by Dawn McClure
Thankfully the truck had made it home, and he hadn't been slapped with a DUI. There'd been a nice dent in the grill, and another dent on the side of the truck his dad hadn't missed. There still might be a lucky doe running around Garner somewhere.
Yeah. He'd royally screwed up that night.
“I tried calling her a bunch of times a few weeks after boot camp, but she wouldn't take my calls. Tried calling her when I was going through infantry training. After a few weeks of that, I gave up. It was obvious she wasn't going to talk to me.”
Matt raised his eyebrows. “She never told me that.”
David shrugged. “Called her. Texted her. I wrote her letters while I was in Afghanistan, but I never sent them. Figured she wouldn't want them anyway. She probably would’ve just tossed the letters straight into the trash.”
Matt laughed and shook his head. “Oh, come on, you know her better than that. She’d have been way too curious to toss your letters.” He sobered quickly. “I think you should tell her. About all of it.”
“Not going to happen. Like you said, she's with a good guy.” Made his chest tight to say it out loud, but there it was. Other than the sense of wanting Misty more than anything, if he really thought about it, Brandon was a better choice for her. “You want another beer?”
Matt shook his head. David got up to get another.
At least something could ease the ache in his chest.
“By the way,” Matt said, a shit-eating grin on his face as David turned to face him. “She sold that horse for a hundred bucks.”
Misty didn't feel like staying at the fair, and she’d secretly prayed that they'd get rained out. From what she'd seen on her weather app, the storm off in the distance was going to pass to the south of them, and just leave behind hot and humid temperatures. Damn.
Matt hadn't told her that David was coming to the rodeo with them until she'd climbed into the car and they were on their way to the Buchanan's ranch to pick him up. She had a sneaking suspicion Matt had done it on purpose. He probably hadn't told David that Brandon was coming, either. David had looked mad as hell when his gaze settled on Brandon sitting beside her.
She'd been pissed that her first reaction to seeing David had been the enthusiastic beat of her heart rate kicking up a notch. She didn't want to feel anything toward David. Had given herself enough pep talks the past week to curb the appeal of David altogether. But now that he was living in his parents’ guesthouse, they were crossing paths all the time. Running into him every five minutes was beginning to irritate her to the point she was just lashing out.
Her cheeks still burned thinking of her run-in with him at the grocery store. Becky Mae Sorenson was likely still recovering from hearing one of Garner’s recent college graduates tell a returning war veteran to go screw himself in the freezer section. Not her proudest moment.
Probably why, when given a chance, she decided to ditch Matt and David after she and Brandon ate their subs. They'd gone on a few rides and attacked some cotton candy. For some reason, her thoughts kept drifting back to David, which felt like an annoying sliver just under her skin. Gah!
“You want to play some games?”
Misty forced all thoughts of David aside and focused on the man that had been the center of her life for over a year. A man who had seen her at her best and her worst and had stuck around. “You going to win me a teddy bear?”
“I'll try my best.”
They meandered down the line of booths, from floating cups participants had to throw a ping-pong ball into, to guns that shot water into a circle, they had every game imaginable. Vendors tried to catch their attention by screaming out how cheap the games were and how easy it would be to win as she and Brandon walked hand in hand past them.
Brandon finally stopped in front of a game. “Now that doesn't look like it would be too hard.”
He was looking at the rope ladders. There were two rope ladders hanging side by side, and they were tied down on both ends, going upward horizontally to a billboard. It was a balancing act, and if the participant got to the top and punched the red button, they won a very large and very colorful stuffed animal. Below the rope ladders was an air-filled mat, so if the participant fell, the only thing that got hurt was their pride.
“It looks easy, but I bet there's a trick to it,” she said.
The Carney in tattered jeans and an AC/DC T-shirt stood beside the game. “Three tries for ten dollars. It's easy as pie. Let me show you!”
