Page 20 of Never Fear (Whiskey Ridge)
There was a reason I didn’t attend events like this often, but Brynne had asked, and Austin had said no, so of course I agreed to come.
“Regretting your decision?” Austin asked, leaning into me so I could hear him over the noise.
“No,” I answered stubbornly, straightening my back and holding my chin high. Brynne was on the other side of me, Booker and Austin caging us in from both sides. Henley had opted not to join us tonight—something about hanging out with Aubree. Honestly, good riddance to him. It would have only given me the chance to catch him offguard in public and enact my vengeance because yes, I was petty and held grudges.
There was noforgive and forgetbullshit in my mind.
Despite Austin’s gaze still on the crowd around us, he added, “This is still a bad idea.”
I rolled my eyes. “Lighten up.”
He leaned forward slightly, elbows on his thighs. “Put your mouth on my cock and maybe I will.”
I frowned. “So vulgar. You really want a whole crowd to see how fast you come? I mean, it’s your reputation, not mine.”
He reached over to pinch my jean-clad thigh, but I pretended not to feel it.
“You want to see how long I can last, just ask, kitten. I’ll gladly drag you behind the stands right now if that’s what you need to quit acting up.”
My mouth nearly popped open with a pleadingyesbefore I thought better of it. “Don’t tease me with a good time, cowboy. I may be forced to push your buttons a little more to make you go through with all these empty threats.”
He scoffed. We both knew they weren’t empty. He’d proven that twice now.
But still, I was stubborn.
He glanced around me at Booker, then abruptly stood and mumbled, “I’m going to get a beer. Don’t leave this fucking bench.”
I glared at his back as he descended the steps, not once looking back in my direction. The asshole hadn’t even offered to grab me a drink.
All this talk of him ravishing me, plus the mention of alcohol, had me pinching my legs together.
I turned to Brynne, tucking my hands in my camo sweatshirt to ward off the cold. “Come with me to the bathroom?”
Before she even replied, Booker was pushing to a stand. “I’ll come with.”
“Um, hell no you aren’t.” I threw a hand out at the crowd around us. “Do you see how packed these stands are? We’ll lose our spot if we all leave, and I can’t hold it until Asshole comes back.”
Booker pinned me with his broody gaze, eyes narrowed.
Brynne looked up at him sympathetically, grabbing his hand to lower him back to the bench. “We’ll be right back. It’s okay.”
His nostrils flared, the only indication that he was allowing this.
I grabbed Brynne’s hand and we popped up from our seats, inching our way to the stairs to head down to the bottom. The smell of freshly popped popcorn wafted up to us the lower we got, and when we reached the dirt, the familiar scent of beer hit me. I wanted to get myself a little souvenir or food or drink while we were down here simply to rub it in that I’d left the bench while Austin was gone, but one glance at the long lines and I thought better of it.
Brynne and I weaved through the crowd of people until we made it to the run-down restrooms. Surprisingly, there was no line for the stalls, but there were plenty of women crowding the sinks to get a better look in the mirrors while they touched up their makeup.
Glancing at Brynne before we parted, I said, “Meet me outside after?”
She nodded and disappeared into the first stall while Ipeeked into the next three before finally finding a clean one at the end.
The muggy sourness of the room had me scrunching my nose as I took care of business. Despite thinking I was going as fast as I could, the women that were chatting away all seemed to clear out at once, wasting no time at all as the bathroom went completely silent.
The gratingly loud man’s voice on the speaker outside announced something I could barely make out, and the crowd cheered. I could only assume the event was starting, and we were missing it. Bright side? Maybe the lines for the concessions wouldn’t be as long if people were rushing back to their seats to watch the bull riding event.
A toilet flushed and another stall closed, but I didn’t want to speak up for fear it wasn’t only Brynne in here.
I fixed my jeans while someone washed their hands, and then I was seemingly alone. Turning around, I eyed the glossy substance on the handle and opted to use my boot to flush the toilet. It jiggled, but nothing happened. I tried three times before I set my foot back on the ground with a huff. Starting to repeat the movements, I paused when slow, heavy footsteps entered the bathroom.
