Ride

Dedication

Dedicated to the real-life inspiration for Chase, whose youthful exuberance has picked me up when I’m down and filled my author’s brain with hot cowboys to share with you all. Without him, Slade, Mustang and Chase may never have been created. For Mike.

A special thanks goes to Tammy for her ideas on how to “dirty up” my innocent Chase a bit.

Finally, to Dr. Wicked, whose evil genius and “Write or Die” program prodded this procrastinating writer into unsurpassed productivity.

As usual, any mistakes made or liberties taken with the facts in this work of fiction are purely my own.

Chapter One

She arrived at work early, as usual, and opened her locker. A white envelope floated to the ground. She bent to retrieve it.
Leesa Santiago
was scrawled in ink across the front.

Good. Her boss had finally paid them on time for once, which was fortunate since her rent was due. Though it seemed her rent was always due, or the cell phone bill, or the monthly credit card payment on the huge balance left by her son-of-a-bitch ex boyfriend. It was no surprise her checking account was always empty. Everything in Vegas cost a lot. Far more than it had in the small town where she’d grown up in Washington state.

Smothering any nostalgia for home, Leesa tore into the envelope. Her blood pressure shot sky high when she saw the laughably low total on the check. She slammed the locker door with enough force to rattle the entire row of attached metal cabinets. She’d had enough.

Leesa stomped her way to her boss’s door and flung it open without knocking. She ignored the man seated across from Jerry. Hell, she barely even noticed the stacks of cash on the desk between them. Instead she focused on the piece of slime who thought he could pay her whatever he felt like, regardless of how many shifts she worked for him. “Jerry. What the hell? You shorted my pay
again
.”

“Fuck.” Beneath the chock of overly-gelled black hair hanging low on his forehead, Jerry’s shifty eyes cut from her, to the man seated on the other side of the desk with his back to her, then back to Leesa. “Can’t you see I’m busy? I don’t have time for your shit.”

Standing her ground, Leesa opened her mouth to protest when Jerry cut her off before she got another word out. “Get the fuck out of here. Now!”

With an angry huff, she spun and slammed the door hard behind her.

“Frigging bastard. Son of a bitch…” Her steady stream of uncomplimentary names for him lasted all the way back to the lockers where her coworker Holly was dressing in her costume for the night.

Holly glanced up from tying the laces on her thigh-high boots. “Jerry?”

“Yeah.” Leesa let out a bitter laugh that there was really no question about who could make her that angry before the work night had even begun. “He shorted my paycheck again.”

Finished fussing with the boot, Holly planted her black patent-leather heel on the dingy linoleum floor and straightened. She glanced at her reflection as she adjusted her boobs inside the black vinyl corset.

Leesa marveled once again at how opposite they were.

Holly was a platinum blonde with larger-than-life hair sprayed until it didn’t move no matter how energetically she danced or how shitty the air conditioner performed. Her blue eyes were always accentuated with even bluer shadow and lots of black liner and thick long eyelashes. Usually there was some sort of shimmer on her cheeks to “bounce the stage lights,” as Holly would say.

On the other hand, Leesa was like the darker, less glittery version of Holly. Her long, straight brown hair was either pulled into a high ponytail or braid, and always sans hairspray so it would move. The men seemed to like when she swung it around dramatically while she danced. Holly said that was probably an instinct left over from caveman days when they used to dance in front of the cave fire and drag women around by their hair. That theory had given them both a chuckle. Plenty of customers they dealt with were no better than Neanderthals.

Leesa glanced at her own reflection again. Before tonight’s performance she would accent her green eyes with just enough brown liner and mascara so Holly wouldn’t yell at her for not wearing
proper
stage makeup. Poor Holly tried so hard to help, but the truth was it was a good day if Leesa remembered to sweep on blush at all, forget about glitter.

As Holly applied more makeup on top of what she was already wearing, her gaze moved to meet Leesa’s in the mirror. “I don’t know why you bother complaining. He’s just going to say we work for tips and are lucky he pays us anything at all for a shift.”

