I went to grab it…eagerly.
But it was nothing.
It was just a scrap of paper….
But wait, there was another side to it.
I flipped it over, hoping against all hope.
I wanted my wish to be true. I wanted it to be a note from Colton more than anything I had ever wanted.
It was a note all right.
But it was a note from the girl who had been here the night before…or for all I knew another girl entirely.
“Colton, I hope you call me. I had a wonderful time,” read the note.
“Damnit,” I said to myself, angrily.
I couldn’t believe it.
How had I fooled myself with another ridiculous false hope?
I slunk out of the backdoor to the hotel.
I spent a few minutes in the parking lot, looking for my car. Or a sign of Colton’s truck. But neither was to be seen.
“Shit,” I said, remembering that I had gotten a ride here with Colton, and that my car was likely still at the strip club in the parking lot.
That was just great, I thought.
My car had a huge advertisement on both sides. The advertisement had my face and name, saying “Expert Wedding Planner” with my phone number and professional email address.
Now anyone driving by would be able to clearly see my car in front of a strip club that had a neon picture of a topless girl incorporated into its gigantic billboard sign. That wasn’t going to be good for my business, no matter how you looked at it. I had an image to maintain, and strip clubs weren’t part of it.
I didn’t want to go back to the hotel to call a taxi. I didn’t want to face the people at the front desk…I had never stayed in this hotel, and it was nice to have one or two hotels in town that didn’t know my face as the woman who had stayed overnight with a man, without luggage, and without a reservation, without even a toothbrush.
I decided to walk. I set off down the highway. There wasn’t even a sidewalk.
As I walked along, the cars whizzed by me as if I wasn’t there. More than a couple times, I had to jump out of the way, since they seemed to have no problem with driving right in the shoulder where I was walking.
The sky was grey. It seemed like it had been grey forever.
My phone started buzzing in my pocket. I took the thing out. I was so frustrated, I was ready to throw it away forever…what was the point of answering the phone if it wasn’t Colton? And he didn’t even have my number. And I was sure he didn’t want to call me…how stupid I was! I cursed myself again for falling for a man who clearly didn’t want anything more from me than my body.
I took the phone and cocked my arm, ready to throw it onto the highway where it would be smashed to bits by the next car.
Who else could it be? The only other option was Sara’s lawyer, with no doubt more bad news.
That reminded me, I needed to hire my own lawyer.
The thought of hiring a lawyer to countersue or defend myself against my long-time best friend…it felt like it ripped another hole in my heart…
I wasn’t in good shape when I looked at the caller ID screen.
It was my Mom.
My Mom…I hadn’t talked to her in years and years…not since I had started my own business.
I picked up the phone.
“Katy?” said my Mom.
We had certainly had our fair share of arguments…bitter arguments that had never come to an end…but still it was good to hear her voice.
“It’s me, Mom,” I said, my voice quavering a little.
“It’s so good to hear your voice, Katy,” said my Mom. It sounded like she was crying. Her voice was trembling, and she was making small sobbing sounds. I knew something had happened. She wouldn’t have called me unless something very serious had happened. She wasn’t the type of person to call just to chat, especially considering that we hadn’t talked in so long.
“Katy, it’s your father. I’m sorry…he passed away this morning.”
11. COLTON
Colton parked his truck in the parking lot. He had ridden his motorcycle for a few hours the night before in the darkness before turning to the hotel parking lot and putting it back on his truck.
He had visited the hotel room where Katy slept once…to look at her beautiful sleeping body…her face…he knew that she meant something to him. But he wasn’t sure what. It had been so long since he had felt this way about a woman…and he wasn’t actually sure he had ever experienced these types of feelings before.
But he was scared…he would barely admit the fear to himself. But he was shaking when he left the key card on the desk and slunk out the door, quietly so as not to wake her up.
He locked the door to his pickup and went into the restaurant.
“I’m meeting a Mr. Whitecliff for lunch,” he said to the first waiter he could find. The waiter was wearing a full suit and tie.
It was a very fancy restaurant.
Looking around, Colton noticed that he was completely underdressed. This was one of the fanciest restaurants in downtown Houston, where the elite dined.
The waiter made a slightly sour face on seeing Colton’s jeans and button down shirt, his messy hair, his tattoos, and his multi-day beard growth.
But he was the consummate professional, and merely said, “Follow me. This way, sir. Mr. Whitecliff has been expecting you.”
When he got to the table, Mr. Whitecliff was sitting there waiting, fiddling with a gold watch.
He stood up immediately.
“Colton, so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Whitecliff. Thanks so much for flying in to meet me. It really means a lot.”
“Please, call me Cambridge. Well, your friend spoke very highly of you. And you seem like just the sort of client that I’ve been looking for, for quite a while. I believe that we could both have a great and mutually beneficial partnership ahead of us. We can earn a lot of money.”
“Sounds great, Cambridge,” said Colton, taking a seat.
