Dalton shot a look over to Cooper along with an award-winning grin before the three of them lined up to face the crowd. As planned, three stagehands ran out, bringing stools for them to sit on, another hauling Cooper’s guitar to him. The three of them got comfortable, taking a little longer than necessary while the band got ready behind them.
As usual, Cooper started out his hit song in that low, crooning voice that drove the women crazy. The song he’d written for his soon-to-be wife, Tessa, had topped the charts for months, and Dalton even received requests to play it from time to time. With Coop’s permission, he’d given it some attention a time or two. But it had been one night several weeks ago when Dalton had stopped in Devil’s Bend for a three-day break, meeting up with Cheyenne and Cooper, that they’d messed around with it a little at The Rusty Nail.
From the first time I saw her
Her smile spoke to my soul
My heart found a home
Right there in the arms of my angel in blue jeans
Dalton eyed the crowd as Cheyenne came in, her voice soft and sweet. The crowd hadn’t expected it. She sang her portion, which was a modification of the original song, turning it into a duet. They’d perfected the lyrics after that one night at the bar and had a good time messing around for their hometown folks. This was the first time they’d actually performed it for an audience of this size.
Cooper and Cheyenne continued, belting out the song, alternating as planned. Then the music changed and Dalton smiled. With his voice lowered, he kicked in his part, which was a modified country version of a rap, made popular in recent country hits by others. The crowd exploded in screams, making it difficult for anyone to hear. They got the gist of it, though, so with a grin, Dalton continued his verse.
On and on they went until the song was complete and the crowd was on their feet, cheering and clapping.
And as was generally the case, Dalton added another tick mark to his list of best nights ever.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Katie elbowed her way through the crowd on her way to the bar, setting her tray down on the scarred wood top as she smiled up at Eric.
“How’s it goin’?” he asked as he pulled the spigot, filling a mug of beer.
“It’s nuts. I’m surprised we’re this busy on a Wednesday night,” she admitted, adjusting her ponytail at the back of her head.
“Blame Tessa. She announced a celebration for the final concert of the tour. Of course, she’s backstage at said concert, enjoying it while we’re here covering her ass.” Eric’s huge grin belied his bellyaching about Tessa not being there.
“Tonight’s the last concert? Really?” she asked, her stomach taking a tumble from her nerves, or maybe that was the tiny flutter she’d felt in the last couple of days. Either way, her sudden distress had nothing to do with Tessa or Cooper, or the fact that she was now four months pregnant and no one other than her best friend knew.
Granted, if it weren’t for the oversized sweaters she’d been wearing, more than just Sarah might’ve figured it out. She was beginning to show quite a bit. For the last month, she’d noticed her once-flat belly had begun to round out. How they hadn’t noticed at Diamonds and Lace, she didn’t know, but regardless, she was giving her notice this week, unable to keep up the charade any longer.
But tonight, she wasn’t worried about the fact her cash flow was about to come to a disturbing halt. No, her bout of anxiety came from hearing that he’d be back home — he being Dalton. Katie wasn’t the least bit worried about Cooper. She was worried about coming face-to-face with Dalton when he did finally make it back for good.
For good.
Damn. Why didn’t that sit well with her? It’d been three months since she had had any communication with Dalton, and even then, she’d only been allowed to talk to his voice mail.
In recent months, she’d gotten an earful about the tour. Cooper had agreed to join up with Dalton at a few stops, but for the most part, he’d spent the last few months right there at home, keeping the equestrian center running. Turned out, one of the Walkers had come down to help out during Dalton’s lengthy absence. From what she heard, Cooper had asked for some help from Tessa’s cousins, and one of them had taken him up on the offer. Braydon Walker had been a brief resident of Devil’s Bend, thus a regular at The Rusty Nail until just recently when he’d headed back home to Coyote Ridge.
Through the grapevine, Katie had learned that after this tour, Dalton was going to come back to Devil’s Bend. There’d been some discussion about him staying back in Nashville, but the final answer had confirmed her worst fear. He was coming home permanently, no more tours or extended trips scheduled for at least a year.
It had been after learning the last part that her stomach issues had begun.
She would have to see him again.
Of course, Katie wished them all well, but she wasn’t particularly excited about having to face Dalton again. Not on a daily basis, at least. Things were so weird between them, as had been noticed on the few visits he’d made back in the last three months. Although they rarely spoke, they were trying to be civil because of so many eyes on them. They might’ve broken up, but their friends didn’t seem to be privy as to why. Hard to feign even being friends when Dalton hadn’t so much as said two words to her, aside from the required pleasantries.
Along with not wanting half the town to know that she wasn’t the sweet, innocent girl they thought her to be, Katie also didn’t want her boss to find out that she moonlighted as a topless dancer at a strip club in order to make ends meet. Again, that wasn’t going to be the case much longer, but still. She didn’t want Tessa to find out. Knowing Tessa, she would insist on trying to help her, and Katie would have to refuse, leaving an awkwardness between them that would make Katie hesitant to keep working for Tessa. And Katie really wanted her job at The Rusty Nail. Being there, interacting with customers, talking to her friends … it really was the only time she felt normal.
