Rodeo Rancher

by Lauren Wood

  “I need you here Dante. It is my problem. This is a busy week and I need you here with me. I have been so worried about you…”

  Cece stopped and I heard a hitch in her voice.

  “I am fine Cece, just did something stupid.”

  “Well it could have been worse I guess. I was thinking something really bad had happened. I was…never mind what I was. It is good to know that you are okay. I will be down there in a little while and we will get this all straightened out.”

  When she hung up, that feeling of dread was back and I wasn’t sure how this was going to all turn out. Cece would not be happy to find 0ut that I had slept with Ashlea. She may never forgive me, but I couldn’t see a way of getting her to stay away, when I reality if I told her she would know. Either way I went I was screwed and the more I thought about it, the more I wished that I hadn’t called her at all.

  Sitting there waiting for what would happen next felt like torture. I kicked myself over and over again about calling Cece at all. I just had to hear her voice. Now I was going to pay for it in more ways than one. I just didn’t know in what way it was going to be.

  I finally fell asleep, the hangover and bump on my head was not making it easier to stay awake. Sleep was the only escape from it and when I heard the bars jangling from metal hitting them, I was pulled awake.

  “Lunch time.”

  I groaned and looked at the smiling officer. They really enjoyed their job a bit too much as far as I was concerned. I knew that I had acted like an idiot, but I didn’t get the animosity. I suppose it was the charge for assaulting an officer.

  “I am not really hungry.”

  He pushed it through the small opening in the door and told me that I better eat because dinner wasn’t for hours. The food didn’t look too appealing, but once I saw it, my stomach decided that it was hungry after all.

  I chewed slowly and waited. This was torture. I wasn’t used to just sitting around and waiting for things to happen. It was hard not to want to get up and fix it. That is what I always did. No, my life was in Cece’s hands and any other circumstance I would have been okay with it, but not with the circumstances around it. Not when I was going to get in trouble for another woman from my past. This was becoming a big mess. Why did my past have to come back and bite me in the butt with her?

  Lying back down, I tried to think of nothing and let my mind go back to the blissful state that didn’t think. I didn’t want to worry about it all. My hands were tied and I was just going to have to wait and see what happened next.

  Chapter 18

  Cecelia

  “Well I am just wondering if there is any way that we can work this out Darryl. I have known you since middle school when your family moved here. You know that I wouldn’t ask unless I really needed the help.”

  “How did you get caught up with him, Cece? I thought you were smarter than that.”

  Darryl was getting to me and he kept downing Dante. There was something between the two men, but Darryl wasn’t going to tell me what it was. “He works for me Darryl. That is all you need to know. I don’t know what it is between you two, but I am just trying to get my employee out so that he can help me on the ranch. I will put up whatever the bond is or whatever you think is fair, but I need him out. Your wife said that you would help me and she will make you meatloaf if you did.”

  His face changed when I brought up Ashlea and I wasn’t really sure why. Ashlea hadn’t asked many questions. She just told me that it would be taken care of, but Darryl didn’t look any happier to hear about her. What the heck was going on?

  “You told my wife what was going on? That it was Dante in jail?”

  The answer was supposed to obviously to him be a no and I told him that I just said one of my employees. He seemed a little better knowing that she hadn’t known who, but that just made me even more curious as to why he was acting this way. What was I missing? Because it was starting to feel like I was missing a lot. I should be back at the ranch, not sitting here arguing with him and I can’t say that I was all that worried about the why. I was curious, but I was going to get my way, even if I had to call his wife back.

  “So she doesn’t know?”

  “No, what does that matter?”

  “Because if she knew who it was you were talking about, I don’t think she would be as inclined to help.”

  “Look, just let him go Darryl, I will put up the cash. I will even throw in some extra for you if you want.”

  His eyes narrowed, but I knew that it wasn’t from the offer of money for him. This was how it worked in a small town and I wasn’t above greasing a wheel or two when needed. I would tell Ashlea about it later and she would take care of it.

  “I just can’t Cecelia. His charges are pretty severe. He assaulted me.”

  “Yes, I see that you are barely walking from the beat down. Come on, don’t be like that.”

  I could tell quickly though, that he wasn’t budging. The more I tried to get him to see reason, the deeper he dug his heels in. “Fine, if you aren’t going to let me get him out, I need to see him. There is a lot that I have to know before the weekend is over. The horses need proper care.”

  That got Darryl to relent and he agreed, but there was still something holding him back. Why were those two guys acting so funny for?

  I waited a few minutes until he took me down a concrete corridor and back to where the cells were. I had been back here before to get my uncle out, but it looked so much nastier and dirtier now than it had before. I don’t know why, but I wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. I just had to get my eyes on Dante and physically see that he was okay.

  When I saw him though, my fears were not alleviated. He was a mess and had a large knot on his head that still had dried blood around it. It looked like it hurt and I wanted to know what the hell happened.

  “Cecelia, what are you doing here?”

  “I told you that I wasn’t going to come and work things out.”

