starting to not seem like too bad of an idea!"
I snapped.
He blinked.
"I hug you, kiss you, tell you I love you instead of yelling at you for scaring the fucking shit out of Me and leaving Me sitting up all night wide awake with worry and your dumb ass response is I wasn't expecting this reaction!"
I ranted, making sure to emphasise a deep voice on my quote of His answer.
"I was ready for your anger."
He informed Me, gently touching my jaw with his right hand's fingertips.
"But that look on your face after You kissed Me..."
He closed His eyes and let his hand down from my face to gently land on my hip.
What look?
What the heck was He talking about?
Slowly He opened His eyes and mine couldn't seem to look away from His beautiful orbs.
My heart began to pound inside my chest again.
"I know I keep too much unsaid."
He admitted, His gaze tender, but unwavering.
"But surely You know by now that my biggest fear in this life is losing You."
His words and the barely above a whisper tone had my throat closing up wth a fresh round of emotional tears.
I blinked against a slight burning in my eyes, a warmth pooling across my cheeks and I lifted a hand to tap my pointer finger on the tip of His nose, an involuntary smile pulling at my lips.
"I love you, Mr. Riley, so get used to it."
I tried to sound teasing, but a small part of Me wondered how He didn't understand yet just how much I do love him?
"And I love you too...."
He pulled Me forward and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, causing my heart to stutter, then pulled back, his blue-green eyes shining.
"Mrs. Riley."
The corner's of His lips curved up into a small smile.
I gave His chest a gentle swat, rolling my eyes as I took a step back, stepping out of His embrace and He let Me this time.
"Not yet I ain't."
I denied.
"You don't have the ring on my finger yet!"
Before I could take another step back, He reached out and snagged My left wrist.
We both looked down to see the beautiful Engagement ring glinting on my ring finger.
"Yes I do!"
He declared, lifting said hand pointedly.
My heart fluttered, but I had to have a comeback.
And a way to let Him know last night wasn't at all appreciated.
"Pull another stunt like last night and this ring, nor the next one will be calling this hand home."
I informed Him, turning on my heel to walk to the kitchen, sliding my wrist out of his gentle grasp.
"That's my Girl!"
We both looked towards the stairs to see Noah hop off the last step.
She looked tired, but She was smiling, clearly proud of Me.
"Who's Girl?"
Blayze asked Her, raising a dark, questioning eyebrow.
"Well, keep up your running away business and Bail's and I might just decide to try another form of romance!"
Noah retorted, making Her way across the lounge room.
Throwing my left hand over my lips in an attempt to stifle my amusement, I slipped into the kitchen.
Time to finish making my Coffee and make Blayze one.
Probably Noah, too, I guess.
Noah shot Me a wink as She skirted around Me to make Knox's first bottle of the day.
I shook my head, trying to hold back my smile.
Noah just can't help but get a rise out of the Boy's.
I shot a glance towards Blayze, completely surprised He hadn't bitten back.
Blayze like's Noah.
Noah like's Blayze.
But they antagonise each other like it's going out of fashion.
Azlan had made his way over to Blayze since I'd gone and the Kelpie stood alongside the back of the lounge where Blayze was still resting.
He had His head pressed against Blayze's dust smeared jeans clad leg while Blayze stroked over His nose, the top of His head and His ear's.
"Coffee, No?"
I offered, turning my focus back to my task at hand.
"Please."
She agreed, taking Knox's bottle of water and Baby Formula over to the microwave.
"I'll take this up to Codie to give to Knox and come back for it."
I nodded and fetched two more mug's from the cupboard.
It didn't take long before Noah made her way back up the stairs, clearly knowing her Son was hungry for his breakfast.
I was opening the fridge door to get the milk out when I felt Blayze come up behind Me, but He still managed to make Me jump when He wound His arms around my waist from behind.
"You scared Me!"
I scolded, my cheek's blazing.
He released His hold on my waist and placed His hands on my shoulders, urging Me to turn around.
Biting into my bottom lip, I slowly turned so that my back faced the fridge and my front was a mere half foot away from Blayze's.
I lifted my gaze to find He was already staring at Me.
He kept His gaze locked on mine, but His right hand found my left one and lifted it up so that we both could see the jewellery lighting up my ring finger.
I pulled my gaze from His, to glance at the ring I'd stared at for a heck of a long time throughout the night and morning, then lifted my gaze back to look at His face.
"So long as You keep looking at Me like You did when You kissed Me before, I never want this ring or the next one to come off your hand."
He informed Me, His tone quiet, but full of sincerity I rarely got to hear and that I wasn't sure anybody else ever had.
Although I knew He was being serious, I tried to put a light hearted tilt on the moment because I for one felt like there had been way too much stress in our lives lately.
"Is this because of what Noah said before?"
I teased.
Surely He knew I wouldn't ever consider a romantic relationship with a Woman?
He shook His head, His expression remaining perfectly straight.
My heart began to pound.
Why did it feel like breathing was becoming more difficult?
Probably because while Blayze Riley doesn't sugarcoat the truth, He's never this wholesomely revealing, either.
Blayze laced His fingers with mine, my one piece of jewellery only making the grip slightly odd.
He swallowed so hard that I saw His throat move.
"It's because I'm amazed you haven't given up already... and I'm terrified that you will."
He explained.
My heart pounded wildly, but I couldn't help but smile at His anxiously vulnerable face.
Guess it's my turn to be the strong one, even if I want to cling onto Him and fall into a weeping mess because I'm tired of being so stressed out and worried.
I rarely have to be Blayze's rock.
He always seem's to find a way to be strong for Me.
But I'm learning more and more that sometimes He need's it just as much as I do.
I offered Him a smile, slipped my hand out of His and lifted my arms to loop them around His neck, even though the gesture caused Me to stretch onto my toes due to the difference in our heights.
"Then the answer's simple."
I informed Him.
He watched Me silently, but wearily and I realised that He didn't understand how that could be possible.
I let my arms down and gave His chest a gentle pat.
"Just don't do anything to make Me have to take them off."
I told him, ending with a shrug.
His weary eyes told me that He was thinking 'that simple, huh?'.
But He leaned down to give Me a gentle kiss and my heart automatically fluttered.
"Yes Ma'am."
He told Me, straightening up and turned on His heel to leave the Kitchen.