“Can I get you gentleman something to drink?” said the waiter, making a little obsequious gesture with his hands, and scrunching his small mealy mouth into something resembling a smile.
“A mescal for me,” said Cambridge.
“A beer for me, whatever you have,” said Colton.
“We only carry imported beers, sir,” said the waiter.
“Whatever,” said Colton. “That’ll be fine.”
“As you wish sir,” said the waiter, turning to leave.
“Well, Colton, let’s get right down to business, shall we?”
“Sure.”
“I believe you know something of my reputation? I have worked with some clients who are now very famous. I have unique methods. They may seem strange at first, but you must trust that I know what I’m doing. I always get the result I’m looking for. All that I ask is that you do everything I say, without question.”
“Everything you say?” said Colton. He didn’t much like the sound of that. He liked to do his own thing, go his own way. It had often gotten him into a lot of trouble. Well, he thought, maybe it was now time to change his ways. If he really wanted to advance his career, and get what he wanted, maybe he should finally listen to someone and do what someone else told him. And who better to listen to than this Cambridge Whitehead? He sure seemed like he knew what he was doing. Anyway, after Colton got a little bit more fame, he’d be able to do exactly what he wanted.
“Anything I say,” said Cambridge.
“What the hell,” said Colton. “Sure, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
“Great,” said Cambridge. “I’ll just need you to sign a contract I have here. It’s a standard contract I give to all my clients. You can take your time going over it…if you like you can even take it to a lawyer to have them check over it for you.”
“It’s fine,” said Colton. “I’m sure it’s fine. Where do I sign?”
“Right here,”
said Cambridge, giving Colton a smile, and giving him a pen.
Colton signed on the dotted line.
12. KATY
I couldn’t believe it. My father was dead.
“How did it happen?” I said.
It was strange talking on the phone to my Mother after so many years. But she didn’t miss a beat. It was just like we hadn’t missed a conversation. She didn’t hesitate or pause before criticizing me, as she had always done all my life…that was probably why I was so screwed up, why I had so much trouble finding a suitable lover.
“Well, if you had been talking to us for the last few years, instead of ignoring us, and treating us like we weren’t anything to you, you would have known he was undergoing chemotherapy for aggressive liver cancer.”
“Liver cancer?” I said, choosing for the moment to ignore the insult. After all, it hadn’t just been my fault we hadn’t talked. My Mother and Father hadn’t called me either, or tried to initiate contact in any way.
“He’d been drinking too much, apparently. Not that you would have known that, or even cared. Anyway, the funeral is today…”
That was the final straw for me.
“Today?! How could you not tell me ahead of time? Why didn’t you call me when he was dying, so I could have said goodbye? How long was he dying?”
“Oh, honey, he was sick for years…”
“Years!” I couldn’t believe it. “Why in the world didn’t you let me know?”
“We thought you wanted to be left alone, dear. After all, you were always such a sullen and selfish child…I just couldn’t imagine that you would want to make the trip up here for your Father, even though it would have meant so much to him.”
“Of course I would have come up, if you had bothered to mention it to me. This is just like you, to blame the whole thing on me.”
I could barely listen to my Mother as she continued to insult me over the phone. I held the phone away from my ear. I couldn’t hear the words she was saying but I could hear the noise of her harsh voice…it made me shudder just hearing the tone.
I took a few deep breaths…just as my therapist had taught me. Not that I saw a therapist anymore, after he had tried to seduce me during a therapy session…I guess my perky breast sticking up as I lay on the couch had simply been too much of a temptation for him…
I was calm enough to ask my Mother for the directions and time of the funeral. I hung up before she could insult me further.
I arrived finally at my car in the strip club parking lot. I got in, drove home, and dressed myself up for a funeral. I had a funeral to go to…my own Father’s funeral.
13. COLTON
Things were going much better for Colton.
Ever since he had gotten his new manager, he had enjoyed much more fame. He had done his first car commercial already, only a week after contracting Cambridge Whitehead as his manager.
Of course, a large percentage of the money he was earning was going right to Cambridge’s pocket. But honestly Colton didn’t even care.
He was trying to enjoy the new lifestyle…the new fame. When he went to the store now, people knew who he was. He had been on TV now, so he wasn’t just a nobody like everybody else.
And Cambridge had promised that he would be a household name within the next few months…all Colton had to do was keep competing at the same level at the rodeo…that shouldn’t be much of a problem. He was feeling as fit and healthy as ever…he was even drinking a little bit less. He figured he had a few good years left in him before he had to retire, and by that point he hoped that the fame he had build up in these good years would carry him into old age…
But he was having problems enjoying it….it was very unusual for him. Sure, he was sleeping with hotter women than ever before…many of them were actual models, whose pictures could be seen in the supermarket aisles on the covers of the national magazines. But it was that woman…that woman he had shared just one brief night with just one week ago…there was something special about her. He wasn’t sure what it was. He didn’t know how to describe it.
But as he thought more and more about her, his fear of deep intimate relationships began to slowly diminish. Of course, this transformation was only apparent to himself.