  “Did you?”

  “No, you really pissed Darryl off. Did he do this to you?”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Why are you the one that is being charged with assault and he doesn’t have a mark. Did he do this to you?”

  I was repeating myself, but I couldn’t believe the state that Dante was in. He needed to go to the hospital, not be kept in the cell. But he wouldn’t tell me one way or another who had done that to him, even though I knew who it was. Darryl always did have a temper and it didn’t seem to be helping all that much. He had done this and I couldn’t believe that he hadn’t at least warned me. Now I knew that Dante was leaving though. There was no way that it was going to be let go. He was either going to let Dante go free and drop charges or I was going to get in the middle of it.

  “Look Cece, it’s fine. I will be out in a couple of days. I didn’t mean to stress you out over this. I am fine, really.”

  I was torn between making sure he was okay and the anger that welled up inside of me. I had lived here all of my life and I wasn’t going to let this go.

  “I will be back.”

  I went back to where Darryl was sitting and when I met his eyes, I knew that he knew I was upset. I didn’t know what to say, but I knew that I wasn’t going to let this go.

  “What the hell did you do to him Darryl?”

  “He got what he deserved. That home wrecker deserved every lick he got. He swung at me first.”

  Home wrecker? What did that mean? Again I felt like I was left out of a loop that I shouldn’t have been left out of. There was something more going on and the two aggravating guys didn’t seem to get that all too well. I wasn’t to know why they were acting the way they did, but I had to know.

  “What are you talking about? How did this happen, Darryl?”

  “He slept with Ashlea. I bet he didn’t tell you that.”

  I was physically pushed back like I had been hit by something when he said that. “When?”

  “While we were
married.”

  “I know that, but when?”

  Darryl wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I don’t know. I guess it was about six months ago.”

  I sighed a little bit in relief if I didn’t think about the fact that this was just one in a long line of decisions that I didn’t understand and didn’t get. Dante had slept with a lot of women, but I didn’t think that he was messing with married women as well. It was as if he was not able to slow down. Why had I gotten involved with such a man? I have always known what kind of a man he was. Now I was just getting the truth and it was hard to be surprised.

  “Well Darryl, I think you have gotten your revenge. You got a few good licks in from what I have seen and you kept him over night. Drop the charges or I will go get my lawyer in here. You know Buddy is itching to get back into the court room.”

  The man blanched and I could tell that he was rethinking his decisions. Buddy had been my lawyer for many years. He was the family lawyer before that. He was also feared because while he may be small town now, he lived in Houston a good part of his career and really made a name for himself there. He was a shark.

  “Why do you care so much about Dante, Cecelia? You don’t need to have those kinds of employees around. I can’t see how he could be worth all of this trouble. I just don’t get it.”

  He never would because Dante had it out with his wife, but that was beside the point. If I wouldn’t have just learned that little tid-bit, I may have put it out there that I was in love with Dante, but now I was embarrassed by the notion. I had done what I said I wouldn’t do and now it was like I was damning myself. It was happening just like I said it would when Karen was asking about him and I steered her away from him.

  “I just want him out Darryl. I don’t need a reason. Do so now or I will call Buddy. He is on retainer so it wouldn’t take him long at all to get down here. I want this resolved immediately.”

  “Are you going to tell Ashlea?”

  I shook my head that I wasn’t. I had already learned more about their marriage then I was comfortable with knowing. I had a lot of work to do and my head hurt from all of the ups and downs in emotions from the night before.

  “No, I am not. That is between you two. I just want to get home and get some work done. That is the whole reason that I am here. I want this done. Me and Ashlea will never talk about it. I don’t want to get in the middle of that anyways.”

  “You didn’t know about her and Dante?”

  “No, I didn’t.” If I would have, that would have just given me one more reason to say no to him. Maybe I should have known.

  “Is what I hear about the two of you true?”

  Now I was getting uncomfortable and I didn’t want to answer the question. “What is between us is of no concern of yours Darryl. Do the right thing and let him out. He doesn’t deserve all of this because of something that happened months ago. You had your fun, now let him go.”

  I turned to leave and he asked me where I was going.

  “I got to get back to the ranch. Your pissing contest with Dante really put a kink in my day. I have things to do. You can tell Dante to find a ride home or get his car out of impound. Figure it out, I got to go.”

  I was reeling as I walked out of there. All I was trying to do at this point was to just breathe. It felt like all of the air was being sucked out of the room and there was nothing that I could do about it.

  I held it together until I got outside and then started the water works. It wasn’t just finding out that Dante had done, what Dante was known to do. It was all of the pent-up emotions from the night before, all of the worry. It was the worry that I had fallen for such a man. He was a good man, but there was another side of Dante that I knew about, joked about, but at the same time had tried to push into the back of my mind. How could I ever trust a man like him when he did things like this?

  It took me a minute to compose myself and then I gripped the steering wheel and started the car. It was hot and I did have to get to the ranch, but more importantly I just didn’t want to run into Dante. Now I was the one avoiding him because I truly didn’t know what to say to him about any of it. I don’t know how I felt and it took almost the whole drive to the ranch to get myself together.

