Looking for Trouble

by Becky McGraw

  When it came back down they grabbed it hand held it, then he slid on the horses back, then moved a little more forward then grabbed the reins. She saw his jaw was clenched and his focus was completely on the horse, as he raised his hand then gave the handlers an arrogant tip of his chin.

  The gate opened and the horse lurched a little inside the pen, before it shot out in a high graceful arc, with Wade leaning back on him, with his boot heels firmly planted in the horse’s shoulders, his toes pointed outward, and the reins pulled back toward his chest. Her breath caught in her chest and her heart skipped a beat, as the horse did a circling turn, with all four feet off of the ground, but she was impressed that Wade planted his feet in the same position on the horse, kept his free hand high over his head, even though he was twisted in the saddle.

  It was like he anticipated the animal’s every move, and was a step ahead of him. Jess had been right and this horse was a lot more to handle than the one that the last guy had ridden, but Wade looked like he was in complete control, confident in his ability. When the buzzer sounded, she saw him grin and that dimple she loved popped out in his cheek. The horse bucked a few more times, then he lifted his leg over his neck and rolled belly down into the dirt, then scrambled up and headed for the rail.

  Jess heard the crowd roar and looked around to see a lot of people on their feet, and she stood too, clapping loudly, and whistling. When it didn’t stop, he came back out for a second and tipped his hat, then walked back behind the chute. Jess looked up at the digital scoreboard by the announcer, and her knees got weak with relief when she saw a ninety-three there. She jumped up and down as much as she could with her cast, then grabbed Angel’s hands and said, “Daddy won, sugar!”

  Beau and Jazzie laughed at her, then Beau said, “He won the first round, darlin’…he still has two more to go. Hopefully, he’ll get good horses for those too. But this round he showed them who was boss, for sure.”

  ***

  After his second round ride, he scored a ninety-one, which was not as good as the first ride, but was still good enough to put him in first place going into the finals tomorrow, Wade was thrilled. The old adrenaline and excitement from the win, poured through him, and he almost felt lightheaded from it, but relieved too.

  He still had it, and his scores showed that. Yeah, he’d gotten lucky and drawn some good horses, but he still had to ride them right to get the points in the saddle bronc competition, the horse was only half of the score. And he’d scored better than Cam Jessup…which made the victory twice as sweet to him.

  Wade was standing against the wall in the hall, outside the medic office taking off his chaps, when he heard whistling down the hall and looked up. Jess was walking toward him in her long-legged, but swinging gait, with a big smile on her beautiful face. Even with the cast on her leg, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen…and he was damned glad she was his.

  He unbuckled the chaps at the waist and let them drop to the floor, then stepped out of them and walked toward her. She jumped up in his arms, when she got close enough, and knocked his hat off with her enthusiasm to lock her lips with his. He put his hands on her butt and pulled her closer to him and kissed her thoroughly, then eased her back onto her feet, but didn’t let her go.

  “Congratulations, sugar! You were magnificent!” she said excitedly and rather loudly, because he heard some of the other riders nearby guffaw.

  He felt blood rush to his face and he smiled tightly then said, “Thanks, darlin’…let’s get the hell out of here,” then he turned and gathered up his stuff, and put his arm around her waist and walked her out. Jazzie and Beau were waiting for them by the back door, because Beau had parked his truck in the family parking lot, which doubled as the rider lot too. Angel cooed when he walked up, and he dropped his gear and took her in his arms, snuggling her to him and kissing her hair.

  Happiness and love for the tiny bundle in his arms flowed through him, and like it always did, his heart pinched. He held her above his head and wiggled her a little, and she giggled for him, then laughed. “Did you see daddy ride that big ole’ horse, darlin’?”

  Her eyebrows lifted then she made sounds like she was holding a conversation with him, and he should understand what she was saying, and it tickled him so much he belly laughed, then cradled her in his arms. He handed her to Jess, then picked up his stuff and asked them, “Ya’ll up for some steak tonight to celebrate? I’m starving…” he said then grinned when his stomach growled and seconded the statement.

  “Nice rides, Wade,” Beau told him and stuck his hand out to him. Wade looked at it a second, then shoved back the jealousy that had been plaguing him where his friend was concerned, and took his hand pumping it.

  “Thanks, man…good horses,” he said humbly.

  “Good riding too,” Beau corrected him. “Horse is only half of the equation…you marked them just right out of the chute, and owned them the rest of the ride.”

  Wade shrugged then grinned. “Sixteen years of practice,” he told him.

  Cam Jessup walked past them carrying his gear and shot Wade a heated look, but didn’t say anything as he walked by. Wade tipped his chin and said, “Looks like he lost some of that piss and vinegar he had earlier.”

