“A gunny sack?” He’d never seen one with lace or ruffles.
She laughed. “No, it’s vintage. Which is girl for ‘old’ but still cool. I guess. Some designer lady named Jessica McClintock. I didn’t really like the ones in stores, and I didn’t have two hundred bucks to spend on one. So I wasn’t coming, but… Well. Jolene.” That lady was pretty bossy, alright. “So now I’m borrowing a two-hundred-dollar dress. Stupid things society expects of us, right?”
Didn’t he know it. If his mom hadn’t hounded him about coming, he could have that hundred-fifty he’d dropped on this idiot penguin suit.
“Nice tux. What is it they say? You clean up good,” Jinx said with a smirk and a wink.
“You wanta dance?” he blurted. Bruno Mars was coming on.
“Um. Sure.” She looked around the room, gave Leanne’s Crew the side-eye.
He took her hand and led her to the floor. Wow. Her hair was mostly up, but the part she’d left down flipped around her face when she moved—kinda hot, though he couldn’t say why—and she didn’t seem so nervous anymore. That dress might be old, but it could’ve been made for her, it fit so well. She looked amazing. That Jessica designer woman should have Jinx model for her.
When Bruno ended and the first notes of “Cruise” came on, he grabbed her wrist before she could ditch him.
She let him lift her arms over his shoulders and he pulled her close. Damn. No other girl in their school was as tall as her and he was about the tallest guy. They fit. Just right. She relaxed against him as they swayed.
“So, you and Leanne are…not a thing?” She glanced toward the Cluster of Venom again.
“Only if you consider me being her ticket to Prom a ‘thing’,” he answered. And didn’t even sound salty about it.
“Sounds about right.”
Man, he liked the feel of her against him. Liked the smell of her hair, the perfume coming from her warm skin. “Um.” He figured he should talk, or else his dick might take command of his brain. “You and Joel?”
“Not a thing anymore.” She’d tensed at mention of her douchey boyfriend’s name. Ex-boyfriend, sounded like.
“That sucks.” It actually seemed like good news to him. “I hadn’t heard.”
“Yeah, well. I doubt he’s told anybody. We had different ideas about…sex.”
Oh. He’d called it, alright. Joel was a douche. “It’s good you stood up for yourself and didn’t let him pressure you.”
She blushed; her skin went a pretty peachy shade, which made her eyes even bluer. “What makes you so sure he was the one pushing? For all you know, I’m an animal and can’t get it enough ways in enough places.”
An animal. She wasn’t. He scoffed. Then thought about it. Jinx? She had definitely filled out and those curves were made for one thing. But…a sex-starved animal?
She laughed low and sexy in his ear. “Just kidding,” she said in a teasing voice. Was she? His head spun a little, so he held her tighter. He had to admit, he liked this new grownup version of Jinx he’d somehow been blind to until tonight.
The song ended and he didn’t let her go.
“Again?” she asked, a laugh in her voice, a little breathless. But she didn’t try to move away.
The new song was “Say Something”, even slower than the last, which he liked. More reason to hang on and be close. They might not have gone to the dance together, but they could dance the rest of the songs.
As the song wound down and he tried to think of something to say, since the song was about “saying something,” Christy Moran walked up and grabbed Jinx by the elbow. “Jinx, c’mon. You’ve gotta come get your picture done!”
Jinx had that doe-in-the-headlights look, but she shrugged away from him and followed Christy. Which left him feeling a chill where her arms had been. Matter of fact, he felt a chill about the whole situation. Christy had headed the Prom committee and might have some special part in the photo backdrop, but she was definitely a member of the Mean Girls Club.
He left the dance floor and found a spot against the gym wall where he could see when Jinx finished with her pictures. Except, they didn’t go to the photo backdrop; they went past it and down the hall toward the cafeteria.
Hmm. He followed, figured if anybody questioned him he’d ask for a picture with Jinx.
As he turned down the hall, he got a whiff of something familiar…toxic? What the blue hell? Around another corner, he saw a line of girls with Jinx in the middle, Leanne several feet away taking pictures with her phone. Huh. Seemed legit. Except for Leanne being involved.
