Roped & Tied

by Keyser, Ronald H. ;

  “Aw, that was nothing.” Jake took her by the hand. “Come on, let’s get up to our room. Maybe we can have a little fun.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Dani turned with him and they walked toward the only elevator in the building that would take them up to the floor where their suite was located.

  Even though Jake tried to act as if he didn’t care about losing his money, Dani could tell he wasn’t in the best of moods as they rose to the top of the building. She tried to make him feel better by telling him how happy her parents had been when she called and told them the news, but he only replied “yeah” to everything she said.

  “You want me to make you a drink?” Dani walked over to the bar immediately after entering the room.

  “Why not?” Jake snapped. He stepped into the kitchen area and put his palms on the countertop by the sink as he glared at Dani through the opening separating the kitchen and the dining area.

  She stood across the room with her back to him so she didn’t know it happened, but the madness in his bloodshot eyes would have scared her to death if she saw him, hatefully but silently, mouth the words, “I didn’t know our wedding was a DAMNED trip.”

  “I’m sorry you lost that last roll, but that was exciting.” Dani finished making the drinks and turned to walk into the kitchen. Jake didn’t respond, but she knew why as soon as she came into the kitchen and tried to hand over his Jack Daniels on ice.

  Instead of taking the drink from her, he violently slapped it across the kitchen with his left hand. Glass exploded on the far wall and, before she could register his movement, he immediately backhanded her across the face with his right.

  The glass Dani was holding shattered onto the marble tiled floor as she went down in a heap.

  “What the hell?” she managed to say as Jake grabbed her by the arms and yanked her back to her feet.

  “You had to do it, didn’t you?” he yelled, slapping her again. “You had to bring up that shitty little attitude, didn’t you?”

  Dani screamed as Jake struck her again. “You bitch, you just cost me thirty thousand dollars!”

  “Stop it!” yelled Dani as she broke free from his grasp.

  She ran toward the bedroom and slammed the door. “Get away from me, you bastard!” She was able to engage the lock before Jake was able to reach her, but the door frame was no match for the force Jake brought to bear with the heel of his boot.

  Dani screamed as the door exploded open and knocked her off her feet. Splintered wood flew through the air as Jake sat on top of her and pinned her arms under his knees.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Dani screamed at him, her breathing labored as she struggled to get out from under him.

  “You fucking bitch, you and all your negative energy is what’s wrong with me!” Jake shrieked.

  Dani stopped struggling and closed her eyes. She turned her head when Jake raised his hand to slap her again, but looked back at him after a few seconds because the blow never came.

  His hand was no longer raised, but there was a wicked smile on Jake’s face, which was something Dani had never seen before. His laugh chilled her to the bone. “What are you going to do now?”

  The fear Dani had experienced over the last couple of minutes left her, to be replaced by a calmness she never knew she had, because she realized at that moment Jake would only hit her again if she struggled.

  She looked up at Jake, her tone sarcastic. “Oh, I don’t know, after we finish with this fun little party, maybe we could grab a bite…catch a movie…and then fuck. Yeah, that’s it…let’s fuck…fuck our brains out, Jake, ’cause I gotta tell you, I never knew what a turn on it would be if you ever started whipping my ass.”

  “Oh, so you’re a fucking comedian, too, huh?” Jake started laughing again as he looked down at Dani. “Well, if you want to see something funny, how about this?” Jake puckered his lips as he sucked on his tongue for a second, then slowly released the spit out of his mouth and made sure his saliva fell directly into Dani’s right eye.

  “Oh, that’s great.” Dani kept her tone even. “You’re going to start spitting on me? That’s just great.”

  Jake took a few deep breaths as he looked down at Dani, then raised his hand again as if he was going to strike her before he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Fuck!”

  Dani didn’t flinch. She just lay there and watched Jake as he dropped his hand to his side again while his chin fell to his chest. After a few moments, she asked, “Well, what will it be?”

