Intertwined

Twenty Six

Houston

I pressed play again on the voicemail and sat completely still at the kitchen counter, frozen in place. The shock wore off instantaneously when I heard her voice again, trembling and scared, and I mentally debated whether to hit the call button. Every time I considered calling her, I remembered our fight and the same words that echoed in my head.

I still can't believe you're running away again.

The only thing I seemed to be good at was breaking hearts and running away when everything was better. I ran away from law school, from Camila and Dallas, and I ran away from the only place I called home before. I even ran away from my old life in Fort Worth and settled in Plainview, where the plot unfurled even further.

I was a fugitive in my own life, running away when times were easier and flocking to more chaotic areas of my life.

After listening to the same voicemail of hers for the past ten minutes, I shut off my phone completely and dug into my cereal as Cassidy's strained, scratchy voice rang through my head. My brother walked out of his bedroom, ruffling his hair with a towel and sighing as he watched me in my state.

I knew that I looked like a mess. I hadn't shaved in a week and a half, leaving stubble growing on my jaw and above my lip. I still wore the same work clothes from yesterday, and I never bothered to take a shower or brush my teeth.

Dallas sighed exasperatedly, "Are you still listening to her voicemail again? Just call her back."

As my brother walked to the kitchen counters behind me and grabbed a coffee mug from the cabinet, I turned off my phone and set it face-down on the counter. I replied with a raised eyebrow, "I was not listening to that voicemail."

Even as her words echoed in my mind, begging for me to call back and grovel once again. Cassidy let the secret spill and everyone I kept it from knew now; she missed me and needed someone to talk to. It took every restraint in my body not to run out the door and drive ninety miles per hour down the highway until I reached the ranch and kissed her a hundred times.

There was a tight gut feeling telling me not to, though.

"You're so full of shit," Dallas muttered as he grabbed a carton of eggs out of the fridge, and began brewing the rusty coffee pot. "Avery and I heard you playing that voicemail repeatedly in my bedroom."

"Avery? She's here?"

As I finished questioning my brother, Avery walked out of my brother's bedroom wearing only his high school hockey sweatshirt, tousled blonde hair framing her face. She glared at me as she passed to the counter where my brother stood, tugging on the collar of his shirt and pressing her lips to his. I nearly threw up in my bowl of cereal.

"I guess it didn't take you long to jump each other's bones," I muttered to myself, shoveling a spoonful of cereal into my mouth. "We need to develop some house rules since we're living again."

Dallas and Avery finally broke away from the kiss as my brother poured the remainder of the coffee into a mug, handing it to Avery who narrowed her heated gaze on me. She pinned her fiery, golden-brown eyes on me and cut the silence with bitter words, "You shouldn't be deciding what house rules should be followed."

"That's funny," I shot back with as much fury. "Because last time I checked, I'm the one now living here, and you live somewhere-"

"I live next door."

My eyes went wide as I glanced between my brother and Cassidy's best friend, strings slowly tying together in my head. Someone conveniently left out that piece of information when I chose to move in with him, and I thought I wouldn't have to think about Cassidy anymore.