Bad Boy Romance: Nick (Romantic Suspense Alpha Male Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Contemporary Short Stories) (Hard Rock Star Series Book 2) (52 page)

****

“Who are you texting?” Ralph asked.

“Nobody.”

“Oh, I hoped it was Cady.”

“Why?” Dean asked, putting his phone back in his pocket and
looking away so his younger brother wouldn’t see his small smile. He’d been
afraid Marisol wouldn’t respond to his text, and his heart jumped with relief
when her message came so quickly. “What did you want me to say to Cady?”

“I don’t know, maybe you could have apologized for being so
rude? Or invite her and her friends to join us?”

“You have her number. Why don’t you invite her and her
friends out?”

Ralph rolled his eyes. “Because she doesn’t want to hear
from me, dipshit. She wants to hear from you.”

“Look, if you want to hook up with one of her friends, you
should have got her number. Or ask Cady for it. I don’t have to be involved.”

Ralph shook his head. “Man, I don’t get you. You just win
the biggest purse of your
life
, you have a beautiful woman who drove in
all the way from
Utah
to see you, and you don’t even want to have a
celebratory beer. It’s all, ‘Get your shit together, boys, time to turn in.’ ”

“Winning one purse doesn’t mean anything changes.”

“Are you kidding me? Everything has changed, man!” Waldo
lifted his head from the backseat of the trailer “We’re freaking rich!”

“We? Did you ride that bull?”

“No.”

“Did you pay my entrance fee?”

“No.” Waldo admitted.

“Then shut the hell up. There’s no
we
here. Besides,
twenty thousand isn’t a lot. It’s enough to keep this outfit going for another
few months, if we’re lucky. If you two want to party, do it on your own dime
and your own time, got it?”

“Got it,” they grumbled as one.

“Good,” Dean said, leaning forward to turn up the radio. His
fingers itched to pull out a cigarette, even though he hadn’t smoked in over a
year, and his toes tapped with nervous energy he couldn’t quite quell. He would
never give his younger brother the satisfaction of saying so, but Ralph had
been right about celebrating. After that kind of ride and that kind of purse,
it made perfect sense for him to go out and blow off a little steam. Cady would
have been happy to join him in that endeavor, but the problem was that he
wasn’t very interested in her.

He took his phone out of his pocket and fiddled with the
screen, bringing up the last exchange with Marisol. His brothers didn’t
understand the friendship he’d struck up with the younger woman, and they
certainly wouldn’t understand the sharp pang of disappointment he’d felt when
she walked away, leaving him alone with Cady. He had no desire to explain
himself to them, but if he did, he might point out that she was one of the
brightest people he ever met, and certainly the kindest. And goddamn, that girl
knew her bulls.

What he couldn’t explain to them or to himself was why he
would rather talk to her about bulls than take Cady to bed. What he didn’t even
want to consider was everything else he wanted to do with Marisol—well, he
wanted
to consider it, but he didn’t dare. Not only was her friendship too great for
him to risk, but her father’s opinion mattered too much. Ernie was a good man
and a hell of a good bull fighter, and would do his job to the best of his
abilities. But sometimes he was all that stood between Dean and 2000 pounds of
raging death, and so Dean thought it best to stay in the man’s good graces and
leave his daughter alone.

And so he treated Marisol as gently and courteously as he
would treat his own sister. Fortunately, she didn’t appear to have any
inclination to see him as more than just her brother, so it was easy to keep
his distance.

He flipped through his phone and found the one picture he
had of her. She stood in her food truck, smiling broadly and waving at him. He
hadn’t given it any real thought at the time. He had his phone in his hand and
felt the impulse to snap a photo. Maybe because she looked so happy to see him.
Her face was lit with an expression of joy so warm that it always kindled
something in his chest. Nobody else had ever made him feel that good.

Dean tucked his phone away and pulled his hat low over his
eyes. He kept the image of her smile in front of him as he slipped into sleep.