Each girl had her arms over the shoulders of the girls next to her, one big happy group of goofy. A group Jinx didn’t fit into at all. Leanne shooed them to back up, and the girls coaxed Jinx back, back…what was shiny on the floor? Back…right where they were hustling Jinx to stand.
Adhesive. He knew the smell from Art class. Dammit. “Hey!”
The Crew girls to Jinx’s left broke their hold on her, but Leanne motioned for the one on the right to stay put.
“Hey!” he yelled again. “Jinx! Step forward!”
Too late, she tried to pick up her foot and pitched to the front then the back, and had just righted herself when he made it to her, grabbing her waist, careful to keep his feet away. The girls to her right moved away.
“What the…” Confused, Jinx kept trying to move her feet.
“Goddammit, Leanne. You and your Band of Bitches!” He steadied Jinx while she tried to get her boots free.
A chorus of “Heys” and “Fuck you, Dallas” broke out. Leanne sneered. “That’s what she gets for trying to steal my date.”
“I was never your damn date. I was your ride here. Guess what? You can find your own fucking ride home.”
“Watch your mouth, Mr. Miller!” the band teacher yelled down the hall. “Everybody out of here and back to the dance. You all know better!”
The Rotten-to-the-Cores disappeared down the hall.
“They’re totally stuck,” Jinx said, tears in her voice. “I’ve gotta leave them here.”
“I know. Let me help.” Together, they got her out of her boots.
“I’m just gonna go now.” She motioned to the outside door at the end of the hall. At the door, she stopped and looked back sadly at her boots standing there in the middle of the floor. “My ass is grass Monday.” She lifted the bottom of her dress so it wouldn’t drag when she went outside.
Oh, geez. “Um, Jinx? The back…” He motioned for her to see the smears of adhesive along the bottom lace of the dress.
“Oh God. That’s not gonna come out. It’s permanent, I bet. Right? Or do you think it will?” Fat tears ran over her lashes and down her face, smearing makeup along the way.
“I don’t…know.” He was pretty sure the dress was ruined. “Hey, let me drive you home.”
“I’ve got it,” she answered miserably.
“No, really—”
“Dallas. Seriously. I can drive with no shoes. Anyway, then my car would be here and I’d have to explain in the morning—”
“And you’ll tell your parents what happened, which they’ll tell the school Monday morning. Right?”
“My dad,” she said with emphasis, reminding him—ah, shit. Her mom died ten years ago. He was such an asswipe! “Doesn’t need to know. It’ll only upset him and then he’ll get pissed about me borrowing a dress worth so much. It’s just not worth it. Not. Worth. It.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault my mom died and not your fault Leanne’s a shit.”
She opened the door and the chilly air hit his hot face. What a mess. Not the way he’d been thinking their night would end. Not at all. “Here. Let me get you to the car.” He picked her up no problem, but she squealed in shock and acted like he’d drop her or something.
“You’re gonna get that stuff on your tux and have to pay damages,” she warned, wiping her face dry.
“No. It’s dry by now. Trust me.” Bitch or no, Lean
ne knew her glue. This was the quick-setting type.
At Jinx’s little red car, he set her down, slow and easy.
“Thanks.” She pulled the door open. Must’ve left her keys inside, which would’ve made her car an easy target for the Bitch Brigade. “And, um. Thanks for dancing with me.”
Jesus. She’d been the prettiest girl there, and she was thanking him? “Jinx.”
She looked up at him, her door between them.
He leaned over it, did the unimaginable…what he’d been imagining since that slow dance. A soft kiss, a twist to the side, a quick catch of tongue because he wanted her to know he knew what he was doing.
She made a little kitten-sound. He liked it. His pulse thundered in his ears and his dick was like concrete.
Somebody whistled from the front door of the school. Hell.
They broke apart and she touched her fingers to her lips. With a half-smile, she said, “Thanks for that, too.”
“Anytime, beautiful. Anytime.” Oh, smooth. When’d he get so cool with the ladies?
She raised one brow, waved one hand, gathered her dress and settled into her car.
