Cowgirl Crazy (#2, Cowboy Way) (22 page)

“
That’s none of your damned
business now. Just get your ass back on the circuit and forget we
ever existed. Leave us in peace.”

Ryan’s phone rang in his pocket, and his eyes
flew to the sign on the wall saying they weren’t allowed to be used
inside the room. He fumbled behind him for the handle to the door
and pushed it down. “I’ll be back to check on her once things
settle down,” he said jerking the door open to stagger into the
hallway.

His eyes fell on another no cell phone sign,
and he all but ran for the elevator. Pulling the phone from his
pocket, he saw it was Zack. He didn’t have the guts to talk to him.
There wasn’t anything Zack could say to him that would make him
feel worse than he did right now. And honestly, he wasn’t in any
shape for the confrontation right now.

One thing he could do for his surrogate family
though was get retribution from the man who hurt Twyla. Because he
needed to. It wouldn’t even begin to repair the damage he’d caused
though, nothing would. Ryan had fucked up the best thing that ever
happened to him for good, but at least that would give him an
outlet for the rage burning inside him. And maybe it would give the
family some kind of relief from their own rage at him.

Ryan walked out of the sliding doors at the
front of the emergency room, and his truck was not there. Could
things get any worse for him today? His damned truck had evidently
been towed with his wallet inside. He only realized his cell phone
was in his hand when it rang. It was probably Zack again, he
thought, and went to push the ignore button. Instead, it was
Heather, so he pushed talk. “You have totally fucked me,” he
growled before she could speak, as he walked over to a bench beside
the door to sit down.

“
No, that’s Twyla’s job. Be
thankful I didn’t tell them that though. They’re pissed, but maybe
you can talk your way out of it. If I’d have added that other
little tidbit about you sleeping with her, you’d probably be in the
hospital with Twyla.”

“
She’s in a coma!” Ryan shouted
into the phone.

“
She’s not in a coma. They have
her sedated for the ventilator until the drugs Jared gave her wear
off and she can breathe on her own again.”

“
Drugs?” Ryan repeated, shooting
to his feet.

“
He slipped her a
roofie.”

“
I’m going to kill that bastard,”
Ryan growled, taking deep breaths as his heart tried to beat out of
his chest. “Where the fuck is he?”

“
The police are trying to find
him. I talked to them at the hospital and gave them as much
information as I could. I haven’t been able to find Leon yet to see
if he can tell me more. He’s not usually up until after
noon.”

“
You know where Leon lives? I’ll
wake him up, and he will tell us where to find that slimy friend of
his, or I’ll peel his fucking skin off.”

“
Calm down, tiger,” Heather said
with a laugh that inched Ryan’s anger up a notch. This woman didn’t
seem to know exactly how bad this situation was. “Don’t bite the
hand that can help us. Leon can’t stand Jared either. Just puts up
with him, because…well, I don’t know why exactly, but he
does.”

“
I need a ride. My truck’s been
towed and my damned wallet is in it.”

“
Where are you?” Heather
asked.

“
Outside the front of the
hospital. I need to get out of here before Zack gets here, or there
won’t be anything left of me to take care of Jared Wilkins. I’ll
meet you on the west side of the hospital.” If he stayed outside
the emergency room, he knew he’d run into Zack.

“
Twyla’s brother?” Heather asked
with a laugh. “You scared of him? He’s not all that big and bad.
He’s just an uptight asshole.”

“
No, I’m not scared of him, I just
don’t want to fight with him. That man is as close to a brother as
I’ll ever get. And he is not an uptight asshole, Zack is just…”
Well, Ryan had to admit Zack could be an uptight asshole at
times.

Heather laughed. “I’m on my way. Ten
minutes.”

The line disconnected, and Ryan shoved his
phone in his pocket. His eyes snagged on a familiar truck waiting
in line to turn into the parking lot, and quickened his steps. He
flew around the corner, and stood with his back against the wall
between a row of tall hedges. He didn’t let down his guard until
nine minutes later Heather’s truck rounded the corner and stopped.
He saw her looking around the lot, and stepped out of the bushes.
He glanced around himself for Zack as he walked to the truck and
got inside.