  Jake slid off and sat on the floor next to her. He didn’t look at her when he said, “I’m…I’m sorry.”

  He slowly stood, then helped Dani to her feet before walking into the living room and lying down on the sofa without saying another word. What little energy he had left from the previous three days was now completely spent. Within two minutes, he was snoring.

  Dani stepped into the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror, happy to see there was no blood or cuts on her face. She used a Kleenex to wipe the spit from her eye, then noticed her right lower lip was slightly swollen. She knew a little ice would bring the swelling down and was walking toward the kitchen to get some when there was a knock on the door.

  She stepped over to it and cracked it open. “Yes?”

  A middle-aged man in a dark suit with a plastic badge attached to a lanyard around his neck stood outside holding a walkie talkie. “Is everything all right, ma’am?”

  Dani tried to hide her swollen lower lip behind the door. “Of course, why…why do you ask?”

  The man looked around Dani to peer inside the room before answering, “Well, we had some complaints about the noise up here. A couple of rooms called security and said it sounded like a hell of a fight was going on.”

  “Oh, that…I’m so sorry” said Dani with a laugh. She turned and pointed toward the living room and added as she looked back at the man in the hallway, “My husband, he’s the party pooper, sleeping on the sofa over there. You see, he doesn’t seem to want to get up and go back downstairs and gamble. He lost a little bit earlier…”

  The man outside cut in. “I heard.”

  “Well, I’m ready to go back downstairs and try again…that was fun.” Dani tried to make her laugh sound enthusiastic. “But I can’t seem to get him up. I shook him as best I could, even tried turning on the TV as loud as it would go, but that didn’t do any good either.”

  She turned on her sweetest, most innocent voice. “I’m so sorry. I suppose the TV turned all the way up must have been the commotion that caused the complaints. I promise, I won’t do that again.”

  The man outside looked around Dani once more. “Very well, then, you have a nice evening, ma’am.”

  He turned and walked toward the lone elevator at the end of the hall, speaking to someone through his walkie talkie as Dani closed the door.

  She stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of ice from the freezer, then leaned against the wall next to the refrigerator and stared across the suite at Jake, who was still asleep on the sofa.

  “What the fuck am I going to do now?” she asked herself out loud.

  Her first thought was to gather her things and catch a cab to the airport, but she talked herself out of that for a few reasons. One, her father was extremely excited about her getting married to Jake. Caleb had been pushing her to marry Jake ever since he met him, primarily because Jake was a world champion rodeo cowboy, something a part of Caleb always wanted to be.

  And Jackie was thrilled Dani had at last chosen one of the two men she had been seeing simultaneously for more than four years. Dani sighed and shook her head in disgust when she realized how much different her options would be right now if only she hadn’t called her parents two days ago to let them know she and Jake had tied the knot. No doubt her whole family and all her friends knew by now.

  Which led to another reason she wasn’t packing a suitcase. Dani had always told herself that, if she got married, there would never be a good enough reaso
n to go through a divorce. She had always envisioned her marriage to be exactly like her parents’, where two people loved each other and stayed together forever, no matter what. A two-day-old failed marriage would turn out to be the only time in her life where she failed to get what she wanted and, because she had to openly admit that failure to her family and everyone she knew through a divorce, she was convinced she would be humiliated to the point where she couldn’t ever go home again.

  She also spent the next few minutes trying to convince herself it was the drugs and alcohol that made Jake act the way he just did, but she knew, even if that wasn’t case and Jake physically abused her every now and then, she would rather take a couple fists to the face once in a while in lieu of packing her things and leaving for good.

  As she stood in the kitchen and let the water from the ice cube run down her chin and onto her blouse, she thought of something else. She’d wanted to live the rodeo life for as long as she could remember and was still determined to, even after the fight with Jake. She convinced herself that, going forward, she could keep Jake off the drugs and limit the alcohol to the point where this would probably never happen again.