****

Cody, Wyoming was a small town. Even in the summer, when the
borders swelled with cowboys and rodeo fans and tourists passing to and from
Yellowstone, the town never exceeded a population of five thousand. Word spread
quickly in a town that size, and it spread like wildfire on a windy August
afternoon when that word included mention of an animal attack.

A bear attack, Ernesto had said.

“Are they sure it was a bear?” Marisol asked, her breakfast
forgotten.

“Well, sweetheart, there’s no mistaking a bear attack.”

“But that close to town? Bears don’t come this close, do
they?”

“Only the ones who already live here,” Anna said.

“Now, Anna, there’s no evidence—”

“Evidence? That man was killed only a mile from our home,
and you’re talking about evidence?”

“Yes,” Ernesto said patiently, eating his huevos rancheros
as though they were discussing their daily business. Watching him prompted
Marisol to pick up her fork and she did her best to mimic him, but her appetite
was gone. “I am talking about evidence because I need that to make my
judgement.”

“Mari, your curfew is eight until this bear is found,” her
mother announced.

“
Eight
? But that means I can’t work the truck. And
I’ll miss the bulls.”

“Good. You spend too much time at the rodeo grounds. You
should be spending more time studying.”

Marisol looked to her father, but the slight shake of his
head told her to cede the battle for now. If she pushed, Anna was likely to ban
her from the rodeo entirely—and that would include her friendship with a
certain amateur bull rider. They finished their breakfast in tense silence,
Mari silently counting down the seconds until she could clean the dishes and
flee the house. As soon as she stepped outside, she made a beeline for her best
friend’s house. Her father was a sheriff’s deputy, and she most certainly had
the inside scoop.

“It’s a bear shifter,” Rachel announced. “No doubt about
it.”

“Did your dad say that?”

“Yes, that’s how they’re handling the investigation.”

“But if it’s a shifter, wouldn’t that be murder?”

Rachel shrugged. “Sure, if they could prove motive. Most
likely the bear is looking at a manslaughter charge.”

“How do they know it was a shifter and not just a regular
bear?” Marisol pressed. As far as she knew, there was only one family of
shifters in Cody.

“Well, don’t mention this to anybody because they didn’t
tell this to the press, but there were footprints.”

“Footprints?”

“Yep, two sets of human tracks and one set of bear tracks.”

“So maybe there was another victim?”

Rachel shook her head. “No, two people arrived. It looks
like one of them turned into a bear and the other one died. And trust me,
Marisol, you don’t want to know any more about how
that
happened.”

“Was it grisly?”

“Uh, yeah, you could say that.”

It might have been morbid, but Marisol’s curiosity was
piqued. “Come on, Rachel, you can tell me. I can take it.”

“Well, this shifter, whoever he is, is hungry. Very hungry.
Hungry enough that my dad and the sheriff both think he’ll attack again.”

“Don’t tell my mom that. She’ll never let me leave the
house.” Marisol wanted to press for more details, but Rachel looked a little
green. “I have to be home by eight tonight.”

“You have a
curfew
?”

“I do now.”

Rachel shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it, girl. I
didn’t even pay attention to curfews back when we were fifteen.”

“They let me live there rent free all summer, they’re paying
for my school, and my mom only did it because she’s afraid. Who can blame her?
It just sucks, though.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Dean asked me to meet him tonight after the rodeo.”

Mention of Dean brought an interested light to Rachel’s eye.
“Oh, your handsome cowboy. How is he?” She waggled her eyebrows. “Is tonight
the night?”

“He’s great. He won the purse last night. And tonight is not
‘the night’ because I have a curfew at eight, remember?”

“Sneak out,” Rachel said flatly.

“I can’t sneak out. If Mom catches me, she’ll flip her lid.”

“Okay, you must sneak out. Sneak being the operative word.
Just don’t get caught.”

Rachel was looking at her like it was the most obvious choice
in the world. “Why must I sneak out?”

