Hunt, Sofia - Riding the Circuit [Rodeo Riders 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

“You’re
gonna
break my arm.” Trimble whined. Just for emphasis, Jonah gave the asshole’s arm a good jerk. The pussy cried out.

Riley ran to Mitzi’s side. Bruised, battered, and more than a little scared, tears ran down her face. He hurried to untie her.

Meanwhile, Jonah extracted his revenge. “Oh, yeah, you’re a big man. You hurt a lady, but you can’t take it from another guy.”

“Fuck you.”

“Oh, yeah, well, where you’re going, they fight over pretty boys like you.”

Riley pulled Mitzi into his arms. She winced when he held her close. “You okay, baby?”

“I’m okay now you’re both here.” She glanced over at Trimble. “Why? Why did you do this? My daddy trusted you.”

“I told you. You’re mine. You’ve always been meant for me. Don’t you understand?” Even now the guy wasn’t giving up. Jonah didn’t feel sympathy, but the guy
was
pathetic.

“I don’t love you, Scott. I never have, and I never will.”

Mitzi turned to Riley and cupped his face in her hands. “I love you, Riley Backstrom.” Looking over her shoulder, she addressed Jonah. “And I love you, Jonah Yates.”

Only then did Jonah allow himself to breathe.

“I owe you two my daughter’s life.” Steve Garrison pulled out a checkbook.

Riley said nothing, just stared at the partially open door of Mitzi’s hospital room. His mind replayed the scene with Trimble over and over again, almost as if it was stuck on repeat. He shook his head and attempted to focus on what Garrison was saying.

Jonah stood nearby, wringing his hands.

“I’m doubling what I said I’d pay you.”

Much to Riley’s surprise, he didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was the woman lying in the hospital bed.

“Thanks, but we can’t take your money.” Jonah spoke up.

“Of course you can. You did the job.”

“No, it wasn’t a job. We did what we had to do.” The gravelly sound of Riley’s own voice shocked him.

“Nonsense. Regardless of whether or not you’ll take payment, I already paid off the past-due amount on your family ranch, Riley, and made a year’s worth of payments in advance. Go do what you’ve been busting your butt earning money to do.”

“How did you know about that?”

“I make it my business to know about anything which concerns my daughter’s well-being.” For a moment the older man’s eyes clouded over. “I screwed up on this one. I never saw it coming with Scott. Just thought he was a little too forward with women. Shit, I even encouraged him to date my daughter. Thought he’d make a good son-in-law.” Garrison shuddered and shut his eyes for a moment.

“You couldn’t have known. None of us suspected him. Don’t beat yourself up over it. She’s safe. That’s all that matters.” Jonah smiled a wry smile. “Thank you. Both of you. I’ll take care of her from here on out.”

“We can’t leave Mitzi now.” Riley stalled.

“We care about Mitzi.” The expression on Jonah’s face said it all.

Garrison looked from one to the other. “You have no future with my daughter. She didn’t tell you, did she?”

“Tell us what?” The calculated narrowing of Garrison’s eyes shot alarm through Riley.

“Mitzi’s agreed to return to my ranch and learn the business. She’ll be assisting my son and managing the stock contractor portion of the business. With Scott out of the picture, I’ll need her help even more.”

“She never said a word.” Jonah frowned.

“I told her to enjoy her time with you two because once she returned to the ranch, her wild days are over. She agreed to my terms.”

Riley swallowed. The old man finally realized Mitzi’s worth. After all these years of resistance, he’d dumped her dream job in her lap. Ambitious and driven, she’d never turn down the opportunity to do the one thing she desired above all else. Even above them.

Garrison narrowed his eyes as he looked from one to the other. “Now you boys didn’t think you meant anything to my little girl, did you? Mitzi has a wild streak. She likes her entertainment, if you know what I mean.” He chuckled. “But that’s all it was to her—
entertainment.
Why don’t you make it easy on all of us? Leave now. I’ll tell her you needed to get to the next rodeo. She’s relinquishing her crown to Brooke. She’ll be returning to the ranch with me.” Garrison noted their hesitation. “Do you really want her to sacrifice her dream for you two? She’d resent you forever and end up hating you. Take the decision out of her hands, and do the honorable thing.”

It was over
. Riley knew it. By Jonah’s stricken expression, he knew it, too. She’d played them for fools. They never meant a damn thing to her. He found it hard to believe.

An emotional pain greater than any physical pain he’d ever experienced overwhelmed Riley. But a man had his pride. Sometimes that was all he had.

* * * *

“They left?” Mitzi sat on the edge of bed, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Her father insisted she spend the night in the hospital even though she’d been checked over by the doctors and cleared to leave. Along with several bruises, she had a cracked rib and a throbbing lump on her head.

Her father nodded. “I’m sorry, honey, but I paid them what I owed them for protecting you, and they hightailed it out of here. They couldn’t get away fast enough.”

“But, I—” Mitzi gulped and cleared her throat. She would not cry in front of her father. She’d show no weakness. None. “Did they have any messages for me?”

Her father’s brow furrowed. “Messages? No, honey, I’m afraid not. I warned you not to get mixed up with those two cowboys. They used you. Can’t you see that now?”

Mitzi shook her head, still in denial. The tender way they’d held her, the caring in their eyes, their devotion to her, all the good times they’d had. Didn’t any of it mean a thing to them? It’d meant something to her. She’d let her guard down and let them in. She’d allowed herself to fall in love with them, even assumed they felt the same.

When
would
she ever learn? Riley and Jonah had made no promises, given her no reason to believe they’d signed on for the long haul. She shouldn’t be surprised. Walking away was Riley’s MO. Why wouldn’t it be his best friend’s, too?