To everyone else, he was the same fun loving bad boy rodeo star as always…if not even more so, now that he was enjoying more fame.
But inside, he was secretly longing to find that woman again, and to have some type of relationship with her…he found himself wondering what she would look like as she grew older, as they grew older together. Would she be the woman who would bear him children? He found himself thinking about children for the first time in his adult life. Before her, the thought had never once crossed his mind.
But the fact of the matter was that Colton was far too caught up in his new life to think much about Katy…after all, he didn’t even know her name.
This was the day of the next big event.
He was in the changing room at the rodeo.
The last competitor had just finished. There was only one more before Colton’s turn was up.
“Now, remember,” said Cambridge. “You don’t need to do anything spectacular. Don’t let this new fame get to your head. Don’t try any fancy tricks or anything. Just ride the bull like you always have. I mean really how hard is it? You just need to stay on for a couple seconds right?” Cambridge laughed at his own joke.
“It’s pretty difficult, no matter how many times you do it,” said Colton. His mind should have been focused on the bull…on the task he had ahead.
But for some strange reason, this changing room had reminded him of Katy. It was something about the scents here…it was the scents of the dirt, of the bulls…something about being a little closer to nature made him think of Katy and their night together.
“Earth to Colton. Colton, are you there?”
Colton looked up.
“What’s going on with you, Colton? You look like you’re out in space somewhere. You need to be concentrating. I’m doing all this work. Aren’t I promoting you well? You’re already getting more famous than you ever have been, right?”
Colton nodded his head.
“Great, now all you have to do is just keep doing what you’ve been doing for years. Just pretend you’re still the expert bull rider you were when you were toiling in obscurity. Pretend you don’t know anything about fame. Pretend it’s not even on your mind. This is what I tell all my clients who have to keep performing a skill…”
“Don’t all your clients have skills?” said Colton, seeming to wake up a little.
“You’d be surprised how easy acting is,” said Cambridge. “It’s really a lot more about the image with actors. And the rest of the skills we can usually fake. The singers, for instance, are usually just lip sinking at concerts. A lot of them had skills to begin with. But once they got famous, they couldn’t be bothered with trying to maintain a certain skill level. Plus, I think fame affects people negatively.”
“Shouldn’t you not be telling me this, especially now?” said Colton.
Cambridge laughed a big belly laugh. He adjusted his golden cuff links while nodding his head. “You’re a sharp one, Colton. Trust me, you’re going to be just fine. And after you win this one, I’m going to tell you what I have in store for you next. This next move of mine is going to propel you through the celebrity stratosphere, don’t worry. Just go out there and do your job.”
Colton nodded. He took his cowboy hat from the post and put it carefully on his head with one hand. He leaned down and adjusted his boots one final time. He was ready.
14. KATY
“Ladies and gentleman, may I now present to you the man you’ve all been waiting for, the current number one rodeo champion in the world…Colton.”
The crowd exploded.
Something had happened.
There were people here who weren’t just rodeo fans.
In the last week alone, Colton’s fame had exploded.
; Driving home from my Father’s funeral, I had heard Colton on a radio talk show. And there were fans calling in from all over, just hoping for a chance to talk to Colton for a moment.
I had to admit it had affected me. His widespread fame had made it nearly impossible to get him out of my head. He had become all I could think about.
I looked down and saw Colton. He was seated on his bull in the pen. He looked…well, he looked hot, especially in his cowboy hat and jeans…all that rodeo gear.
The bull was a big and vicious one. It was exhaling sharply through its massive nostrils…it seemed to me that I could sense its anger, it’s meanness.
The group was already going wild…there were women who were lifting up their shirts, showing their pert young breasts….I felt a twang of jealousy…who knew how many more women Colton had slept with since me.
I was jealous, angry and sad. But I couldn’t stay away.
I had seen a billboard advertising this rodeo event, and had made a flash decision to come…the tickets had been more than I’d thought. The man at the ticket counter said that they were about to sell out, and that the tickets were selling for twice as much as normal. When I’d asked why, he’d said it was because Colton was fast becoming the most famous rodeo star ever.
The crowd was going insane at this point. Breasts were everywhere…young breasts…I looked down at my own and wondered if they could ever compete.
The voice on the loudspeaker was saying something, but I couldn’t concentrate on what it was saying, or who was speaking.
I had finally found Colton in the crowd. He was all I could see from that point onward.
He was wearing his full rodeo gear.
He wore his cowboy hat, his spurs, his chaps, all the leather gear that I had always associated with cowboy style. It turned out it was all practical gear, and the style was just an offshoot of original practical necessities…that just goes to show you how much of a city girl I really was. I didn’t know anything about cowboys or the rodeo. This was actually my first rodeo. There was a distant possibility I had been to one in college, but if that was true than I had definitely been so drunk on tequila that I didn’t remember a single moment of it.
Wild Ride: A Bad Boy Romance Page 6