“
Whew, that was close,” he said
resting his head on the back of the seat.

“
You really are a chicken, aren’t
you?” Heather needled, as she put the truck in gear. “I’m glad I
could come and save your sorry ass. It’s worth it to see you like
this, Mr. Bad Ass Cowboy.” Heather leaned forward over the wheel to
look left and right, before merging into traffic, then looked over
at him with a smug grin. “I’ll loan you my mace if it’ll make you
feel better.”

“
I’m not a fucking chicken. My
ribs are busted! I got stomped on by a damned bronc last night. I
don’t need to be stomped on by Zack too,” Ryan growled, pinning her
with a lethal stare.

This woman was just irritating, and
aggravating and seemed to enjoy it. She had no filter between her
brain and damned mouth. Either that or she really didn’t give a
shit what people thought of her. A lot like Twyla, but at least
Twyla had more couth and somewhat of a filter. Not much more, but
some. Twyla teased him as well, where Heather didn’t, she was just
brash and abrasive. Heather wasn’t flirty at all, thank God. That
was one woman he wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. But Twyla he
would touch, ten times today and twice on Sunday.

Ryan’s feelings for the beautiful woman he’d
tried to think of as a sister for so long had definitely
transitioned into more. It was more than brotherly, more than hot
sex. Since Twyla had been gone he realized something. When she
wasn’t around, he just didn’t feel right. When she left him, it
seemed like she had pulled the spark plug out of his life. He was
still living it, he just had no pep or energy. Like the broncs he
spurred to get reactions and more points from during his ride,
Twyla spurred him. That’s exactly what it was like. She spurred him
to do better, be better and face and feel things he’d otherwise
hide from.

Like the fact that he’d been in love with the
girl for ten years.

Ryan was going to do something about that,
just as soon as he fixed this and the slight problem that her
family now hated him. They were a very close family unit. Having
any kind of relationship with Twyla would be impossible unless he
convinced the Taylors he wasn’t the scum of the earth.

They drove a few minutes, then Heather picked
up her cell phone from the console and cursed. “I was going to try
to call Leon again, but my phone is dead. I forgot to pick up my
charger on the way out the door.”

Ryan lifted up and pulled his out of his
pocket. He shoved it at her. “Use mine.”

That would give him Leon’s number too, so if
he had to track the man down later himself he could. Another avenue
to get in touch with Twyla too, just in case. He hoped he never had
to call that man though. Ryan was going to do his best to make sure
Twyla never stepped foot in the Crazy Cowgirl again. Maybe she
would listen now, because of what happened to her. If he couldn’t
convince her, maybe her family could. Since they knew now, maybe
she would feel differently about working there.

He sure as hell hoped that was the
case.

Heather dialed, cradled the phone to her ear,
and whistled. Ryan’s eyes shot over to her, as she said, “Thank,
God, Leon. I thought I was going to have to get a bloodhound to
find you. I need to know where I can find Jared
Wilkins.”

She pursed her mouth and listened for a
minute, and Ryan held his breath.

“
I know I don’t need to be around
him, but he tried to rape Twyla last night. I need to find
him.”

More silence followed that inched up Ryan’s
agitation to know what was going on.

“
Leon, I’m not going to do
anything stupid. The cops need to know where he is so they can
arrest his scummy ass.” She rolled her eyes, and then said, “I
can’t help it if he has photos. You’ll just have to deal with Layla
if it happens. But I promise I won’t tell him you told.”

Huffing out a breath, Heather pushed the
button to disconnect the call, and threw the phone into the console
of the dash. “Damn, Leon and the shit he gets himself into,” she
grumbled. “He’s a good man mostly, he’s just stupid like most men
are.”

Heather sure had a low opinion of the male
gender. Ryan wondered what in the hell had happened to her to cause
it, but he had other things to worry about. Like what information
she’d gotten from Leon. “What the hell was that about?” Ryan sat up
straighter in his seat, and turned to face her. “Did you find out
where Wilkins is?”

