Chase (American Extreme Bull Riders Tour Book 2)

by Barbara Dunlop

  Maddy gave an amused smile at the opening words, and Chase responded with a shrug. He was operating on the fly here.

  “There was a little boy who had a painted pony named Trigger.”

  “What color was the pony?”

  “It was black and white. And it’s time for you to be quiet and listen.”

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  “Close your eyes.”

  Riley closed his eyes.

  “The boy’s name was Henry. Henry and Trigger lived on a ranch in Montana in a little house among the rolling hills, green grass, and aspen trees. Trigger was a naughty pony.”

  Riley smiled.

  “Trigger loved oats. Henry’s daddy kept the oats locked up in the back of the barn. But one day, Henry forgot to shut Trigger’s stall door.”

  While Chase talked, saying whatever came into his mind about the barn and the pony and boy, Maddy left for the small bathroom.

  She emerged a few minutes later in her T-shirt and pajama bottoms, climbing into the bed on the opposite side of Riley.

  “The door was latched,” Chase said, watching Maddy as he spoke, “but Trigger could smell the oats through the little crack between the door and the barn wall.”

  She smiled and lay her head down on the pillow, closing her eyes.

  It was distracting to have her so close. But now wasn’t the time for anything beyond appreciating her company. So he kept talking, introducing a kitten into the plot and describing its antics at length.

  As his voice droned on, both Riley and Maddy drifted off.

  When he was sure Riley was deep asleep, Chase stopped talking and turned off the bedside lamp. Pale light filtered in through the sheers on the window. He rose, rounding the end of the bed, coming down on one knee at Maddy’s side. There he smiled at her flushed cheeks and brushed a lock of her hair back from her temple.

  She opened her eyes. She smiled back at him.

  “Hi, there,” he said.

  “I fell asleep.”

  “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “You didn’t.”

  He grinned at that. “You’re awake, aren’t you?”

  “Unless I’m dreaming.”

  He couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Is it a good dream?”

  She put her hand over his. “It’s a great dream.”

  He leaned in and kissed her lips. “I’d give anything to stay.”

  “Don’t go yet.”

  “Okay.” He eased himself to a sitting position on the floor beside her, still holding her hand.

  “I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said.

  “Did Riley talk you into coming?”

  “He did. And Piper. Tristan was angling to go to a party, and she thought it would be better to get him out of town.”

  Chase twined his fingers with hers. “I thought it was going to be better if I stayed away.”

  “And was it?”

  “Not for me. Was it for you? For Riley?”

  “I missed you,” she said. “Nothing’s changed with Riley.”

  Chase brought her knuckles to his lips and gave them a kiss. “What are we going to do?”

  “I don’t know. Never tell him? Get married and pretend everything is normal?”

  Her tone was light, words joking, but something hardened in Chase’s chest. His reaction was visceral. No way, no how would he be the stand-in for another man. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

  “I’m joking, Chase.”

  “I know you’re joking.” He rolled to his feet. “But I should go.”

  “Chase?” She sat up.

  “Go back to sleep.”

  “Don’t leave like this.”

  “It’s late.” He had to get out of here. He had to think.

  She climbed out of bed.

  “Maddy, don’t.”

  She put her arms around him, and he couldn’t stop himself from hugging her back.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice filled with regret.

  He fought against the arousal that was battling with his better sense. “You don’t have to be sorry about anything. You said it yourself. It’s nobody’s fault. It just is.”

  “It was stupid to make a joke. I shouldn’t have said it.”

  “Quit worrying. Go to sleep. Riley will wake up early.”

  Chase stepped back from her. His body felt like lead as he walked to the door. He should have known better than to play at this game.

  She might think she wanted him. But it wasn’t him. It had never been him. What she wanted, what she deserved, was to put her life back together. She wanted what she’d lost, her husband, Riley’s real father. And who could blame her? Of course that was what she wanted.

  Closing the door silently behind him, he turned on the breezeway to find Eli striding straight towards him.

