Cowboy Famous: Book 4 (Cowboy Justice Association) (15 page)

His reasons sounded so much better than her own. If he’d asked her why she wanted to win, what could she say?

I want to be a star.

So people will love and approve of me like my mommy and daddy never did.

Jazz wasn’t naive or stupid. She knew why she was doing the acting thing. She loved the applause and the adulation. Inside she was still that little girl trying to get her parents’ approval. Funny thing, it had never occurred to her at eighteen there might be a better and easier way to get that love and approval, but she was thinking about it now. Look at the lengths she was willing to go to for this dream. Would it be worth it?

Somehow she doubted it.

“You’re up, Levi.”

Griffin was standing up in front of them, or at least his worn cowboy boots were. She let her gaze wander up his tall frame all the way to his handsome face. He was wearing his usual cowboy hat that shaded his features but she could see his expression was guarded as if she might go into a tirade right then and there.

“Good luck, Levi,” Jazz said as he bounded to his feet, a smile on his face. If she couldn’t win she sure wouldn’t mind if he did. He deserved it, really.

“Thanks, Jazz. I’m off.”

Levi jogged towards the starting line and Griffin turned to walk away as well.

“Wait. Griffin, I need to talk to you, okay?”

He halted and lowered himself onto the bench not saying a word. The ball was in her court.

“Listen, I’m sorry. Really sorry. I can be a real bitch sometimes and the other night was one of those. I didn’t understand in the moment but I get what you were saying. I just wasn’t very happy about it.”

He didn’t look at her, his eyes following the line of people crowded around the course. “I wasn’t happy about it either.”

He wasn’t going to make this easy.

“Are you mad?”

A corner of his mouth tilted up. “Nope.”

“You aren’t saying much.”

This time he turned to look at her. “There isn’t much to say, is there? I’m not mad. I’m frustrated. Sexually and otherwise. But this game has to play out before anything can happen.”

“Maybe I’ll get voted off tomorrow night.”

There was a part of her that hoped she would. It would free them from the confines of a professional relationship and plunge them into a personal one. But if she did get voted off, she couldn’t win, probably wouldn’t get any acting jobs, and to top it off wouldn’t help find Casey’s killer.

Shit.

“You don’t mean that.” Griffin was shaking his head in denial. “I know you want to win.”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand would be life changing for me,” she replied, thinking of the acting lessons she could take with that kind of cash. She had a feeling making love with Griffin would be life changing as well. She certainly wasn’t going to be the same when she got back home no matter what happened between them.

“For most people.” Griffin chuckled before standing and nodding towards the course. “Watch.”

The starter gun went off and Levi flew off the line. Jazz watched in awe as he easily navigated every obstacle and crossed the finish line. No one had to tell her he’d won and was safe. It was clearly obvious. Levi was one step closer to his second chance.

And Jazz?

She was one step closer to possible elimination.

*   *   *   *

The good news was Jazz didn’t hate Griffin anymore. The bad news was nothing was going to change in the near future. Tony and Gordon, who seemed connected at the hip these days, had walked up to Griffin eating breakfast at the diner and told him that it was Sandy who had been voted out.

If Griffin’s cock and balls had been voting things might have been much different. As it was, blue was going to be the color of the day. Again.

He shouldn’t be unhappy that she was still in the game. This was what she wanted. Her dream was on the line from what she’d told him. Winning meant a lot to her and he wasn’t about to start rooting against her. He truly wanted her to be happy.

But what had seemed so clear a week ago was looking much different now. Just seven days ago his biggest problem had been a loss of quiet and privacy. Now his best deputy had quit, his town was overrun with loud, rude looky-loos, and his nuts were in a knot all because of a pretty blonde with a great smile.

“Buy me breakfast?”

That smile was standing right in front of him and his heart lurched in his chest.

Fuck.

“Sure.” Griffin nodded and she slid into the booth opposite him looking beautiful this morning. Not appearing to be wearing a shred of makeup, she still managed to look pretty with her big blue eyes and dimpled cheeks.

“I saw Tony on the way in.” Studying the menu, she didn’t meet his gaze. “He asked to talk to Sandy. Does that mean what I think it means?”

Sandy had come in dead last in the obstacle course the day before but hadn’t seemed to mind in the least. She’d joined Danny at the local watering hole where the two of them had drowned their sorrows with beer and whisky right along with a late arriving Wayne. All three of them had done poorly in the challenge and they all knew they were on the chopping block.

“It does. Tony and Gordon just told me. How is Sandy this morning? Adam said she, Danny, and Wayne closed down the bar last night.”

“Surprisingly alert. She met up with me as I was walking here this morning. Said she was hungry.”

“I doubt she’ll be shocked or anything,” Griffin assured her. “She had to see this coming.”

“I’m not sure about that. She was really cheery when I saw her. Happy, like she didn’t have a care in the world. She was like that on the day of the competition too. Said she wasn’t worried.”

“Maybe she’s decided she doesn’t want to compete anymore. She–”

Whatever he’d been about to say was drowned out by yelling coming from right outside the diner. Tony, Gordon, and Sandy were standing on the sidewalk right in front of the big window in full view of the diners and half the town screaming at one another. Sandy waved her arms, wildly gesticulating, while Tony and Gordon’s faces turned purple. Whatever was being said, it was clear that Sandy was not taking the news well.

