"I saw to him myself. Everything is fine, other than those assholes deciding you'd make a good punching bag."
So he had been in the stables and came to Evan's aid. “You helped me."
Sitting up, he smoothed Evan's wrinkled forehead with his fingers and dipped his chin.
Evan hadn't seen him, he was sure of it. The last few days he looked for this man everywhere he went, hoping to see him again. Evan must have been out of it when his savior intervened. “Thank you, but I wish you hadn't brought me here. I don't have the money to—"
"It's taken care of."
Evan started shaking his head.
"You are in no condition to argue.” His cowboy grinned unrepentantly and arched a brow, daring Evan to argue further.
He was too tired to argue this right now, so Evan gave in. “How long have I been here?"
"We've been here for several hours and this is the first time you've been coherent enough to make sense. You took a hell of a hit to the head. You're probably not going to remember this when you wake next time. You don't recall waking up last time, do you?
Wow. He'd woken up before? He didn't remember. “What's your name?"
Before he could answer, a petite woman with red hair, in a pair of navy scrubs and a white lab coat opened the door. She smiled when she saw Evan. “Ah, looks like you are awake again. Can you answer some questions for me, Mr. Marshall?” She didn't wait for an answer, but instead pulled out a flashlight and proceeded to blind Evan.
Blue Eyes squeezed his hand.
Evan yawned, and wished he hadn't. His head throbbed something fierce and the penlight piercing his skull wasn't helping matters.
Finally the doctor put her light up and asked him all sorts of questions, what day it was, who the president was? It seemed sort of silly, but Evan answered her without hesitation. Apparently, from what he gathered, he hadn't answered her correctly when she'd asked earlier in the evening. Funny, he didn't remember her or being asked questions.
"Can I have something for this headache?"
"Sure I'll send the nurse in with some Tylenol. We don't want you having anything too strong. You can sleep, but we want to make sure we can wake you up. Are you still nauseous?"
He'd been nauseous? Evan yawned again and shook his head. “No.” He was just tired.
Cowboy asked the doctor a question, but Evan didn't pay attention, he was feeling very drowsy all of a sudden. He closed his eyes and listened to the soothing, sensual tones of his rescuer's voice. A man could get lost in that voice. It had sounded like heaven whispering naughty things in the heat of passion.
"Evan?"
Mark? Evan blinked his eyes open, he must have dozed off. Sunlight streamed into the window across the room, silhouetting Mark.
"Hey buddy.” Mark came forward, holding his hat in his hands. His brown hair was mussed and he had stubble on his cheeks. He looked like he hadn't slept. “You okay? Tracy Wade called me. He rooms with Brett Lahr and said Brett came in pretty banged up, talking about how they jumped you in the stables. I checked the stables and went back to the motel looking for you. I just happened to drive by here and see your truck in the parking lot. Did you drive yourself?"
Evan blinked, squinting his eyes against the light. “No. I—my truck is here?” The man from the bar must have driven Evan's tru—. Evan glanced around the room. A hollow, sinking feeling settled in Evan stomach. He was gone.
"Who's Aaron?"
"What?” Evan turned his attention to his header.
"Someone named Aaron checked you in."
Evan frowned. That was a damned good question. “The cowboy from the bar."
* * * *
Damn it. He had to get his head out of his ass and back in the rodeo. He'd been cleared to ride and Mark had driven them to the next stop on the circuit. They needed the prize money. And to get it, they had to qualify and ride this time since Evan missed the last rodeo due to that concussion. Of course, he still had the money in his account from buying Gus because apparently Adam Two Spirits hadn't cashed the check, but Evan wasn't going to count on that money. He needed to call Two Spirits Ranch again. Hopefully, he could get a hold of Adam this time.
Evan pulled the curry comb across Gus's shiny black coat trying to get his head in the right space for roping instead of looking for Aaron. “I tell you, Gus, I'd wonder if he was all in my head if Mark hadn't seen him at the bars too. He always disappears before I can talk to him. There is just something about him..."
Gus leaned into the combing, like a giant cat, forcing Evan to push at him.
"Not only did he save my ass, but he apparently stuck around to make certain I was all right.” And because of that, Evan had a name. Aaron. Fat lot of good it did him though. “Why would he do that? Now I'm positive it was him that night in the bar.” Mark was convinced he was a stalker.