  The two men stopped.

  Eli gave a cold exclamation of disgust. “Tell me again how you’re not sleeping with my sister.”

  Chase moved from the door to keep Maddy from overhearing.

  “I was telling Riley a story,” he said, wondering why he was bothering with an explanation.

  “Sure, you were,” Eli’s skepticism rang through his low tone as he pointedly glanced at his watch.

  “Believe whatever you want.” Chase was in no mood to defend his behavior to Eli or anyone else.

  “I will.” Eli firmed his stance, his glare a challenge.

  “You don’t want to fight me,” Chase said.

  “No, you don’t want to fight me.”

  “Don’t do this, man.”

  “I once stood blindly by while a man took advantage of her,” Eli said. “I’m not going to stand by again.”

  “She’s not eighteen anymore.”

  Eli moved closer. “That’s your excuse.”

  Chase could see what was happening here. “You do know you’re pissed at him and not at me.”

  “I’m pissed at you.”

  It occurred to Chase then that Eli had a right to be pissed at him. He hadn’t made love to Maddy tonight, but he had made love to her. And though he hadn’t done it on purpose, he had taken advantage of her vulnerability. She’d been tired, afraid and lonely, and Chase had swooped right in.

  They said confession was good for the soul. And Chase’s soul needed something.

  He opened his mouth, knowing full well how Eli was likely to react. “It didn’t happen tonight. But I have slept with her.”

  “You son-of-a-bitch.” As expected, Eli’s meaty fist instantly connected with Chase’s chin.

  Chase staggered from the powerful blow. He clamped down on the reflex to defend himself. The punch felt right. Chase knew he’d deserved it.

  “Probably good that you got that over with,” he said. “I think we both feel better.”

  Before Eli could erase the look of confusion on his face, Chase brushed past him to his own room.

  *

  As Maddy and Piper walked through the concession area at the fairgrounds, Riley skipping between them, Maddy couldn’t help keeping an eye out for Chase. She wanted to assure herself that everything was okay, but she was very much afraid that it wasn’t. In fact, she was positive that it wasn’t.

  “You’re quiet,” Piper said.

  Maddy tried to shake off the feeling of dread. “I’m tired.”

  “We didn’t stay out that late.”

  “Riley woke up when I got home.” Maddy didn’t add that she’d lain awake for hours after Riley had gone back to sleep and Chase had left, reliving the moment over and over again.

  She was terrified she’d scared him off, that she’d come across as pathetic, desperate, and obsessive. She’d give anything to take back her words, those ten seconds when she’d made such a colossal mistake.

  “Daddy!” Riley cried, interrupting her thoughts.

  He immediately set off in a trot.

  Chase looked surprised. He hesitated for a moment, but then he smiled back at Riley.

  Cold rushed t
hrough Maddy and her feet stopped moving.

  Piper turned back. “What is wrong?”

  Chase swung Riley up into his arms.

  “I made a joke,” Maddy said.

  “So?”

  “About getting married. He didn’t take it well.”

  “To Chase?”

  “Who else?”

  “Last night?”

  He was coming closer and Maddy had to stop talking. Chase smiled at them, but his expression was guarded, and he didn’t meet her eyes. The intimacy from last night completely was gone. He looked remote.

  There was a shadow of a bruise on his chin, and she didn’t want to think about where he might have gone after he left her.

  “Hi, Maddy,” he said. “Hello, Piper.”

  “Daddy, we’re goin’ to the bull pens.” Riley wiggled in Chase’s arms. “Wanna come?”

  “Sure, buckaroo. I’ll come along.”

  Chase’s tone was even. She couldn’t say he was angry or upset, but something was definitely off.

  “You two go ahead,” Piper said to Chase. “Maddy and I are grabbing a coffee.”

  “You bet,” Chase said, hoisting Riley up onto his shoulders as he turned away.

  Riley squealed in delight. “I’m big.”

  “Point me to the bulls,” Chase said as he started to walk.