“He wants to hook up with you, you dummy!”

“Hook up?” Marisol shook her head. “No, he’s just...we’re
just friends. We meet after the rodeo all the time. It’s no big deal.”

“If it’s no big deal, why are you so disappointed?”

“Because maybe I want it to be a hook up.” Marisol wouldn’t
have admitted it to anybody else, but Rachel had been her best friend since the
girls were twelve. Over the past ten years, they shared every dream, confided
every secret. “He’s so hot, Rach. And sweet. And talented. And...
big
.”
She sighed. “But he just likes to talk to me about bulls.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Grab his dick and tell him you’d
rather talk about that.”

Marisol snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think that’ll go well.”

“It’ll go great. How did he look when he asked you to meet
him?”

“I don’t know. He texted me last night.”

“When? Before or after you went to bed?”

“After.”

Rachel smiled. “Oh, honey, this is a hookup. I don’t care
what time your curfew is, if you want this man, you can’t blow him off
tonight.”

“I wasn’t going to blow him off. I was just going to tell
him that I can’t make it.”

“And if he asked you why you can’t make it?”

“I’ll tell him the truth.”

“The truth?” Rachel shook her head. “You can’t tell him that
you have a curfew like a child—not if you want to ride him like he rides those
bulls! What time will your mom get back from the rodeo?”

“Eleven.”

“Asleep by twelve?”

“Most likely.”

“Perfect. Sneak out your window at 12:30.”

“And what if I run into the bear?”

Rachel’s smile faded. “Oh, right. Well, tell him you can’t
make it. Maybe he’ll still be interested in a week, or a month, or whenever
it’s safe to leave the house again.”

That was the most sensible thing to do. Sit tight and stay
safe, just like her mother wanted. “It’s not that far to the rodeo grounds.”

“It’s pretty close,” Rachel agreed.

“I bet I’ll be back by two.”

“At the very latest.”

“And maybe the bear already moved on.”

“Probably.”

Marisol took a deep breath. “Okay, it’s settled. Now help me
figure out what I’m going to wear, what I’m going to say, and what I’m going to
do.”

“I’m so proud. Look at my little girl, all grown up.” She
wrapped her arm around Marisol’s shoulder and gave her a warm hug. “Let’s get
to work!”

****

In the two years since Dean met Marisol, he never knew her
to miss a night of the rodeo. From what he understood, she’d never missed a
single night in her life, and yet, he didn’t see her in her regular spot at the
far end of the arena. She didn’t meet her father after the fireworks, and there
wasn’t a trace of her at the food truck. Anna had been there, though, and the
look she gave him could have withered grass.

Ralph and Waldo won the team roping event and they were
fired up. “Come on! Let’s get a drink. Let’s have some fun for once. It’s dead
boring around here at night.”

“Go out if you want.” Dean didn’t feel much like
socializing. He’d been thrown from the bull after only three seconds. His
winning ride was long forgotten by him and everybody else.

“Man, what is up with you lately?” Ralph asked, his eyes
creased with irritation at his older brother. Waldo was a silent, perfect
shadow of his twin. “You act like having a little fun is some terminal sin.”

“I’m trying to stay focused.”

“No, you’re dwelling—and worse, you’re repressing. You know
you shouldn’t do that. Remember what happened—”

“I remember,” Dean said curtly. “I’m going for a walk.”

“We’ll just go have a drink then,” Waldo called after him.

Three seconds and he was on his ass in the dirt. He could do
better. He
had
done better. He would do better in the future, and it did
no good to dwell on it, but
three goddamned seconds
. Maybe it was for
the best that Marisol was nowhere to be found; he sure didn’t want her to see
him go flying.

“Dean!”

Dean turned at the sound of his name, trying, and failing,
to stop the smile from breaking across his face. He always enjoyed the sight of
her, but tonight she seemed a little different, somehow more alluring. She
bounded towards him and he barely had time to react before she threw herself at
him. He reacted automatically, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her
against his chest in a tight hug.