Evan argued he didn't fit the bill. Stalkers didn't rescue their stalkee then disappear. And he had disappeared. Evan hadn't seen him at any of the local bars he'd dragged Mark to last night. He'd even stayed and watched most of the qualifying rounds to all the other events today just to watch for Aaron.
"Umm, Evan?"
Evan jerked his attention toward the open stall door.
Tracy Wade stood there, his black hat in one hand, his rope in the other. His reddish brown hair was mussed and the leather on one hip of his black chaps was dusty. A yellow riding glove stuck out of the pocket of his red, white and blue shirt under his open black riding vest. He must have just ridden. Evan didn't pay much attention to the bull riders. Well, no, that wasn't entirely true, they made good fantasy material, but they hated his ass, so...
Tracy glanced around the stables. “Can I t-talk to you for a minute?” Tracy shifted forward, leaning in and making his spurs clink. Sweat dripped down his right temple, onto the hay-covered floor.
Odd, he didn't remember hearing Tracy had a stutter. Maybe it was just nerves. And well, if Tracy were nervous ... Evan looked around too. It was fairly busy, but no one paid them any mind. Tracy had never spoken to him before. Not that Evan expected Tracy was gonna cause problems. From all accounts it wasn't Tracy's style, but it still made Evan a little leery. “Sure. What's up?” He motioned with the curry comb for the other man to come closer.
Clearing his throat, Tracy stepped closer and put his hat on his head, pulling it low over his eyes. “I, uh, well—” Tracy held out his hand. “Guess I should introduce myself f-first, yeah? Rude of me. S-sorry.” He spoke with slight drawl. East Texas? Louisiana? He also had a crooked grin that was cute as hell. It gave him a boyish look, even with the stubble on his cheeks. No, not boyish, that wasn't the right word ... mischievous.
Evan, unable to help himself, grinned back and put the comb in his other hand to shake Tracy's.
Tracy had a nice firm grip, big hands, slim fingers. “Tracy Wade. I'm a friend of Mark's, well more D-doreen's actually, but I know your header too."
"Yeah, I know. Nice to meet you officially. Thanks for calling Mark last week and letting him know where to find me."
"Welcome.” Nodding, Tracy took his hand back and gestured toward Evan's face. The bell on his bull rope clanked faintly. “You, uh, doing okay?"
Evan touched his cheek, the bruise was still healing, but he didn't quite have a black eye anymore. “Yeah, I'm good."
"G-good, good. Man, I just wanted to tell you, I had nothing to do with that.” Tracy rubbed his empty hand down the back of his leg where his chaps met his jeans. “The guys have never done anything like that before. I—” He shook his head. “I'm sorry man. I h-heard them mouthing off, but I didn't think they were serious. If I'd've known—"
Well damn, Evan felt bad watching the kid squirm. “'s alright. Heck, I appreciate you just letting Mark know where to find me."
Tracy nodded. “You b-bet. Least I could do after I found out. I didn't actually know you were in the hospital, I just felt like I had to let someone know what Brett had said when he came in. Brett rooms with me on the road.” Frowning
, he cast his gaze to the ground. “Makes me reconsider the arrangement now.” He added softly.
Evan wasn't sure what to say. The thing was, if Tracy's buddies even caught him talking to Evan, they'd likely lay into him. Evan glanced around again. Maybe he should get the guy outta here. But he really wanted to know what Lahr said. Maybe Tracy had heard what happened after Evan blacked out? What if he knew something about Aaron? “Would you like to get something to eat or—ow! Gus, get off my foot!” Evan shoved at his horse.
Gus flipped his head up as he stepped off Evan's foot. He swished his tail, smacking Evan's side with it.
Thank god for boots. It still didn't feel all that great, but it could have been worse, he supposed. He rested his hands on Gus's back and shook his foot out. “You big oaf."
Gus snorted and jerked his head around, nipping at Evan.
"I'd heard he was a character. Doreen and Mark talk about him and his antics all the time.” Tracy chuckled. “I hear he has a thing for cell phones."
Evan groaned and tossed the curry comb on top of the bag he carried his gear in. “Speaking of, I need to go buy a new one. You wanna see if we can find a cell phone store? I'll buy you dinner."
