by T. J. Kline
Somehow, Bailey had forced him to start feeling. So slowly, he hadn’t even noticed it happening over the past eighteen months. He might have returned a local hero with everyone in town wanting a piece of him, but only Justin had known the truth and Chase had stuck pretty close to him, which meant he was around Bailey a lot. It was her smile that greeted him at the clinic each morning when he stopped by, her jokes that made him feel like he could laugh again. She had no idea how much he’d looked forward to the flirtatious banter, even when he’d known it could never go further than that. Until it had.
Chase took the flask back from Gage and tipped it back for another swallow. Justin looked at Gage suspiciously. “Do we need to—”
With a wave of his hand, Chase stopped him. “Nope. Just don’t want to feel anything when we get hit today.”
“Then you’d better leave a little something in that flask or you won’t even manage to stand up to get away. The event isn’t for another few hours.”
Something caught Justin’s eye and Chase could see the apprehension written on his face. Gage suddenly had the same expression and he turned to see what caused it. Bailey, looking determined and sexy as hell in her jeans and rhinestone tank, stalked toward them.
“Aw, crap.” Chase let out a sigh. He sure as hell wasn’t about to face her and pretend that she hadn’t just crushed the pieces of his heart under her heel last night. Any more than he was going to tell Gage or Justin the gory details of what had happened. “I’ll talk to you guys in a bit. I’m going to go . . . anywhere else.”
“Well,” he heard Gage mutter to Justin as he walked away, “I guess that answers your question about his mood this morning.”
BAILEY WASN’T TAKING no for an answer. The safety of these three came first and, if LA was the price Justin demanded, she’d agree and apologize for lying later. As long as it kept them out of the arena, she’d agree to just about anything.
“Are you talking to me again?” Justin held his arms open for a hug. He was pushing his luck and he knew it, so she wound an arm around Gage instead.
“I will on one condition.”
Please, let this work.
“Uh-oh.” Justin rolled his eyes at Gage. “This should be good.”
“Pull out of this. I have a bad feeling about it, Justin. Gage has no idea what he’s doing and Chase . . . I doubt he’s in any frame of mind to do this today.”
“Hey!” Gage pulled back and looked down at Bailey. “A little confidence would be nice.”
She wasn’t in the mood to play games, and these two thought she was joking. “Come on. We’re talking about a bull running at you while you sit in a chair just waiting to be hit. What’s next? Playing chicken with a train?”
“Bailey, come on. It’s not that bad. It’s not like we’re the rodeo clowns out there. We just have to stay in our seats longer than the other team.”
“At least they can run away.”
“Why do you even care, Bailey?” She spun to see Chase returning to the group. There was callousness in his eyes she’d never seen before. “Another week or so and you’ll be gone anyway. What difference does it make to you?”
She tore her gaze away from the animosity in his eyes, knowing she was the cause, and focused on her cousin, praying he could convince the other two. “Justin, please.”
“We’re doing the event.” The resolve in Chase’s tone left no doubt that he would do the event alone if he had to.
Gage looked from Justin back to Chase. “I’ll do whatever you two decide.” He gave Bailey a quick squeeze around the shoulders. “But I’m getting out of here while the getting is good. Just let me know what we’re doing.”
“We’re doing the event.” Chase glared at Bailey, pointedly, leaving no question that he wasn’t about to change his mind.
“I guess there’s your answer,” Justin said to Gage, all the while, looking at Bailey.
She sighed heavily as Gage disappeared for the VIP booth, where Julia and Dylan sat with Emily, waiting for Jessie and Nathan to show. She’d counted on Gage to back her plea. Now she was left to bargaining.
Enraged, Chase spun on his heel to walk away, obviously finished with the conversation.
“I’ll stay. I’ll cancel my move.”
Justin’s mouth fell open in surprise as Chase slowly turned back to face her. Justin looked from Bailey’s pleading eyes to Chase and back again. “I think this is where I should probably leave the two of you to talk.” Justin shot Chase a warning look that Bailey easily read: agree.
It was exactly the reaction she’d hoped for. Unfortunately, Chase seemed less than thrilled by her offer.
Anger turned his eyes deep green, but not before she saw the hurt that flashed across his face. “You’ll stay to keep me from doing this but not for us?” He shook his head in disbelief. “You really know how to kick a guy when he’s down, don’t you?”
“Chase, that’s not—”
He held up his hand. “I don’t need to hear any more. I think you’ve said enough already.” Chase inhaled deeply, letting his gaze fall over the cowboys in the arena and the bulls in the pen at the back of the chute. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard you try to bluff over the years? Whether it’s in a poker game or to get yourself out of some trouble you landed into. I know every tell and every inflection in your voice.”
He clenched his jaw and took a step toward her, looking her in the eye. Her pulse immediately sprang to life. Heat sizzled through her, centering in her core, and she tried not to remember how it felt to have his hands on her last night, to lose herself to his touch. Bailey tried to fight the instinct that had her leaning toward him, like a moth to a flame. But she couldn’t meet his gaze, not knowing she was lying to him, not knowing her heart wanted her to give in to her own lie.