Leesa opened her locker for the second time that night and angrily shoved the envelope into her purse. “I don’t care if we do make tips too. He should pay what he owes us for the shift. We’re the ones up on stage bringing in the customers while he sits back there on his ass counting piles of money.”

Holly turned and leaned against the low counter covered with tubes and bottles of makeup with a few hair accessories mixed in. “I’ve worked other places, sweetie. Believe me. Things could be a whole lot worse than Jerry shorting you a shift here or there.”

She scowled. “I don’t know how this job could get any worse.”

“Oh, hon. Trust me, it could.” Holly shook her head. “Jerry ever make you have sex with him or his friends to keep your job?”

“No.” Leesa swallowed away the bitter taste that idea brought.

“He ever try and get you hooked on drugs?”

Leesa shook her head. “No. All that stuff happens?”

“Oh, yeah. Not a lot, but far too often for my liking. Take my advice. Don’t make waves. Do what I do. Come in, dance, collect the tips and go home. You’ll be a lot happier and safer that way.”

The word
safer
stuck out glaringly amid the rest. Drawing in a deep breath, Leesa hoped she could stomp down the residual resentment she still harbored against Jerry and do her job. In spite of the enlightening talk with Holly, Leesa still hated the man with a passion. She let the air out in a whoosh.

“All right. I’ll try.” Leesa didn’t have time to obsess about Jerry right now anyway. The show must go on. She wasn’t wearing a watch, but she figured the girls on the day shift would be done in less than an hour and then she’d be up. Leesa stared at the outfits lined up on hangers inside her locker. Choosing seemed beyond her in her current state. Frustrated, she turned to Holly. “What the hell should I wear?”

Holly laughed. “If that is the biggest thing we both have to worry about tonight, I’ll be a happy girl. Now, what should you wear? I’m not sure why, but there’ve been a lot of cowboys around here this weekend. Boots, hats, slow-as-molasses sexy southern drawls, the works. I’m thinking you might want to go with your Pocahontas outfit.”

“A cowboys and Indians theme?” Leesa let out a snort and pulled the fringed faux suede mini skirt out of the locker. “Sure, why not. Are cowboys good tippers?”

“Eh. That usually depends how well they did in the casino. I love me some cowboys. Of course, it could just be that I’ve got a thing for a man wearing a hat and boots. It’s even better when he’s wearing not much else. Comes from growing up in Texas, I guess.” Holly leaned toward the mirror and applied another layer of bright red lipstick. “Some of the guys last night sure were cute.”

Leesa watched, not sure whether Holly’s ever-present sexy pout was natural or medically enhanced. All she knew was she didn’t have the money herself for cosmetic improvements to any part of her body, no matter how small the body part or the enhancement. What she had was what God had given her. The customers could either take it or leave it. She had no choice either way.

Feeling her current poverty intensely, and hating Jerry all over again for his small part in it, Leesa sighed. “Cute doesn’t pay the rent, Holly.”

In fact,
cute
was the reason she was here stripping instead of in some great job somewhere using the college diploma she’d never gotten a chance to finish earning because she’d fallen for
cute.

“I told you how you can make more money.” Holly broke her gaze away from her own reflection, glanced around the room and then leaned closer toward Leesa. “I covered half of my rent for the entire month just with what I earned last night with a few special lap dances in the back room. That’s another reason I like it here at Jerry’s—doors on the back room instead of just curtains. All the privacy a girl could want for making a little extra.”

They’d talked about this before. Leesa knew it wasn’t only lap dances that happened in that back room. For a few bills thrown their way at the end of the shift, the bouncers would be there in an emergency if you needed them, but otherwise they would basically turn a blind eye to anything else that happened between the girls and the customers, whether it was against the rules or not.

“I know, Holly. I just…I thought I could get by on my pay and tips. I didn’t think I’d have to do anything…more.”

