Looking For Trouble (5 page)

"Travis told me what happened earlier, and I
figured it out. I wanted the whole scoop, so that's why I'm late,"
Jazzie told her then huffed out a breath.

Fear coursed through Jess and she asked,
"You didn't tell him did you?"

Jazzie snorted then grinned, "Hell no, we
have pinkie swear on that one, right?"

"Damn right we do--and those are solemn,"
Jess said then added, "Now help me punish the bastard. We're going
to finish this first set with Angel...let everyone know will
you?"

"You got it, girlfriend," Jazzie said with a
smug grin, "We moving to our regular set, until then?"

"Yeah, let's do this thing," Jess said then
walked to the mike again. They played for forty-five minutes or so,
and the crowd was getting thicker. With the sun was going down,
more people were dancing too. The cheap seats in front of the stage
were filled except one spot, and when a tall good-looking guy with
the prettiest green eyes she'd ever seen sat down and smiled up at
her, she knew she'd found her 'Angel'.

When she finished the song they were
playing, Jess raised her hand to let the band know this was the
last song of the set, then turned around and grabbed her electric
guitar and pulled the strap over her head.

When the drum roll started, she strummed her
fingers over the strings and made the guitar whine, then walked to
the mike and latched her gaze onto the green-eyed cowboy before she
started singing to him. Surprise flashed across his face, then he
flushed and grinned, before shifting his position to put his elbow
on the edge of the table and stretch out his long legs to
watch.

Jess ran her eyes over his body, then moved
back up to meet his intent gaze and she winked. His eyes darkened
and his smile widened, then she tapped her headset so the mike feed
was there, then walked over to him and laid on the sexuality
thicker than usual, as she sang the ending, "You're my angel, come
and take me all night...come and save me tonight."

When she finished, she nodded toward the
back of the stage and mouthed, come see me to the cowboy, because
there was no way he was going to hear her over the thunderous
applause. She looked up at the crowd and her eyes were magnetically
drawn to Wade Roberts. He was leaning against the same post where
he had been when she'd first seen him a year ago. She couldn't see
his eyes to read his mood, but his clenched jaw, tense body and
folded arms, told her she'd done a good job at the revenge game. So
why didn't she feel better then? Where was the victory that should
be coursing through her. All she felt now was a sick feeling in the
pit of her stomach.

Feeling tears burning her eyes Jess spun on
her heel to work her way off stage, then flipped on the canned
music, so they could take a break.

CHAPTER TWO

When she walked outside of the tent and into
the grass, the cowboy she'd sang to was waiting there for her with
a smile on his face and two beers in his hand. He really was an
angel, she thought, taking the beer he handed her. "That was
spectacular, darlin'. You really had the crowd going," he said then
stuck his hand out to her, "Beau Bowman, brother of the anniversary
girl."

Jess smiled at him then said, "Nice to meet
you Beau..." then took his hand and stepped forward to put a kiss
on his cheek, "And thank you for being a good sport and letting me
sing to you."

"Honey, there was no sport about it...that
was hot...you were amazing," he told her in a deep rich voice, but
didn't make a move to pull her closer to him. She saw the heat in
his gaze, but he seemed to be a gentleman on top of being damned
good looking, and just plain nice. At least he wasn't a bawdy
cowboy who set her panties on fire.

"Thanks, sugar...you want to dance a little?
I have a few minutes, before our next set."

"I'd love to dance, Jess," he told her then
took her arm and led her back inside. They set their beers down on
a table, then he pulled her onto the dance floor and started a
two-step with her around the floor. She was moving backward and
swallowed when she saw Wade still standing at the post, staring a
hole through her. Now, who was branding whom, she thought, then
dragged her gaze back to Beau.

"So what do you do, Beau?" Jess asked with a
smile, to make conversation, while they danced.

He gave her a quirky half-grin and said
ruefully, "I'm a Texas Ranger...visiting from Lubbock where I
live."

"Wow...dangerous job," she said distractedly
then glanced back at the post and saw that Wade wasn't there
anymore. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"It can be," he agreed, then when she looked
back up at him again, his eyes were curious and speculative, as he
asked her with a quirk of his lips, "So, how long have you known
Wade?"

Jess's throat closed up and she sucked in a
breath, damned impressed at his observation skills, but scared
shitless too, because she hoped nobody else noticed. "You must be
really good at your job, darlin'," she said in shock.

"I'm
very
good," he told her bluntly,
with a twist of his lips. "But you were pretty obvious too...I
think he got the point of whatever you were trying to say to
him."

"I met him at the wedding...haven't talked
to him since," she told him truthfully.

He twirled her at a corner, then moved right
back into rhythm, pushing them around the dance floor. "Looked to
me like you more than met him, huh? Was he your '
Angel
' that
night?" he asked her seriously and his eyes weren't warm or
friendly anymore.

"I don't do that a lot, Beau...please
believe me," she said in a choked voice. "I'm a pretty
career-focused girl...don't waste the time on distractions. But it
was my birthday, and I was lonely...it's my birthday again, but I
don't want a repeat performance, he didn't like that," she defended
herself from what he must think of her.

"So, he teased you with Katie Upton, and you
paid him back, huh?"

"Wow, you really are perceptive," she said
with a wide grin, and she felt his shoulders relax a little.
"Please don't think badly of me, and I'm sorry I used you."

"You can use me anytime, baby...just let me
know the score first, I don't like being blindsided," he told her
in a low sensual tone, then pulled her to the middle of the dance
floor when a slow song came on. "One more, then I guess you have to
go back to work?"

"Yeah, one more...and thanks, Beau," she
said then leaned up and gave him a kiss on his lips and slid her
arms around his neck. "You're a real gentleman...don't find those
too often."