“I might be in love with you, Bailey, but that doesn’t make me blind.”
His words jolted her back to the present and she jerked upright as he walked away, leaving her staring after him.
Had Chase just said he loved her?
BAILEY FOUND ALYSSA seated with Sam alone in the VIP booth and scanned the area for the rest of her cousins. “Where did Julia and Jessie go?”
“Julia and Dylan are in the truck with the air-conditioning on so it doesn’t get too hot for Emmie before the rodeo gets started and Jessie with her horses.” Alyssa gave her a wink. “Like she’d be anywhere else. Nathan should be here shortly. He was just finishing up a business call.” She made a silly face at Sam and he giggled.
“Alyssa, I really need your help but I need it to stay between us.” Bailey knew it was a lot to ask of Justin’s new wife. She hadn’t even known her a year but, from the first meeting, they’d seemed to understand one another on a deeper level and Bailey trusted her.
“As in, don’t tell Justin.”
“As in, don’t tell anyone.” She glanced at the arena, where members of the rodeo crew were laughing with Justin and Chase. “I found out some information about my band’s manager, and it’s not looking promising. I need to find a way to dig deeper and I don’t know who else to turn to.”
Alyssa looked appalled. “You’re only doing this now? Bailey, you leave next week.”
“He’s legit, I know that much, but I need to know more about his reputation. I need someone who can find out things I can’t. All of the sudden, JD is acting sketchy and his current clients aren’t talking to the guys anymore. It’s like everyone has decided to fall silent when they used to brag about how much he’d done for their careers.” She pinched her lips together, forcing herself to go on and admit her fears. “Tucker, our drummer, thinks he’s playing us but Josh, my bass player, insists everything is fine and Tucker is just paranoid. I’ve been away from them so long, I don’t know what to think. I was hoping you might still have some connections, or know someone—”
“Franklin. You met him when I came back, remember? He knows everyone in the business.” She must have seen the look of confusion on Bailey’s fa
ce. “With so many artists crossing over, acting and music go hand in hand and we all run in the same circles. Why do you think so many actresses end up with musicians? Or vice versa?”
“You think he can help?”
“Even if he can’t, he’ll know someone who can. We’ll send him your contract and see what he can find out. If there’s anything shady about this JD, Franklin will find out and know how to help. That’s just the kind of guy he is.” She stuck her tongue out at the baby and blew a quiet raspberry, making Sam laugh out loud. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell the others. I’ve got your back.”
Bailey heard Julia’s voice as she and Dylan climbed the stairs to the VIP booth and knew she had to shut this conversation down now. The last thing she wanted was for her cousins to get wind that she’d screwed up again.
“Thanks, Alyssa. I owe you.”
Alyssa turned toward Bailey, her face a bright smile of affection. “Why would you owe me? This is what family does.” She smiled as Julia sat down on the other side of her. “I’m not sure I’m ready to watch. Please tell me Justin doesn’t usually pull stunts like this, because I don’t think my heart can take it.”
Julia gave a soft, sympathetic laugh. “Sorry, Alyssa. I wish I could, but you married the crazy man.” She glanced over at Bailey, nervously wringing her hands as she stared at the trio in the corner of the arena, waiting for their event to start. “Chase isn’t much better. Although, I’d have thought your brother had more sense.” She bumped Dylan with an elbow.
“You and me both. But he’s always been an adrenaline junkie. Fast cars, extreme sports, he’ll try anything once. It’s led to quite a few broken bones, and broken hearts.” Dylan shook his head.
Julia laid her head against his shoulder. “Then it’s a good thing he’s always had you to look out for him.”
Dylan shrugged and looked at Bailey, his brow furrowing with concern before he leaned closer. “You okay?”
Chase had made the same comment to her, that family always had your back. Now Alyssa and Julia were making the same point. It was like a song that kept circling in her mind, refusing to let her go until she’d learned all the lyrics. She couldn’t help but admit that her cousins had always had her back, cleaning up after her mistakes the way Dylan had for Gage, and none of them had tried to bribe her to stay, even though she knew they wanted her to. Not once had they been anything but supportive after Justin’s initial outburst. Compared with the guys in the band, there was no competition. No one in LA had her back and, honestly, they only wanted her there to help their own careers. She couldn’t fault them for it, but it wasn’t the same as family.
Bailey looked out into the arena as the announcer’s mic crackled to life and he began to introduce the Cowboy Poker event. She’d made a huge mistake and she wasn’t sure how she could possibly fix it this time.
“HOW GOOD ARE you at poker?” the announcer asked the rodeo clown over the loudspeaker.
“I’m pretty good. I could probably beat you,” he teased back, dancing around the arena. Bailey’s stomach churned painfully. She didn’t want to keep watching but she couldn’t force herself to walk away. “Why? Did you have something in mind?”
“I bet these guys are better than you are.”
Six men strolled out to the arena while cheers from the crowd erupted. Several cowboys working the chutes grabbed two folding tables and six plastic lawn chairs, running them out to the center of the arena. She knew the three men on the other team since all of them worked at The Watering Hole. Justin was, by far, the biggest man in the arena, but that was typical. Not many men could match his six-foot-five-inch linebacker physique. Gage followed behind him, just a few inches shorter, with his shirt straining over the muscles of his chest and biceps. Chase was the last one to their table but he was the one who held Bailey’s attention more than any of the other five.
