Learning the Ropes (30 page)

Chris didn’t recognize the man but right now, that didn’t surprise him in the slightest. He probably wouldn’t recognize his own sister.

“The lady asked you to leave her alone. You should probably move on, cowboy.” Chris slid his hand to Delilah’s back and moved her toward the direction of her trailer. He wasn’t sure what was going on and he couldn’t stand Delilah but he wasn’t leaving her at the mercy of this guy.

The cowboy pushed the back of Chris’s shoulders, knocking his forward, stumbling into Delilah who caught him and pushed him upright. She grasped the front of his shirt. “Please, Chris. Just pretend that we’re together. Tell him you’re my boyfriend or something. I’m really afraid of what he’ll do.”

Chris wasn’t sure if she was really scared or just wanted the guy to go away. But, even drunk as he was, he knew he had to get her to her trailer and away from this man. He just prayed her trailer wasn’t as far away as it felt like it was. He squinted, looking for the garishly elaborate rig.

“Go,” he ordered, forcing her ahead of him. “Get into the trailer and lock the door.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” he slurred. “Go!”

Delilah stumbled into the trailer, slamming the door shut behind her and he barely heard the click of a lock when he was shoved against the aluminum side. Did this asshole really just put his hands on him? Chris ducked faster than he’d realized he could in his state and heard the cowboy’s howl of pain as he slammed his fist into the side of her trailer. With a well-placed jab that somehow managed to land in the cowboy’s abdomen, Chris spit blood from his mouth onto the ground.

“Find someone else to show you a good time,” he warned. “This lady is off-limits.”

“Says who?” Chris saw the bull of a man take a step backward, hunching over and he wondered if the man was giving up or just had the wind knocked out of him momentarily.

“Her boyfriend.” The words tumbled out without him thinking. He just wanted to get rid of this guy and go back to his trailer.

“You’re such an idiot, Chris Thomas,” the cowboy muttered, pushing his hands against his knees to stand. He turned from Chris and started to walk away. Maybe he realized this woman wasn’t worth him getting into a fight for.

Chris took a step away from the side of the trailer. Delilah was safe in her trailer. Enough was enough. He was going to find David, apologize, and curl with Ali in the trailer to sleep this off. He heard the trailer door open as Delilah burst from inside and Chris felt something solid fly just past his nose. He barely took a step backward, turning to warn Delilah to get back into the trailer when he felt the impact against the back of his skull. Just before everything went black.

A
LI WOKE THE
next morning to find herself alone. She’d felt a bit conscious-stricken to think of Chris sleeping in his truck and unlocked the trailer door, knowing he would be in for coffee. She should have let him in last night instead of trying to force him to remedy the argument. As disappointed as she was at the way he handled David, she loved Chris. He wasn’t perfect but neither was she. They would work on their flaws together. She looked through the window as she filled the coffee pot wondering if he was up yet.

Filling the percolator with coffee grounds, she set it onto the stove and she turned it on. Poking her head out the door, she half-expected to see him shivering in one of the lawn chairs but was greeted by only the quiet whinny of the horses. She grabbed one of his sweatshirts from the closet, pausing long enough to inhale the musky male scent of him still clinging to the material, and headed out to feed the animals. She looked around the grounds while the animals milled quietly but didn’t see any sign of Chris. He wasn’t inside the truck and she wondered where he could be. He wouldn’t have gotten up and taken off without feeding the animals. She went back inside and grabbed a mug of coffee when she heard a quiet knock on the door.

“Finally,” she grumbled as she opened the door. “Oh!”

David stood in front of her, looking sheepish. “I don’t suppose you could spare a cup of that for me?” He gave her a lopsided grin.

She grinned at him, hoping he planned on staying long enough to talk with Chris. “I think I can manage to find another mug. Come on in.” She held the door open for him. “Chris isn’t here right now.”

“Yeah, I know. I wouldn’t be here if he were.”

She heard the bitterness in his voice and turned, tipping her head to the side. “David, you guys need to talk. Chris didn’t exactly go about things the right way but he was trying to help us both out. His heart was in the right place.”

