Chapter 4
Chapter Four
ROWDY
“ H ave you finally lost your fucking mind?” I ask the moment the door clicks shut.
“Cursing in front of a lady. Real nice, Ronald.” The way she says my first name irritates the hell out of me, like she’s scolding the little boy version of me.
Putting my hands on my hips, I laugh, “You are no lady.”
“I’m not surprised you don’t recognize one when you’re in her presence. You’ve probably never seen one between the rodeo circuit and Alpha Creek Ridge. Talk about a hometown boy who made good only to end up sucked back into the small-town trap. Pathetic!”
“It takes pathetic to know pathetic, I’ll give you that,” I growl low and deep in my chest. “Besides, I don’t care what the fuck you think about me. Your extended absences negate any say you have around here.”
Her eyes round, her pupils dilate, and I watch with dangerous satisfaction as her cheeks darken. She licks her thick lips sensually, her nostrils flaring. I’m half convinced she lusts after me the way I lust after her. This has got to stop…
“I know reading’s tough for you, but have you seen the headlines today?” Fortunately, the vitriol she spews neutralizes my wayward thoughts, putting me back on track to total hatred.
I remove my white Stetson, running my hand through my hair. “Nope, but I’m sure you’re about to fill me in on whatever I didn’t read.” What I wouldn’t give for some dip. I gave up the disgusting habit years ago. But damn, I could use nicotine’s stress-reducing properties. Or better yet, a shot of whiskey…or three.
“Alright, neanderthal, try to follow along. Your dumbass best friend?—”
“You mean, your brother?—”
“That’s the one…has royally fucked us both over by spilling the beans to a ZMT reporter.”
“The beans? About what?”
Her eyes narrow, and she takes a step forward, putting a sway in her luscious hips that has me fantasizing about sinking my head between them. My cock strains against my zipper, and I work overtime to channel my intense desire for her into anger and hatred. I can’t palate the alternative.
The thoughts won’t stop, though…thoughts about wrapping my hands around her waist and squeezing her hips as I claim her from behind. Of pulling up her shirt and burying my head beneath it. How would her nipples taste and feel in my mouth? The dark, unquenchable fantasies keep coming…
“Done staring at my tits?”
“For God’s sake, Red.” The breath squeezes from my lungs. She’s never acknowledged the possibility of sexual attraction between us before. Of course, the last time I saw her she was a newlywed rather than a divorcée. And there’s always been the unfortunate oddness of me being her little brother’s best friend and, for all intents and purposes, her adopted sibling. “Is this how all of y’all talk in New York City? Where are your manners? Besides, I’d rather gouge my eyes out than appreciate anything about you.”
“Glad we can agree on something because after what my brother’s done, we need to find common ground… and fast .”
I’m tired of her veiled references to what Billy’s done. The sooner she explains, the sooner I can get her out of here. I hope…
I growl, “Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? An invitation to sit down and make yourself cozy? Because you can stand here until the sun explodes for all I care. Tell me what you’ve got to tell me, or get the fuck out of here.”
“Billy sold his half of Jameson & Cash to me yesterday.”
Now she has my attention. I reflexively rub my hand over my chest, feeling cardiac arrest approaching. This has got to be a dumbass prank. If it were springtime, I’d know what’s up. But we’re a day away from Valentine’s Day, not April Fool’s. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out apart from a raspy breath caught somewhere between a ragged exhale and a shocked inhale.
“And to make matters worse, the ZMT story also claims you and I are engaged.”
I collapse silently into the chair at the head of the conference table, my ears ringing. Ruminating on her bizarre news for a few moments, I study the table’s wood grain before grumbling in a raw voice, “Engaged to what? Cage fight?”
“No, loser. Engaged to be married.”
Rage washes over me in waves, and I say darkly, “This is ridiculous. I’m calling security.”
“Call your bestie if you don’t believe me.”