  “You kicked his ass, that’s why,” Beau told him with a chuckle. “Was he running his mouth?”

  “You have no idea,” Wade told him with a shake of his head, then said, “Let’s go eat, so we can get back to watch Karlie and Katie ride…we have a couple of hours probably.”

  He saw Jess’s lips pinch at the mention of Katie’s name, and he groaned. After they rode, he’d introduce them, so she could see there was nothing between him and Katie. “You’ll like the team roping…it’s pretty exciting, and Katie and Karlie are the best.”

  Jess snorted, then asked sarcastically. “Really? I didn’t even know they rode in the rodeo.”

  “They were the number one female team ropers in the country, before Karlie retired and went to work for Cassie and Luke, then married Gabe. This is the first time they’ve been back together since then. Katie’s been roping with another partner, but they’re in third or something in the circuit.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to see that,” Jess said, with curiosity in her tone, but not a whole lot of enthusiasm.

  “I’ll have to tell ya’ll a funny story about Karlie when she first came to Bowie…how she and Gabe met,” Wade said with a chuckle. “Let’s go,” he said again then walked past them and held the door open.

  They had dinner at a steakhouse close to the arena, and relaxed with a couple of beers, and a lot of conversation. Wade watched Jazzie and Beau Bowman throughout dinner, and it was a rare time that his eyes wandered from the beautiful Latina fiddler, but she was oblivious to it, or was making him think she was.

  Wade was sharing a bowl of bread pudding with Jess when his cell phone rang in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw it was Travis and stood up from the table and excused himself to talk. He answered it as he walked up front, then sat down on a bench in the waiting area.

  “Hey, Trav…what’s up?” he asked.

  “Have you talked to that accountant you had me send Jess’s files to?” Travis asked with seriousness in his tone.

  “No, I just got done riding, should I have?” Wade asked then looked at his phone and saw he had eight missed calls from Doug, the accountant.

  “Well, he’s been trying to get you all day, on a weekend, so yeah. He found a hidden file in that stuff I sent him, and it’s password protected, he can’t get in and wondered if you could ask Jess if she knew what it could be.”

  “Hang on, let me go ask her,” he said and got up again to go back to the table. Jess was talking to Jazzie, and he put his hand on her shoulder and asked, “Can you come talk to me for a second? Travis has a question…”

  She looked up at him with puzzled green eyes, then nodded and threw her napkin on her plate and stood up, then followed him back to the entrance. “Do you have any idea what
password Ray might have used on a file on that disk you had?”

  Her eyebrows raised then lowered as she tilted her head to think. “I’m not sure. His main password on the computer for his login was flowerchild, all lowercase, he might try that, and I’ll keep thinking.”

  “Try flowerchild, Travis,” Wade told him then heard clicking on the other end of the phone.

  “That’s not it, honey…can you think of anything else?” Wade asked, then leaned the phone close to her, so they both could hear. “A song maybe? Some phrase that he used a lot?” Wade prompted, hoping to spur her memory.

  “Try buttercup,” she said and her face flushed.

  “Buttercup…” he said to Travis, but pinned her with his eyes, wondering what significance that held for her and that asshole.

  “That’s what he used to call me…his pet name for me,” she told him, then her face got redder and she added, “If that doesn’t work try—”

  “That’s it!” Travis told him and she didn’t finish what she was going to say, but he was going to find out later, that was for sure. “I’ve gotta go, I’m going to go through this stuff and see what I find, and call Doug back with the password, so he can look it over too,” Travis told him excitedly, then disconnected the phone.

  “I didn’t see any password protected files on there?” she told Wade in confusion.

  “It was hidden, that’s what Doug told Travis anyway. Do you still have the computer the files were on?” He sure hoped she did, because he’d heard that a person with the right skill set could recover deleted files, and maybe that could help them.

  “Yeah, I have it stored at the bar with the other stuff. I didn’t see a reason to hook it back up there.”

  “Perfect, baby…let me call Travis back, and he can go looking for it.” He hit speed dial for Travis and when he answered, Wade said, “Hey, Jess says the computer that asshole used to do the books, is stored with the band’s stuff at the bar. You think we might should get somebody to check it out and see if there are hidden or deleted files on there too?”

  “Great idea, and we don’t have to find anyone…that would be me…I’m a guru at computer forensics. That’s what I do for a living, man.”

  “No, shit…” Wade said then grinned, and Jess looked at him curiously. “Get to it then, stud, and let us know what you find.”

  “I’m on it,” Travis told him with a chuckle, then disconnected again. Wade shook his head then put his phone back in his pocket.

  “What’s going on?” Jess asked him then grabbed his arm.

  “Your brother is a superstar, baby…that’s what’s going on. He’s going to pick through your computer and see if there are any hidden or deleted files that might help nail Ray,” he told her happily, then picked her up in a big hug and twirled her around.