He wasted no time in crawling up one of the ladders, steadying himself by holding on to the sides of the ropes, and hitting the red button with a skill she knew he'd either practiced or was contrived. The Carney probably tightened the tension when he climbed the ladders to convince potentials they'd be walking away with a prize and loosened the ropes when it came time for them to play.
“I don't know...” she hedged. “I bet it's fixed.”
“It can't be that hard, and besides, it's just for fun.” He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. “All the games are fixed at fairs.”
She smiled at him but quickly lost her smile when she heard a deep, familiar voice.
“Hey, Brandon. You gonna win the pretty girl a teddy bear?”
She could tell by the inflection in David’s voice that he’d been drinking. Brandon visibly tensed beside her. Having been in the same class since kindergarten, there had been enough ribbing between the two throughout the years. But this was different, and everyone could feel it.
“You think you can do better than me?” Brandon shot back.
The quip was enough to rock her on her feet. The retort was so unlike Brandon that she wouldn’t have believed he’d said it if she hadn’t been standing right next to him to hear it herself. Matt, who was standing by David, laughed outright while she stood in stunned silence.
She didn't want to be around David, and she'd made that pretty damned clear over the past week. Yet here he was trying to get her attention—again. When was he going to take the hint?
Matt took the beer David was holding and said, “Get'er done, son!”
How had she ever survived her childhood with those two knuckleheads? Neither of them knew when to quit, and neither seemed to care. Matt thought he was saving her from Brandon. David thought he was the answer to her love life. He'd practically told her that he was a better match for her than Brandon was at the bonfire. That crap might work on some girls, but she knew what she wanted, and it wasn't David.
“Let's go then,” Brandon quipped, not sounding anything like the man she knew. He wasn't even looking at her anymore. He was staring down David, who happened to be glaring back.
The situation seemed surreal.
Before Brandon had taken two steps, she grabbed his arm to stop him. If Brandon wanted to go toe-to-toe with David, fine—but Brandon better win. “Kick his ass,” she whispered.
Brandon leaned over and kissed her again. “Consider it done.”
Taking a deep breath, she watched as they approached the game. The Carney was all smiles while she felt like something inside her might break. It sure as hell wouldn't be her heart, because the man who had it wouldn't break it, and the man who wanted it couldn't have it.
She stood by her brother while Brandon and David paid the man. She folded her arms against her chest, irritated with the whole spectacle. “I can't believe Brandon. He's never acted like this before.”
“He's never had to.”
She looked up at Matt. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You know damn well what it means.” He rubbed his neck with one hand. “You know my back still hurts from sleeping in David's truck after the bonfire, or else I'd give this a try. Hell, I'm not even sure how you two did it, being that y'all—”
“Shut. Your. Face.”
“Just sayin'.”
They watched a less-than-sober David square off with Brandon at the bottom of the rope ladders. The differences between the two men were obvious. David had enough muscle to outweigh B
randon by at least twenty pounds. Brandon was lean and sleek in his khaki shorts, freshly ironed shirt, brown leather belt, and loafers. David wore Wranglers, a white T-shirt tucked in the front and coming out the back of his jeans, and a pair of dusty-ass combat boots that looked to be military-issued.
It was like watching a match between G.I. Joe and a Ken Doll.
When the whistle blew—because of course they'd made this into a race—they both flipped over on the rope ladders before they'd taken two steps on it. A crowd started to gather. Many laughed. A few girls whistled. One actually hollered for the two of them to do it shirtless.
Misty rolled her eyes.
“Y'all have two more tries. Come on, who's gonna win the blonde a teddy bear?” AC/DC yelled into the microphone. He was obviously trying to draw a bigger crowd so others would want to try when David and Brandon were finished. David and Brandon weren't making climbing the ladders look very easy though.
When the two stood at the end of the ropes, they were both tenser this go-round. Brandon was actually bent at the knees like he was back in high school at the sprinting block. David was clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides as though he were daydreaming of punching the red button. More women had gathered, including a handful of cowboys and several kids.