I don’t know what I believe, but the thought of watching security escort Red off the premises, even if it’s only for a few moments before I have to let her back in, is too tempting to resist. I thrust my hips forward in the chair, struggling to reach my phone in my back pocket, and Red’s face flushes crimson. Her eyes make no compunction about checking out my cock in my tight-fitting jeans.
“So, I can’t glance at your tits, but you can stare like a fiend at my junk?”
Her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline, and her face tightens. “I most certainly was not staring at your junk. That’s disgusting.”
“You’re still a bad liar,” I frown, dialing my PA and putting the phone to my ear. “Natalie, on second thought, please send security in to escort Ms. Cash out.”
Red gasps, her face blazing. A look like that could melt the sun. But as a kid, I was on the losing end of it so many times I’ve built up a natural resistance to her heat.
Natalie whispers, “Sir, I don’t know if you should do that. Have you read today’s headlines?”
Everybody keeps talking about these damn headlines. “Send security in, and make sure he has handcuffs handy in case she resists.”
“Resists?” Red spouts, looking downright murderous.
“Yes, honey. If you have even half the temper you did as a teen…”
“Don’t you honey me,” she spits as the door clicks open behind her, and Ned walks in wearing his blue and black uniform. “Or bring up the past.”
“We’re engaged, right? I can honey you and talk about our history all I want,” I spit back at her.
Despite his attempts to remain calm and expressionless, Ned’s face twists. “Ma’am, you need to come with me.” He reaches for her arm, but she pulls away with an aggressive huff.
“See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Looking over her head at Ned, I nod as his hand twitches on the cuffs.
“You would not,” she growls.
I raise an eyebrow, cocking my head with a shit-eating grin. My eyes narrow, and my face hardens. “Cuff her.”
From lust to retribution, the thick smattering of emotion condensed into a less than fifteen-minute meeting with Red has me rubbing my hands over my face and scrubbing my eyes with my palms after Ned removes her.
My heart pounds as I dial Billy’s number, leaving three voicemails before the call finally goes through and my long-lost business partner answers.
“Rowdy, long time no talk.”
“You better have an explanation for this, Billy, or I swear to God I’ll hunt your ass down and kill you myself.”
He chuckles, and I clench my teeth so violently I’m certain he can hear buckling molars through the phone line. “Did you or didn’t you sell your half of the company to Red?”
“I did.”
“What the fuck? I thought we were partners. What in the hell have you done?”
“Calm down, man,” he replies, which is the last thing I want to hear. I slam my fist into the large oak conference table with a sickening crack of my knuckles.
“Fuck,” I grumble under my breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything!” I scream. “You know I hate people like your sister. Big-city know-it-alls who treat us small-town folks like inbred idiots. Only she’s a hundred times worse because she’s one of us pretending to be something else! Disingenuous, inauthentic, presumptuous, egotistical… Need I go on? ”
“Don’t hold back,” he grumbles, a warning edge to his voice. I’m on the verge of crossing the line when it comes to berating his older sister. “But you’ve got to understand this from my point of view. I’ve never seen you work harder at anything than this fashion brand. You’ve put your blood, sweat, and tears into it, and when the investors came back with an ultimatum that you need more experience or associations in the fashion industry, I knew Lesley was our answer. Like it or not.”
“I’d rather have the whole line fail than this,” I counter, so furious my voice shakes.
“You don’t really mean that.”
I don’t answer, but he’s right.
“This is exactly what you need to get Jameson & Cash off the ground in style. And it’s what I need, too. I don’t want to be a part of the rat race. Never have. That’s why I gave rodeoing such a hard go. But working in an office? Sacrificing countless hours of my time, day in and day out, to keep up with the Joneses? It’s not my thing. I’ve tried to tell you this in a thousand different ways, but you won’t listen. So, here we are.”
I hang my head, a mixture of frustration and guilt flooding me. On the one hand, I wish Billy had more staying power and could get behind the brand. On the other hand, he’s right. I knew from the get-go that he never really bought into the idea. But I forced his hand, reminding him it was his idea to get into team roping. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner about this, man?”
