From her spot at the fence where she watched the roping competition and tried to ignore Leanne, the glare of stadium lights mocked her. Leanne sniggered, clapped her on the back. “You’re right where you belong anyway, holding up the fence. Fucking wallflower. Just like Prom. Loser.”
Leanne started to walk away. Jinx knew she should let her go. Her face burned hot with the memory of Prom. Another time Leanne had humiliated her, a night she’d ruined, and gotten away with it.
Jinx’s vision went red. Her rodeo season was shot. She’d passed up college to rodeo the past three years and when she finally got close to a big win…
“Fuck you.” She’d said it to get Leanne’s attention, but grabbed the heavier girl’s shoulder and whipped her around so she had no choice but to face her.
“What did you say to me?” Eyes wide with surprise, Leanne shoved Jinx’s hand from her shoulder. “Excuse me. Did you just lay hands on me? Oh, I know just the official to report this to.”
“Make sure you tell her about this, too.” And the punching started. And continued. She’d never punched anyone before and the hot wallop of pain, the jolt up to her shoulder, surprised her. The hurt made her madder still so she went hard, harder. Swinging right then left, hitting jaw, nose, ear. Stomach.
Leanne put up a fight—when she wasn’t busy trying to block punches. By the time she fell to her knees and Jinx considered whether a knee to the nose would be too much, a couple of cowboys had her by the elbows, pulling her off.
“She called me a wallflower and mentioned Prom.” She met Dallas’s gaze with her head held high. No shame for her in what lousy Leanne had done to her that night. Plenty of other things to be embarrassed about with him, but not that.
“And you let her have it.”
“She left with two black eyes and a fat lip. Says I broke her nose, but…who knows, right?”
“The nose knows.” He grinned.
Stupid joke, but she returned his grin. “I suppose.”
“And you? Got any war wounds?” He looked her over.
“Skinned knuckles. She did a lot of hair pulling and I had some claw marks down my arm.” She looked down at the fading scars. “Should’ve got a rabies shot, just to be safe.”
“She’s had that coming for a long time.”
True. “Stupid of me, though. She got a restraining order against me so even if Romeo heals right away, I can’t compete anyplace she is.” And she’d been kicking her own ass for being so stupid, ever since. The past three months of working, behaving herself since Leanne had graduated and been traveling the circuit, had all been for nothing. “Dad is so pissed at me.”
“For standing up for yourself?” His voice got a little higher with surprise.
Not exactly. “The Association wants me to sign a statement… Leanne had been drinking, and she’s underage. The security guards who processed us wrote her up for it, but they’re from a private company so the officials want my statement too.”
“What’s the problem?”
She’d been asking herself that for the past week and wasn’t any closer to an answer. “See, I didn’t snap because she was drunk. I snapped because I lost my cool. I’m barred from contact with her because of what I did.” He blinked, but otherwise didn’t respond, so she carried on. “I guess I got the revenge out of my system, and now I just want it to be over.” She drew in a deep breath. “If I sign that statement there’s a good chance she’ll be suspended or worse. Then she can come after me civilly if she wants, for the assault. And you know she’ll want to.”
“That’s bullshit! She got away with that Prom shit, and now this…” His face darkened.
“She didn’t exactly get away with that. You made her pay me back.” Her voice trailed off to a whisper. She didn’t want to discuss any of this old crap. Or this new crap. “Anyway, I made this mess by letting her get to me. Should’ve been stronger than that.”
He shook his head slightly, his knuckles against his lips as he thought. Planned? What could he possibly think he could do to save her from Leanne this time? God, it was annoying, really, how he insisted on swooping in to save her. She obviously could handle Leanne on her own now. Sort of.
His face relaxed, brightened as he let out a little huff. “Guess you came out on top in the end, huh?”
“What do you even—”
“You’re here. Healthy. She was probably out on the circuit somewhere and got the virus. She’s probably all hrraaaah grrrrrr!” He made his eyes round and buggy and waved his limp hands around his face, mouth hanging open and tongue out.