Matt whipped out his cell from his back pocket and held out a clear plastic cup half-filled with beer. “Here, hold his beer.”
“Why?” she asked, holding her hand out and taking it from him.
“’Cause I gotta get this shit on video.”
He'd managed to get his cell to record just as the buzzer sounded again. Both went slower this time, taking one tentative step after another. David's rope ladder shook more than Brandon’s, but with his ass sticking up in the air, the girls around them were hollering like they were at a Metallica concert.
It wasn't like Brandon was bad-looking, but he wasn't badass looking like David. And the women surrounding the little game had taken notice and were eating it up.
They both made it to the middle, and Misty thought they had a chance until both went down simultaneously. As they were making their way back off the air mattress, a familiar voice had Misty grinding her teeth so hard she was surprised she didn't have tooth particles in her mouth.
“Hot damn, what do we have here?” Caroline said, coming to stand by Misty.
Damn. South Dakota was just too small. Misty smiled tightly and turned her head to look at Caroline. She was wearing enough makeup to look like one of the clowns at the rodeo and sporting a halter top and a pair of those high-waisted denim shorts that showed off part of her ass.
“David looks good enough to eat.” She looked up at Misty and smiled. “And I'm starving.”
Misty looked down at her, wishing she could smush Caroline like an annoying, unwanted gnat that buzzed around while you were trying to have a picnic. She could never figure out why guys thought Caroline was hot. Easy—absolutely, but hot?
Matt coughed into his hand and something that sounded like the word “whore” came out of his mouth.
Misty's thoughts exactly. She and Matt did a knuckle bump as they usually did when one of them nailed someone with a well-placed insult. She ignored Caroline and looked back at the game just as the whistle blew for the last match.
Both had made it halfway up the ladder faster than they had before, but Brandon looked steadier than David. The muscles in David’s forearms stood out like ripped cords, and like all the other female onlookers, she couldn't take her gaze off him.
He took another halting step, but Brandon stayed where he was, as if trying hard for balance.
A few seconds later, David flipped over and landed on the air mattress. He bounced a couple of times before he ran a hand down his face, clearly agitated. Meanwhile, Brandon steadied his rope ladder and made another gain. The crowd went crazy. Her demented brother laughed and kept recording. Brandon managed to get another step up the ladder, but the thing started tilting to the left. He corrected the tilt and then froze.
David crawled off the air mattress and turned to watch. Brandon only had three more steps before he could reach the button. For a long while Brandon didn't move. It was as though he was calculating his options, and that would fit Brandon to a T. Nearly a full minute went by, the crowd going crazy, shouting pointers and cheering him on to win the teddy bear.
Brandon suddenly took a huge step and lunged.
The buzzer rang loud as hell when he hit the red button. He went down, bouncing off the air mattress with a big smile on his face. The lights on the billboard above the ladders went off in several colors, flashing the word winner.
She shoved the beer into Matt's hand and avoided looking at David. She forced a smile and clapped her hands rapidly, heading toward the game to congratulate Brandon. She acted as the epitome of a happy girlfriend whose boyfriend had just won her a large stuffed animal, even though she felt nothing of the sort. For some odd reason she felt completely off-center.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Caroline walk up to David, and then heard her say, “It's okay, big guy. I'll buy you a beer.”
Misty ignored them and plastered a smile on her face that was so big, her lips stretched painfully. Brandon pointed to a teal colored bear on the side of the netting next to the rope ladders. The Carney hauled it down and handed it to him. He handed it to her. Brandon gave her a quick peck on the lips. She'd hoped he would be more like the guys who'd been tooling around the fair with their girlfriends—stealing hot kisses, arms groping around each other as they walked, and the occasional oops, my hand landed on your ass. But he hadn't. That just wasn't Brandon.
Her teeth were getting dry as she fought to keep her smile in place.
Brandon wiggled one of the bear's teal ears between his fingers. “I picked out this bear because it matches your eyes.”