He pulled her against him, then growled,
"Don't push it, darlin', my gentlemanly tendencies have their
limits. You're a beautiful woman, smart woman, and I'm a man who
appreciates that."

"I'm going to look you up, Beau Bowman, if
we ever play in Lubbock," she said with a grin, then added, "I'd
like to hear more about the limits of your gentlemanly
tendencies."

"God, sugar, you keep that up, and you might
not have to wait, until you wander into Lubbock...but don't look me
up unless you clean up your old business. I don't like to play
games," he told her seriously and held her tight as they swayed
together to the music. Jess nodded, then laid her head on his
chest, and enjoyed being held by someone who didn't send her system
into mass confusion.

He took her hand and walked her back around
the stage and gave her a quick kiss, which unfortunately did
absolutely nothing for her, then said, "Thanks for the dances."
With a squeeze of her hand, he walked back into the tent, her eyes
following him all the way.

"Damn," she muttered wishing a guy like that
was the one who set her on fire, instead of a
rough-around-the-edges cowboy. She headed for the stairs, because
she'd seen her band mates were already back up there when she'd
passed the stage.

A deep voice from behind stopped her in her
tracks. "So, you were messing with me last year...using me?" Wade
asked her shortly, then grabbed her shoulder and spun her
around.

"We were using each other, Wade, and I sure
didn't hear you complaining," she told him then jerked her shoulder
from his grasp.

"You said you don't do the Angel bit often,
but you lied...that's your pick-up line for the cowboy of the
night, right?" Wade said angrily then ran his eyes over her body
and smirked like he was disgusted. "Thanks for the
ride
,
Jess...good luck with Beau though, he's not as hard up or dumb as I
was," Wade told her then turned and walked away, stalking toward
the barn, not back to the party.

"Wait just one fucking minute, cowboy!" she
yelled after him, then took off across the pasture behind him. He
didn't stop, just increased his speed across the grass. Running in
spiked heel boots wasn't the best idea she'd ever had, she
realized, when the pointy toe of her boot sank into a hole and her
ankle rolled, sending a shock wave all the way up her leg. She
screamed in pain then fell flat on her face, and gritted her
teeth.

Suddenly, someone turned her over on her
back, then she looked up to see Wade leaning over her. "What the
hell did you do? Pretty fucking stupid of you to be running across
a pasture in heels," he said nastily.

Jess threw her arm across her eyes and
moaned, then told him, "Just go get somebody and leave me the hell
alone..." When he didn't move, she raised her arm to look at him
and said sharply, "Get a move on would you? I wouldn't want to
delay your rendezvous with the redhead. That's what had your pants
so on fire you didn't stop when I yelled at you, right?"

He snorted, then told her, "No--I'm just not
inclined to stop when someone calls me a 'fucking cowboy'."

"I didn't call you that...I just called you
cowboy," she told him, then rubbed her wrist against her forehead
and noticed the wig had shifted and was half off her head. With a
yank, she pulled it off and tossed it away from her in disgust. The
movement caused a sharp pain to shoot up her leg, and she gasped in
pain, then rolled to her side and moaned. "Holy, shit...I hope I
didn't break my damned ankle, that's all I need," she said weakly
and gritted her teeth, then begged him, "Take my boots off,
please...I need to see if I can stand up."

"You don't need to stand up," he told her
then put his arms under her legs and neck and lifted her into his
arms. Automatically, her arms went around his neck to hold on so he
didn't drop her.

"This isn't necessary, Wade...Jazzie can
drive the van out here and pick me up and take me to get an x-ray
in Henrietta." God, she couldn't afford any more medical
bills...she still had to pay for her hospital stay with Angel.

"Let's go see what it looks like first," he
told her then started walking toward the barn again.

"But the break's over...the band will wonder
where I am...I'm sure Cassie and Luke will too," she said with
another moan. She wasn't sure, but she thought her ankle was
swelling fast, because the boot on her left foot was getting really
tight.

Wade kept walking across the pasture, until
he got to a whitewashed door that looked like it lead to a
bunkhouse off the barn. That was confirmed when he stepped inside,
and she saw a long wooden table with benches on either side, and a
cook stove in the kitchen. He didn't stop there though, he carried
her through a small living room, then turned down a hall, before he
opened another door, and walked across the room to lay her on a
double bed, then went back to flip on the light. He strode back
over to the bed and sat beside her legs.

"Which leg?" he asked.

"Left," she replied then moaned when he
picked it up.

He gently put her leg down, then asked with
concern, "You sure you want me to try to get your boots off?
They're not the zip kind and it'll probably hurt like hell."

"Please, or they're gonna have to cut it off
at the hospital, because it'll be too swollen, and I can afford
another pair of boots right now," she told him and scooted up on
the bed to lean against the headboard. "Just do it...it'll be
fine," she told him then gritted her teeth.

"Fuck the boots, Jess...I'll buy you another
pair," he offered, but didn't make a move to remove them. 'You need
to go to the hospital, sugar...I'll get my truck," he said then got
up off the bed and she groaned as her foot jostled.

"No! You don't need to do that, just go get
Jazzie, please," she begged him.

Wade stood there a minute with his hands on
his hips, just looking at her, then he finally said, "No, I'm going
to take you...I'll stop by there on our way out to let everyone
know what's going on," then he turned and walked out of the
room.

Because she couldn't walk on her ankle, she
didn't have much choice but to go along with whatever he decided to
do. With a frustrated sigh, she reached up and pulled the pins out
of her sweaty, itchy hair and let down the bun she'd wound it up
into to fit under the wig. She wouldn't be doing that again, she
thought...especially for an outdoor gig. Wearing that thing had
made her feel like there was a bed of fire ants in her hair.