Looking For Trouble (27 page)

She saw a shadow behind him, then Wade
stepped around Beau and his face was ashen, his eyes flat and
hollow. "Just thought I'd stop by on the way out and say bye," he
told her, then said, "Looks like I shouldn't have bothered." He
held her gaze a minute, then shook his head and turned to push his
way through the crowd.

"Wade wait!" she yelled then looked at Beau
and pleaded, "Please go get him, I'll never catch up!"

Beau took off through the crowd after Wade
and left her standing there with a knot of emotion in her throat. A
few minutes later Beau came back, but Wade wasn't with him, and her
heart sank to her toes. "Did you find him?" she asked
frantically.

"Yeah, I found him, but he wouldn't come
back, sorry, sugar," he said with regret in his eyes. "I told him
you were just putting on a show, but he didn't want to hear
it."

"Damn, that hardheaded man, now he's gonna
go get himself killed," she wailed and Jazzie walked up beside her
to put her arm around her shoulders. "I don't know if I can finish
the show, Jazz...I've got to go find him," she said with fear
clutching her heart.

She saw a flash of bright red hair, then
Karlie Kelley pushed through the crowd at the stage, followed
closely by Gabe. She stopped and grabbed Jess's arm and said near
her ear, "I have to talk to you now...I tried to yesterday, but you
weren't at the ranch."

"I stayed here last night," she told her
miserably.

"Wade needs you, Jess, and he doesn't need
to be riding with his head all fucked up. That's not a good thing
to do, trust me, I know. And he's in a bad place, has been for two
days now."

"I know...but he left. He wouldn't listen to
Beau, or come back to talk to me."

"Listen, what I wanted to explain to you is
that Wade wasn't being thoughtless about his safety, or you and
Angel when he entered this competition. He thought it through, so
he'd be taking a calculated risk. He's a pro at bareback
and
saddle bronc riding, but he only entered the saddle bronc event.
Bareback is the roughest ride...wild and uncontrolled. Saddle bronc
is a more controlled ride, slower bucking, less jarring, more
finesse. The doctor also gave him a brace to wear when he rides to
stabilize his spine, so there's less of a chance he'll get
hurt."

Jess whimpered and asked her, "Why didn't he
tell me that?"

Karlie looked at her with sympathy in her
bright blue eyes, and put a hand on Jess's shoulder, then told her,
"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think you gave him a chance
to, sugar..."

"You're right, I didn't...I need to go find
him," she said sickly.

"He's headed to Dallas...the riders are
staying at the Hilton there by the arena, so I imagine that's where
he's going. We're heading up early tomorrow morning. It's a two-day
event, and the finals are on Sunday."

Jess looked at Jazzie then told her, "Let's
go talk to Red and see if he will put on the canned music for the
rest of tonight, so we can leave now. Either way, I'm not waiting,
until tomorrow," then she looked at Karlie and said, "Thanks for
telling me."

"You're welcome, honey...now go get your
man," she told her with a chuckle.

***

Sitting in the bar at the Hilton in Dallas,
Wade tossed back his fourth beer. He thought maybe, he'd cool off
by the time he got to number six, but he wasn't so sure. When he
left the Double B to head to the arena, he said he was not going to
stop by the bar on his way out of town. On auto-pilot though, his
truck brought him there, and he regretted it now.

Jess had been Jess, and he should have known
she would be flirting with all of the adoring cowboys at the front
of the stage, including Beau Bowman. Wade ground his teeth and took
another swig of his beer. And that damned dress she had on could
have qualified as a shirt, it was so short. He also saw Ray Turner
there too ogling her, but he'd steered clear of him, because he was
not going to get himself thrown in jail again, or give him more
power over Jess.