“God. Just…oh, God.” She tried not to laugh, but he looked so goofy. “Too soon, Miller. Wayyyy too soon.” She’d always loved his sense of humor, though, his ability to lighten any situation. “Oh, God.” She buried her face in her hands. Laughing. Laughing ‘til she shook, sucking in heaving breaths, and the tears were from his jokes, not from the idea that everyone she’d ever known might now be what he’d just imitated. Just because she might never see anyone else she knew again didn’t mean she wasn’t gulping air solely to laugh more.
Warm arms banded her, stilled her shudders. His breath heated her neck and ear. “Hey. Hey.”
She nodded, knowing if she tried to talk she’d sob or wail. Forcing herself to breathe slowly, she used the small range of motion he allowed her captive hands to wipe her face dry. Except more tears kept spilling out.
His breath on her neck became his lips. Warm, tickly, moving up to her jaw, her fingers. Her heartbeat sped as she turned into him, met his lips with hers. Mmm. Dallas. Hot, strong, familiar. She leaned into it, opened for more of him.
“Sorry,” he said, pulling away.
Yes, he probably was. Didn’t seem to know what he wanted, from making a U-turn when he’d recognized her to reversing back to her, to driving away and leaving her there with the worst news in human history, to riding back and rescuing her in a sturdy old white truck.
“No problem,” she muttered, brushing past him to take her dishes to the sink. God, her heart thundered in this insane quiet, and she’d bet her face and neck were flushed. Her nipples were hard, dammit, and he was sorry. Ugh.
“You were right. It is too soon to joke about this. My filter’s got some holes, seems like.”
The joke hadn’t been wrong; it had been just right. So had their kiss. Which was part of the damn problem. “No problem,” she repeated like fool parrot. “It just got me thinking…about my horse.” Yeah. What any proper cowgirl should be worrying about in this situation.
“He’s fine. We’ve got a couple out back, and they haven’t been messed with this whole time we’ve all been gone from the ranch.”
“I mean Romeo—he’s up at our place. Hurt, and alone. The other horses are there too, but if Dad’s sick, nobody’s checking on them. Food, water…and he may need doctoring. I have to go there tomorrow.”
Dallas brushed her arm when he brought a load of stuff from the table. “Yeah, we can do that. And we’ve gotta get our hands on some survival gear. Whatever food we can get hold of, and whatever we need to harvest our own food. That is…if you’re gonna stay here. You don’t have to, but you can."
She kind of did have to. In spite of that kiss and the potential for dredging up their sticky past, or maybe because of it. Shaking off the thought, she turned on the warm water to rinse the dishes, drew in a breath for strength. “We’d probably have a better chance together, right?”
“That’s what I was thinking. Jinx?”
She looked up at him. And up… “Yeah?” Those dark eyes were round, boring into her soul.
“We should have a discussion. Lay down rules—mostly for me, looks like. Also, we’ve got a little talk to have, about graduation night.”
Oh, hell no. “No, we don’t—”
“Yeah. We do. Girls don’t use my body and then walk away.” He tossed a dish towel on the counter and then he walked away.
And she watched. Because Wranglers. And Dallas’s butt, which ha
d filled out considerably since they’d graduated. Plus he’d kissed her, which meant he didn’t hate her a hundred percent. Didn’t it?
CHAPTER 3
Dallas sat on the couch tapping his fingers on the hunting rifle lying crosswise on his lap, watching out the big window. In the dim light outside when the moon managed to peek out between clouds, three people moved through the yard. They stumbled a lot, and if he hadn’t known everybody was sick, he’d have taken them for drunk. He was pretty sure they were the neighbors next door, but in the dark and so far away, it wasn’t easy to tell. Also, old Charlie had always been clean-shaven and this guy had a good beard starting. Well…he counted off on his fingers…he guessed a week without shaving might do that.
