The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  “Just get him to the test barn, smart ass,” Katie answered. She smiled when she supposed she would have to tell him about a breeding shed one day just to see his reaction.

  All of a sudden, Seth’s expression changed, concern wrinkling his brow. “Did Jack get claimed?”

  “They’ll be reading claims any minute. Listen to the announcer.”

  * * * *

  It had been a successful night for the Murphy Stable. One win, one second, and no claims. Seth still beamed as much from the win as from the fact Jack had accompanied them back to the farm. He made sure to give the horse some extra grain, a couple of carrots, and a few affectionate pats to show Jack how pleased he was.

  Even when Seth and Chris had finally returned to the dorms well after midnight, Seth had been too full of adrenaline to sleep until the wee hours of Monday morning.

  Monday. Katie would sing on Monday.

  He smiled before he fell asleep.

  Chapter 10

  “You’re going to love this place,” Chris said as he eased his truck into the parking lot of a restaurant called The Place. “Great hot wings, cheap beer, and the owner loves horse people.”

  Seth followed Chris inside and took a good look around. Two large televisions broadcasting sporting events sandwiched a small stage with a large karaoke machine. A dance floor stretched in front of the stage, and several couples danced to the twang of the jukebox’s country song. The place smelled of pizza, barbeque, and stale beer.

  Seth’s gaze wandered the large room until he finally spotted Katie sitting next to Sam Mitchell. Sam. Such a masculine nickname for such a pretty woman. Katie glanced over at the door and waved. Seth and Chris joined her at one of the larger tables.

  Katie introduced Seth to several people from the track before she turned back to chat with Sam.

  Seth ordered a beer from the waitress making the rounds. He tapped Katie on the shoulder. “Can I get you something, Boss?”

  “Ginger ale,” she replied. He passed the information to the waitress.

  Katie stared at him for a moment before she finally noticed. “You cut your hair!” She reached out to brush her fingers across his now bare neck. His skin tingled from her touch. Just when he felt her fingertips begin to move in a caress, she pulled her hand away.

  “It was getting too long. It was either a ponytail or a haircut, and I’m sure not a ponytail kind of guy.”

  “Did you get the picture I left?” she asked with a luminous smile.

  Seth nodded as he remembered the winner’s circle picture he’d found taped to his dormitory door that afternoon. “Yeah. Thanks, Katie. When did you get it?”

  “Picked it up this morning. Photographer put a rush on it for me. Jim is a real gem. Hell, I practically stood over the poor guy’s shoulder while he printed my first picture.” She took the tall glass of ginger ale and a bowl of pretzels from the waitress. “You know, my first win was at Dan Patch.”

  “You sure I can’t buy you a beer?” Seth asked again as he placed his mug on the table. “You know... to celebrate Jack’s win?”

  Katie shook her head. “No, thanks. I don’t drink much.”

  Most of Katie’s friends spent their time in idle conversation as the group consumed numerous pizzas, bowls full of nachos, and several trays of buffalo wings. Chris’s age made him the customary choice for designated driver, and Sam volunteered to pick up any slack. With the amount of alcohol being consumed, Seth figured there probably wouldn’t be too many others capable of performing the task. After one beer, he switched to soda in case another clear head was needed later in the evening.

  The chatting at the table suddenly fell silent. Following everyone’s intent glances at the door, Seth was more than a little surprised to see Rachel Schaeffer walking into the restaurant. From the track gossip, he’d gathered she came uninvited and unwelcome by several in the large party. She was hanging all over a driver who Katie said she used when Brian drove his own horses. Josh Piper, he remembered. Katie said he was Chris’s friend.

  “Hey, Pipe! Over here,” Chris shouted as he waved Josh to their table. Rachel threaded her arm through Josh’s and accompanied him. Josh didn’t even sit down at the table as he and Chris beat a path to the pinball machine. Rachel settled herself in Chris’s abandoned chair opposite Seth.

