Hooked (7 page)

Carl frowned at her. “That’s what I just said. Joe wants it on during intermission. What’s up today, Annie? You sick or something?”

She smothered a laugh. Lovesick maybe. “Sorry. I’m fine.”

Lovesick, at her age. How ridiculous. Meanwhile, she couldn’t stop her gaze from finding Luke again. This time he was standing with Chris and a wave of jealousy struck her. Jealousy that Luke was best friends with Lilly’s brother. That gave Lilly a huge advantage over Annie and would make her a part of Luke’s life forever. While Annie would have to be happy with memories of last night and hopefully a few more nights like it. Those memories would have to keep her warm during the off season when Luke went back home to his family’s ranch in the town he’d grown up in. The same town where Lilly still lived.

Annie swallowed the bitter taste in the back of her mouth. The opening was about to begin. It was showtime once again. “Let’s head up to the chute seats so I can set up the interview for later.”

Carl nodded and followed her up the steps that Annie managed to trip on halfway up as another less-than-happy thought struck her. With Chris here, Luke would most likely spend the night with him. Instead of a nice dinner together, followed by some even nicer time in her room again, Luke would have to entertain his friend from home, who would of course spend the night in Luke’s room since the hotel was probably sold out. And it wasn’t exactly like Luke could say, “Hey, Dude. Make yourself at home while I go have sex with a woman who isn’t your sister.”

Annie held a little tighter to the rail since she seemed incapable of even walking since spending the night with Luke. She sighed. Bad idea. Really, really bad idea.

So why couldn’t she wait to do it again?

By the time Annie had connected with the subject of her interview later, the bulls for the first section had been loaded into the chutes. Thankfully, the familiarity of the event she’d been covering for more years than she cared to admit to, took over her formerly wandering mind. After so many years, Annie could probably do this job in her sleep, and that was proving to be important today as she walked through the event in a daze. She interviewed the winning rider of the round last night. She spoke with the head of the sports medicine team to inquire about a few riders who were on the injured list. She was just heading toward the stock contractor to ask about the bulls in the championship round when she heard Luke’s name being announced. She held up her hand to stop Carl behind her.

“Hold up a sec. I want to watch this match up.” Annie glanced once more at her cameraman. Would he guess she particularly wanted to see this ride because she’d spent all of last night beneath Luke?

Who knew sex made a person so paranoid. Annie ignored the fear and turned to scan the chutes. She found Luke straddling the rails, waiting for the antsy bull to settle down.

Pushing the image of him straddling her out of her mind, she drew in a deep breath. Watching the guys ride could be nerve wracking. Watching the guy she’d spent the night with and had a huge crush on was nearly torture.

“Luke Carpenter in the chute on Moonwalker. This bull put Mustang Jackson on the leader board last night. Let’s see what he can do for Luke tonight.” The amplified announcement directed everyone’s attention to Moonwalker and Luke.

She combed her brain for stats on the bull. The way he was acting up in the chute was not making Annie happy one bit. Luke either by the looks of him as he adjusted his chaps one more time to get them out of the way after the bull had jostled him in the chute.

Finally, Luke nodded and the gate swung wide. Annie realized she was holding her breath as Moonwalker took Luke into a spin. She forced herself to breathe as Luke held on, breaking at the hips to absorb the motion as Moonwalker dipped his head low. Good thing these rides only lasted eight seconds or she would have probably passed out. She didn’t feel better until the buzzer sounded and Luke pulled the rope to release his hand. Too many riders got caught in their ropes and Annie wasn’t going to assume he was safe until his gloved hand was free and he was on his feet in the arena, preferably with the bull out of it. When that was finally the case, she allowed herself to relax and wait for his score. She even let herself cheer when his score put him in the top five.

In fact, the only thing that put a damper on the celebration was seeing Chris congratulating Luke behind the chutes.

She sighed. She’d have to get over his past with Lilly. She only hoped that he had.

“You in the short go?”

Luke nodded to Chris, who should know the answer to his own question and who wasn’t looking as happy as he should be that Luke had scored so high. “Yeah. I’m definitely going to be in the top fifteen. Even if everyone else covers their bulls, I won’t get bumped out of the final round. Why? You got somewhere you gotta be?”