He'd asked himself a hundred times why he
was still doing this, after what had happened between them. She'd
gotten herself in this predicament, and he was under no obligation
to bail her out now that they were basically done. His heart
twisted in his chest at the thought and he downed more of his beer
to try and unwind it. Now, he faced the fact that he was determined
to finish what he'd committed to, and that was buying back her soul
from that bastard who stole it, because Wade had been stupid enough
to fall for his taunting and beat the shit out of him.

That part
was
his fault...and why
Jess had done what she did. So, he'd fix it, then he'd walk away,
and give her the house and money to take care of Angel. He wouldn't
be moving in with them, or seeing Jess more than he had to. It was
going to be awkward and uncomfortable, but he would do it, so he
had the opportunity to raise his baby girl.

Angel was all that mattered to him, Jess
could do what she wanted to do, flirt with whoever she wanted to
flirt with, or date, or marry...or fuck. Wade was over torturing
himself, because of her...well, maybe not over it, but
working
on being over it, he thought and tossed back his
beer to finish it.

Some of his old buddies from the circuit
walked in and saw him and waved, then walked over to his table and
pulled up chairs. He wasn't in the mood for company, but maybe
talking about old times would help distract him, he thought. Misery
loved company anyway, and he wouldn't have to drown it in his beer
alone like a pathetic loser.

"Hey ya'll..." he said when they sat down.
"How's it hanging?"

"Looks like it's hanging pretty low with
you, man...thought we'd come over here and cheer you up. You
worried about getting back in the saddle tomorrow?" Chuck Wilson
asked him. Chuck was an old friend, they joined the PRCA about the
same time, and were friendly competitors.

"Nothing to cheer, ya'll are gonna need the
cheering up tomorrow," he told Chuck with a smug grin, then leaned
back in his chair and sipped his beer.

"I have to say I was surprised to see your
name on the roster...thought you were done."

"An old cowboy is never done...just waiting
on the next opportunity...you know that old timer." he said with a
chuckle that echoed hollowly in his chest.

"Well, glad you took this opportunity, it's
good to see you again, man," he said then slapped Wade on the
shoulder. "Whatcha drinking, let me buy you another one. Maybe
you'll have a hangover and I'll have a chance tomorrow," he told
him with a laugh.

"Even hungover, I'll stomp your ass, you
know it...but hey, I'll take that beer," Wade said with a grin.

Chuck waved at the bartender and held up
five fingers, and the guy nodded, then he asked Wade, "You doing
bareback too?"

"Nah, just saddle bronc...I'm not stupid.
Leave that for the young 'uns...their bones are greener," he told
him.

"I went by the arena earlier to look at the
stock...looks like some good ones, so we should have good rides
tomorrow. Lot of big names here too, did you look at the
roster"

"Yeah, only one I'm worried about is Cam..."
Wade told him seriously.

They talked and laughed for hours, rehashing
old times, and old rides, and Wade was starting to feel better. He
wasn't sure if it was from the beers he stopped counting two hours
ago, or the company, but he hadn't even thought about Jess in about
thirty minutes...so he was doing good.

An hour or so ago, a group of cowgirls from
the circuit came into the bar and joined their group, so it was
pretty rowdy now. One of them he knew, a little too well, and she
had pulled a chair up by him, and was getting a little touchy
feely. Although he was flattered, and it soothed his ego, he wasn't
interested...at all.

She wasn't the tall blond country singer who
had ground his heart up and spit it out in a sausage casing. He
didn't have enough energy though to tell her to back off, so he
just sat there smiling, biding his time, enjoying his beer, until
it was time for him to head upstairs, and spend a sleepless night
thinking about Jess...missing her and Angel.

The woman beside him evidently decided to
make her message a little clearer to him, because she slid her hand
onto his thigh, pretty damned close to ground zero, then leaned
over and put her lips over his, kissing him like she meant it.
Between the beers and her direct onslaught, his brain seized up and
he didn't move, just sat there and let her kiss him, but when her
hand moved to his fly, he put his hand over hers and pulled
back.

"Let's go upstairs," she invited in a
whisper near his ear, then nipped his ear lobe.