“Check your email. I sent a message yesterday, but you never replied.”
“An email? You thought this news was best delivered by email? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Putting him on speaker, I flip through my phone into my email, finding nothing. “Which email did you use?”
“The rodeo one.”
“Dammit, Billy. You know I never use that one.”
“I don’t know anything of the sort.”
Logging into it on my phone, I frown. “I see it now.”
“Yeah, I didn’t want you to find out from the news or anything,” he explains, slurring his speech a little. I wonder if he’s drunk, although it’s hard to tell with the poor connection.
“Funny story,” I say, trying hard to fight the angry tension twisting my core. “You want to know how I found out? Your sister barged in here less than ten minutes ago, trying to take control of everything. She interrupted the completion of an otherwise successful fit testing, acting like she owns the place. I had her handcuffed and removed from the premises, but thanks to your dumb ass, now I’ve got to let her back on the property. Even worse, what the fuck’s this deal about an engagement?”
“That was not me,” he replies emphatically.
“Please don’t tell me this was Red’s idea,” I groan, unable to wrap my head around what that might imply or entail.
“No, Malia, the reporter wanted to add it for good measure. And as far as I look at it, no harm, no foul.”
“Red and I can barely stand being in the same room together. How are we supposed to pull off a fake engagement?”
“Do what I told her. Fake it ’til you break it. Let it run its course over the next few weeks, and then call it good. Believe me, once you see how Red and Rowdy are trending today, you’ll thank me for the priceless publicity.”
“Nope, never. You’ll never get a thank you out of me for any of this. I’d rather burn the company and everything I’ve worked for to the ground than spend another minute with your sister .”
Billy sighs. “I swear, the way you two hate each other, you’d think you dated or something.”
I growl a warning.
He laughs. “I know she was a pain in the ass when we were kids, but seriously?”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I remind, “The worst beating I ever took from my father was the result of Red’s loose lips. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut, always having to be right at the expense of others, and I paid a price for it that still puts a cold sweat on my forehead.”
Billy goes silent on the line, and I wonder if I’ve lost the connection. My ears strain until I hear crackling and a jumble of words that morph into intelligible speech again. “…A tough deal. But how could anyone know your old man would react that way?”
He has a point. Billy and Red’s parents were downright laidback compared to my dad, a widower and drunk. The bottle had as much, if not more, to do with my punishment that night than Red. But in the mind of a nine-year-old, it was a lot easier to blame Billy’s bossy, snitching older sister.
“Besides,” he adds. “You more than got back at her.”
“Not really.”
“Need I remind you that you egged and toilet papered her first car, eavesdropped on her and her boyfriends, making kissy noises and mocking their lovey-dovey comments at the most inopportune times, put frogs in her bedsheets and books in her pillowcases, stink bombs in her room?—”
“You were just as guilty as me. Besides, those were the stuff of childhood pranks.”
Billy laughs. “True, but I’m her baby bro, which means I can get away with more or less anything. You, on the other hand? Not so much.”
I frown, adding, “I was close enough to a second baby bro for her to boss the hell out of. The happiest day in my life, apart from your parents convincing my father they should raise me, was when ‘big sis’ left for New York. Good fucking riddance.”
“You two!” Billy exclaims, frustration coloring his voice. “Let bygones be bygones already. If you’d both quit holding grudges against each other, you’d quickly realize the brilliance of my plan.”
“If you call hare-brained brilliant,” I grumble.
“Sometimes the most brilliant ideas seem hare-brained at first.”
“Maybe for Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking. But not for a retired team roper who’s had enough concussions to name his own wing of a hospital neurology department.”
“Whatever the case, you two need to call a temporary truce and get as much publicity out of this fake engagement as possible…”
His voice dies away, and I wonder if I’ve lost him. Still, I hear some crackling, so I wait. Finally, I make out a phrase. “Lesley’s texting and calling me as we speak. Boy, did you kick a hornet’s nest. You might want to consider letting her back onto the property when she shows up tomorrow.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Good luck with that, Rowdy.”