Flanked (19 page)

Damn, she was starting to sound like a wife. Worse, she kind of felt like one. Yet at the same time, she felt like a high school girl waiting for her boyfriend to call. That was crazy. Garret was her husband. But he was her husband because he needed surgery. Nothing more.

It was the sex that complicated things. Made her feel things. That was it. Nothing more.

“Yeah. I mean it hurts, but that’s nothing new.” He said it so casually she had to laugh.

“You bull riders are nuts.”

“Not nuts.” Garret laughed. “Determined and tough, and that’s why you women love us.”

The word
love
hung in the air like a lead balloon.

“If you say so.” Silver tried to lighten the mood with sarcasm but his riding with that shoulder still weighed on her. Every time Garret rode there was a real chance he could get more injured than he already was. “I expect a text message the moment you get off every bull. Okay? From both you and Aaron.”

“Yes, dear.” His low laugh sent a thrill through her. She missed the sex already and he hadn’t even been gone for very long.

“Good. Now you’re talking like a proper husband.” Silver kept her voice low since she was in the staff lounge. She didn’t need her colleagues questioning her conversation.

Good thing her benefits came through the state. The office that dealt with the members’ benefits didn’t know or care how long she and Garret had known each other before they married, as long as she could provide the marriage certificate as proof, which she’d done. The nosy teachers in the break room however—yeah, they’d love to delve into her personal business. It was all she could do to keep her band gigs, as infrequent as those were, from some of the prying biddies she worked with.

Silver turned toward the window, now paranoid they’d somehow read her lips. She wouldn’t put anything past a few of these women. “You do know that the next time I see you, I expect you to act the part of a proper husband as well.”

He groaned. “No problem at all. When is that going to be? I’m feeling kind of needy in that area.”

No more needy than she was, though she did have her drawer of toys for that. What did Garret have? She pushed the thought of the buckle bunnies that would be all over the place in Vegas out of her mind. Hopefully he’d take care of his own needs alone in the shower until she could see him again. “I have some time off soon. There are a lot of school breaks coming up. Long weekends and stuff. I was thinking of maybe taking a trip out to Ohio. It should be lovely this time of year.”

“I can’t think of anything I’d like better. Would Aaron have a problem with it?”

Not if he knew what was good for him. Silver was getting pretty tired of Aaron cockblocking her. It may be time she put an end to that. She’d have to think about it. “I’ll handle him. Would your father have a problem with me visiting?”

“Don’t worry about him. I’ll handle that.”

“Good. It’s settled then.” It seemed prison and long-distance marriages had a lot in common—conjugal visits. Silver didn’t miss the symbolism in that.

The bell rang and she sighed. “I have to go to my next class.”

Garret laughed. “Hearing you say that makes me feel kind of dirty. Like I’m having sex with a school girl.”

“Whatever works for you, big guy. I might even come up with a uniform next time I see you if you play your cards right.”

He groaned again. “You’re not helping my neediness.”

The school-girl thing turned him on? Men were so weird. “Suck it up, cowboy. Oh, and ride rank or whatever the saying is.”

He laughed. “Thank you. I will.”

“Be careful, though. Okay? I look very hot in black, but I don’t need to be a widow at my age. It would put a serious cramp in my social life. Got it?” She made it sound like she was teasing, but she was also serious.

She’d witnessed bull riding at this uber-professional level up close now, and it was scary. These bulls, worth a hundred thousand dollars each and bred to be big and strong and buck like hell, were nothing like the ones she’d seen at the local rodeos Aaron had ridden in when they were in high school. This was serious business and so were the injuries.

“I will. Promise.” Something in his tone made her want to believe him, then she remembered how he had torn cartilage and was riding anyway. Determined. Yup, that was one word for it, and it was less than comforting.

Silver sighed. “All right. Good enough. Talk to you soon?”

“Soon. I promise that too.”

She smiled. She believed him on that one. “Okay. Bye, husband. Be good.”

“Goodbye, wife. You be good too, but only until I see you again.” There was a smile in his voice.

“You got it.” She disconnected the call.