  Seth watched Katie’s relaxed demeanor evaporate. He could read the tension in her face. She drew her mouth into a thin line, and she stared at her glass. He was about to ask if she wanted to sit somewhere else, but before he could open his mouth, Sam let her thoughts be known. “What are you doing here, Rachel? No one better to do at the track?”

  Seth tried to stifle a chuckle by coughing in his hand. The rest of the table wasn’t as subtle. A wave of laughter rose from everyone close enough to hear Samantha’s remark.

  Rachel was clearly pissed. “What’d you say?”

  “Nothing,” Samantha replied, taking a sip from her soda and rolling her eyes to stare at the ceiling. The sniggers started up again.

  “Kiss my ass, Sam,” Rachel sneered. “It’s a public restaurant.” When Rachel caught Seth’s gaze, she perked up considerably. “Hello, Handsome. Wanna dance?”

  Seth tried to find a way out of the trap she set. Josh was so engrossed in playing pinball with Chris that he didn’t look remotely concerned Rachel now directed all her attention at Seth. No rescue there. He shook his head, declining the invitation.

  “Aw, c’mon.” She reached out and let her fingers wander over his forearm. “Please? I mean, you did knock me down after all.”

  The woman wasn’t going to let up. Seth glanced at Katie, but she was talking with Sam again. “All right.”

  He stood up to follow her, and Rachel led him to the dim lights of the dance floor. He wasn’t sure how she managed to walk with as much swing as she put in her hips. As he moved away, Seth heard Katie order a beer. He glanced over his shoulder and saw her nervously nibbling on her bottom lip and staring at her empty glass again.

  In what appeared to be well-practiced motions, Rachel gyrated around Seth, and it finally dawned on him exactly why she was there. Rachel didn’t like to be turned down. He’d become a challenge for her.

  “Wanna come back to my room? I’m the floor below yours.” She pressed her breasts to his chest and slid her arms around his neck.

  “No, thanks.” He subtly extracted himself from the unwanted embrace. As the dance continued, Seth kept putting some distance between their bodies, but Rachel constantly closed the gap.

  No matter how many times she asked if he’d leave with her, when he declined, she always offered again. Didn’t she have any self respect? “I’m heading back to the table, Rachel.” He left her on the dance floor. Josh must have noticed she was alone because he left the pinball machine and joined Rachel. Chris returned to the table and reclaimed his chair.

  “Who’s responsible for those?” Seth asked Katie, pointing to two empty beer mugs sitting in front of her.

  Katie shrugged and sipped from a third almost drained glass.

  “You drank both of those? That fast?”

  She just shrugged again, grabbed a pretzel from the bowl, and nibbled at it.

  Rachel slinked back to the table with Josh at her heels. Seth sure didn’t appreciate the daggers Rachel’s eyes were throwing at Katie. His gaze shifted to his boss. With her head lowered and her eyes downcast, she looked as if she’d just attended the funeral of a loved one.

  After several minutes of profuse begging, Chris convinced Katie to dance. The couple weaved their way to an open spot on the crowded floor.

  Watching Chris take Katie into his arms as they danced, Seth had an uncharacteristic flare of jealousy. Funny. It never bothered him when Kirsten danced with another guy. No matter how hard he tried to push the feeling aside, the foreign jealousy clung to him like bug splatter on a windshield.

  Seth considered simply stalking out to the dance floor and taking Katie away from Chris. Not wanting to appear too rude, too
eager, or entirely too adolescent, he decided to wait patiently for five minutes before he would go cut in. Well, maybe four minutes. He looked at his wristwatch and then back at Katie. Three if Chris didn’t keep his hands to himself.

  Seth had taken a seat close to Samantha, and she turned to him, leaning closer to be heard above the music. “You know, there’s history there.”

  “Where? Oh, you mean Katie and Rachel. Thanks, but I’d already figured that out.”

  “Maybe. But it’s probably worse than you know. Katie’s still kinda... fragile. I can tell there’s something going on with you two. I don’t want you to hurt her by—”

  Seth easily dismissing the idea with a shake of his head as he thought about his inheritance. “I’m not going to hurt Katie. Trust me. She’s... Well, she’s just... not worth it.”