  Getting out of the truck, I went into the house and got to work. I had to rearrange some things that I was supposed to do earlier in the day, but I figured that at least I would have Dante back to take on his part. I didn’t even want to think about the logistics if I lost him right now. My heart didn’t even want to think about what happened when me and him had the talk that was going to come out sooner or later.

  Chapter 19

  Dante

  The atmosphere was cold when I got back to the ranch and from what Darryl had said, it appeared that Cece now knew my dirty little secret. I don’t know why I was so worried about it, but the fact that she had told me to find my way home was not a good indication of her mood. I waited around for the car to get out of the impound and paid a hefty fee, but at least I was out. I don’t know what she said or did, but the air smelled a little sweeter with freedom behind it, even though I knew that there was a storm coming.

  The horses were being taken care of by Casey and though I didn’t want to see her, I was thankful that I wasn’t completely the whole day behind.

  “So the boss sprung ya, huh? I knew when you left that you were too wasted to leave. You should have gotten a cab.”

  I gritted my teeth and smiled at her. I didn’t want to talk about it and certainly not when she looked like she was gloating in a way. I don’t know what that was about, but I did know that I wasn’t going to be able to stand it much.

  “Well I am out and I just want to get started on work. Where did you leave off?”

  She told me what was done and what had to be done later. She had actually done quite a bit and I was thankful for it. I just wish that it wasn’t her that had helped out. She did know the job and the horses though. Damn, I hated this position I was in. All I wanted to do was talk to Cece. I couldn’t concentrate with everything up in the air.

  Casey left when I finally made it clear that I could handle it myself.

  “Fine, have at it Dante. I was just trying to help.”

  I had offended her and I really didn’t care. She was a spiteful person and liked to kick a man when he was down. Once she realized that I wasn’t romantically inclined towards her anymore, her attitude towards me had changed dramatically.

  “You should watch yourself Dante.”

  She said it before she left and I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to take it. Was that a threat?

  Brushing off her comments, I went into the stables and took comfort in some of the horses, as well as checking on Thunder. He was doing better, barely marked at all, but it ignited the same fire in me that I had felt from before. With everything going on, me and Cece still had unfinished business, though now it seemed far less likely that I was going to bring up Cliff. I had my own dirt to worry about now.

  “Looks good in here. Did you get everything done?”

  It was a couple hours later and the voice was not one that I thought I would be hearing. Cece was behind me when I turned around and she had a smile on her face. Was this a trap?

  “I did boss. Was there anything else that you needed me to do?”

  She shook her head no and then told me that she didn’t have any more ranch work for me.

  “Do you have some other kind of work in mind?”

  Cece smiled and started to unbutton her shirt. “I wanted last night to go very differently Dante. I waited up for you all night.”

  “I’m sorry…”

  She stopped me from saying a word, putting her hand up to silence me. “Let’s not go into that right now Dante. I want you now and I don’t want to talk.”

  Her shirt was being pulled off of her shoulders and my heart rate was already going up, seeing her like that in front of me. She was beautiful and I started to move forward, but she wagged her finger at me again an
d told me no.

  “Patience Dante. Start taking your clothes off. I want to see all of you.”

  I was thrown off by the demands, but I was also turned on to no end. I liked this new side of her. It wasn’t the same smile on her face or the same look in her eyes, but after a moment I wasn’t worried about any of that. All I could see was how beautiful and sexy she was. Her body was perfect and I was rock hard by the time I got my jeans off.

  I stood there, literally with my dick in my hands, not sure what to do next. I had thought we would argue and fight, but it was clear that she didn’t have that kind of thing on her mind. It was just as well because I didn’t want to argue with her anyways. I thought that her alternative to arguing was far better than what I had in mind tonight.

  Cece moved towards me, but she wasn’t looking into my eyes. Her gaze was full of my cock and the more I tried to hold it together, the harder it was. What was she going to do next?

  She got on her knees in front of me and I had a moment of déjà vu. I knew what she had in mind and I closed my eyes as her soft lips took no time in wrapping around my shaft. I almost growled out it felt so damn good. I wanted to grab the back of her head and push her forward, but I didn’t need to. She had practically swallowed me whole and I looked down to see all of my cock in her mouth and down her throat. The blue eyes that looked back at me were enough to make me groan.

  “Stop Cece. I don’t think I am going to make it long with you doing that.”

  She pulled off of me and gave me a whining answer. “Dante… Does it not feel good?”

  I told her that it did feel good, too good and she just giggled. “Well you better hold it together because I want to lick on him some more. He tastes so good.”

  She was toying with me, that was clear and I was left a victim to her lust. I wanted something different, but it was becoming abundantly clear that I wasn’t going to have much of a choice. How could I fault this? Her mouth was amazing and I had to focus on holding back more than anything else. It was hard, really hard, but when she finally pulled away and smiled at me, I knew what she wanted next.