The other woman’s attention returned to her own reflection, this time checking the rear view as she adjusted the G-string and black micro miniskirt covering her lower half. “That’s your choice, hon, but really, why are you killing yourself? A few hand jobs a night and all your financial troubles would be over.”

“Just hand jobs?” Doubtful, Leesa raised a brow.

Holly shrugged. “Sure, if that’s all you want to do.”

“Is that all the rest of the girls do?” Was she seriously considering doing this? Then again, she’d just stripped down to absolutely nothing so she could don a G-string and a skimpy Pocahontas costume, all so she could walk out in front of a bunch of strange men and take it off again on stage. How had her life gotten so messed up?

Holly met Leesa’s gaze in the dressing room’s mirror again. “No.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Leesa pulled the fringed vest over her bare breasts and stared at her own reflection. She looked a world away from when she was a starry-eyed college student in California who’d been stupid enough to fall in love. Who was she kidding? She might as well be a world away. Life in Las Vegas was like another planet compared to what she used to know.

“Listen. Try it once. If you don’t like it, don’t do it again.” Holy shrugged, as if she were talking about Leesa tasting some new food she was reluctant to sample. “You call all the shots, you know. You pick which guys. You choose how far it goes.”

“And they’d be okay with that? Me choosing how far it goes?” Leesa’s stomach fluttered with…what? She wasn’t sure. Nerves caused by even thinking of doing what Holly suggested maybe?

After Holly wiped a smear of lipstick off her teeth, she turned toward Leesa. “Oh yeah. Usually they’re grateful and extremely generous for any extra attention at all in that area. If they’re not, call one of the bouncers. Like I said, you’re in charge.”

You’re in charge…
Leesa hadn’t felt in charge of anything, including her own life, in what seemed like a very long time. Maybe the emotion sending her stomach into flips was anticipation, not nervousness.

She could choose. Who. When. How far.

Damn, the idea of having power was enticing. Addictive almost. She liked it. A lot.

Chapter Two

Intermission was coming to an end and the fans were starting to retake their seats for the championship round. Chase Reese carried his most recent purchase down the long, relatively quiet hall toward the noise and action in the arena. The weight of the new rope felt right in his hand. The rattling of the old cowbell was a comfortingly familiar sound though the bull rope itself was still kind of strange.

Even if he had convinced himself he didn’t give a crap about the other guys’ opinions when he’d invested in a new rope right before the finals, he still needed it to feel like his. Each ride made it seem more familiar, more his own, and gave him more confidence he’d made the right decision. He’d needed to shake things up a bit to get him out of his slump.

Most of the riders he knew used the same bull rope until it was in tattered shreds, because they were afraid to make any changes to their gear that might somehow affect their concentration or their riding.

Bull riders could be a superstitious bunch. Some had rituals they did the same exact way before every ride. Others avoided wearing certain colors when riding. Chase scowled at that idea. If simply putting on a yellow shirt meant a wreck while a red shirt equaled a ninety-point ride, this sport would be easy.

He didn’t believe in that superstitious crap, but he couldn’t spend as many hours a day as he did with these guys and not have some of what they thought rub off on him. He’d seen a few sympathetic looks and judgmental shakes of their heads when he walked into the arena with his pristinely new bull rope two nights ago. Worse, Chase knew some small seed of doubt had stuck with him all the way until his ass had hit the bull’s back and he’d wrapped that new rope around his glove that first night. Most every rider except for Mustang Jackson thought he was asking for trouble by changing ropes before the biggest competition of the year.

As he walked, Chase glanced down at the rope, now tinged with rosin and dirt, and realized his decision had been correct. His new spurs, another fairly recent purchase, jangled with every step of his boots hitting the ground. Further testament that what Mustang had told him was true. It wasn’t what you did or wore that put you on top. It was what you did on top of the bull that mattered. This competition Chase must be doing something right. His name listed high up on the leader board clearly showed that.