How could her heart feel both heavy and light at the same time when she talked to Garret? It was indicative of how she’d felt a lot lately, so she supposed she should be getting used to it. She headed to the music room, wishing the next school break would come quickly.

Silver made it through the rest of the school day without too much agony. It was actually good to throw herself into preparing the different classes for the upcoming concert. It helped her take her mind off the fact that Garret was on his way home to Ohio before flying to Vegas.

She pushed through the door of her apartment with a bag full of Chinese food and a vow to open a bottle of wine. She’d watch a marathon of laugh-out-loud movies, cheer herself the hell up, and then pass out for the night. That was the beauty of living alone. She could put on her rattiest old sweatpants and eat right out of the take-out containers and no one would look at her strangely for it. This really was the best of both worlds. Sex with her husband when they were together. Living as a single girl while they were apart.

Perfect. She’d convince herself of that eventually. As soon as she stopped missing his being nearby.

Just sex. That’s all it was.

Silver would repeat that as often as it took. Until then, there were piping-hot vegetable dumplings with her name on them.

A dumpling dripping in spicy peanut sauce was halfway to her mouth when her cell phone rang. Silver put the container down.

She grabbed her phone and groaned when she read the read-out. “Aaron, this better be good.”

“Fine, I won’t tell you I just got the invitation for the wedding.”

“Luke and Annie’s wedding?” Her heart rate picked up speed.

“Yup. It’s Thanksgiving weekend.”

“Wow. That’s soon, but it’s good. I have break then.”

“Yup. Annie must have worked her butt off to plan it and get the invites mailed out so soon, but I have it in my hand. And the envelope says
and guest
. So, you wanna be my plus one?”

“Of course I do. But should I be Garret’s guest? We’re supposed to announce our marriage after theirs.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this. I think if you come as my guest it will look like you and Garret met at the North Carolina event, then spent time together while he stayed with me for that week, then saw each other again at the wedding. See what I’m getting at?”

“Mmm hmm. A natural progression.”

“Exactly. And maybe you two had exchanged numbers and were talking in between seeing each other.”

“Yup.” Talking. Sexting. Whatever. Silver smiled. She’d have to get on that for real. She could picture the shock on Garret’s face if she texted him something really naughty.

“And then you fell in love. It won’t look that unbelievable at all then.” Aaron went on, not knowing all the thoughts racing through her head.

“All right. Put me down as your guest. But I’m going to text Garret before he gets home to his dad’s and finds his invitation so he doesn’t put me down as his guest too. That would really look strange.”

“Yeah, do that. See, things are falling into place? Just like I planned.”

Just like
he
planned?

If Silver remembered correctly, this had been her initial idea, but her brother never had problems in the modesty department. “Yes, Aaron. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sis. I gotta go. My pizza’s here. Talk to you later.”

Oh, so now that his food had arrived the conversation was over? Silver eyed the peanut sauce, getting thicker as it cooled, and rolled her eyes. “All right. Talk to you later.”

Even with her food waiting, she still had one more thing to do before she could settle herself down to eat. She disconnected the call and stood to get her calendar from the back of the door. With a pen, Silver blocked off the weekend of Thanksgiving and added in big block letters
wedding
, then beneath it she added
Garret
. It was still a month away. That sucked, but having a definite date they’d be able to be together again helped.

Her phone went off again in the living room and Silver sighed. Might as well answer it. She was going to have to microwave dinner now anyway. The screen read
Beckie
and Silver knew she couldn’t procrastinate any longer without appearing suspicious.

She sucked it up and answered. “Hello?”

“About damn time you answered your phone.”

Uh oh. “Beckie. Yeah, sorry about that. I, uh, forgot my charger in the hotel and my phone was dead until I could get to a store to replace it.”

“That’s sucks. I’d lose my mind without my phone. Anyway, how was the weekend?” Excitement replaced annoyance in her tone and Silver figured she was in the clear.

“Good. Really good.” Silver held her breath and waited, hoping Beckie would let it rest with that.

“Oh my God! Something happened. I can tell from your voice. Spill. What is it?”