For a moment, the world stopped.

She felt so good against him, soft and warm and so inviting.
He held on for longer than was strictly necessary, closing his eyes and
inhaling the warm scent of shampoo and Ivory soap, but eventually, he had to
pull away, as much as he loathed the idea.

“Where were you tonight?” Dean asked. “I didn’t see you.”

“Oh, Mom gave me the night off to work on some things for
school. Do you want to hang around here? I thought we could go for a drive.”

Dean’s first inclination was to say
No, I’m sorry, I
can’t
. They had no reason—no friendly reason—to go for a drive, and how was
he going to keep his hands to himself when they were completely alone? Alone.
Away from his obnoxious younger brothers and her watchful parents. Away from
town and civilization and the few things that actually kept him from kissing
her the way she damned well deserved. Alone was a very bad idea. He
knew
it, but he still couldn’t quite convince himself to believe it.

“Yeah, I think a drive would do me good. My truck’s parked
over there.”

He turned and she took his arm like it was the most natural
thing in the world. Truth be told, Dean couldn’t remember if they’d ever walked
arm-in-arm before. It seemed very unlikely, and yet, walking with her like that
felt so familiar. Like they held each other on every stroll they ever took
together.

“I didn’t get a good ride in tonight.”

“I heard.”

“You’re not disappointed, are you?”

“One bad ride doesn’t mean anything. You know that.
Especially not after the purse you won the other night.” She nudged his
shoulder and smiled. “One more win like
that
and you’ll have your card.”

“And I’ll have one more win like that very soon,” Dean said.

“When?”

“The 4th of July.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds right. You’ll show them all
how it’s done.”

“You seem awfully sure of that.”

“I’d be willing to bet on it.”

“How much?”

Marisol looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “A kiss.”

“So if I win the purse, I’ll also get a kiss from the
prettiest girl in the arena?” Dean asked.

“Not if.
When
.”

He grinned. “Well, now I have a reason to really kick some
ass.”

Marisol sighed. “I hope I’ll be there to see it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, um...school. I hope I don’t have school that weekend.”

“On the 4th of July weekend?”

“Yeah, it would be pretty silly to hold class on the 4th.
That’s a good point. So I guess I’ll be around to see you after all.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” They were at his truck, but he hesitated
to open her door. “That’s why you weren’t around tonight? School?”

“Um, yeah. School.”

“Do you realize you always say
um
before you tell a
lie?”

Her gaze instantly darted away from his face, to the area
above his right shoulder. “I’m not lying.”

“What’s going on, Marisol? I don’t need to know why you
weren’t there, but I would like to know what possible reason you’d have to lie
about it.”

She sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. “It was… the
bear attack.”

It felt like she’d cinched a rope around his ribcage. “Bear
attack?”

“Yeah. You didn’t hear about him, that poor guy? He was only
a few miles from the arena. They said he was...mostly eaten.”

“What? I hadn’t heard he’d been
eaten
.”

“Well, my mom must have heard that part. Or worse. Because
she set an eight o’clock curfew.”

Dean frowned. “Then why are you here?”

“I didn’t want to stand you up.”

“You could have sent me a text.”

Marisol finally met his eyes again and he almost wished she
hadn’t. They were twin shards of warm amber and his resolve weakened. “I wanted
to see you.”

“Marisol—”

“Come on, let’s drive.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh.” She licked her lips, and though her features barely
changed, he felt her pulling away from him. “I see.”

“I mean, it’s late, and if your parents catch you out of the
house, what will happen then?”

“My mom will lose her shit,” Marisol admitted.

“And then she might keep you from going to the Independence
Day celebrations and I won’t get my kiss.” He commented with deliberate
lightness, like he wasn’t already imagining what it would be like to have a new
buckle in hand and Marisol in his arms. He was still more than half tempted to
take her for that drive and damn the consequences. He might have given in to
that temptation had she pressed, but she simply nodded.