He’d been reviewing their “shopping” list for tomorrow after Jinx had quit fighting her sleepiness and agreed to turn in. Once he’d heard her settle into the guest bed, he’d felt twitchy and unsettled despite the bone-deep exhaustion. So he’d postponed going to bed by staring at her handwriting on his mom’s shopping list notepad. But instead of really reading the words, he’d been thinking about what a bonehead he was for kissing Jinx in the middle of her crying jag.
The inhuman racket outside had sent him into a cold sweat as he turned off the lantern and scrambled to grab the gun from the front closet.
The three made a beeline—which meant they tripped through the outdoor fire pit and trampled the corner of Mom’s garden—for the compost pile where he’d dumped all the bad food from the fridge and freezer earlier. Gross. They settled in like pigs at a trough, rooting and gorging. He never would’ve guessed the smell of rotting food would draw any of them in. Should’ve buried it.
Jinx’s snores carried down the hall to him. Made him smile despite the disgusting show he watched. She really had a snore on her! Christ, if she kept that up, the dudes outside would be able to hear it. Shit. He’d heard her slide the window open in her room. They probably would hear her. Keeping his gun at his side, he got up as fast and quiet as he could and hurried down the hall to her room. Yep. Open window. He tiptoed around the bed to the window, glad he’d taken off his boots while they were making their plans for tomorrow. As he slid it shut, the damn thing squealed. All three slop-eaters in the yard turned their heads his way. He locked the window, then pulled the curtain closed in case they got any ideas in their sick heads about peeking in at her. Snoring had quit when the window squeaked, but her breathing was deep and regular, so he snuck back to the living room.
He sat on the couch again, but pressed into a corner, not the middle. Only one guy still pigged out at the slop pile. One ambled toward the house. Shit. Where’d the other go?
“Why’d you shut the—”
“Shhh!” He stopped Jinx’s question, turned to find her at the end of the hallway. “Stay put.”
She froze with squawky “eek,” which probably meant she’d seen their visitor. Thank God she hadn’t used a light to find her way.
The guy outside—Charlie, he was pretty sure—put his hands on the window and smashed his face to the glass. If it wasn’t so awful, it’d be comical. There’d be big slimy smears tomorrow. Hopefully he and Jinx would be alive and able to see it.
“Pretty sure it’s the neighbors,” he whispered. “They smelled the food I dumped out there.”
“Or they smelled our dinner,” she whispered back. “Or…they heard us drive in, after dark, and just made it over here.”
All possibilities. He hoped if he buried the spoils tomorrow, they wouldn’t be back. As it was, he couldn’t imagine trying to sleep now, wondering if more would show up and how he’d keep them out of the house if they decided to come in.
The intruder moved to another spot on the window and turned his head to each side, still trying to see in. As long as the moon kept shining, he’d have trouble seeing into the house because it was darker than outside.
“Think they have better night vision with their pupils dilated like that?” Dallas wondered.
“You’d hope. But humans got a raw deal with sight, smell, and hearing, compared to animals. Maybe, though…I’ve heard about people who lose one sense and another gets better.”
He’d heard those stories too. “Seems like their smell must’ve improved, if they could pick that up over at their house. It’s a good quarter-mile away.”
“Plus, we probably sounded like an entire circus showing up in that truck and trailer after nobody’s been driving for days. After dark, when they’d probably come out of houses. Do you think they hide in the dark during the daytime?”
Another peeping pig joined the first guy, pressed his face to the window briefly, boxed the first guy upside the ear and turned away. First guy—had to be Charlie. Had to!—let out a growl and followed his companion, cuffing the back of his head as he passed him on the way to the food.
“Violent tendencies,” Dallas muttered.
“What?” Jinx slid onto the couch next to him.
He moved the rifle to his other side, against the cushioned arm. “Something I heard on the radio. It’s part of the disease.” Along with increased sex drive, so he was relieved they hadn’t been able to see her.
She breathed fast next to him, shivering. “Um. Dallas?”
“Yeah?”
Her chilled arms wrapped around his bicep and he tipped his head down to hers on his shoulder, without taking his eyes off the action outside.
“Do you think…if we have to shoot any of them…it’d be murder? Or self-defense? Because I mean, we have the Make My Day Law, right, so if they come onto your property and you’re afraid of them you can defend yourself.”