Her heart melted a little at the thoughtful gesture. Yes. This was the man she wanted. A life with him would be happy and stable. She'd never have a worry in her life. Not when it came to him. He was sweet and considerate, and he’d just stood down David, who’d turned out to be neither of those things.
“Thank you.” She stood there and held on to her teddy bear while Caroline, David and Matt walked away, and Caroline held on to David.
Chapter 5
David shifted on the bleacher as sweat trickled down his back. The humidity had ratcheted up several notches throughout the afternoon. He wanted to peel off his T-shirt as he waited for the rodeo to begin. The bronc riders were getting ready for the first event; slapping on their vests, sliding on their gloves, while the horses were being placed in the chutes. The pick-up men looked to be getting antsy, sitting on their horses in jeans, boots, and long-sleeved sponsor shirts. They had to be sweating balls.
David’s drive to impress Misty and his need for her to look at him had backfired spectacularly. In front of a huge crowd no less. If only he'd had a gun, he'd have pulled it out and shot that damn red button. Brandon had been on his A game. Plus, he'd been stone-ass sober.
David had stopped lying to himself while he'd clung to the stupid ladder for dear life: he wanted Misty, and he was going to go after her. If he had to run Brandon over in the process, well then, he'd damn well do it.
After coming to that conclusion, he'd immediately fallen on his ass. His only consolation prize had been a half-naked Caroline. Again. He guessed that would be a good deal to most guys, but David wanted the real prize. When he'd looked to see what the real prize was doing, she'd been smiling at Brandon like the man was a war hero.
Caroline had since disappeared, likely on the hunt to find fresh meat.
“How do you think Shane's going to do?” Matt asked, sitting next to David on the bleachers.
Misty sat next to David on his right side, with Brandon on her other side. He wasn't quite sure how that managed to work itself out, but it had. He wasn't complaining. That damn teal teddy bear was between her legs. The bear was bigger than life itself. He swore the thing smirked at
him every time he looked at it.
“I think he'll do pretty good. He's been practicing,” David said, taking his gaze off the ugly stuffed animal.
Shane was a contractor for the town of Garner. Smart guy. Good with his hands. A year older than them. He'd always wanted to be in the rodeo circuit as a bull rider, but he'd never been quite good enough to pull in any real money from competing, so he did local rodeos when he could.
“I'm surprised Matt didn't sign up,” Misty said, leaning around David to look at her brother with a smile. “You scared of those big, bad bulls now, old man?”
“If I got hurt Dad would have my ass,” Matt said. He popped a handful of caramel corn into his mouth. “Besides,” he said around a mouthful, “David never said anything about signing up. Usually we place bets on who can last the longest. I'm not a member of the SDRA anymore, either.”
The SDRA was the South Dakota Rodeo Association. David hadn't belonged in years. “Shit. The last time I put myself on a bull was years ago,” David said.
“Nothing's changed. You crawl up on the SOB and hold on.”
There was a bit more to it than that, but like Matt, David didn't think his old man would get behind him on that. If he got hurt doing some weekend bull riding, his dad would be on his own at the ranch. Not exactly what he was trying to accomplish by coming home. He was trying to get on his dad’s good side—if the man had one at all—and not start a fight.
“Not this time around.” Just to be an ass, since he couldn't rip the head off the teddy bear without upsetting Misty, he said to Brandon, “What about you? Ever thought of giving bull riding a try?”
Brandon shook his head and placed his hand on Misty's bare thigh. “No. I'm just too good-looking to take the risk.”
The unexpected humor had them all laughing, more from shock than anything. Brandon wasn't a bad guy. No, he definitely wasn't, and that bit David's ass more than anything. David wanted a reason to dislike him, but that was the thing about Brandon—there just wasn't much not to like, except for the fact he was with the woman David wanted for his own. If anything tipped the scale to make him not like Brandon, the hand on Misty's thigh would do it. Hell, when you were jealous of someone it was hard to like them no matter how likable their personality was.
