Wild Ride: A Bad Boy Romance (6 page)

I woke up with
the morning light coming in through the blinds.

Where was he?
That was the first thing I thought.

I thought we
had shared something special…I thought there had been a real connection

I immediately
felt like a fool, an idiot. Was I really just another woman for this rodeo
champion? He had a new woman every night. There had been one when I had come
into the room with him. What had made me think I was so special? Why had I
fooled myself into thinking there was some connection between us?

This was
typical me…I was always thinking there was something special when there wasn’t.
I had done this all through my life…only recently, in the last few years, I had
resigned myself to the fact that there was something wrong with me that made me
undesirable as a real partner for a man…that’s why I just slept with guy after
guy at the weddings to amuse myself, to pump up my self esteem a little bit…but
it wasn’t nearly enough.

Looking at
myself in the hotel bathroom mirror that morning, I had rarely felt worse about
myself.

I gathered my
clothes together and dressed myself as quickly as I could.

It seemed as it
Colton had taken everything with him already. Had he left in the middle of the
night?

I had one last
moment of hope. There was a piece of paper sitting under the remote control on
the desk…it looked as if it might be a note. Maybe he had needed to leave for
an emergency, and then left me a note with his phone number…and a message
saying he had had a wonderful time and that he would be anxiously awaiting my
phone call.

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.”

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.

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.

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.