He shut the door and stepped back, then watched her drive away.
Little Miss Leanne would pay. He’d get the money out of her for Jinx’s dress and her boots, too. Or else.
Dallas jerked awake. Jinx snored loud and hard on the couch, her feet in his lap. He rubbed his hands over his eyes, looked at the time on the wall clock. Nine. “Time to rise and shine, beautiful.” Good thing Jinx had been the girl to survive the End of It All, because if it had been Leanne, he wasn’t so sure he’d have rescued her.
CHAPTER 4
Jinx leaned back in the seat of Dallas’s truck and enjoyed the breeze blowing in through her open window.
“Whew! Those gas masks are hot, huh?” Dallas wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.
Yes, they were hot, and currently stacked on the console between them, and she wasn’t sure they’d been any help at all. Still, once she’d gotten over the creep-factor in the deserted Walmart lit only by skylights, they’d had fun talking like Darth Vader in them. Leave it to Dallas, to know some construction supply company where they could get gas masks. Honestly, she wondered if they still even needed to use them. The guy on Doomsday Radio said the fever only lasted a day or two, but nobody knew how long the infected were contagious.
On the upside, Romeo and the other horses were doing fine at the ranch. They had water, green fields, and Dad’s guard donkey. So far it seemed to be working, and as Dallas had pointed out, there were fewer humans to worry about way up there, so she’d agreed to leave them.
As they left Walmart, she scoped out the hospital parking lot across the street. Jam-packed with cars parked every-which-way, and… Oh. She knew that old Willy’s Jeep. It belonged to her dad’s friend Ferdinand. How many other people did she know, just in that hospital? No chance anybody in there had escaped being infected. But they hadn’t had access to gas masks.
“We should go back up to the ranch,” she said. “If I wear one of those masks, I can go in the house and get my clothes. Right?” She’d grabbed a couple of things at Walmart, but geez, it’d be nice to have her own clothes.
Dallas shook his head. “Your dad’s probably in the house. Hopefully.”
“Yeah, so? Mask. No sicky.”
Still with the head shaking. “What are you gonna do if he comes after you, Jinx? Shoot? Run? Let him get you?”
“Get me. Pfffft. It’s my dad!”
“We don’t even know if he knows he’s your dad anymore.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. Damn. He had a point, but she didn’t have to like it.
“I’ll get the washer plugged into the generator when we get back to the house. We can wash your clothes and mine. Okay?”
“Sure.” She wouldn’t be a whiny girl about this. Most humans were dead or seriously handicapped now; she could deal with wearing her same two pairs of jeans for the rest of her life. She had to. They had a lot to do today, anyway, and didn’t need to spend another hour running back to the ranch. The clothes would still be there in a week, or even six months. Her dad might not be…but part of her didn’t want to see him sick and weird like those guys in the yard last night. Some questions were better left unanswered.
Something brown and black moved at the side of the road. “Hey! Stop. I just saw something.”
Dallas slowed. “Something like?”
“Like an animal. A little…” Puppy? “Black. And maybe brown.” She’d unbuckled her seatbelt and watched in her side mirror.
He stopped. “Raccoon probably. What you wanta see it for?” He backed up—not as fast as he had yesterday when she’d been on the roadside, but still pretty fast.
“Careful!” There it was. “Stop!” Not a raccoon. “It’s a puppy.”
“Puppy?” He killed the engine. “Wait. Could be infected. Or its infected mother could be here too.”
“It’s not.” She ignored his warning and got out. Poor little thing was so tiny.
Dallas came around the back of the truck. “I’ll be… Wow.” He scooped up the pup. Looked at its eyes. “I mean, they have dark eyes anyway, but…it looks okay. The light isn’t bothering it at all. You’re hungry though, aren’t you, baby?” He cradled it, and looked at its tummy. “A little girl.”
“You think German Shepherd?”
“Mmmhmm.” Dallas basically melted before her eyes. Turned into a puddle of mush. Which made her feel all mushy and melty too.
“I assume we’re taking her home, then?” She watched the weeds and brush for other dogs but saw nothing. Heard nothing, other than the breeze rattling the tall grass.