“You’d forgive him just about anything, wouldn’t you?” She could read a melancholy in his eyes. He seemed ready to say more then changed his mind and she wondered what he wasn’t saying.

“I’d have thought you would, too. Are you willing to throw away everything you’ve both accomplished, together? What you could still accomplish? You’re on your way to the Finals, David.”

She slid a mug of steaming coffee into his hand and David let his fingers linger over hers longer than necessary. Alicia decided it was better to get things into the open. David needed to hear the truth, not some sugar-coated version of it. “You realize it wouldn’t have worked between us, don’t you?”

She saw the flicker of pain in his eyes followed quickly by defeat. “Yeah,” he agreed, nodding. “I do. But then there are times I wonder if we’d met under different circumstances, or if we’d had more time to get to know one another.” His eyes met hers. “If Chris wasn’t in the picture.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond. Would time have made a difference? Would she have fallen in love with David? They had so much in common but there wasn’t the spark between them, no matter how much either of them might have wanted it to be. Then there was also the situation with his father. She wasn’t sure any woman would ever meet that man’s standards.

“But he is in the picture, David.”

“And how long do you think this
partnership
will last?” He followed her outside and sat down in a lawn chair as she checked the horse’s water bucket. “What happens when you two don’t work out? It’s not like he’s known for having lasting relationships. How are you going to run a business together?”

She sat in the chair across from him and sipped the coffee, buying time to figure out what to say, or not to say. “I’m planning on buying him out next year.”

“Does he know that?” She nodded. “I’ll bet that went over like a lead balloon,” David muttered as he sipped the brew.

“I don’t think he believes me,” she confessed.

“Probably not. If he did, he wouldn’t have offered for me to join you both.” She looked up from her cup, surprised Chris had gone ahead and made the offer without her involvement. “You didn’t know?”

“He mentioned he wanted to, but I told him I didn’t think it would work.”

David chuckled as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “You might have done better to partner with me. At least you know I’d stick around and share the workload. With Chris, who knows what you’re going to get.” He shook his head. “You don’t want me as a partner?”

His criticism of Chris was beginning to bother her but she couldn’t deny the truth in his words. This was a difficult situation and letting David buy into the business could cause more friction between all three of them. It would be practically impossible for her to buy both of them out, even if she was able to win at the Finals.

“Don’t worry, Ali,” he chuckled into his mug. “Your eyes pretty much say it all.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you to but it will change everything.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, sarcastically. “It does make things a bit more complicated when your boyfriend and ex-boyfriend are living on the same property.”

“Well, that doesn’t make me sound like a whore or anything. Thanks.”

“That’s not what I meant.” He rose and dumped the cold coffee onto the ground. “I just meant . . .”

Ali saw him pause and turned to see what caught his attention. Chris was exiting Delilah’s fancy white horse trailer and rubbed his eyes, slapping his cowboy hat onto his head, shielding his eyes from the sun. He didn’t see either of them and Ali turned away from the sight, unable to catch her breath as her heart dropped to her toes. She felt her entire chest constrict, as if a fist was squeezing her heart. Her stomach rolled and she wondered if she was going to throw up. She hurried for the trailer.

“Son-of-a-bitch,” she heard David whisper. David followed her but she slammed the door on him. “Ali, wait.”

She couldn’t face David because he’d been right and she didn’t want to see Chris because he’d just shattered her heart. It wasn’t even seven
AM
yet and her day had gone to shit. She didn’t want to see anyone right now.

Chapter Twenty-One

C
HRIS STUMBLED DOWN
the steps, pulling his t-shirt on over his head and slapping his hat on. He squinted at the sunlight glaring in his eyes and tried to get his bearings. There weren’t many people up at this hour and he had no idea whose trailer this was until he saw David striding toward him, shaking his head in disgust.

“You just couldn’t do it, could you? I knew you would do this.” He turned and started to walk away.

“Do what?” Chris groaned as he rubbed at the ache throbbing between his eyes with his thumb.

David spun, his hands shooting out and shoving Chris back against the metal trailer, holding him up by the front of his shirt. “What the hell are you doing in Delilah’s trailer? Don’t you realize that Ali just saw you coming out of here?”