Luke had managed to put it out of his mind for the ride, but Chris’s strange behavior was front and center again.

Chris shook his head. “Sorry. Just distracted today.”

Luke’s brows rose. Yeah, he definitely had to get to the bottom of this, but it would have to wait until after the short go. The last rider in this round was in the arena, and then after a short intermission he’d be up again. Luke drew in a deep breath. As if he didn’t have enough on his mind today after that hot night with Annie, now his best friend had shown up unannounced and acting weird.

Luke’s gaze hit upon Annie up in the stands above the chutes looking like she was getting ready to go on air. The moment she saw him looking at her she smiled. She mouthed, “good ride”.

He felt the smile cross his lips and mouthed back, “thanks”.

Then she was all business again as the station cut to her live and she began an interview with someone up in the VIP section.

Chris was still next to him, shuffling his booted feet around, totally distracted and fidgety. Luke smothered a sigh.

When it rained, it poured. His life had been pretty much stagnant for years—same girl, same job, same best friend. At least it had been uneventful, just days passing by. Now, everything felt different with the new developments with Annie and this strangeness with Chris. At least his job was the same, and he better get prepared for his second ride or he’d lose that too. The biggest mistake a rider could make was to get on a bull with his head not in the game. Luke needed to work on his focus and now.

“I gotta stretch a bit. Will you be okay here for a minute?” Luke hated that he had to get away from the guy he’d called friend since they’d been young boys riding sheep in local mutton-busting events, but a man had to do what a man had to do.

Chris nodded. “Yeah. I’m good.”

Luke dipped his head once in response then moved to the floor behind the chutes where he could stretch in peace and get his focus back. He saw Chris making another call. Was this the second or the third he’d seen Chris make? Was he reporting in to someone maybe?

The last thought Luke spared to the situation before he had to start running through the upcoming ride in his head had him intrigued before he pushed it aside. Perhaps Chris was here to break it to him that Lilly had found someone else. She always had wanted to get married young. Maybe she was even engaged. In that case, Luke couldn’t have been happier for her.

But again, that was something to think about later.

The bull decided to lie down in the chute. And not just lie down, but only halfway, which meant Luke had to lean far forward over its head to stay on since it was only the animal’s ass that was on the ground while his front half was still upright.

“Shit.” Luke shook his head in frustration. These were the best bulls in competition but sometimes it happened. They misbehaved. Nothing a rider could do about it except deal with it.

“Get as settled as you can and go.”

Luke glanced up at Mustang perched on the rails of the chute. “What? With him positioned like this?”

“Yup. Listen—” Mustang grabbed the back of Luke’s vest and held him as the bull jerked up and then sat his rear back down again. Once the animal had quieted, though remained in the same awkward stance, Mustang continued. “He’s upright in front. When that gate opens, he’ll go.”

Mustang was right. The bull probably would go the minute the gate opened. Luke only hoped he wouldn’t be launched off like a rocket when he did. “Okay.”

He flexed his gloved fingers in the bull rope then flipped the legs of his chaps out of the way one last time. After a nod to the gateman, there was no looking back for Luke. The gate swung open with a loud clang and they were off. Mustang had been correct. The bull leapt forward and after a second, settled into a smooth and comfortable spin into Luke’s hand.

Luke spurred the animal with his outside leg to keep him going in that direction, while at the same time he intentionally showed a little daylight between his leg and the bull to dress up the ride and impress the judges. The bull didn’t feel as if he was kicking as strong or as high as Luke needed him to for a high score. A little showmanship could add enough points to an otherwise unimpressive ride to keep him among the top scorers. The bull didn’t reverse directions and stayed in a smooth spin. Luke kept himself centered and balanced against the centrifugal force that pushed against his body as both man and beast spun fast.

The buzzer sounded and Luke ended the near perfect ride by landing on his feet, followed by a fist in the air.

The bullfighters patted him on the back as he made his way out of the arena, where the sight greeting him made him smile.

