Wrecked (5 page)

Nope, she could see Aaron clearly, standing directly below the VIP area she’d wisely chosen to opt against sitting in.

At about the same time that a loud buzzer sounded, the rider was launched off the back of the bull and landed face down in the dirt.

Three men, Wade among them, circled the bull. They deflected the spinning animal’s attention from the downed rider and for the first time since meeting him, CeCe finally understood Wade’s purpose in this event.

Bullfighters, they were called? More like bull magnets as they waved their arms and in some cases, hats, in front of the animal to attract its attention away from the fallen rider who was still vulnerable.

The bull took the bait. It lowered its head and charged straight at Wade. As she watched, wide-eyed, he sidestepped the direct assault at the last second.

This job seemed almost as insane to her as actually riding the bull did. Having met him, and seeing him now laughing and joking with the other men, she figured he was just nuts enough to enjoy it.

It felt like barely a minute later the next gate swung open. There was a flurry of activity as a new bull and rider shot into the arena.

Without having had time to even catch his breath, Wade was by the bull’s side. Along with his fellow bullfighters, they surrounded the animal, waving their arms at him and shouting.

“Why do the bullfighters circle the bull like that? Wouldn’t it be better to stand out of its way?” CeCe wasn’t one to talk to strangers usually, but the question poked at her and she wanted to know the answer.

The woman next to her didn’t take her eyes off the action as she said, “It’s to keep the bull bucking in a tight spin.”

“Oh.” CeCe turned toward her, about to ask next why the bullfighters wanted the bull to stay in a tight spin, when the woman sucked in a breath.

CeCe’s focus whipped to the action on the dirt. She saw the reason for the woman’s gasp immediately.

The rider had slipped off but remained attached at the hand as the bull kept bucking. The rider tried to stay on his feet even as he was flipped around like a rag doll by the powerful animal’s motion.

He was going to get trampled. There was no way around it.

CeCe’s heart seemed to stop beating as she watched the horror unfold before her. “Why doesn’t he let go?”

“He’s hung up.” When all CeCe did was frown at the woman, she continued, “His hand. It’s stuck in his rope.”

“Oh my God.” That information had CeCe’s eyes widening as she watched.

Wade ran alongside, grabbing for the rope that bound the rider to the deadly bull.

The animal didn’t take kindly to Wade’s attempt to help. Just as the rider fell to the ground, finally free of the rope binding him, the bull turned its giant head toward Wade and flipped him up into the air.

Like a gymnast, Wade spun in a complete circle while airborne before crashing flat on his back in the dirt.

CeCe covered her mouth. She could only imagine what that fall had felt like, but what was worse was that now Wade was on the ground just feet from where the bull’s four hooves pounded with deadly force.

Things moved so quickly she could barely track the motion. A man on a horse somehow got a rope around the bull’s neck while the other two bullfighters ran to the downed rider and Wade.

Seconds later, more people ran into the arena, males and females who didn’t look like bull riders or the organization’s suited executive staff.

“Who are they?” she asked.

“Sports medicine.”

Was there no real medical crew on site? From what she’d seen of this sport, there should be a full team of EMTs and an ambulance inside the damn arena.

CeCe intended to find out why there wasn’t and then demand they include one for future events. She paid a fortune to sponsor this deadly sport. No men were going to die because of it if she had any say in the matter that could prevent it.

So many people surrounded each of the men she couldn’t see them. Her panic increased until a cheer erupted through the arena that had become deadly silent as the crowd held its collective breath and waited.

“He’s up.” The woman next to her pointed in the direction where Wade had fallen.

Sure enough, he stood and lifted an arm to the crowd to prove he was fine. One of the guys handed him his hat and he planted it back on his head as another cheer sounded.

“The rider’s up too.”

At the woman’s announcement, CeCe swung her gaze and saw the rider limping out of the arena with the help of two of the medical professionals.

She’d spent three days sitting in the VIP seats during the events in Georgia but apparently she hadn’t paid all that much attention to the action, because she didn’t remember seeing anything like this.

CeCe blew out a breath. “This sport is insane.”
 

The woman sitting next to CeCe sent her a sideways glance. “Welcome to bull riding.”

CHAPTER 5

“Hey, Clint. Let me ask you something.”

The stock handler, who had been watching the same award ceremony play out on the dirt that Wade had been, glanced over. “Sure. Ask away.”

“What do you know about this CeCe Cole?” Wade followed CeCe’s progress as she picked her way across the arena floor in heels not meant for dirt.

Tom Parsons assisted her progress with a hand on her arm, leading her toward the winner of the event for the buckle presentation.

Wade had been piecing together the many parts of this mystery all event. The details were slowly falling into place in his mind like pieces of a partially completed puzzle.

CeCe Cole’s strange behavior today, including the tears. Her choosing to sit way up in the media box rather than in the much closer chute seats. Aaron Jordan’s fear about his ex and his current girl being here at the same time and running into each other. Garret James’s many snarky comments on the whole thing.

But in spite of what Wade knew, and what he’d guessed, this particular puzzle still had a whole lot of holes left to be filled in. For one, what the hell had a sophisticated, mature, rich as Rockefeller female corporate executive been doing with Aaron Jordan in the first place?