Sitting in the pickup next to her father, she stared out the window as the miles rolled by. The cracks in her wounded heart deepened and chipped off one by one until nothing was left but a soul-deep pain.

Mitzi stared out the ranch office window. Six months had passed since she’d last seen Jonah and Riley. She’d become somewhat of a recluse, staying on the ranch and working every spare moment. She’d not been on a date even though her father continued to set her up with various friends. She’d have nothing of it.

Her father’s idea of her managing the ranch with her brother turned out to be a disappointment. His views on women hadn’t changed after all. Being trained by her brother consisted of being his secretary, even worse, his grunt. He relegated her to clerical work in the ranch office, filing, answering phones, and doing computer research. The closest she got to dealing with the livestock was handling the registration paperwork.

Her brother, on the other hand, threw his weight around, let other staff do the work, especially her, then took the credit, and basically didn’t do a damn productive thing all day long but get under her skin and everyone else’s. Her father hired a new foreman who sucked up to her father and brother and came onto her every chance he got.

All in all, she hated the position she found herself in. She’d fallen into her father’s trap and placed herself under his thumb, right where he wanted her.

Mark sauntered in about noon and sat his ass on the edge of her desk. “Hey, I need those papers on the bulls we bought last week in Houston.”

“You need them, or Dad asked you to get them?”

He shrugged and grinned. “All the same as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well, it’s not the same to me. You’re the one who should be doing the work, but you want me to do it so you can take credit. I’m sick of this.”

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty damn sick of your dramatics. Why don’t you be a good little girl, get yourself hitched to some rich asshole, and start churning out babies?”

“Go to hell.”

Mark laughed. He loved getting under her skin, and she kept letting him do it. “Too bad Dad got rid of those cowboys. I’d just as soon you disappeared into the sunset with them and left my life alone.”

“What do you mean
got rid of the cowboys
?”

“Backstrom and Yates.” He smirked, secure in knowing he knew something she didn’t.

“How did Dad get rid of them?”

“He tried to pay them off to get them to leave. They wouldn’t take his money, so he told them he’d offered you the opportunity to manage the ranch with me. Told them you’d accepted.”

“What?” Mitzi’s temper kicked up several notches.

“Yeah, told them you’d agreed to dump them once the circuit was over. They were just entertainment to you.”

Mitzi stood and headed for the door.

“Hey, what about the paperwork?”

“Do it your own damn self. I’m done being your slave.”

* * * *

A few hours later, Mitzi drove down the highway towing her horse trailer with Rowdy tucked safely inside. Her clothes and personal belongings were packed in the living quarters portion,
at least the items she cared about. She’d left a note for her father, and to hell with her brother.

After a few phone calls to friends, she’d tracked down the ranch formerly owned by Riley’s parents. Armed with an address programmed into her cell phone’s GPS, she kissed good-bye to her old life, and hello to a new life with the two men she loved, if they’d have her.

* * * *

Jonah worked with the green horse, teaching it to trust him, little by little. He had all the time in the world. Six months didn’t lessen the pain of loving and losing. When his father walked out all those years ago, he’d thought nothing could hurt as much. He’d been wrong.

Riley leaned against the fence and watched. “Nice colt.”

“Yeah, he is.” Jonah removed the halter from the animal’s head and turned it loose in the small corral. “He’s coming along faster than I thought he would.”

“What do you say about going into town tonight and rustling up some women? We need to get on with our lives.” Riley didn’t seem very enthusiastic about his own suggestion.

“Yeah, sure. I guess we should.” Jonah opened the gate and trudged toward the small ranch house. Riley’s parents had moved into a house in town and signed the ranch over to them. They’d scrimped and saved and managed to buy cheap stock horses, retrain them, and sell the animals for a tidy profit. Eventually, they planned to do their own breeding, but for now, they fixed other people’s problems. Jonah picked up some private clients and did a few clinics in the area also while Riley cut and baled hay from their pastures for their own stock and to sell.

They’d carved out a good, simple life for themselves, but both knew the emptiness in their hearts would be damned difficult, if not impossible, to fill.

“I need a shower and a shave.”

“I’m going to run down to the corner store and pick up some beer and chips. I’ll be back in a few.”

Jonah pushed through the door into the utility room. Stripping off his dirty clothes, Jonah shoved them in the washer and stepped into the bathroom off the utility room. He turned on the water in the tiled shower and let it slide over his body. Closing his eyes, he ran a calloused hand down his body to his cock. He wrapped his fingers around the limp shaft and imagined a red-haired sassy beauty milking his cock with her luscious lips.

His dick hardened in seconds. He leaned against the wet tiles and worked it. The only kind of sexual relief he’d gotten lately came from his own hand.

“Need some help with that, cowboy?”

Jonah’s head jerked up at the sound of that sultry voice. He squinted through the rising steam. His senses hummed with awareness, jolting him into the realization he wasn’t imagining the naked figure standing in the shower doorway.

Without waiting for an invitation, Mitzi opened the glass door and entered. Water sluiced down her curves, across her gorgeous tits and over her ass.

“What—What are you doing here?”

“Don’t ask questions.” She pulled his face to hers and kissed him as if her life depended on his tongue being down her throat. He attacked her with the relish of a man long deprived of a certain female body.

“Damn.” He panted. His hands roamed over her body like a blind man memorizing every curve and valley. Her hands did the same.

“Turn around, Jonah.” Her tone discouraged argument. Not that he was in the mood to argue. He was too damn horny.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You need to be punished for leaving me without any explanation. Do you understand?”

His heart raced. His dick twitched with anticipation. “Absolutely. I deserve the best you’ve got.”

“And you’ll get it. Then I’ll deal with that buddy of yours. Bend over.”