Impact (18 page)

Once he finally arrived at her apartment complex, he took the stairs two at a time and knocked on her door. When she didn’t answer, he knocked harder, saying, “Jess, are you in there? Darlin’, if you’re there, open the door.” Still no answer. Pounding this time, he tried again. “Jessie girl, you gotta come out sometime. Talk to me.”

The door across the hall opened and a woman peeked out. “She’s not there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course I’m sure.” She looked him up and down. “Who are you?”

“Conner Raub. I’m a friend of Jessica’s from the bull riding tour.”

“Ah, so you’re Conner. I should’ve known. She said you were tall, dark and handsome.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You know about me?”

The woman laughed. “My name is Viola. Jessica and I are friends. I’ve been taking in her mail and watering her plants while she’s been on tour. She calls me once a week to check in. Why don’t you come in and tell me why you’re pounding on her door like a madman?” Opening her door farther, she motioned him inside.

He walked in and sat on the couch she indicated. Turning to Viola, he asked, “Has Jessica been here at all lately?”

“Not that I know of. Is everything all right between the two of you?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Conner answered by rote, though he knew it wasn’t, especially since she wasn’t answering his freakin’ calls. “But the tour found out we were dating and suspended her.”

Viola gasped. “That’s horrible. Why would they do such a thing?”

“They said she could rig things to help me win competitions, which is total—” He barely stopped himself before he swore, but Viola just smiled.

“Go ahead, it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve ever heard the word ‘bullshit’ being tossed around. And I happen to agree with you. It is bullshit. I know Jessica and there’s no way she would use her position to gain you an unfair advantage. So what happened after they suspended her?”

“She took off without saying goodbye and now I have no idea where she is. She’s not answering her cell or home phones. I don’t know where to go from here.”

Viola looked thoughtful for a moment. “Have you tried her parents’ ranch?”

Conner shook his head, sighing. He dropped his head into his hands. “It’s a good idea, but I don’t even know where it is.”

“I do.”

His head snapped up so fast he saw stars. “You do?”

“Well, I know it’s in Brownfield, which, if I recall correctly, is outside of Lubbock. I know it’s on the panhandle somewhere. I imagine it can’t be too hard to find out directions to the ranch once you get into town.” Leaning over, Viola patted his leg. “I’ll put dollars to donuts she went there. When women are upset they oftentimes flee to where they have support, and her parents and brothers are there.”

“That’s true,” Conner replied, brightening for the first time in what felt like weeks.

“So what’re you waiting for?” Nodding, Conner rose, jamming his Stetson back on his head and shrugging into his duster. Viola smirked. “I can see why she likes you.” He couldn’t help but smile at her. The woman had spunk. She and Jessica were alike in a lot of ways. “And be still my heart—that smile…” She smiled back and led him to the door. Turning away, she grabbed a notepad from a nearby phone table and jotted something down before handing him a slip of paper. “This is my phone number. I’d appreciate a call when you find her.”

“Yes ma’am,” he answered, adding a little extra drawl to his voice, knowing it would make her laugh. He touched his hat as he headed out the door.

“Drive carefully,” she called as he bounded back down the stairs.

He climbed back into the cab of the trailer and called Brady. “Hey, man.”

“Did you find her?”

“No, but I talked to a woman who lives across the hall from her and apparently is a friend of hers. She thinks Jess went to her folks’ ranch. It’s outside of Lubbock.”

“So you’re headed there now?”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to ask you.”

“What’s it got to do with me?”

“Well, it’s at least a six- or seven-hour drive. You’re gonna have to get a hotel room for tonight at the very least.”

“Conner—go. Don’t worry about me.”

He exhaled a loud breath. “Thanks, bud. I’ll call ya if I find her.”

“Definitely do. I’m worried about her too.”

After hanging up with Brady, Conner filled the gas tank of the trailer and started for Brownfield. Once he got settled he began calling Jessica’s cell phone every half hour. On the third call she finally picked up.

“Jess? Where are you? Are you all right? I’m worried sick about you, sugar.”

“I’m fine, Conner. I’m sorry I haven’t called or returned your calls. I needed some time away where I didn’t have to think about what a mess everything was.”

“Where are you?”

“At my parents’ ranch.”

“Good, ’cuz that’s where I’m headed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I talked to Viola. She told me where your folks’ ranch was, and I’m in the trailer on my way there now. I just passed Jacksboro.”

“When did you talk to Viola? And why are you coming here?”

He answered her questions as patiently as he could, knowing if he started yelling like he wanted to she’d run like a scalded cat. “I went to your apartment to see if you were there. Brady did some sweet talkin’ to get the personnel staffer to give him your address and phone number.” He heard a little snicker and was glad of it. “Viola heard me knocking on your door and came outside to see what was going on. When I told her who I was she invited me inside her place. I told her you’d up and left without a word and I was lookin’ all over for you. She suggested I try your folks’ ranch. She told me what town it was in and I figured I could get better directions once I got to Brownfield.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re coming all the way here.” He could sense the frustration and the fear in her voice, but he wasn’t letting her hide from him anymore.

“Because you and me aren’t done. Not by a long shot. I don’t care what the NBT does or doesn’t do, I don’t plan on letting their decision affect what we choose to do with our relationship.”

“Relationship?”

“Damn right, relationship. What do you think we’ve been doing?”

“I thought—”

“Whatever you thought, you thought wrong, darlin’. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. Now you sit tight until I get there and we’ll talk about everything then. Promise me you won’t run away from me again. Ever.” He injected the thread of steel into his voice that usually made her obey him, hoping to hell it worked.

Jessica sighed but said nothing.