  Sam visibly angered at the statement, leaning back and sternly folding her arms across her chest. “Katie’s worth her weight in gold, you arrogant son of a—”

  “No, no. That’s not quite how I meant it. I’m trying to say that she’d cost me more than that if...” He shook his head not sure how much he should or even could say about his whole unusual relationship with Katie. “Look, just forget it. I’ll leave her alone. Promise.” He tried to sound sincere, but he also realized he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Katie the whole time he’d been talking to Sam.

  Chris tried to show Katie the steps of a line dance, but judging from the amount of beer she’d consumed, Katie’s reflexes weren’t at their sharpest. Seth lost track of how many times she stepped on Chris’s toes. She looked like she was about to give up from sheer frustration.

  The jukebox switched to a slow song. Seth jumped up, almost upending his chair, and made his way onto the dance floor. Katie had her back to him. Seth put his hand on her shoulder, spun her around, and immediately wrapped his arms around her waist. Chris smiled at the couple and snuck back to the table.

  Seth could feel every curious eye boring into his back. Gossip probably flew around them at the speed of light, but he didn’t care. All he could see was Katie. Her shining eyes, that untamable hair, and those lips were the closest pieces of heaven he would ever possess. Her cheeks flushed with color as she gaped up at him as if seeing him for the first time. He pulled her a little closer. As they swayed to the music, she suddenly surrendered with a sigh and a soft rub of cheek to chest. He nuzzled his nose in her soft hair then indulged a whim and let his lips brush the lightest of kisses to the skin joining neck to shoulder. A kiss over almost before it began. The song ended too quickly to suit Seth, too swiftly to even begin a proper seduction.

  The jukebox powered down, and the lights on the stage came on. “No more dancing?” Seth asked, more than a bit disappointed he couldn’t keep her in his arms a while longer.

  “Karaoke.” As if suddenly realizing the intimacy of their stance, she pulled her arms back from where they were wrapped around his ribs and let them drop awkwardly to her side.

  “You going to sing, Boss?” Seth asked, trying to strike up a conversation as he led the way back to their table.

  “Hell, no.”

  “Why not?” It was the entertainment he’d been hoping to see, and hearing her sing would be more solid proof Katie had more to her personality than being a workaholic. “Everyone says you’re great.”

  Katie rolled her eyes.

  “You’re not gonna sing?” Brian asked.

  “Not tonight.” Katie took the new mug of beer from the waitress and handed back yet another empty.

  Chris took the microphone first as he crooned a recent country-western hit. Katie leaned toward Seth. “Chris loves country. The kid worships Tim McGraw.”

  Seth sat back to listen and sip his soda, taking heart in the fact that Katie had called Chris a “kid.”

  After a passable rendition of the tune, Chris returned to his table to the sounds of whistles and applause. The restaurant was clearly occupied by quite a large number of country music fans.

  Brian walked to the stage. Everyone suddenly stopped talking and started shouting.

  Seth glanced over to Katie for an explanation. She leaned closer again, trying to talk above the din. “He only sang for us one other time.” She appeared to choose her words carefully. “He wasn’t... He couldn’t...” She stopped, hiccupped, and then continued. “Brian can’t sing very well.”

  Seth turned back to the stage and watched Brian grab the microphone. Wadded napkins and straw wrappers began to pelt the stage. Seth shook his head and laughed.

  “Hey! Come on, you morons!” Brian shouted as he ducked the missiles. “Give me a chance! This is important!”

  The crowd quieted, but they eyed him suspiciously, waiting for any opportunity to chase him off the stage with another deluge of paper. If Brian sang as badly as Katie described, Seth figured they might switch to chicken bones and pizza crusts.

  “This one is for my Samantha,” Brian said as he punched the selection on the karaoke machine. He launched into “She’s Having My Baby” done in a style only the deaf could truly appreciate.

  Brian paused as if waiting for a response of some kind, and then a roar rose from the crowd. He grinned from ear to ear. “Took you jackasses long enough to figure it out! She really is having my baby!”