She sure could talk a lot when she was scared. But he’d been wondering some of that same stuff himself. When it came down to the nitty-gritty, though, it didn’t seem like there’d be anybody around to explain such a “murder” to—he’d driven past the police station and it had been as deserted as the rest of town. Not that he was keen on shooting a human. “Guess we’ll do what we have to, if the time comes. If they start coming around here more at night, we might have to do some reinforcing around the house, or hell, maybe around the whole property. Pretty soon I’ll have to bring the cattle home for winter, and that’ll draw them in.” What kind of fence could they build to keep humans out? And how much time could he dedicate to the cattle when they needed more wood for heat? Not to mention hunting for meat and drying it, a smell which would bring in the creeps even more. They had other supplies to get, too, like a stash of gasoline and all the things they’d put on the lists tonight and—
“Hey.” Jinx squeezed his arm. “You okay?”
Not so much, not at all. “Sure.”
“Sure,” she repeated. “Knock-knock.”
“Who’s there?” Really, she was gonna try to distract him with a joke?
“Shirley.”
“Shirley Who?”
“Shirley you don’t expect me to know an actual knock-knock joke.”
He rubbed his eyes and groaned. “Why would you do that?”
She giggled quietly. “Because I can, and you can’t stop me. When we go to Walmart tomorrow, I’m finding a joke book. We can each tell a joke from it every day. We’ll choose chapters and only look at our own—no peeking into the other person’s.”
Back to the nervous talking. Between the two of them, they shouldn’t have a problem staying awake all night.
* * * *
Dallas realized he had no idea what Jinx was saying, when her words went to mumbles and then deep, slow breaths. She’d curled up at the opposite end of the couch from him, where she’d moved once the sickies outside had left. They’d talked, which meant mostly her jabbering, to stay awake. And now…soft snores. Well, it was getting light outside and they hadn’t seen or heard anything else out there all night. Maybe he’d catch forty winks too…
He stood next to the food and drink table, taking long, bored drinks from a bottle of water. Sort of looking for one of his friends to hang out with. Except they were all busy dancin
g with their dates, because their dates hadn’t ditched them as soon as they got to Prom. Stinking Leanne. He should’ve known she was using him. If he’d been smart, he’d have skipped the thing altogether, and her underclassman ass could’ve stayed home—or conned some other senior into taking her to a nice dinner, buying her flowers and a ticket to the dance.
Dammit. She’d spent most of the night with her cult of mean-girl friends. When she wasn’t dancing with popular guys, anyway. Showing up in that down-to-there dress had been a sure way to get guys’ attention. Now he knew why she’d had him pick her up at her BFF’s. No way her parents would’ve let her out of the house in that.
He could leave, let her find her own way home.
Hell. He’d blown the money on the tux. Might as well stick around and people-watch.
Jinx Petersen eased her way along the edge of the gym, in a wildly different dress—something old, he could tell—looking completely out of place and…beautiful. Like somebody-should-make-a-statue beautiful. Shit. When had that happened? How had he missed it?
An eruption of laughter loud enough to be heard over the Kanye song came from—where else?—Leanne and Crew. And they were looking right at Jinx, not even trying to hide that they were talking about her. Jinx noticed, too. Blushed, but kept on working her way along the gym wall. Alone. She’d had the nerve to go stag. Now she’d stand there most of the night waiting for somebody to dance with her. School dances were lame. Give him a barn dance in the arena after bull-riding. Now, those people were there to dance, and that’s what they did. None of this holding up the wall BS.
Some fast song by Lady Gaga came on, and Leanne headed to the floor with Chad Reingold. Figured. Third time she’d danced with him. Not that he cared—much. Sucked being ditched at Prom, but Chad could have her. Leanne wasn’t his type.
He slam-dunked the empty water bottle in the trash can and made for Jinx.
“Hey,” she said when he got to her.
“Hey. Pretty dress.”
Cowboy Strong (Cowboy Up Book 5) Page 25