Impact (10 page)

With the help of about five different men they got the bull under control and Conner nodded, signaling he was ready. The door to the chute opened and the bull immediately spun to the left—once, twice, a third time. Conner held on but his body was tilted at a precarious angle. Then all hell broke loose. The bull spun in the opposite direction and Conner was hurled off him headfirst, landing hard on his face and shoulder. The bull fighters couldn’t distract the bull in time and he spun, clipping Conner on the thigh before he could escape.

Jessica, along with the other spectators in the arena, gasped. Her heart in her throat, she jumped up onto the rail, thankful she’d been watching from right beside the arena and not up in the stands. She saw him grimace as he rolled over to try to get up. One of the bull fighters got between him and the bull while the other two worked to corral the beast. They got the bull out and Conner moved onto his back gingerly, his eyes closed. Before he could move more the medic team surrounded him.

Scrambling up higher on the rail, she strained to see, but there were so many people she couldn’t tell what was going on. Panicked, she searched for Brady and saw him standing in the chute. After jumping down, she ran over there. “Brady?”

He spun around and then clambered up the rail to speak to her. “You must be Jessica. I’ll see what’s going on as soon as I can, I promise. Just wait here, okay?” She nodded, too upset to speak, and he jumped back down. In the back of her mind she knew colleagues and other riders were probably looking at her and wondering why she’d gone sheet white and was shaking as she watched them tend to Conner, but at the moment she couldn’t spare the emotion to care.

Brady paced near the chutes and she craned her head to try to see in between the mass of staff clustered around Conner. Finally one of them broke free and Brady fell into step with him as he went out the direction the bulls went. As they left, Brady turned back briefly and gave her a thumbs-up. She exhaled a hard breath. Her gaze returned to Conner and she saw him sit up. Her hand crept up her chest to rest over her heart.

Two of the staff helped him to stand and the arena erupted in cheers. Brady returned to his side and waved the medics off, throwing his arm around Conner’s waist and helping him out of the arena. Conner’s eyes searched the crowd and found hers. Though he might be able to hide it from others, she could see the pain in them and it was as if his pain was hers. Tears welled in her eyes but she fought them back. She knew he wouldn’t want her to turn into a blubbering mess. Brady also turned and jerked his head the slightest bit. Nodding, she made her way to where they’d come out as quickly as she could without drawing any more attention to herself than she already had.

The door in front of her opened and both Brady and Conner stepped out. Brady let him go and turned to her. “I gotta ride. Can you take him?”

“Of course. Go.”

He turned to Conner. “I’ll come see you as soon as I’m done.”

“I’m nicked up, not dying,” Conner grumbled.

“Even so…” Brady answered. With a final glance he closed the door, leaving them in the hallway.

Conner looked at her. “I can walk myself.”

Jessica nodded, her lips thinning, but said nothing. She’d grown up on a ranch and knew how cowboys were. They began to make their way to the medic area. She glanced at him sideways. “Does it hurt?”

“Does what hurt?”

She sighed. “Your shoulder? Your thigh? Your face?”

He cracked a little smile and then grimaced. “No more joking, darlin’.”

She wanted to reach out to him, to smooth her fingers over the bruises forming on his chin and cheekbone, but they were passing people in the hallways and she’d already made enough of a scene with her behavior right after he’d been bucked off.

“Um, I need to tell you something,” she began.

“Yeah?” He sounded exhausted.

“I…well, when you got bucked I pretty much took off from where I was watching and went straight for the chute. Brady saw me and came over to talk to me. My eyes were glued to you. Anyone who saw me and has half a brain knows we’re involved.” Casting her eyes down, she waited for his reaction.