“Mmmhmm.” His eyes glazed over. “Shit.” He’d taken to full-on baby talk voice, even when swearing. “Just what we need. Another mouth to feed. But what’re you gonna do? Right?”
“Right.” She laughed. “Right. Want me to hold her, or should I drive?” The puppy seemed relieved to have found another living thing and tried suckling at his hand.
“Hmmm? Oh. Get in and I’ll hand her up to your lap.”
Finally—her turn with the little ball of sweetness. “Poor baby. Poor orphaned babyhead.” The pup licked her hand, nudged her palm, looking to eat.
“Guess we better make a stop at Ranch Supply. See if we can find milk replacement for her, and maybe a little bottle? Or you think she’ll figure out a bowl?”
“Bottle would be good… And we’ll need a collar, leash, puppy food for when she’s ready. Toys…”
“Christ on a crutch. What’d we get ourselves into?”
The back of the truck was already piled high with totes they’d filled at Walmart. All sorts of supplies. They had a long day ahead of them, but they also had…a puppy. Things were looking up, even if the world as they knew it had ended.
* * * *
Jinx stopped, peeked out the kitchen window on her way past with an armload of dry pasta. Dallas was in the back yard digging a hole to bury that pile of rotten food from the fridge so the sick guys wouldn’t show up again. And—lucky day for her—he’d taken off his shirt.
Yowza. Did he know what he looked like with his shirt off?
Knowing Dallas, no. He didn’t. From what she’d heard, he hadn’t exactly turned out to be a player. In fact, she couldn’t recall hearing about him dating at all since he’d quit rodeo. He’d dated plenty in high school—up to and including that little monster Leanne. After graduation? Hmm. Not that she could think of. He’d definitely been with a girl graduation night, though. Whew. Heat flashed over her, and she set the stack of pasta on the counter so she could wipe her brow. “Hot in here,” she muttered.
He’d broken a sweat and the muscles of his back rippled under his slick, dark skin. Huh. No farmer’s tan for him. Did that mean he’d spent time at cow camp running around shirtless? Nobody around to see him except the livestock. Lucky cattle.
To be fair, at least they wouldn’t screw up with
him like she had.
“Water under the bridge.” She scooped up the load of noodles and headed for the pantry.
Raw luck, surviving the end of the world only to get paired up with the Hottest Guy who was also Least Likely to Want Her. Crap. She slammed a box of bowtie pasta on the shelf. Better take it easier on the spaghetti or it’d be all broken in tiny pieces.
God, she hadn’t thought about that night in…well, awhile. It came up in her dreams more often than she’d like. But in broad daylight? Dallas was busy outside, and she’d left the puppy sleeping in an open tote in the living room with an old afghan in the bottom. So she let herself slide down the wall to the floor of the pantry, her arms curled around her knees. Dallas.
He’d been about all she could think of after Prom. Before that night, he’d just been another cowboy at the rodeo, one she’d known when he’d had that giant gap from lost baby teeth, during the gangly stages of puberty, those gross days of scraggly mustaches all the boys tried to grow in early high school. Nothing cute or interesting, other than his exceptional roping skills. But he’d stood up for her. In fact, he’d somehow made Leanne come up with money to cover the cost of Jolene’s dress and new rodeo boots, too. He never told her how he’d done it, but seeing Leanne hand over that fat stack of cash had been one of the best moments of her life. So he’d become a larger-than-life, hot and sexy, superhero-slash-cowboy in her mind. That kiss in her open car door…she figured even if he hadn’t stuck up for her in the school, the kiss would’ve been enough to make her think of him day and night.
When he’d texted and invited her to the party he was throwing graduation night, she’d felt like the princess in a Disney movie. She still didn’t know where she’d got the courage, but she’d texted back,
Sure, I’ll be there. As your guest? Or date?
Before she could chicken out, she’d sent it.
His immediate,
Date.
left her wondering whether he’d intended that all along or if she’d given him the idea. Either way, her heart had raced and she’d had butterflies. Even now, thinking of it, she still got fluttery inside.
Cowboy Strong Page 26