“You’re right. I wish you weren’t. I’m twenty-two, I should
be able to come and go as I please. Like you. It must be nice.”

“It’s certainly not bad. But sometimes, I wish I had a home
to go back to, you know? I mean, no matter what happens, you know you’ll always
have somewhere to go.”

“Yeah, but living in the RV means you can always find
somewhere new to go.”

“Well, now, that’s true, too. I reckon that’s why I rodeo.
You can have the best of both worlds.”

“I guess I’d better get going.”

“I’ll walk you home. There is a bear running around, after
all.” He offered her his arm and she took it with a pleased smile. His body
welcomed the warmth of hers, and he fought the urge to pull her even closer.

The blue and white bungalow was barely a mile from the
arena, and it was a mile that passed all too quickly. She slowed as her house
came into sight at the end of the block, and he matched her pace without
comment. He had no desire to reach their inevitable parting.

“Do you think it was a shifter?”

Dean felt the tightening around his chest again. “Maybe. I
suppose that makes sense, given that it happened within the town limits.”

“How worried do you think we ought to be?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Maybe he ate his fill.”

“Maybe. Do bears...do you think bears get too hungry? If
they aren’t allowed to eat like bears, I mean?”

“That could be the case. I’ve, uh, heard that shifters must
not repress their animal selves. The bear shifters must become a bear and hunt
and live like a bear. Perhaps this particular shifter has been trying to live
as a human full-time.”

She tilted her head. “So bear shifters have to take a break
from their regular lives every month to go live in the woods?”

“It’s not necessary to do so every month. I’ve heard it
described as hibernation; the bear can lay dormant for a very long time but
when it wakes up, it’s hungry.”

“Then there’s probably going to be another attack, right?
One meal isn’t going to be enough.” She paused for a moment, looking up at the
night sky, wringing her hands as she thought about what she intended to
confess. Dean, I have something I need to—oh no!”

“What?”

“The light in my parent’s room just came on. Come on.” She
released his arm and took off down the street, quickly closing in on the house.
He ran after her without questioning it, following her around the corner to the
back of the house where she was attempting to crawl through her window. He
grabbed her ass to give her a final boost over the sill, not quite giving the
yielding flesh a squeeze.

“Get down. Don’t move. Stay in the shadows there,” she
whispered before disappearing from the window. He hunkered down as instructed
not as he heard the door hinges squeak open.

“Mari, are you asleep?” her mother asked. She waited for
several beats before closing the door and returning to her room. As soon as he
saw the square of light from their window disappear, he straightened and peered
into Marisol’s dark bedroom.

“That was close,” he whispered.

“Oh my god, my heart is beating so fast right now.”

He chuckled. “Well, no harm, no foul.”

“Thanks for walking me home, cowboy,” she whispered.

He tipped his hat. “It was my pleasure, ma’am.”

“Be safe out there.”

“I’ll stay out of the bear’s way.”

“Good night.”

The moon provided just enough light to see her outlined on
the bed. For a brief moment, he considered how easy it would be to climb on
through the window and join her and—well, they’d probably wake her parents at
that point. So it was best to steal one final glance and whisper, “Pleasant
dreams.”

He followed the tracks they’d left in the dewy grass and
returned to the street. He took the mile back to the arena at a much quicker
pace, the heels of his boots tapping a quick tattoo on the pavement. Marisol’s
questions had been casual and general enough to pass for a simple conversation,
but he knew her questions were only the beginning. Sooner or later, the sheriff
would come knocking on his door. If he was lucky, they’d only question him, but
he wasn’t born under a lucky star.

There was only one week until the pro rodeo came to town.

One week until he could win enough money to qualify as a
professional rider.

One week until he could take the next step towards his dream
of becoming a world champion.

But only if he and his brothers weren’t driven out of town
before that week was up.