He stopped and turned to her. “Sugar, look at me.” She raised her gaze to his and saw a surprising mix of emotions. Besides pain there was anger, wariness and something else—satisfaction? What was that for? With his good hand he reached up and caressed her cheek briefly. She nuzzled into his palm, the tears she’d been holding back starting to roll down her face. “Shhh,” he crooned. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad I got bucked, I’m mad I wrenched my shoulder, but I’m not mad at you. If it’d been you lyin’ in the dirt I’d have done the same thing, darlin’, except there’s no way they could’ve kept me away from you.” A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. “I look at it like this… Now all those horny cowboys know you’re mine. I don’t hafta worry about them sniffin’ around you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Sniffing around me? Nice.” She turned and continued walking and he fell into step with her.

“You know what I mean. I tend to be pretty possessive, and the thought of some other guy touching you doesn’t sit well with me. Well, at least not without my permission.”

She knew Doms sometimes shared their subs, but she couldn’t help asking. “So you’re possessive but you’d share me?”

“That’s different.” She looked at him and saw the heat start to take over his eyes, pushing everything else back. Maybe talking about this would be a good distraction from the pain. “If I know I own you, but I’ve given another man the right to touch you…I dunno how to explain it. It’s just different.” He gave her a head-to-toe assessment and then leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I’d love to watch you service other Doms because I told you to. I’d die to fuck your mouth while they fucked your ass. Fuck me, I’m in pain and I’m still getting hard thinking about it.” He narrowed his eyes at her as he reached down to adjust himself in his jeans and she shuddered in response. “You’re gonna pay for this later.”

They began walking again and soon reached the medic area. Jessica waited for him outside, knowing she’d have to go back to work soon. There weren’t many riders after Conner and she needed to do some close-out paperwork before she could leave for the night. When he wasn’t out after twenty minutes, she called him. “I have to finish my stuff. Do you want me to come back and get you when I’m done?”

“Nah. I’ll chill and wait for you. I’ll make Brady hang around. I think I’m gonna finish in the money again, at least. He can make himself useful and go get my check. Call me when you’re done.”

They said goodbye and she hurried back to grab her computer. Weaving her way through the animal pens, she caught up with the stock contractors she needed to see before they left the competition and then went back to her base room to upload her data to the main servers back at the NBT’s headquarters in Pueblo, Colorado. By the time she was done it was nearly eight-thirty and she hoped Conner hadn’t given up on her. She pulled out her phone and hit redial.

“Hey. Sorry it took so long.”

“No problem, darlin’. I made Brady stay and entertain me.”

She laughed. She could bet he did. “Where are you?”

“In the riders’ area. We’ll come meet you by the exit.”

“Sounds good.” She began to make her way toward the front of the arena but was stopped when a familiar voice came from behind her.

“So you’re fuckin’ Raub, huh? Wonder what the NBT would say ’bout you fuckin’ one of the riders?” She stopped. Tucker.

Shit.

She composed her features and turned. “Conner and I have been friends for years. We’re both from the same area in Texas and grew up on neighboring ranches.” She hoped her nose wasn’t growing.

He spit into a cup he was carrying and she had to physically stop herself from recoiling. Though she was very used to it she couldn’t help finding chewing tobacco repulsive. “His hand on your cheek didn’t look too
friendly
to me when I saw y’all in the hall earlier.” His voice dripped with menace and he took a step closer. Most everyone had gone home for the night and she knew she was most likely on her own this time.

“I told you, Conner and I have known each other a long time.” Her teeth ground as she tried to keep her cool. If this guy chose to make trouble for her he could. She knew he was still sore about the incident with his bulls, and considering it had been Conner who had come to her rescue then she was sure he’d love to put the screws to the two of them. She turned from him and started to walk away. Hopefully he’d drop it.

“Girlie, you don’t walk away from me when I’m talkin’ to you,” he roared and came after her. She quickened her pace, hoping against hope she wasn’t far from Conner and Brady. “I’ll make your life hell, you can count on it.” He reached for her again. She jerked away from him and began to run. She cleared the hallway and shot into the open area, with Tucker chasing her. Conner and Brady both looked her way and the last thing she saw was over four hundred combined pounds of pissed-off cowboy as both of them passed by her.