"He's not going anywhere with you, so get
your damned hands off of him," an angry, husky female voice said
over his shoulder. "He's coming upstairs, with me and his
daughter
." When the woman just gave Jess a nasty look, she
drawled in feral tone, "Find yourself another bedmate, cowgirl,
don't make me go crazy on your ass."

Everyone at the table stopped talking and
swung their eyes to Jess, who was standing behind him with her
hands on her hips, looking like an avenging angel, while she stared
down the cowgirl who had been feeling him up.

Two or three of them said together,
"
Daughter
?"

Wade shook his head and his face turned red,
then he confirmed, "Yeah, I have a daughter," before he pushed back
in his chair and stood up. "See ya'll tomorrow, guys," he said then
grabbed Jess's arm and dragged her toward the entrance of the bar.
He noticed she still had on that damned dress, and he felt eyes
burning his back as they left the bar.

"You need to put some fucking clothes on,"
he grated then dragged her through the lobby. "What the hell are
you doing here anyway?" he asked then looked around and added
sarcastically, "Where's Beau? You run him off already?"

"I'm here, because we need to talk, and I
want to watch you ride tomorrow. As for Beau, I think he and Jazzie
have gone to get some supper somewhere. They took Angel with
them."

"Fine, talk," he told her then dragged her
down on a sofa in the lobby. "Make it quick, I have an early
morning tomorrow," he told her nastily. He wasn't in a very
charitable mood right now, and the faster he got away from Jess
Sparks, the better. Her lower lip trembled and he felt like an ass,
but then shored up his heart and shouted, "Talk!"

Her cat-like green eyes filled up like
buckets and then she said, "I'm so damned sorry, Wade."

"Is that it?" he asked shoving up to his
feet. He didn't want her tears or her apology, he wanted her to
understand him. "I've heard about my limit on sorries, Jess...after
a while they lose their effectiveness," he grated staring down at
her, his fists clenched at his sides.

She stood up, then wobbled on her feet, and
grabbed his arm. "No! Sit down, please, there's more..." she
begged.

Huffing out a frustrated breath, Wade sat
back down and so did she, then she turned to face him and said, "I
love you, and don't want to lose you...I know why you decided to
ride in this thing, and that you're doing it for us. Thank
you."

"You sure didn't act like that
yesterday...or tonight." he told her gruffly. "You wrote me off,
and didn't want to listen to me...why should I listen now?"

"I know, and I'm sorry...I was scared, still
am, but I'm here, because I love you. Karlie explained the measures
you were taking to make sure you don't get hurt...and it made me
feel better."

Wade looked back at her and growled, "I
would have done that, if you'd have given me a chance, instead of
throwing that ultimatum at me."

"No more ultimatums, sugar...I promise. I'm
with you regardless of how stupid I think you're being...and I hope
you feel the same about me, because I'm stupid a helluva lot more
than you are," she said with a watery chuckle.

Relief and wariness warred inside of Wade
and he took deep breaths trying to figure out which would win, and
if he believed her. Then there was the issue of Beau Bowman, "What
about Beau?"

"Beau who?" she asked with a soft smile,
then told him, "Did you see Ray there tonight?"

Wade shook his head trying to get the
connection, then asked her, "Yeah, I saw the asshole, what about
him?"

"You weren't there, and he made me sing the
new songs, because he had another company man there with him, so I
was paying him back by singing them to Beau like I was. Beau was a
good sport and I knew he was safe, that's why I picked him."

"He's not safe, sugar...I see the way he
looks at you, even though he's a gentleman, and my friend." Even
though he knew Beau wouldn't act on his attraction to Jess, it was
there nonetheless. Wade was a man and he knew when a man was
interested in a woman...his woman.

"He's hooked on Jazzie, Wade, not
me...you're seeing things that aren't there, sugar."

"Bullshit, but whatever you say, Jess..."
Wade shook his head not believing how blind she was.