"Sure.” Tracy smiled.
Gus cocked his head and his ears shifted backwards, dropping close to his head. He eyeballed Evan as if to say, “I'll kill that one too."
Evan sighed and pointed at his phone-hating horse. “You even look at my new phone, I'll...” He glanced up at a laughing Tracy and shook his head. “Cool. Let me just get my stuff and lock him in here.” Evan turned to grab his bag.
"He sure is pretty.” Tracy's stutter seemed to have disappeared. Maybe it was just nerves at first.
After cleaning the curry comb out and tossing the hair in the corner of the stall, Evan hefted the strap up onto his shoulder and turned.
"I've never seen a horse with blue eyes.” Tracy reached forward to pet Gus.
Gus's lips came up, his ears went back, and he opened his mouth.
Tracy jerked his hand back, barely keeping it from being bit.
"Gus!"
Gus turned toward Evan and licked the side of his face.
"Ugh.” Evan shrugged his shoulder against his face wiping it off.
Tracy laughed so hard he ended up leaning against the stall door. “He thinks he's a dog."
"Tell me about it. Sorry about that, I don't know what got into him. He's never tried to bite before.” Evan shooed Tracy out of the stall and closed the door. There was a puff of hot air on his cheek then his hat was plucked off his head. “Gus!"
Evan pulled up to the bar and cut the engine. “Tracy, thanks for going with me. Are you sure you want to be seen with me? It might not be a good idea, given what your buddies think."
Tracy turned, putting his arm across the top of the truck seat and leveled a stare at Evan. “Honestly Evan, I don't give a d-damn what they think. I'm beginning to wonder why I ever became friends with the whole lot of them.” He nodded his head once to emphasize his point.
Grinning, Evan dipped his chin in return. “Then let's go.” He opened his door and got out, grabbing the new phone off the clip on his belt. “Wonder where Mark and Doreen are?” He'd gotten the same phone number again, but he'd have to reprogram all his contacts. Changing numbers had been appealing, thinking maybe the one he had was bad luck, but then he'd come to his senses and realized that it was Gus that was bad luck where the phones were concerned. The salesman had looked at them like they'd sprouted another head when Tracy suggested the man show them the “horse-proof” phones.
Evan dialed his header's number as he met up with Tracy at the front of the truck.
"You guys ride tomorrow?” Tracy tipped his hat toward a couple of giggling women as they came out of the bar.
"Yeah, we qualified this morning. You?"
"Qualified y-yesterday. I drew Bodacious."
Evan let out a low whistle. Bodacious was one tough customer. That was the bull that put Larry Kincaid in the hospital last month.
"'Lo?” Mark answered his phone as they reached the door of the bar.
With the loud music it was hard to hear, so Evan covered his free ear with his hand. “Where are you?"
"In the back, towards the bathrooms.” Mark hollered into the phone.
"'k. We'll be there in a sec.” Evan hit end, flipped his phone closed and replaced it on his belt. “They're toward the back, near the bathrooms."
They began weaving their way through the crowd. The bar was busy. Evan saw lots of familiar faces, but not the one he was looking for. He'd asked Tracy about Aaron, but according to what Brett told Tracy, it was Gus that came to Evan's rescue.
Tracy waved to someone and elbowed Evan. “There they are."
Mark, Chris Johnson and Gayla Buchanan sat at a little table, but Doreen was standing on the chair beside Mark, waving her arms at them.
"Looks like someone's had a bit to drink, eh?” Evan chuckled.
"Certainly looks that way.” Tracy stopped and looked around. “There's the bar. You w-want something?"
"Nah. I'm good. Go ahead."
As Tracy walked away, Mark pulled Doreen off of the chair, so she could sit in it.
"Going somewhere, Tex?” A low, husky voice asked from right behind Evan.
"Aaron.” Evan whipped around and came face-to-neck with his cowboy.
Aaron's eyes and upper face were shielded by his gray felt hat, but his lips were turned up slightly on one side. He seemed taller face-to-face like they were. His shoulders seemed wider too, stretching the blue denim shirt to capacity. Evan would be willing to bet the shirt did great things for those pale, almost translucent, eyes. He sure wanted to find out, but first he had to get them out of here.