He looked confident, bordering on cocky, as he slid into the chair and kicked his feet up onto the table, crossing his ankles. The crowd laughed as Gage slapped his boot and pretended to scold him. Bailey’s heart plummeted to her toes when she heard the clattering of the chutes as the bull moved into his position. The rodeo clowns maneuvered in front of the tables, waiting for the animal’s release. The opposing team nodded to the crew and Justin looked at Gage before giving the crew a thumbs-up.
The bull burst from the chute and charged into the arena. Bailey held her breath as it sped by the cowboys, missing them all completely. But her relief was short-lived as the animal twisted back at the opposite end and stared down the men who dared enter his domain. The bull stomped a hoof, digging at the ground in protest. The crowd ate it up. Bailey covered her face with her hands and held her breath, trying not to watch but just as unable as the rest of the crowd to look away from the wreck they knew was coming.
When the bull seemed to give up and turn away from the teams, there was always a rodeo clown ready to lure it back into the action. Without warning, it charged. Two of the clowns split from their position in front of the tables as the bull ran, horns down, toward the men. Gage and two men from the opposing team dove to each side, barely missing being trampled as the bull threw one table into the air and flipped the other. Bailey could see that Justin had come close to bailing by the way his hands gripped the sides of the chair. One man from the other team held the arms of his chair and rocked onto the balls of his feet, prepared to run, as the bull turned back toward them.
However, Chase simply rolled his head from one shoulder to the other and crossed his legs out in front of him. He appeared completely relaxed and the crowd went wild. The bull spun again as a clown dodged him and the animal headed directly for the last man from the opposing team. Seeing the mass of muscle headed toward him, he opted to leave his chair behind and run for the fence, leaping onto the metal panel.
“There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, our first-round winners. Let’s get these guys out of there safely and we’ll set up for round two.”
Bailey wasn’t sure her heart could survive watching the three of them do this again. She ran down the stairs of the VIP booth and to the back gate, where Gage and Justin were waiting for Chase. The two men were jubilant with their first victory and Gage was still trying to control the adrenaline coursing through his system as he bounced around like a little boy.
“That was amazing.”
“Glad you liked it, because we’re doing it again in an hour.” Justin laughed.
“What?” The smirk fell from Gage’s face as he grew suddenly serious. “What do you mean ‘again’?”
Bailey couldn’t believe the two of them hadn’t explained this to Gage ahead of time. “That was only round one, genius. You still have to go against the next two rounds’ winners.” She rushed at Justin and slapped his chest, knowing it probably felt like a fly landing on him. “I should kick your ass for putting us through that, you jerk.”
“Knock it off.”
Chase strutted through the gate and gave her a Cheshire cat grin. “So much for your bad feeling, Bailey.”
“You’re not finished yet.” She glared at him. “What was with the macho act out there? Do you realize what that bull could have done if he’d come at you instead of the other side?”
He shrugged. “I’m going to go grab a soda and burger. Anyone else want anything?” Chase didn’t wait for anyone’s reply and Bailey knew it was his way of dismissing her and her worries.
Justin raised his brows but didn’t comment as he watched Chase leave. “I think I’m going to go see how Alyssa handled that. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“She’s a nervous wreck, that’s how she handled it,” Bailey yelled at his departing back. “Gage?”
He gave her a patronizing half smile and chuckled. “It’s a done deal, Bailey. There’s nothing I can do to talk him out of it and you know it. If I can relax, so should you.”
She didn’t need to ask who he meant. Gage dropped his arm around her shoulders and jerked his chin in the direction Chase had
taken. “Last night you were the one pissed off and today it’s him? Want to spill the beans or should I wait for him to get drunk enough tonight to tell me?”
Bailey couldn’t tell him she hadn’t realized last night what Chase was offering to her. With what he’d accidentally revealed today, she knew that if she didn’t fix what she’d broken, she would regret this for the rest of her life, career be damned.
Chapter Twenty-One
CHASE CONTINUED TO stare longingly at the beer booth as he ran a hand over his jaw. He needed to wait until after their final round but then he was going to get shit-faced. Whatever it took to keep him from feeling the ache that was settling deep into his chest as he watched Gage loop his arm over Bailey’s shoulder. There was no way he was going to be able to watch the two of them at the barbecue and dance tonight even if it was only as friends. Not when she was supposed to be there with him. Not after he’d practically begged her to stay with him and she’d turned him down flat.
He felt the gnawing agony begin in his chest again but strangled it into submission as he let his anger simmer, recalling how she tried to convince him not to take part in the Cowboy Poker Tournament. The audacity of her to offer him exactly what he asked for, but without any emotional attachment, to think that she could bribe him. His eyes scanned the VIP booth and Chase saw her watching him. She looked worried, but her concern could just as easily be for Gage or Justin. He ran a hand over his neck and looked away quickly. Looking at her too long would bring back the pain, force him to reconsider, make him want her.