“Promise.” The word came out as little more than a growl, but he was losing patience. Here he was chasing her all over Texas and she wouldn’t even commit to sitting there and waiting for him.

“All right, Conner. I’ll be here. I won’t run.”

“Good. I should arrive in about five hours, give or take.”

“I’ll have Mama hold dinner for you.”

“That’d be real nice, thanks.” He figured he better start kissing up to her parents immediately if he was going to have a long-term relationship with their daughter. The past few days had convinced him he wanted a future with Jessica, but what that future would turn out to be, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was he had absolutely no intention of letting her slip through his fingers.

He stopped for gas again and to grab some crummy food to eat while he drove. It was nearly six o’clock when he pulled into the town of Brownfield. He parked his trailer in the first spot big enough for the rig and made his way to the only restaurant he could see. Stepping inside, he glanced around. Immediately, a man approached him.

“Conner?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah.”

“I’m Evan, Jessica’s brother.” He held out his hand and Conner shook it, looking into the other man’s eyes. He didn’t see anything threatening and relaxed a little. “I figured you might come in here looking for directions to the ranch so I figured I’d save you the trouble. You can follow me.”

“All right. Thank you, I appreciate it.”

As he turned and went out the door with Conner trailing behind him, he said, “I’ve never seen Jessica so miserable. She opened up to me this morning—I’ve always been closer to her than her other brothers since we’re closer in age—and she told me about the job situation.” In answer to Conner’s eyebrow raise he chuckled and said, “She told me about you a few weeks ago.” Conner hoped to hell Evan wasn’t leading him to an execution chamber. Hopefully the man had no idea what Conner had been doing to his sister.

“She did…”

“Yes. Now don’t go getting all skittish, she didn’t give me details,” Evan said, glancing at him with a smile only an older brother would manufacture. “She’s not mad at you, she just needed to get away from everything for a little while. I think you coming here is really gonna help. She doesn’t know I’m here, and she doesn’t know I’m talking to you, so I’d appreciate it if you kept this between us.”

“Of course.”

“I don’t wanna send you running, but you should know Jess is pretty vulnerable right now. So I’ll give you this brotherly warning once—you hurt her and you’ll answer to all of us. Got it?”

“Got it, but I don’t intend to hurt her.”

“No one ever does. Anyway, you’ll find I’m the most reasonable of the brothers. Jess and I are in the middle, so we’ve always been the peacemakers. My younger brother Nate can be a hothead and my older brother’s always been real protective of Jess. My father never needed to intimidate Jess’s boyfriends back in high school. Travis did a pretty job of it all on his own.”

“Great…” Conner muttered. He ignored the reference to other boyfriends. As far as he was concerned, his Jessie girl had never been touched by another man before him and would never be touched by another man now.

Evan smirked. “Don’t worry too much about Travis or Nate or my dad, I’m just trying to give you a little advantage to go in there with.”

Conner stopped and turned to the other man. “Mind if I ask why you’re helpin’ me?”

“It’s simple, really,” Evan answered, looking Conner in the eye. “She loves you. I want her to be happy.”

Conner felt his heart skip a beat. She loved him. But did he love her? What did he know about love? Would he recognize it if it happened?

“Since I don’t want her to know you and I talked, once we get to the driveway into the ranch why don’t you cool your heels for about ten minutes? You can’t see the road from the house and it won’t look so suspicious.”

“No problem,” Conner replied, even though he was already itching to see Jessica and knew waiting would just about kill him.

He got in the trailer and pulled out into the road behind Evan’s truck, his mind working a mile a minute. He called Brady. Maybe he could help, though what he knew about love was about as much as Conner did, and that knowledge wouldn’t fill a fucking thimble, though at least his parents were happily married.

“Hey, man. I’m in Brownfield, and you’ll never believe this. Her brother was waiting for me in town.”

“Guns drawn?”

“Nope. Totally the opposite. He gave me the ‘you hurt her, you die’ speech, but overall he was real accommodating. I’m following him back to the ranch right now. But that’s not why I called.”

“Okay then. Why did you call?”

“Am I in love with Jessica?” he blurted. Conner heard a sharp peal of laughter over the phone and cursed silently. “Don’t be a dick about this. What do you think?”

“You want me to tell you?”

“Give me your opinion, dude. I’m seriously afraid I wouldn’t know it if I was.”

“All right,” Brady sighed. “In my opinion, yes, and I’ll tell you why.”

“Please do.” Conner was curious to hear what Brady’s reasoning was. He suspected Brady was right, but didn’t want to make a huge mistake and hurt Jessica if he was wrong about this.

“Well, first off, who do you think about most of the day? Jessica, right? Who do you wanna be with, even when you’re not in bed? Jessica.” Conner started to argue, but Brady cut him off. “I know what you’re gonna say. You like hanging out with me and the other riders, but when it comes down to it, Jess is the one you wanna spend your time with. When you hear something funny or weird or when something good happens to you, who do you wanna tell? Jessica. Am I right so far?”

Conner exhaled a deep breath. “Yeah, pretty much, now that I think about it.”

“Okay, but here’s the kicker. Picture seeing her with some other guy.” Conner released a low growl before he could stop himself. “Exactly. Your blood pressure just went through the roof, didn’t it? Do you wanna wrap your hands around the fucker’s throat? He doesn’t even exist, and Jessica would never cheat on you, but the very thought of it makes your stomach turn. Am I right?”

“Yep,” he bit out.

“You’re in love with her, dude.”

“Fuck…I totally am.” Running a hand over his face, Conner tried to process this sudden realization.

“So then I’ll ask you. What’re you gonna do about it?”

“I’m gonna go tell my girl I love her.”

“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear. Call me once the dust settles.”