Chapter 9 #2
“Okay. Let’s go.” She watched as he climbed into his truck, and she slid behind the wheel of hers. In thirty minutes, Forrestville was a memory.
“No! Absolutely not!” Jimmy Fuller almost screamed. “I can’t do that, Max! I think this has gone a little too far.”
“Oh yeah? Do you want this deal or not?” Max barked back at him. “Because if you do, this is the only way to do it.”
“There’s got to be another way. Dale’s been my friend for years! I mean, I know his wife and kids and―”
“Think about the money, Jimmy. Think about all the things you can do for your wife, your kids, your grandkids, that you won’t be able to do otherwise. This is our only chance. It’s all we’ve got. And besides,” he added, “nobody wants her around. This would be doing everybody a favor.”
“Yeah, she’s like a pecker gnat, but still … do you really think we could pull it off?”
“Leave it to me,” Max said with a malicious grin. “I can take care of it, I promise. And no one will ever guess.”
“They’d better not. I’m not going down for something that was your idea, do you hear me?”
“I hear ya, I hear ya,” Max said, but inside his head, a voice said, Shut the fuck up, dickhead, and do what you’re told unless you want to screw this whole thing up. Oh, if only he could say exactly what he was thinking.
But he couldn’t. The plan was too despicable to outline again out loud. Regardless, pretty soon Dale would be out of their way and unable to stop the deal with Zesser Pharmaceuticals.
And Shyanna Owens would just be a distant, unpleasant memory for the USPCA. Two birds with one stone.
They pulled into the arena grounds in Texarkana at five the next day, thanks to the Central time zone.
A lot of competitors were already there, but there were plenty of spaces up close to the back of the barn, so they pulled in side by side.
Once they stopped, Jensen pulled his rig out and Shyanna wondered what he was doing.
It became clear as soon as he was parked―he’d turned his truck and trailer around so the doors of their living quarters were facing and four feet from each other.
I found myself a smart guy, she chuckled to herself.
As soon as both rigs were stationary, they took the horses to the barn and found stalls for them.
To their amusement, they put Snowman between Rhubarb and Cobra, and the old dun pitched a fit, trying his best to kick his way out of the stall, so they swapped him with Snowman and he settled right down.
“Somebody’s got a girlfriend,” Jensen said, laughing.
“Oh, for god’s sake, he’s a gelding,” Shyanna said, laughing along with him.
Jensen snickered. “Looks like that doesn’t make any difference to him!”
They spent the rest of the daylight hours cleaning saddles and other tack and checking all their equipment before they decided they should probably find something to eat.
Shyanna headed to the office to ask what was around there while Jensen put everything away.
As she rounded the corner to the stairwell, she ran shoulder-to-shoulder into Max Barlow.
“Well, fuck me,” Max muttered. “First person I see has to be you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” she snarled as she kept going.
“Hope you lose every damn event, bitch,” he called out to her back. Shyanna said nothing and let the middle finger of her left hand do the talking for her.
She wasn’t going to say anything to Jensen but on the way to the restaurant, she felt like she had to. “So I ran into Max in the stairwell.”
His voice was passive when he said, “Yeah?”
“He wished me well in all my events,” she said, hoping her voice sounded appropriately snarky.
“Oh, is that right? Did he touch you?” Jensen asked, and she could hear that protectiveness rising in his voice.
“I said I ran into him. I meant that literally. We bumped shoulders as I rounded the corner but other than that, no. He didn’t touch me.”
Jensen snickered. “He’d better not. I’ll kick his ass. And boy, I’ll really have to keep an eye on you after you start with bull riding. They’ll all be after you then.”
“I can take care of myself,” Shyanna snorted.
“Yeah, like you took care of yourself that last time and got the shit beaten out of you,” he reminded her.
“I would’ve been fine if you’d left me to it!” she almost yelled.
“No, you wouldn’t have. Two against one? Those odds would be almost impossible for me, let alone you.”
“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
“It means exactly what it sounds like. Yeah, you’re tough as nails and strong, but you’re smaller, so―”
That statement really riled Shyanna. “Just a few days ago I gave a speech to SammyJo about how her size didn’t matter in steer wrestling, and now you’re telling me―”
“Steers don’t throw punches! That’s completely different!” Jensen barked back.
Shyanna sat and stewed for a few minutes.