  And who knew, maybe Jake was right and it was her fault. Maybe if she hadn’t said anything about the damned trip, they would both still be in the casino throwing dice, winning money, and this whole episode would never have happened. Maybe she did bring him bad luck. Hopefully not, but she knew they would both find out if they were going to have a nice life together soon enough.

  A tear rolled down her face when she next thought about Brandon and how she was going to tell him she had married someone else. She was sure the first thing he would ask would be, “Are you happy?” and she was also sure that, after tonight, he would see right through her when she answered, “Yes.”

  She took the ice off her lower lip and threw what was left of it into the sink, then took a few deep breaths and made her decision to stay. And she’d learned a couple of things from the experience.

  One was to pay a lot closer attention to Jake’s moods and stay the hell away from him if he was in one of his particularly bad ones and, two, if he ever attacked her again, make sure she didn’t struggle. She knew now that would only make things worse.

  Dani walked out of the kitchen and stopped to glance at Jake, who was still snoring loudly. She felt more tired than she had in her entire life. She stumbled into the bedroom and laid down as she thought about what the next few days would bring. As she pulled the covers over her and snuggled in, she thought about the reception they were going to get when they drove out to see her parents. She’d promised them when she called with the news that they would drive all the way to Tell as soon as they left Vegas, which was tomorrow morning.

  A feeling of dread came over her as she adjusted her head on the pillow, because she now knew a part of Jake she had never seen before, and to say it wasn’t pretty would be a colossal understatement.

  At first, Dani thought she might not be able to sleep but, as the cocaine in her system started giving way to alcohol and exhaustion, she drifted off into a deep, but troubled slumber. For the first time in years, she dreamed of riding Tiny Tim at night, running as fast as he could while Dani held her hands out to the side like she was flying. Suddenly, though, Dani and Tiny Tim did take off, soaring up through the clouds on their way to see a rodeo somewhere, when Tiny Tim got tired and quit running, causing them to start plummeting back to the ground. Dani screamed as the ground approached and screamed again when she realized she was going to land directly on top of Casey Wilder’s grave.

  Just before she hit the ground, she bolted upright in the bed. “Whew” came out in a whisper as she looked around and realized she was still in their Vegas suite. She put her head back down on her soaking wet pillow, then changed it for the one on the other side. As she closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep, she said quietly, “Damn, Dani, what did you get yourself into?”

  Just before she dozed back off, she added, “This could turn out to be a really wild ride.”

  Chapter 9

  “People Stay Married Because They Want To,

  Not Because The Doors Are Locked”

  Paul Newman

  Houston, Texas

  “Momma, I’m going to get hot dogs for the kids,” said Dani as she rose from her seat. “You and Daddy want something?”

  “No, I’m okay,” answered Jackie, glancing at Caleb sitting next to her. She took her husband’s attention off the steer wrestlers’ competition taking place below on the Astrodome floor as she tapped him on the thigh. “Honey, Dani’s going to get something for the rug rats to eat. Do you want anything?”

  Caleb sat up in his chair so he could reach his wallet as he said, “I’ll take a beer if you’re going.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Daddy, I’m buying.” Dani waved her hand at him. She laughed. “You can pay for it by watching the kids for me while I’m gone.”

  “That’s the best offer we’ve had so far today,” said Jackie. She reached across Dani’s seat to rub the top of her grandson’s head. “You might want to get two hot dogs for this one, though. My goodness, he’s growing so fast.”

  “That’s a good idea, Mommy,” Jason chipped in. “I’m almost six. Can I have two, please?”

  “Can I have two hot dogs?” pleaded Chris, holding up three fingers and adding, “I’m three.”

  “Now see what you did.” Dani gave Jackie an accusatory glare as she shook her head at her mother. She glanced at her two boys. “Y’all are going to eat just one. I don’t want you getting sick, you hear me?”