  Friends descended on Brian and Sam to offer their best wishes. Plus, Seth figured it gave them the perfect excuse to get Brian to stop singing.

  Katie turned to Seth with tears in her eyes.

  “Are you happy or sad?” he had to ask.

  “Oh, happy. Very happy.”

  He couldn’t deny the urge to reach out to brush away a tear slowly slipping down her cheek. She favored him with a shy smile. He felt his stomach flip in reaction. “Go on. Go talk to her,” Seth encouraged.

  Katie shook her head. “Too many people. Sam is my best friend. She’ll come to me when she’s ready.”

  Several minutes passed before Sam and Brian extracted themselves from the well-wishers. Sam flopped down in the chair next to Katie who immediately leaned over and hugged her.

  “When?” Katie asked as she brushed away her tears with the back of her hand. Seth wondered how long she’d continue to weep over the happy news.

  Sam wiped away a few tears of her own. “October. Probably before the season is over.”

  “I’m so happy for you. I didn’t know you and Brian wanted to start a family,” Katie said before she ordered another drink from a passing waitress.

  “Let’s just say... it was a surprise. It’ll happen for you too, Honey. I just know it will,” Sam said in a whispered voice that raised Seth’s radar a notch. “I don’t care what that doctor says. Maybe... maybe when the time is right.”

  Katie gave Samantha a weak smile, lightly placed her finger against Sam’s lips to silence her, and shook her head. Seth felt like he’d missed something important that had just passed between the two friends.

  “You’d never catch me doing that,” Seth proclaimed when Katie finally turned back to him.

  “Catch you doing what?”

  He gestured his thumb toward Brian. “Making an ass out of myself for some woman.”

  Katie crossed her arms over her breasts and leaned back in her chair. Unfortunately, she pushed a little too hard, almost tipping over. Seth grabbed her arm and pulled her back as she righted herself. Her face flushed a vivid red all the way to her ears. “That’s what you think he did?” she asked with the anger plain in her voice. “Made an ass of himself?”

  “Of course. What’d you think he was doing?”

  “I think he was showing Sam how much he loves her—how much he wants this baby. I think it’s... it’s romantic.” She released a heavy sigh.

  Seth rolled his eyes at the entire notion. “Romance? What a waste. I’d never do anything that ridiculous. Flowers, yeah. And candy, maybe. But get up in front of everybody and sing?” He shook his head. “No, thanks.” Picking up the pitcher of soda, he refilled his glass.

  From the corn
er of his eye, Seth could see Katie studying him for a moment. He loved the fact she never had the ability to hide her feelings. She concentrated on him, scrunching up her nose and furrowing her forehead. She stared at him for so long Seth began to wonder if she’d forgotten what they’d been discussing.

  “No, I don’t suppose you would,” she finally commented.

  He laughed at the lag time between the statement and the response. “No way. There are better ways to impress a chick. I never had to sing to a girl to get laid,” he teased.

  “I suppose someone like you gets... you know... whenever he wants.”

  “Yep. Just have to snap my fingers.” It took every ounce of Seth’s self control not to laugh aloud at his own absurd statement. Women might have been easy enough for him to get, but they’d never been quite that accommodating.

  Katie picked up a menu and started to fan herself. “Is it getting warmer in here?”

  They both turned to look toward the stage when Rachel took the microphone. She pushed the stool out of the way and began a unique rendition of “Sexual Healing” which included some very creative and downright lewd choreography. If she would have had a pole, guys stuffing dollars into her panties, and some strategically placed strips of Velcro, she might have made a great stripper. He glanced around and saw Josh and Chris missing the show as they played pinball again.

  Katie stared at the stage. “I suppose he’s drooling over her,” she muttered, thinking aloud again.

  He didn’t believe the ridiculous statement deserved a response. Besides having no interest in Rachel’s little exhibition, he was entirely fascinated with watching Katie. The woman couldn’t even say “laid”—which probably meant she had never even...

  Good God, she might be a virgin! He figured most people lost their ranks in that category by the time they turned sixteen. “How old did you say you were?” he blurted out much louder than he’d intended.