She knew he was only trying to take care of her, but damn, she’d been doing fine before he’d come along.
I should be grateful somebody cares, she told herself, but I’m just too fucking mad.
Suddenly, the truck whipped into a parking lot and Shyanna turned to Jensen. “What are you doing?”
He threw the big dualie out of gear and turned to her.
“Let’s get this straightened out now. I don’t want to fight about it.
I know you can take care of yourself, Shy.
I’m fully aware of that. But think for a second: What kind of shit would I have to take if I let a couple of guys beat the hell out of you and didn’t do anything?
My god, they’d ride me out of town on a rail, that’s what kind of shit, and I don’t need that.
Like it or not, my job now is to protect you as well as myself and the animals. ”
“I don’t need protecting!” Shyanna shrilled.
“I’m not saying you do! What I’m saying is that I don’t have a choice. Tell me something. If you walked into a room and found two guys beating up on me, what would you do?”
Picturing the brawl he was describing made her laugh. “I can tell you right now. I’d pick up the first chair I could reach and make the fight fair!”
“Exactly. And that’s what I have to do. It’s no different than if I were out with a buddy and a couple of guys attacked him. Can’t you see that?” he asked. “Please? Try to see it from my side?”
When she took his hand, she felt him relax. “I understand, and I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve been alone for a long time and had to fight my own battles. Having someone else to help me makes me feel … weak. And small.”
“Has nothing to do with being weak and small and everything to do with being ganged up on unfairly and evening the score. But you’re going to be weak and small if we don’t get some food pretty soon―we both will be. We good?” he asked, his hand coming up to cup her chin.
“Yeah. We’re good. It’s fine.”
“Good. Because I love you and I don’t want you mad at me for doing what I’m supposed to be doing, what I’d be doing for any friend.” As he pulled out onto the highway, Shyanna thought about what he’d said.
He was right and she knew it. If he walked up and found somebody beating up Roger or Leo, he’d step in and try to stop it.
And if there were two guys beating up on just one of them, he’d rain down hell on them.
She’d do the exact same thing. Fighting was one thing; fighting unfairly was something else entirely.
By the time they’d gotten to the barbecue place one of the men in the arena’s office had told her about, she’d tamped down her mad and swallowed whatever pride had caused her to overreact. It was a pleasant way to spend an evening.
Once the horses were taken care of for the night, Shyanna went to her trailer and showered while Jensen did the same in his.
They were pretty sure there were some facilities on the arena grounds, but for the time being, that would have to suffice.
By the time she knocked on his door, he’d finished and was dressed and watching a movie on his laptop.
That lasted all of two seconds when she slipped off her robe and sat down beside him on the tiny sofa.
They’d enjoyed the motel room the night before but, god, it was good to be back in one of the little trailers. “But we have to be quiet,” Shyanna reminded him.
“Why?”
“Because somebody will figure out that we’re seeing each other.”
Jensen laughed aloud. “You don’t think they’ve already figured that out?”
“Whuhh …”
“Shy, they all know. They’re not idiots.
They see us together and they know we’re …
well, whatever this is. It’s not dating, and it’s not just fucking, so what the hell is it?
” She shrugged. “Let’s see … They all know we’re working on a relationship.
How’s that?” he asked and nibbled at the tender flesh on her neck just under her right ear.
“That sounds perfect. If anybody asks. Which they won’t, because they don’t give a fuck what we’re doing unless you’re doing something to help me, and then they’re going to crawl all over you,” she said as he nipped and nibbled.
“Forget about them and get in the mood, beautiful,” Jensen whispered against her skin.
“I am in the mood. I’m just … venting, I suppose,” she said as she gripped his hair, pulled his head up, and kissed him.
“Ohhh, gonna pull my hair, huh? I like it,” he groaned and pressed her back into the sofa, his mouth covering hers and his hands roaming her torso.
“You like that, huh?” she said with a giggle.
She couldn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes. “I do. As I recall, you do too.”
“Yeah. I do, actually.”
“Good.” She kissed him again a little harder, and he met her and upped it with a scorching kiss of his own.
His gaze trailed up and down her body and his voice was soft but coarse with need when he pulled back and said, “I might even have to do a little tie-down roping in here some night.”
Fire shot through everything between Shyanna’s legs and her cheeks burned. “Do it. I can take it.”