  The boys grumbled, “Yes, ma’am,” as Dani started across the row of seats toward the aisle leading to the concession stands. She looked back once and added, “It’s going to be a little bit. I want to go see Jake and wish him luck before the tie-downs start.”

  “No worries,” answered Jackie. “Take your time.”

  “Don’t be too long with that beer, though,” Caleb called after her. “I’m getting pretty thirsty.”

  “You just hold your horses, Daddy,” Dani told him. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She walked up the aisle, then made her way through the crowd coming and going around the concession area. She had to walk a quarter way around the circular building to get to the aisle that led down to the staging area for the calf ropers. About halfway to her destination, she looked over and saw Jake standing next to his horse. He was fiddling with his piggin strings as he talked to a young blonde, dressed in cowgirl attire, leaning over the rail.

  Dani shook her head in disgust as she made a change in plans. Instead of walking down the aisle that would take her directly to Jake, she chose the one that would take her to the floor of the arena behind Jake’s back. She annoyed a few people after she got to the rail and moved through the entire row of seats, but soon she was right behind Jake and he never saw her approach.

  The pretty young cowgirl Jake was talking to didn’t know who Dani was, but glanced at her once before she looked back at Jake and said with an eager smile, “Well, Jake, as soon as you get finished roping that cow of yours, I’ll give you something else to rope in your trailer.” She leaned over the rail as far as she could as she added quietly, but seductively, “And I’ll be naked as a jaybird.”

  Jake climbed on his horse, shook his head, and whistled once before saying, “Honey, why don’t you get on over there right now ’cause I’m first up and won’t be but a minute.” He grinned as he pointed toward the parking lot. “You can’t miss my trailer. It’s unlocked, parked over in the northeast corner of the lot. Got my name all over it.”

  “I think I’ll do just that.” The cowgirl turned and shook her ass all the way up the aisle and out of sight. Jake watched her the entire way.

  Dani didn’t. Without being seen by her husband, and as soon as the young girl turned to walk away, she upset all the people she had bothered before by walking back across the whole row of seats toward the aisle she had come down before. She wasted no
time climbing the stairs that led to the concession area and soon she was outside the building walking toward Jake’s trailer.

  The girl was about twenty paces in front of her. Soon Dani could see Jake’s trailer with “Jake O’Brien, 10-Time World Champion” emblazoned all along the side of it. She stopped to watch the girl casually open the side door and step inside the small living space in the front as if she’d been there before. Instead of following her in, Dani stood where she was and took a minute to collect herself.

  “Jake, you really are a son of a bitch,” she said as she took in her surroundings. She was in the middle of a sea of motor homes and trailers, but soon caught sight of a large, blue Barth motor home with “Brandon Clark & The Boys” written on the side in large white letters. “Well, well, well,” she muttered to herself, “ I think I’m just going to see if Brandon is around.”

  Thirty seconds later, she walked around the front of the motor home and was stopped by a tall, muscular man who was probably Brandon’s bodyguard and driver.

  “Is Brandon here?” Dani asked.

  “Ma’am, you shouldn’t be out here,” said the man behind the dark sunglasses.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” said Dani, not giving ground. “Can you tell him Dani O’Brien is out here and would like to see him?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t…” started the man, but he was interrupted by the sound of the door to the motor home opening behind him.

  “Dani! What a nice surprise!” said Brandon, stepping out onto the asphalt. He looked at his bodyguard and added, “It’s okay, Hank. I know her.” He waved Dani over with his hand. “Come on in, girl.”

  Dani walked by Hank and quickly climbed inside. Brandon followed, closing the door behind him. “It’s been a long time. Are you here to see the show tonight or…” started Brandon before he had a chance to turn to look at Dani.

  He stopped mid-sentence, shocked to see that she had removed her blouse and was in the process of unsnapping her bra. As soon as her breasts bounced into view, she stepped up to Brandon and went to her knees before her bra had a chance to hit the floor. She quickly unzipped his jeans.