“Uh oh,” Jazz intoned. “This is bad. Very bad.”

It took her a minute to realize she was talking to no one and Griffin was up and out of the booth. He hit the door moving fast and stepped between Sandy and the producers, pushing them further apart. She couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying but she could hear the deep commanding tones he used whenever he was in full-control mode. It worked like a charm and voices quieted although Sandy didn’t look any happier. Jazz thought the young woman would look sad but if anything she looked angry. Clearly she’d never believed she was going to be voted off.

Whatever Griffin was saying seemed to penetrate the emotions and the three of them headed down the sidewalk walking briskly. Griffin re-entered the diner and scowled at the crowd that had gathered around the window.

“Sit the hell down,” he barked. “There’s nothing to see.”

He was still mumbling under his breath when he sat back down. “People have plumb lost their damn minds in this town.”

“And it’s all our fault,” she added with a grin, trying to get him to smile.

He rolled his eyes and smiled as the waitress filled his coffee cup and took their orders. Pancakes for her, and bacon and eggs for him.

“It’s not all your fault,” he finally conceded when they were alone again.

“But most of it is.”

This time he smiled widely. “Yeah, most of it is.” He sipped his coffee and eyed her over the rim. “What are you doing today?”

Jazz shrugged. She hadn’t thought far into the future considering it could have been her given the old heave-ho this morning. She probably needed to study her handbook but wasn’t really looking forward to that.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Tony and Gordon are going to be busy shooting Sandy’s exit today. I thought you and I could drive over to Corville and question Casey’s old boyfriend, Buddy. What do you say?”

“I say yes. When do we leave?” she asked eagerly. If she couldn’t have Griffin, then maybe she could help solve the cold case.

“After breakfast,” he laughed. “And I have to make a stop along the way—I hope that’s okay.”

“Sure it is. Where are we stopping?”

“My parents’ house. My dad needs a hand fixing a few shingles on the roof. It shouldn’t take long. A few nails and we’ll be on our way. I would do it before I picked you up but their place is on the way. It would save us an hour.”

Not willing to admit she was dying to meet his family, she smiled in agreement. “Then it only makes sense. We’ll stop off there first.”

“Thanks for being so flexible.”

Jazz dumped some sugar into her coffee. “That’s me. Flexible. Does Buddy know we’re coming, by the way?”

“No, and I’d like to keep it that way. I’ve talked to the sheriff over there, Logan Wright. He’s the one who told me where Buddy was working and hanging out these days. He knows we’re coming into his jurisdiction and he agrees that it’s best if we surprise Buddy.”

“Lucky guy,” Jazz joked.

“If he was lucky he never would have gotten into this situation to begin with. No, I’d say Buddy Meltreeger is one unlucky son of a bitch. And until we find Casey’s killer, this cloud of suspicion is going to hang over him for the rest of his life.”

“Then let’s go find out who did it.”

Winning the competition was becoming less and less important with each passing moment. Higher priority was bringing Casey’s murderer to justice. Spending more time with Griffin wouldn’t be all bad either.

Especially if they were naked.

Chapter Thirteen

G
riffin snagged his keys from the top of his desk, hurrying to meet Jazz at his truck. He was anxious to talk to Buddy and see if they could learn anything new from him. Perhaps he’d known Casey had been seeing another guy.

“Boss, you’re going to want to see this.” Adam was holding up a magazine in the air. Griffin sighed with frustration. Adam was a good deputy but he seemed to think that Griffin was interested in the same things. He didn’t give a shit about the latest royal gossip or what Brangelina was doing these days.

“I’m on my way out, Adam. Can it wait?” Griffin tucked his sunglasses in his shirt pocket and moved toward the door.

“I don’t think so. There’s an article in this magazine about you and Jazz. Well, really about the entire town and the show. I think you better take a look.”

“What?” Griffin roared, snatching the glossy pages from Adam’s fingers. A quick perusal of the photos and contents, and Griffin’s worst fears were realized. Someone was giving this rag information about the show and the contestants. The real stars of the article appeared to be himself and Jazz though. There was a large color photo of them standing close together with a lurid headline about him, her, and a pair of handcuffs.

White-hot anger burned inside of him and his fingers crumpled the papers before tossing them into the trash. It was where shit like that belonged. He dug his wallet out of his back pocket and shoved some cash into Adam’s hand.

“Go buy every fucking copy you can find.”

His deputy looked down at the money and then up at Griffin. “Um, boss, will it really make any difference? Those magazines are all over the country and probably online too. Buying them up in town isn’t going to matter.”

“Just fucking do it.”

Adam scuttled out the front door of the station shaking his head. Griffin knew he was being unreasonable but he didn’t know how to handle the overwhelming fury coupled with the total inability to control the situation. He was helpless to do a fucking thing about it, and could only sit back and watch this nightmare unfold.

Griffin retrieved the wadded up tabloid from the trash. He was going to take great pleasure in shoving it up Otis McClintock’s ass. Maybe Tony’s too.

Everything Griffin had predicted was coming true.

*   *   *   *

Griffin stomped out of the station, his expression like black thunderclouds. Jazz watched him yank open the driver’s side door and slide in next to her, slamming it shut with a growl. Whatever he was pissed about had happened in the fifteen minutes since she’d last seen him. He’d been fine when he walked out of the diner.