“I’m here with Luke Carpenter who just scored ninety in the short go. Great ride, Luke.”

It was only after Annie said his score that Luke wrestled his attention away from her smiling face to notice the confetti in the air. Ninety. Wow. Maybe that bull had bucked harder than he’d thought.

Luke adjusted the brim of his hat back a bit and dipped his head in response. “Thanks, Annie.”

The flashing red light on her cameraman’s equipment was a reminder that he couldn’t reach down and kiss those tempting lips, but he could sure think about doing it. Hopefully his thoughts wouldn’t show on camera.

“What were your thoughts when the bull laid down in the chute.”

That he was screwed. “Um, well, my first instinct was going to be to wait for him to get back up.”

“And what made you change your mind?”

“Actually, Mustang Jackson told me to go. That the bull would get up when the gate opened.”

A slow smile spread across Annie’s lips. “Mustang’s a wise man.”

“Yeah, he just hides it real well.” Luke laughed.

She grinned. “Maybe later we’ll get Mustang’s rebuttal to that accusation. Thanks for talking with us, Luke. The next rider’s up on the bull. Jim and JW, back to you guys in the booth.”

The incessant blinking of the red light went dim and Luke relaxed a bit and had time to enjoy his victory and Annie’s closeness. “You wanna help me celebrate later?”

Annie looked tempted by the suggestion. “What about your friend?”

Shit. He’d forgotten about Chris for a minute. “Well, maybe we could all go out to grab a bite and a beer together. He’s an early bird. Give him a steak and a few beers and he’ll be sound asleep by nine. And he sleeps like a log.”

Her brow rose. “Oh really.”

“Hell, I’ll knock him out if I have to.” Luke couldn’t control his grin. He felt like a teenager again, hoping to sneak out of the house after his parents fell asleep. “We’ll play it by ear.”

Her pursed lips showed her skepticism at his plan. “That’s probably a good idea.” Then she touched her earpiece before raising her gaze to his. “I have to—”

“Go. You have work to do. I’ll catch up with you after.”

She nodded and was gone. He couldn’t resist watching her walk away. His attention was still glued to her butt as she climbed the stairs when Chris was beside him again.

“You done?”

He smothered a sigh and glanced at the leader board. He’d scored well, but he wasn’t going to finish in first place. That meant he didn’t need to hang around for the winner’s interview or the presentation of any checks or buckles, but what the hell was Chris’s problem that he couldn’t wait a little while if Luke had been required to stay? “Yeah, I’m done except that we usually go back out into the arena after the close to sign autographs for the fans.”

“Do you have to?”

What the hell was up with Chris today? “No, I don’t have to but I like to. The fans are—”

“Luke. Please. I need to talk to you. Now.”

The pleading in Chris’s tone, matched by the strange expression in his eyes, told Luke there was something very wrong. “All right. Let’s go on back to the dressing room. We can talk in there.”

Luke could get out of his chaps and unwrap his wrist and hopefully solve whatever was wrong with Chris so they could move on with the night’s celebration. Though when Chris pushed him down onto the bench in the dressing room, then squatted down in front of him, Luke wasn’t so sure there would be any celebrating.

Chris let out a big huff of air, as if he was gathering his strength, and Luke felt his stomach fall. “What’s wrong, Chris. You’re starting to scare me.”

When his best friend’s gaze met his, there was the glistening of tears in his eyes.

“At about five-thirty this morning your mother called our house in a panic.” Chris paused to swallow while Luke fought the urge to vomit. “Your father had collapsed. She’d called the ambulance first. They were already on their way, so my mother and Lilly met her at the hospital. My dad and I stayed behind to take care of your father’s herd before meeting everyone at the ER.”

Luke tried to swallow and found his mouth so dry he could barely manage it. “What did the doctors say? Is he all right?”

The slow sway of Chris’s head had Luke’s entire body quaking. Luke ran a shaky hand over his face. “Tell me.”

“They said it was a brain aneurism. It ruptured.”

He shook his head. “What does that mean?”

“The doctors can tell you better. They told us a third of people die on the way to the hospital, a third die in the hospital, and a third make it if they can operate fast enough.”