  She giggled, then slapped his shoulder and said, “Let me down, Wade…”

  He set her down and then gave her a gentle kiss, then whispered over her lips, “I’ll never let you down, baby.”

  “Except when you fall on your ass tomorrow, old man,” A cocky voice said behind him, and he turned around and saw Cam Jessup standing there with a group of young cowboys who’d just walked in to wait for a table.

  “You can always hope, right?” Wade told him with a smile, then added, “Cause that’s the only way you’re gonna beat me, greenhorn.”

  He felt Jess tense up beside him, and he went to walk off, but Cam wasn’t going to let that happen, Wade figured, when he said, “Hey beautiful, if you want a real man, my trailer’s parked behind the arena…”

  When Jess pulled out from under his arm and spun around to face Cam and the group of rookies, Wade knew shit was about to hit the fan, and held his breath. She put a sexy grin on her face and sashayed over to them, then stopped to look them over one at a time from head to toe, with her finger near her mouth. Then she took a couple of steps until she was in Cam’s face and licked her lips. She met him eye to eye, because he wasn’t a big guy, just a cocky little fucker.

  Leaning in like she was going to kiss him, Jess shook her head and purred sexily, “You couldn’t handle me, sugar…you still a virgin, baby?” she asked running a finger over his lips, then along his jaw.

  Wade saw him swallow and his face got red, then Jess told him, “I don’t like to break my men in, I like them with experience,” then she grabbed his package, and it was all Wade could do to stand there, instead of going over there and jerking her away, but then she added with a smug grin, “And a little more equipment than you have, peanut.”

  With a squeeze she let him go then walked back over to Wade and put her arm around his waist, and they turned to walk back to the table with raucous laughter behind them from the cowboys with Cam Jessup.

  Wade was breathing hard trying not to let out the laughter bubbling up inside of him and cause a scene, but he lost it when she said under her breath, “That work for you, big boy? And I do mean, big boy…”

  He stopped right there in the aisle between the tables and doubled over to roar in laughter. Several people around them smiled, some laughed with him, even though they had no idea why he was laughing. He took a deep breath, then was finally able to get himself back under control, and he stood up, then grabbed Jess’s arm and led her back to the table.

  “My god, you were brilliant, honey…” Wade told her breathlessly and wiped his eyes, before he pulled out a chair for her, then took the seat beside her.

  “What was that all about?” Jazzie asked with a smile, looking from one to the other of them.

  “Your friend here is amazing, sugar…she just cut a six foot tall cowboy down to kindling with her tongue in the space of two minutes.”

  Jazzie snorted and told him, “I could have told you that…her tongue is a certified weapon in all fifty states.”

  “Definitely lethal,” Wade said and chuckled.

  “He needed it,” Jess said sulkily, then took a sip of her iced tea, then added with the beautiful smile that made him weak in the knees, “Let’s get the hell out of here, I think we’ve had enough bull for one day.”

  Beau looked at his watch then said, “Yeah, we have about thirty minutes, until Karlie and Katie ride.”

  The all got up then walked up front together, with Jess carrying the baby seat, and Wade with his arm around her waist. The cowboys, she noticed were sitting side by side on the benches lining the wall, while they waited for a table, and she winked at Cam Jessup, then told the others, “See ya around, boys…” then walked out the door Wade was holding open for her.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  When they got back to the arena, and to their seats, Gabe Kelley was sitting on their row, and he looked a little nervous. Beau took a seat beside him, instead of by them, and Jazzie stayed down there with them. It was amazing how much those two looked alike, Jess thought, they could have been twins.

  Angel was sleeping in the car seat, and she put it down on the floor between her and Wade, then sat down. The crowd for this event wasn’t nearly as large as it had been for the bronc riding, but there were still a lot of people there.

  “So what’s the object of this event?” Jess asked Wade, glad that he was able to sit with her now, so he could explain stuff to her. Beau had explained some things to her, but he had been watching the event mostly.

  “Well, the cowboys and cowgirls work in pairs, and one ropes the head around the horns, they’re called the header, and the other ropes the back feet, as quickly as they can, and that person is the heeler. Once they get the head and back legs roped they face each other and pull the rope tight for their time. They’ll have several rounds to get it done, then the team with the best times wins. Those cutting horses are amazing to watch…Karlie’s horse JoJo is phenomenal.”

  “What about Katie?” she asked then watched him intently.

  “Her horse is Laramie, and he’s damned good, she does barrels with him too, but none of them is better than JoJo and Karlie. She’s going to be in the tie-down competition too…t
hat’s where she really shines,” he said with a grin then told her, “Ask Gabe, he can tell you how good she is.”