But she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Dalton. Not about that and not about the more important topic, the tiny life growing in her belly. She really didn’t know how much Dalton might’ve told Cooper or Tessa about what he’d learned, although she was inclined to believe he hadn’t said anything. As far as she could tell, Tessa was none the wiser. The woman would’ve questioned her, Katie was pretty sure of that.
“Here you go, kiddo,” Eric said, interrupting her thoughts. He handed over two longnecks and the three shots she’d ordered before she had headed out the last time.
Arranging them onto the tray so that she wouldn’t risk dropping them on the floor, Katie made her way back into the throng of people.
After delivering the drinks and collecting the money, including a few hefty tips, she worked her way through the room, tossing empty beer bottles and checking on the customers. Every table they had was full tonight, and the dance floor was packed as well. There wasn’t a live band on stage, but the music from the fancy sound system that had been installed gave them the atmosphere they were searching for.
When she worked her way back to the bar once again, Katie motioned for Jack, who was assisting another customer. She waited patiently for him to head her way, and when he did, she smiled, still feeling incredibly guilty, although she seriously didn’t believe Tessa or her brothers were any wiser as to her side job. One of these days, Katie feared she was going to blurt it out just to get the twenty tons of guilt off her chest.
But not tonight.
“Mind if I take a break?”
“Go ahead. I think we’re windin’ down for a little while.”
“Thanks, I’ll be back in thirty if that’s okay.”
“Sure thing,” Jack said with a smile before turning back around and laughing at something Eric was saying to one of the customers.
Katie headed upstairs to the office that rarely got any use. Tessa generally spent her time outside if she took a break at all, Eric never left the bar, and Jack, Tessa’s younger brother, refused to go up t
here because he said he wasn’t interested in being stuck with the paperwork. The only other person who’d ever used the office regularly was Adam, but he was up in Dallas these days.
Once she was inside the small room, Katie closed the door behind her, retrieved a bottle of water from the small, antiquated refrigerator that they kept stocked. She was pretty sure they did it for her since she really was the only one who used the pseudo-office as a retreat when she took her breaks.
After a few sips of her water, she sat down at the desk and reached for the phone. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she knew she needed to wait three more minutes before she could place the call or she risked an unnecessary altercation. She tried to avoid those at all costs these days.
Not only did she not want any pointless incidents, Katie just wanted a little peace. She was tired, to be honest. It seemed like she was working herself into the ground, what with working at The Rusty Nail on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays and then over at Diamonds and Lace, the strip club she’d been employed at for the better part of the last four years, on Thursdays and Fridays. Her only days off were Sunday and Monday, and even then, she really didn’t have any time for herself. There was too much going on.
Damn.
That reminded her that she had homework that was due tonight. There was no way she was going to hit the midnight deadline, but she’d still have to go right home and finish it. Her instructor might accept it being a couple hours late, but for sure, he wasn’t going to give her a pass to hand it in too late. She’d already used up every extra pass she had.
Katie was taking online classes at a local university, working toward her degree in accounting. She was crazy; there was no doubt about that. Taking some of the classes online was a recipe for disaster, but she knew there was no way she could manage to take day classes with everything else that she had going on. So, she had to settle for the occasional B-minus just to make things a little easier on herself.
With another look at the clock, Katie realized it was time.
Grabbing the receiver, she quickly dialed the number, and she listened as the ringing began.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three…
“Hey, baby, it’s me,” she said softly into the phone. She forced a smile, sending up a silent prayer that this conversation was going to go well.
If not, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do.
Chapter Sixteen
Friday morning
“Damn, it’s good to be home,” Dalton drawled when he stepped into the barn early Friday morning. After their final concert on Wednesday night, he had foregone a hotel room in lieu of coming back to Devil’s Bend. It would’ve been a waste to stay so close, although he’d been ready to crash in the closest bed as soon as he’d walked off the stage. But he had been looking forward to being in his own bed again. He wasn’t disappointed that he’d done it, either.
Thursday had been about relaxing, hanging out at the house, and trying to get a few things unpacked. Although his house was complete, located at the far end of the Dream Chasers ranch, he hadn’t had much of a chance to move in. Since he’d opted to make his Texas home permanent, he’d sold his Nashville one and stayed with his parents or on the road for the better part of the last four months, which meant the movers had relocated all of his belongings with the help of Cooper’s manager slash father while Dalton had been on tour.
Needless to say, he still had a lot of work to do in order to feel like he wasn’t living out of a box. Since, technically, he really was living out of boxes, it was quite literal and very much a pain in the ass.
“Glad to have you back,” Cooper replied, his voice muffled as he stepped around Sacred Spirit, the most recent gelding to have been acquired by the center.
“How’s she doin’?” Dalton asked, referring to the horse Cooper was brushing.
“Better. She’s calmed down some. Braydon’s been working with her quite a bit. She’s not quite ready to go out with the kids, but maybe a few more months. She’ll get there, though. I have faith,” he answered, crooning to the horse as much as answering Dalton.
