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undershirts to wear. She slipped it on over her naked body and could
not help but smile to herself when it reached the middle of her thighs.
She went downstairs and walked into the kitchen, hoping to see
Jason and Seth there, but the only sound she heard other than the
sound of her own breathing was the clock ticking.
She glanced around the kitchen and saw that they brewed some
coffee. She touched the pot. Still warm. Where could they have gone
at she glanced at the clock nine in the morning?
She peeked outside and noticed their trucks still sat next to the
side of the house. Without even thinking to put on shoes, Edie walked
outside and decided to take a look around. She noticed they could use
some landscaping. Sure, their grass was a nice, thick green, but they
needed more floral notes to really make their yard pop
Edie stopped in her tracks.
Another car sat in the driveway, a black Audi Cabriolet. Oh, no.
They had a guest. No wonder they weren t in the house. They
probably did not want to have a guest over when she could just come
ambling downstairs naked. The breeze picked up at that moment and
brushed over her bottom, reminding Edie that only a flimsy undershirt
covered her nudity. She pulled the hem down over her legs and turned
to go back in the house when the sound of a familiar female laugh
reached her ears.
Edie swiveled around on the balls of her feet and stuck her ear out
into the breeze, listening. It couldn t be. It just couldn t.
The laughter came to her again.
Cassandra.
Fury coursed through Edie s body in boiling bursts of heat that
made her hands shake and her heart pump furiously against her ribs.
The nerve of that woman to show up here when she probably knew
Edie was here, too, and trying to steal her men right out from under
her nose when she slept in their bed.
176 Ava Mitchell
That bitch.
Edie stomped barefooted to Jason s FJ40, opened the door, and
pulled his shotgun out from under the backseat. She had a moment of
What the hell am I doing? But then she glanced over to where they
stood under the big oak tree by the side of the house. Cassandra drew
little circles over Seth s chest with her fingertip, then pulled him into
a kiss. Jason s usually impassive face went white, and his mouth
flapped open.
Oh, that s it! Edie kicked the FJ s door closed and stalked
toward them. If Cassandra thought she could throw herself at Jason
and Seth and get away with it, Edie would show her she was dead
wrong.
Cassandra! Edie walked within five yards of the other woman
and tucked the butt of the shotgun into her shoulder and aimed it at
her. Step away from them right now.
Cassandra lifted a glossy eyebrow and positively looked down her
nose at her. Well, look at you. Don t you look so put together this
morning.
Hey Jason tried to cut in, but Edie stopped him.
Cassandra, get away from them right now.
The other woman took half a step back.
Edie pumped the action bar and the racking sound made
Cassandra s eyes go wide. She took a huge lunge backward.
Edie had one of those out of body experiences then. This was not
the first one she ever had, but it was, by far, the most intense. Part of
her, the sane part, left her body and zoomed out like a camera pans
out of a scene at the end of a movie, only this time, it was in real life.
There she stood in a see-through white undershirt, completely bare-
assed, pointing a shotgun at a perfectly coiffed and manicured woman
who looked at Edie as if she were insane.
The zoomed out part of Edie had to agree with Cassandra. The
other part of her the crazy, gun-slinging Amazon really did not
Edie Earns Her Saddle 177
give a flying shit what Cassandra thought. Edie wanted that woman to
pack up her designer luggage and get her ass straight out of Texas, or
the possessed form of herself would hunt Cassandra Barrett down.
Jason and Seth put their hands over their heads.
Uh, Edie?
What, Jason?
What in the hell are you doing?
I think the right question here is what the hell is she doing?
What the hell are you doing with a gun pointed at me?
Cassandra screeched.
Edie gripped the gun tighter and looked down the sight at her.
I m showing you that I m not messing around anymore. I believe in
letting things go because eventually karma makes its cycle. But you
know what, Cassandra? This is your karma for pissing me off. I tried
to be nice and civil, but you re the type of person who takes kindness
as weakness, which speaks badly about you as a person.
So I m telling you in the only way you ll ever understand me.
Cassandra, if you ever, and I mean ever, pull a stunt like the one you
just pulled, or anything similar, I will not hesitate to pull the trigger.
Edie looked at Cassandra s pale face and trembling lips and knew
that, finally, she got her message across.
Now get in your car, Edie gestured toward it with the barrel of
the shotgun, and leave. Now. No looking back, no air kisses, none of
that bullshit unless you want shrapnel in your ass.
Cassandra skulked toward her car, her eyes on Edie the entire
time. Edie could see the fear, fury, and jealousy in her eyes, but she
did not care. Cassandra was not the type of woman who respectfully
backed off. She cheated, stole, connived, and lied her way into getting
what she wanted, and there was no way in hell Edie would let her get
away with it this time.
Wimpy, peace-loving, PETA-supporting hippy, her ass!
This will be the last time that woman underestimates me.
178 Ava Mitchell
Edie followed her every moment through the gun s sight.
Cassandra skirted around her, barely three inches away from the end
of the shotgun when Cassandra s hand shot out, pushed the gun hard
to the left, and wrangled it out of Edie s grip. Edie stumbled, her
shock and confusion making her clumsy and her limbs heavy. When
she finally righted herself, she was on the wrong side of the gun and
Cassandra s eyes, sparkling with a crazed, obsessed light, stared at her
with feverish glee. Her hair, usually coiffed to perfection stuck out in
random patches, making her look like a rabid poodle.
Jason and Seth started, pale-faced and wide-eyed, rooted to their
spots.
You know, for a while I wanted to kill you. Cassandra tucked
the shotgun higher into her shoulder and brought the end of it to point
directly over Edie s heart. You are everything I can t stand, darling.
So sweet and sugary and honest. Who in the hell cannot tell a
Goddamn lie? Who? It sickens me, really.
Edie tried to swallow past the thick lump of sheer terror, but she
couldn t. Even breathing was difficult. Her fingers twitched, and her
whole body shook uncontrollably. Hot and cold sweat burst over her
skin, but somehow she couldn t feel it. Any of it. All she knew was
the crazed glittering in Cassandra s eyes.
But the biggest thing I can t stand about you is how you can just
love. You just love everything. Cassandra waved the gun around
when she said the last few words. Edie had the distinct impression
that if she hadn t been holding a gun, Cassandra would have flailed
her arms about wildly. People like you come from love. Your parents
loved you, your friends loved you, I m sure even all the butterflies
and birdies loved you, too. But people like me didn t have that when
we grew up. We don t have that ever, and we hate people like you.
I never felt anything close to what you so freely give to everyone
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