  Riley pointed. “That way, Daddy. The clown has balloons.” He rocked on Chase’s shoulders like he was riding a horse. Maddy thought her heart would break in two.

  “You look totally freaked out,” Piper said. “What happened? What was the joke?”

  Maddy didn’t want to share the embarrassing incident, but she had to talk to someone. “We were talking about Riley, what to do about telling him the truth. And I blurted out—I was tired, I’d been drinking. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said maybe we shouldn’t tell him. Maybe we should just get married instead.”

  Piper didn’t respond.

  “I know,” Maddy all but wailed. “I’m an idiot. I scared him half to death. He bolted from the room, and now he won’t even look at me.”

  “Were you serious?” Piper asked. “Do you really think not telling Riley is a viable option?”

  “Of course I don’t think that. It’s absurd.”

  “But Chase thought you were testing the waters.”

  Maddy closed her eyes for a moment. “I want to die. I honestly want the ground to swallow me up and be done with it.”

  “Exactly how into this guy are you?” Piper pointed to a concession stand serving coffee and cinnamon doughnuts.

  “This isn’t about me,” Maddy said, allowing herself to be directed. “It’s about Riley.”

  “You can’t still believe that.”

  “It’s mostly about Riley.”

  Piper glanced behind them in the direction Chase had walked. “I don’t think you have to worry about Riley. Chase is being an exceptionally good—”

  “There it is,” Maddy said. “It’s like he’s his real father. In fact, he’s better than his real father.”

  “That’s a dangerous path,” Piper said as they joined the short lineup.

  “I know. And I’m going to stop. Right now.”

  There was no way she could bring herself to admit it out loud, but last night Maddy had only been half joking. She was falling for Chase, and she was falling very hard.

  Chapter Nine

  Beside the fenced bull enclosure, Chase held fast to Riley’s hand.

  “My sister do that?” Zane asked, checking out Chase’s jaw.

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Is he gnarly, Uncle Zane?” Riley asked, peering through the fence at a white brahma bull named High Hume.

  “He’s gnarly,” Zane confirmed with a smile.

  “You gonna ride him?” Riley asked.

  “Maybe tomorrow,” Zane said. “What happened?” he asked Chase.

  “They sawed off his horns,” Riley said. “Does it hurt when they do that?”

  “No,” Chase said, preferring Riley’s question to Zane’s. “It’s like cutting your hair.”

  “Pretty fat hair,” Riley said, chuckling at his own joke.

  Zane smiled too. “Bar fight?” he tossed another guess out to Chase.

  “No big deal,” Chase said.

  If Eli hadn’t told Zane about the incident, Chase had no intention of being the one to bring him up to speed. As far as Chase was concerned, the rest of the family could remain in the dark.

  He caught a glimpse of Piper coming through the crowd, and immediately glanced around for Maddy.

  “One, two, three,” Riley said.

  “Who hit you?” Zane asked, obviously getting impatient.

  Chase gave up. “Eli.”

  Zane drew back in obvious shock. “Eli hit you?”

  “It was no big deal. We worked it out.”

  “You hit him back?”

  “Five spots,” Riley said. “The white bull has five spots.”

  Piper was coming closer, but Chase couldn’t see Maddy.

  He wanted to see her again. He wanted to hold her again. And he desperately wanted to be wrong.

  But he wasn’t wrong. She was transferring her affection in a perfectly reasonable way. She didn’t even know she was doing it. If he’d learned anything from Laura-Leigh, it was that a person couldn’t force love.

  They could pretend for a while, but eventually the truth came out. And this time, it was more than just Chase who would get hurt. It would be Riley as well.

  Chase couldn’t help but glance down at him. He was coming to love the kid.

  Riley held up a spread fingered hand. “Five spots, Daddy.”

  Chase ruffled his hair, his heart swelling his chest. “You got that right.”

  “Chase?” Zane prompted.

  “Let it go,” Chase said. “Hi, Piper.”