Clint lifted one shoulder in response to Wade’s question. “What do I know about her besides the fact that she’s hot as hell, you mean?”

Wade lifted a brow. “Yeah. Besides that.” A detail he hadn’t missed himself.

“I don’t know a lot besides that something happened last month that threw a wrench in the whole Cole Shock Absorbers’ sponsorship.”

“Really?” Wade frowned. He hadn’t heard anything about that. Then again, he generally kept his head down, doing his job and leaving. “What happened?”

Given this event was the Cole Shock Absorbers Invitational and CeCe was here, and the bullfighters and the riders all still had the Cole Shocks logo on their vests, it seemed like not all that much had changed.

“I don’t know exact details, but I heard the head guys at the association totally freaked out about Cole Shocks pulling out for next year’s sponsorship, but then Cole Auto Parts stepped in with a big old check to make up the money.”

“Huh. Maybe it was some sort of corporate bullshit? They had to juggle it around for the accounting.” It could all be a ploy to shelter profits from the IRS. Who knew what problems these super rich folk had? Certainly not Wade.

“I think it had something to do with the Coles’s divorce. It was supposedly pretty messy, personally and corporate-wise. She got one part of the company and he got the other.”

A messy divorce. Now
that
Wade could understand. He’d gone through losing half of everything he owned, plus some.

What Clint was saying made sense though. A bad break-up would explain CeCe’s tears and her bitch attitude.

Hell, it could even explain what a woman like CeCe Cole had been doing with a mediocre bull rider half her age.

The presentation went off without a hitch, playing out on the arena floor in front of the cameras and the live audience.

CeCe presented the buckle and the check to the winner, a rookie Brazilian rider not that much older than Wade’s own kid. It seemed the riders got younger every damn year.

Luckily for Aaron, it turned out he didn’t have to worry about the awkwardness of facing CeCe for the presentation. He hadn’t even placed in the money, so there was no chance he could have won the event.

The kid had ridden like shit. He hadn’t even covered his ride today.

Bull riding was as much mental as it was physical. A man had to have his head in this game or pay the price for it.

After all these years, Wade could see from across the arena when a rider was distracted. Inevitably, those were the riders he ended up having to drag out of the bull’s path once they hit the dirt long before the clock showed eight seconds.

Clint let out a low whistle and shook his head. “I tell you what, though, I wouldn’t want to be in her ex-husband’s shoes. I bet she’s one tough bitch. Of course, I wouldn’t mind a taste or two for a night.”

“Yup, I hear ya.” Having been on the receiving end of CeCe’s verbal claws himself, Wade had to agree with Clint’s evaluation of her bitchy attitude.

He tracked her progress back across the arena and had to agree with the other part of Clint’s statement as well. The woman was a walking, talking wet dream.

Her short tight skirt showed off long creamy thighs and hugged hips he wouldn’t mind wrapping his hands around.

A go-round with CeCe Cole would surely be nice and definitely far from boring.

He tore his attention off his sexual fantasies. The stands were beginning to empty. “That’s it. Time to wrap up and go.”

Clint snorted. “You mean you can go. There’s still stock I gotta load.”

“Then you’d better get to it.” Wade grinned, not feeling guilty. His job was done for the night and he had fresh bruises and dirt covering him to prove it. “See you next week.”

As he turned to head to the dressing room, Clint called after him, “You heading home for the week?”

“Maybe. Haven’t really decided yet. Talk to you later.” Wade lifted one arm in a wave goodbye and kept walking.

Home. That was another thing in Wade’s life, in addition to his failed marriage, that hadn’t worked out quite as he’d planned.

Going home to the family ranch between events always caused too much emotional shit he’d rather not deal with.

The black sheep of the family, returning home, only to leave again a couple of days later—all it did was create unnecessary upheaval in everyone’s lives.

Fuck it. Maybe he wouldn’t go home.

A good bullfighter could always pick up work. There could be some local rodeos happening mid-week near here, or close to next weekend’s event venue.

It was something to think about—later. Now he had to clean up and change.

Following that, an adult beverage and a few hours to wind down at the bar near his hotel would definitely be in order.

And after watching the smoldering hot CeCe Cole all night, if a nice piece of tail happened to land in Wade’s lap, he wouldn’t say no to that either.

Maybe fifteen minutes later Wade had washed up, changed and was ready to go. Clean jeans, boots and a clean collared shirt were as good as it was going to get unless he went back to his hotel room.

He wasn’t all that worried. He’d been to the bar last night and knew even like this he’d likely be overdressed. Half the males in the place were in T-shirts or tank tops, some of them not even all that clean.

It looked like some of them had come straight from work and hadn’t bothered to change.

Bag in his hand, Wade headed out to his truck in the parking lot where he saw that, even with as quick as he’d been, he’d taken too long.

There was a line of vehicles waiting to get out as he swung his truck into the queue. He waved his thanks to the driver who’d left an opening for him.

If the bar was just a little closer, he’d leave the damn truck here and walk. But hiking a mile wasn’t what he felt like doing after an event. Not with sore ribs from taking a horn to the back from Mad Man and the twinge in his ankle from twisting it as he sidestepped to get out of the path of Redneck Romeo.