"We need to talk.” Evan looked around for a place they could have a bit of peace, quiet and privacy. He didn't see any, and no way in hell was he going to the bathroom with Aaron; he didn't trust himself to keep his hands off him. And in a place like this, that was liable to get them both killed. Even now his fingers were itching to reach up and touch the wide, muscular chest in front of him.
"Do we now?” Aaron's lips twitched. “Won't your friend mind?” He put a lot of emphasis on the word friend.
"Friend?” Oh. He thought Tracy and Evan were together. Well they were, but not like he implied. “Nah, Tracy won't mind. He's just a friend."
Aaron bobbed his head, his lips turning up in a genuine grin. “Come on then.” He turned and walked away.
Evan's gaze zeroed in on his nice, round, cowboy ass. Damn, the man filled out a pair of Wranglers well. He glanced back at Mark. He should tell someone where he was going, but Aaron wasn't waiting around and Evan wasn't about to lose him again. He hurried through the crowd, following the gray hat. Thankfully most people preferred black hats. It made Aaron easy to find in a crowd. With the way Aaron vanished, Evan was afraid to let him out of sight. He watched as the gray felt hat dissappeared out of the bar.
When he reached the exit, he couldn't find Aaron in a crowd coming in the bar. “Shit.” Looking around, he pushed through the throng, apologizing as he went. If he'd lost Aaron again ... His gut tightened. What was it about this man that affected him so? After a brief but pleasant fuck, he wanted to get to know Aaron better. He hadn't had delusions about having an honest to goodness relationship in ages. His lifestyle didn't make that a viable option. But Aaron turned up everywhere Evan did, so he must follow the rodeo, right? And that made them getting to know each other better possible ... didn't it? Provided Evan could ever keep Aaron from disappearing.
He took off at a fast clip toward his truck. He could stand up in the bed and get a better view of the parking lot.
Evan's steps faltered, Aaron was leaning against the truck.
How did Aaron know that was Evan's truck? Mark's words about Aaron being a stalker popped into his head. Okay, he was being goofy. Evan chuckled to himself. It wasn't real hard to find out, it certainly wasn't classified information. Most folks,
even the buckle bunnies who followed the circuit, knew who belonged to what vehicle.
When Evan drew within arm's reach, Aaron grabbed him by the lapels of his black western shirt and pulled him close. He tilted his head, slanting his lips over Evan's with fierce and commanding pressure. Their hats hit, knocking Evan's onto the back of his head and making him have to grab for it.
Aaron tasted of mint and honey, fresh, warm and sweet all at the same time. Evan leaned into the big body, pressing Aaron flat up against the pick-up door.
Before Evan knew what hit him he was swept away, moaning into Aaron's mouth. At that point his hat could have fallen off and blown away and he wouldn't give a rat's ass. The kiss was rough, almost painful, then their tongues tangled and it slowed down a bit, turning into a barely banked passion. His cock hardened and that same tingly, excited feeling he got before he roped coiled in his gut. He never wanted it to end.
Aaron's chest was warm under Evan's hand and his heart raced to match Evan's. He actually moaned into Aaron's mouth and moved closer. It was, without a doubt, the most amazing kiss he'd ever shared.
Aaron pulled back first.
Evan stood there dazed, staring at Aaron's chin. It took all he had not to beg Aaron to continue.
Holding on to Evan's shoulders, Aaron looked around the parking lot, turning his head left and right. “That was stupid. I completely forgot myself. Seems to happen a lot when you're around."
"Huh?” Evan glanced up, fixing his hat, and met Aaron's gaze. Oh, well this was for the best. They needed to talk. Evan was determined to see Aaron again. He hadn't had many lovers and none he particularly wanted to get to know better, but he damned sure was going to find out what was between himself and his ever-disappearing cowboy.
"This is not exactly a good place to be doing this. You've already been beat up once."
Evan shook his head, but he fished for his keys anyway. “Everyone on the circuit knows I'm gay. I don't hide it.” He got his keys out and hit the remote door locks, unlocking the truck. “Where to?"
Aaron gave him a downright naughty grin. “Your motel.” His voice dropped an octave.
Evan imagined those pale eyes lighting up from the shadows of his gray hat brim. His cock throbbed, remembering that husky voice whispering right into his ear. He wanted that again. “Let's go."
The Ties That Bind Page 20