  “Hi, Chase,” Piper returned. “Hi, Zane. Maddy asked me to take Riley for a while. She’s going to meet us back at the motel.”

  “Something wrong?” Chase asked, because he couldn’t help himself.

  “She’s tired is all,” Piper said. “Riley had her up early.”

  “He does that,” Chase said, his gaze dropping down again. “Why don’t you leave him with me for a while?”

  Piper looked uncertain.

  “I promised him we’d get a balloon.” Chase knew his time with Riley was limited, and he didn’t want to give up the whole rest of the afternoon. “We can kick around the kid zone and grab a hotdog.”

  “I supposed that would work,” Piper said. “I should probably track Tristan down anyway.”

  “Zane can help,” Chase said.

  “Say what?” Zane’s attention seemed to perk up.

  “Help the lady out,” Chase said. “She needs to make sure her teenage son isn’t getting into any trouble. Maybe he’d like to try steer riding.”

  Zane grinned at the suggestion.

  Piper frowned. “He grew up in Chicago.”

  “I’ll make a man out of him,” Zane said.

  “I’m not going to let you hurt my son.”

  Zane waved a dismissive hand. “It’s harmless. There’s a first-timer’s category. Docile steers. It’ll give him bragging rights when he gets back home.”

  Piper hesitated.

  Zane took her arm. “Let’s go find him. At least give him a chance to decide for himself.”

  “Fine.” Piper gave in. “This should be interesting.”

  Zane shot Chase a conspiratorial grin as they walked away.

  Chase knew Zane wouldn’t let Tristan get seriously hurt. But if the kid agreed to ride a steer, he was going to get bumped and bruised. From what Chase had seen so far, it wouldn’t do Tristan any harm to get out there and challenge himself.

  Chase crouched down so he was eye-level with Riley. “Which one’s your favorite?” he asked, canting his head to the pens of bulls.

  “The black one,” said
Riley. “He looks mean, but he looks smart.”

  “He looks smart?”

  “When I stare into his eyes, he twitches his tail.”

  “You know it’s very dangerous to approach a bull, right?”

  Riley gave a solemn nod. “They’re sneaky bastards.”

  “Did Uncle Zane tell you that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You can’t say bastards around your mom.”

  “Okay.”

  “Or around any ladies.”

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  Chase was new to this parenting thing, so he was making it up as he went along. “Really, it’s probably not a word you should use. Bull riders sometimes use inappropriate language.”

  Riley seemed to be considering Chase’s words carefully.

  Chase was proud of the way he was handling the small infraction. He waited a moment, letting his advice sink in.

  “Can we get ice cream?” Riley asked. “I like the swirly white and chocolate kind with sprinkles.”

  Chase was forced to rethink his self-satisfaction, so much for his advice sinking in. Maybe this parenting thing was trickier than he thought. However, he did know ice cream on an empty stomach would be bad news.

  “How about a hotdog first?” he asked.

  “A chili cheese dog!” Riley took his hand.

  “Easy there, buckaroo.” Chase wasn’t sure a chili cheese dog was any better on a three-year-old’s stomach than ice cream. “Have you ever had a chili cheese dog?”

  “Uncle Zane says they’re the bomb.”

  “How about a little ketchup instead?”

  “I like ketchup.”

  Chase rose. “One hotdog with ketchup it is.”

  The two started for the concession area and a cluster of small tables with plaid plastic table cloths and folding chairs. The crowds were thick midafternoon. They’d grown as people showed up to claim their seats and pick up concession food for dinner. The music would grow louder. The lights would come on. And the beer garden and VIP sponsor areas would fill up with those who liked to socialize.

  Chase couldn’t help but wish he was riding.

  He’d like to make a good ride with Maddy and Riley in the audience. He’d like to impress them.

  His steps slowed as he realized that for the first time since leaving the Twin River Valley, he wasn’t seeing riding as a balm to his anger. He’d barely thought about Laura-Leigh since arriving in Deadwood.