She spun on her heel. Conner had Tucker’s collar in his one good hand and had lifted the smaller man clear off the ground. “What the fuck did you do to her?” he screamed, getting in the man’s face.

“Conner…” Brady’s voice was soothing. “Don’t kill the asshole. We don’t know a good place to bury the body ’round here.”

Conner spared a quick glance at his friend. “Then I’ll tear him apart and we won’t have to find space.” Keeping ahold of Tucker, who blanched as the tips of his scuffed cowboy boots grazed the ground, he turned to Jessica. “Did he lay a finger on you?”

She shook her head. “No. He threatened me and when I tried to leave he chased me.”

“Threatened you?” He shook Tucker. “You fucking threatened her, you little shit?” Not looking at Jessica, he said in a clipped tone, “What did he say?”

“Basically that he’d go to the NBT about me and you,” she answered quietly, knowing if there were any people around they’d blown their cover for sure with this little display. “Let him go, Conner.”

“In a minute…” He turned to Brady. “You’re an impartial witness.” Tightening his hold on the man’s collar enough to make him gasp for air, he said, “Tell us exactly what you said, you weasely sack of shit, or injured or no, I’ll take you apart with my bare hands. Brady’ll help. He’s a good friend and he doesn’t like women being roughed up and threatened any more than I do. I’m thinkin’ before we get started on you we’ll hold you for Jess so she can kick you in the balls, what, a dozen times? Yeah, that’d shut you up, wouldn’t it?” If possible the man paled even more. Conner had adopted his Dom persona and Tucker looked scared out of his wits. “Answer me or she starts kickin’.”

He loosened his grip some and Tucker coughed and then blurted, “I asked her if she was fuckin’ you and I told her I didn’t think the NBT would take too kindly to one of their employees fuckin’ a rider.”

Conner looked at Jessica for confirmation and she nodded. She had no idea what he would do, but hoped Brady would stop him from killing this idiot.

Tightening his hand around Tucker’s throat again, Conner spoke, his voice ominous, “This is the second time I’ve seen you assault her. This is over. Here’s what you’re gonna do if you wanna get out of this with your limbs intact. You’re either gonna assign someone else to do your job and never show your ugly mug around here again, or you’re gonna pull your bulls out of the tour and crawl back under whatever rock you crawled out from. If you don’t, all three of us will report you to the NBT for harassment, and I promise we’ve got way more pull with them than you do.” Pulling Tucker closer until their noses almost touched, he growled, “We clear?”

“Yes,” the man gasped. His face was turning purple and Jessica realized he wasn’t getting much oxygen from the tight grip Conner had on him.

She put her hand on his arm, rubbing to gain his attention. “Let him go, Conner, you’re strangling him.”

Conner dropped him and Tucker fell to the floor. “Get a couple of kicks in while you can, sugar.” He motioned to Tucker, who was curled up in the fetal position, coughing and wheezing on the floor.

She looked at Brady, who shrugged. “I would,” he said.

“I can’t.”

“I can,” Conner said, rearing back and kicking Tucker in the stomach. Tucker jerked and Jessica felt a strange satisfaction. She couldn’t have done it herself, but she wasn’t sorry Conner had. “If you ever so much as look at my woman, you will die, asshole.” He put his arm around her. “Let’s go, sugar.”

“Should we do anythin’ about him?” Brady mused as they walked away.

“Nah. He’ll find his way out of here at some point,” Conner answered.

Chapter Six

Brady, Jessica and Conner shared a cab to the hotel and then went their separate ways. Jessica looked at Conner once they’d stepped into the elevator. “I want to see your shoulder and your leg when we get into the room.”

“They’re bruised, sugar. I’ll survive.”

“No crazy hanky-panky tonight. You let me give you a nice massage and then we’re going to sleep.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you get to do the orderin’ around here?”

“Since you’re injured and I want to take care of you,” she told him, pouting.

“Does taking care of me involve sucking my cock?”

“If you’re a good boy it does.”