Crap. Now Silver was going to have to give her cousin something, but definitely not all of it “I, uh, met a guy.”

“I knew it. Tell me everything. Who is he? Are you going to see him again?”

Silver laughed. Beckie should be a reporter and put her relentless ability to question people to good use. “His name is Garret and he’s a bull-rider friend of Aaron’s.”

“Garret. Ooo, nice name. Where’s he from?”

“Ohio.” In fact, Silver had his exact address on a piece of paper stuck to the bulletin board on her wall so she could mail him his insurance card when it came. However, she definitely wouldn’t be telling Beckie that.

“Ohio? That’s far. How are you going to see him again?”

“He travels around a lot with the pro tour. And actually, all the riders are invited to a wedding soon, and Aaron is bringing me as his plus one, so I’ll see Garret then.” This was going pretty well actually. Stick to the truth as much as possible and the lies were less evident. Silver should teach classes in this, she was so good at it.

“And? Did you fool around?”

“Beckie…” Silver cradled the phone on one shoulder as she pulled the cork out of the bottle of wine.

“Come on. Tell me.”

“All right, yes. But you cannot tell Aaron. He would freak out.”

Beckie laughed. “Yeah, he’d like to maintain the delusion that all the women in this family are virgins until they give birth, and even then, I think he’d like to think it was an immaculate conception.”

“So true. So let’s give him his little fantasy, shall we?” Silver reached for her wine glass and took a sip.

“Agreed. I won’t tell him about you and Garret if you don’t tell him about me and Rico.”

Mid-swallow, Silver choked on her wine from that news. She coughed so hard she honestly feared for her life.

“You all right?” Beckie’s concern was clear in her tone.

Once she could finally breathe again, Silver wiped her eyes. “Yeah, and what did you say? Rico and you?”

“Why do you think I’ve been crazed all week because I couldn’t get you on the phone? His shop is closed on Mondays so we went out. Actually, we only went out for a little while, then we spent the rest of the time in.”

“Oh my God. Tell me everything. Start with that penis piercing of his…” Silver sat back, glass in hand.

Now the initial shock was over, it was probably safe to take a drink again. She’d definitely need a full glass for this story, because she truly hoped it would be a nice long and detailed one.

Chapter Sixteen

“You sure you’re gonna be okay alone?” Garret’s father hesitated by the door of the waiting room. “I can take the whole day off from work if you want. It’s not a problem.”

“I’m fine, Dad. Really. It’s just routine surgery, and I’ll be under the entire time, so it’s not like I’ll even know that you’re here waiting.”

The man had been acting like Garret was a little kid again since he had told him about the surgery. His dad had been following him around pretty much since the moment he got home from Vegas.

“It’s not just that. Anytime someone goes under anesthesia there’s a risk.” A deep frown creased his father’s brow.

Garret couldn’t blame his father for worrying. The last time they’d both been in a hospital waiting room was because his mother was in the final stages of her cancer. The sights and smells, the whole damn feel of the hospital really, brought up all sorts of shitty feelings. For both of them, he was sure.

“I’ll be fine, Dad. I swear. And they have your number, just in case.”

His father hesitated for another moment, then drew in a big breath. “All right. I’ll be back here to pick you up the moment they say you can be released.”

“Okay, I’ll be here.” It wasn’t like he’d be going anywhere groggy from anesthesia, on painkillers and with his arm in a sling.

Garret reached down, about to rifle through the stack of dog-eared magazines that would be his entertainment while he waited, when his father surprised him by pulling him into a tight hug. His dad released his hold as abruptly as he’d grabbed him, then the man was gone. Garret drew in a long, slow breath.

He should have realized the hospital would be difficult for his father, more so than for him since he’d spent more than his fair share of time in emergency rooms all over the country accompanying his fellow riders, and a few times for himself.

With a sigh, he gave up the sham that he was actually going to read anything and fell back into a waiting-room chair. It felt like the metal bar beneath his ass wasn’t cushioned at all by the blue vinyl and pitiful excuse for seat padding. At least he shouldn’t be here long. He felt one more time for his wallet, which now contained his very own insurance card that Silver had mailed to him.