“How’s Braydon doin’?” Dalton asked, referring to Tessa’s cousin who had come to stay at the ranch while Dalton was away. He was living on the premises and handling some of the chores, as well as giving direction to the volunteers as needed. Dalton hadn’t realized Braydon had taken to the horses, but he couldn’t say he was surprised. The few times Dalton had seen the man, he’d looked like he was deep in thought and doing everything he could to stay busy.
Dalton knew what he was going through. He’d been plagued with the same need to fill every spare minute with something to do, no matter how trivial.
“Doin’ good. Doesn’t seem to be goin’ anywhere anytime soon. Tryin’ to keep him busy.”
“I see you’ve got a group coming out today,” Dalton said, glancing over at the giant board on the wall that listed upcoming events.
“Yep. Day-care center. About ten kids.”
“Mind if I take that one?” Dalton asked, sliding his fingers over the wood bar on the outside of the stall, gripping the board, and resting his boot on the bottom rung.
“You sure? I’ve got another group coming in tomorrow mornin’, and I’m meetin’ with my dad then so I won’t be able to get that one.”
“You gonna be able to get up that early?” Dalton joked. “What with the bachelor party tonight and all.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Cooper said, frowning.
The guy had made it known that he didn’t really care for a bachelor party, but Tessa had overruled his arguments.
“All right. Well, I can take that one, too,” Dalton told him. Anything to keep himself occupied. Since it seemed that his personal life had fallen right off the edge of a cliff thanks to the shit storm that had become his life, better known as the overwhelming thoughts of Katie, Dalton wasn’t interested in any downtime. Keeping busy was the only way to keep his mind off her.
As if that was working.
“Have at it then,” Cooper acknowledged. “If you need help, just let me know. I’m gonna run Harmony and Havoc into town tomorrow. Time for their shots.”
Speaking of…
As though the two giant huskies had been waiting for Cooper to call their names, they frolicked into the barn, nudging one another as they vied for first place.
Dalton knelt alongside them when they approached, receiving his customary greeting from Harmony and a sniff or two from Havoc. Glancing over his head, he noticed that Sacred Spirit was getting a little antsy. Probably thanks to the dogs.
Yeah, she’d get used to them. Everyone else did.
“Talk to you later then,” Dalton told Cooper as he pushed back to his feet and then turned on his heel to head the opposite direction, the dogs falling into step with him.
He needed to go check on the horses, noticing that several of the stalls were empty. One of their volunteers must have already taken the other geldings out for their morning walk around the giant covered arena, which meant it was time for Dalton to get to work.
“Hey, Dalt!” Cooper called.
Dalton turned and continued walking backward toward the exit. “Yeah?”
“Tessa wants you over for dinner on Sunday.”
“Tell her I wouldn’t miss it,” he hollered before turning around once more.
Dinner with Cooper and Tessa had become somewhat routine for him when he was in town. Now that he was going to be there more often, he really needed to let Tessa know that the gesture wasn’t necessary. He was quite capable of cooking for himself, and if that failed, he could always grab a bite in town. Not that he minded at all, because hanging out with Cooper and Tessa was about the only way he could keep his mind off things he shouldn’t be thinking about in the first place.
Like Katie.
And the fact that she’d lied to him.
Damn it. He did not want to think about her now.
His attempt at keepin
g his mind off Katie wasn’t working nearly as well as it had been when he was on tour. Being back in Devil’s Bend was a constant reminder of the woman. He had yet to talk to her, aside from a polite hello a time or two, and he didn’t have any intention of saying much more to her, but clearly, his brain thought that having a running commentary of what-ifs flowing through his head was productive. He had news for his brain… It wasn’t.
In fact, the more Dalton thought about her and the way she’d looked the last time she’d been at his house — naked and riding his cock for all she was worth — it made his head hurt just to remember.
His first instinct after she’d done her little disappearing act had been to confront her. Now that he knew the truth about who she was, he wasn’t sure he even wanted to see her again. The second had been to confront Cooper about it, but he had the distinct feeling that no one in Devil’s Bend knew that their beloved waitress was a fucking stripper.
It wasn’t his place to fill them in on it, either. And he wasn’t really made that way. Creating gossip just for the hell of it was not on his list of things to do. He spent his days fending off asshole reporters who liked to speculate on his life as it was. He wasn’t about to do that to someone else.
“Hey, Dalt!” Austin Paxton called when Dalton approached. “How’s it goin’?”
Dalton offered the young man a forced grin and followed with a lie. “Never better. How ’bout you?”
Dalton could tell Austin was excited when he was around. The kid wasn’t even out of high school, and it was obvious he harbored a little hero worship where Dalton was concerned. Since Austin was usually tongue-tied, he considered this a step in the right direction, especially since they hadn’t run into one another for at least three months.
“Good. Just gettin’ the horses ready.”
“You wanna help me with this group when they get here?” Dalton offered, remembering he was actually supposed to be working.
“Me? Really?”
Dalton laughed. “Yeah, you. No one else out here to volunteer. So what d’ya think? You wanna give it a go?”
Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) Page 12