It took him several moments to register what David was saying. “Delilah?” He struggled to recall what happened as he shoved David’s hands away from him.

Memories of last night came in pieces, unconnected and illogical. Sitting near a fire, Delilah begging him for help, a big cowbow . . . after that, nothing.

“I’ve bailed you out of a lot of situations like this, Chris. I
told
you that you were going to do this to her.” He shook his head. “You had it all and you couldn’t just keep it in your pants, could you? You slept with Delilah?”

“No,” Chris denied, trying to think through the painful crashing of blood through his temples. “I wouldn’t do that to Ali.”

David rolled his eyes. “Please. Like always, Chris, you’re the only person you think about.”

Chris reached for David’s shoulder as he turned to leave. “I’m telling you, I didn’t sleep with Delilah. Where is she?”

“Who, Ali? She’s in the trailer. Hopefully packing up her gear and getting the hell away from your cheating ass.”

“Delilah. Ask her. I know I didn’t sleep with her. I was so drunk last night I could barely walk.”

“And, yet, you end up in her trailer. You were pulling your shirt on when you came out, Chris,” he reminded him.

“Wait, I woke up with my pants on.” His head hurt but he tried to force the cobwebs away. “And my buckle.” He shook his finger. “As a matter of fact, I had my boots on, too. I know I didn’t sleep with her.”

David crossed his arms. “You really didn’t?” He eyed Chris speculatively.

“No!” Chris shook his head, feeling the throbbing worsen. “I wouldn’t do anything to screw this up with Ali.
You
were the reason I wasn’t in the trailer to begin with. She kicked me out until I apologized to you.”

David snorted. “That’s why you were wandering from trailer to trailer last night? If I didn’t like Ali before, I would now.” David wiped a hand over his jaw, his expression going serious. “She’s not going to believe you. I can’t believe I’m even considering that you might be telling the truth.”

“David, you’ve got to help me.”

“Are you kidding? After everything you’ve done to me?” David spun on his heel to leave.

“I’m sorry.” Chris followed after him. “I’m sorry about Ali. I didn’t realize how I felt and I should have backed off. I should have told you before anything happened.” Chris rubbed his face. “Damn it, I should have told you about the ranch as soon as I found out. There’ are a lot of things I should have done differently. But you’re not innocent in this, either.”

David turned and looked at Chris like he’d just grown horns. “Nice apology, Chris. How is any of this my fault? I tried to get you to admit how you felt about Ali, remember?”

“You didn’t explain the situation with your dad. I would have offered the money to you instead. We could have bought the ranch, just the two of us, and started the school.”

“You know this isn’t just about the ranch, Chris. This is about you not wanting something until it’s mine.”

“She was never yours.” Chris didn’t want to hurt his friend any more than he already had but Ali had never been in love with David, any more than Chris had ever been in love with any other woman. Sydney was right. Since they were young, there had never been anyone else. “Or is that the problem? That she chose me over you?”

David shook his head, looking back at the trailer where Ali had disappeared. “And where did that get her? A broken heart and a boyfriend waking up in someone else’s trailer. You’re on your own for this one. I’m done rescuing you, Chris.”

A
LICIA HAD SWORN
to herself she wasn’t going to cry so the burning in her eyes had to be from the horse hair as she groomed Beast. She saw Chris hurry away from Delilah’s trailer and head her way, looking furious. She tossed the blanket onto Beast’s back, following it with the saddle and reaching for the cinch under his belly, ignoring the irate man in front of her.

“Ali, look at me.” She wanted to ignore the demanding tone of his voice but found herself flicking her eyes toward him. “I didn’t do anything.”

Laughter burst from her throat. “Do you really expect me to believe that?” She reached for Beast’s hoof and started to pick it out. “It’s not a big deal,” she lied. “We’re business partners for the next year. Nothing more.”

“Ali, you know me.”

She stood up and moved to Beast’s rump, laying her arm against him. “You’re right. I
do
know you and I should have known that you were full of it when you told me your reputation was rumor. And when you told me you . . . you know what, it doesn’t matter.”