“
Yeah, I found out. Bastard must
shit where he sleeps. He has a trailer parked behind his strip
club.”

It didn’t matter to Ryan, but he was too
curious not to ask. “What was that he said about
photos?”

Heather glanced at him and frowned. “None of
your business,” she said shortly. “Doesn’t have anything to do with
this situation. Besides, we have more important things to discuss.”
She glanced over at him with a mischievous grin stretching her full
lips. “I think I know how we can keep you out of jail, but still
pay that asshole back.”

Because of what happened with his stepfather
previously, serving time was a very real possibility if he got
caught this time. He wasn’t keen on spending time in jail or adding
to his record, but he wasn’t letting that stop him. One way or
another he was going to stomp Jared Wilkins ass into the ground.
But if Heather had other ideas, he was definitely going
listen.

“
Spill it. I’m
listening.”

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Something was wrong. Twyla’s throat hurt, and
she felt like her head was stuffed with cotton. Every inch of her
body hurt. Did she have the flu? She didn’t remember being sick.
But her brain was so foggy, she didn’t remember much anyway.
Dragging her eyes open, it felt to her like sandpaper lined the
inside of her eyelids. They scraped as she pried them
open.

The first thing she saw was a man in a white
coat leaning over her. Next her eyes slid to the man standing
beside him with tears in his eyes. Her daddy. She’d never seen him
cry before, but slow tears rolled down his face.

Fear shot through her. Had somebody died? She
tried to talk, but nothing would come out. Her hand flew up to her
throat to massage her vocal chords.

“
Water,” she managed to croak. Her
throat felt raw, and slick it was so dry.

A glass immediately appeared on her left side,
held by her mother. Twyla reached for it, but couldn’t lift her
arm. She looked down and saw her left arm was in a splint. Her
eyebrows pinched as she reached her right hand across her body to
take the glass. She put the cup to her lips and drank greedily. The
water flowed down her throat reviving it like the brown grass of
winter by the first spring rain. She drank the last drop, then
tried to smile, but her lips felt cracked, so she flattened them
back out.

What the hell happened to her?

“
Where am I?” she asked, looking
past her mother at the supply station against the wall. She was
evidently in the hospital for some reason.

“
You don’t remember what
happened?” her daddy asked, seeming a little relieved.

Twyla searched her blank memory and nodded.
Whatever it was must’ve been bad gauging from the look on her
daddy’s face.

“
That’s typical, Mr. Taylor,” the
doctor interjected, then cleared his throat. “The drug she was
given causes that. But the good news, it’s out of her system now.
Her memory will improve, and she’ll regain her strength very
fast—”

“
Drug
?!?” Twyla screeched,
trying to sit up, but then falling back against the
pillow.

“
Yeah, darlin’. Some bastard gave
you a roofie.”

Twyla had heard that term at the bar before.
Had been warned never to take drinks from anyone other than the
bartender, and to never leave it unattended on a table or the bar.
Her mind ticked back to the last thing she could remember. She’d
gone out to watch Heather’s gig, and had had a beer, but she had
bought it, drank it at the table. Then that agent had bought her a
beer.

Good God had that man drugged her?

“
Jared slipped something in my
beer?” she asked incredulously.

“
He did more than that, sweetie,”
her mother said, her hand dropping on Twyla’s shoulder. “But you’re
alive. That’s what’s important. The police will get
him.”

“
How did I get banged up?” Twyla
focused on her lower regions and didn’t feel sore there, so she
figured she at least wasn’t raped.

Her daddy’s lips wobbled, and he cleared his
throat. “He assaulted you in the parking lot of his strip bar, and
you fought back.” He ran his hand over his beard-roughened face,
and a tremor shook him. “I’m so proud of you, baby girl. You got
yourself out of what could’ve been a very bad situation. If Ryan
had told us what you were doing before now, none of this would’ve
happened.”