Page 69 of Rough Stock
Shyanna stood and wiped her eyes.No time for crying, she told herself. She had two horses to feed, a shotgun and handgun to hide because a felon wasn’t supposed to have them, and a boyfriend to find. Dora insisted he would never just up and walk away, and for reasons she couldn’t understand, Shyanna believed her. Jensen was the one man she’d met who didn’t seem to be capable of doing that to her. He’d said he loved her, and he’d fucking well made her believe it. Something was very wrong.
And she had every intention of finding out exactly what it was before it was too late.
Amber had heard allthe sirens, but they’d assumed someone had been hurt in one of the events, so they’d just gone back to what they were doing?each other. God, Amos was a wild stallionin the sack! She was pretty sure they’d run through every sex position known to man, and they were still looking for more.
After their last go-round, she’d fallen asleep, and when she woke, Amos was sleeping too, his breathing deep and even. She decided she’d really like a cigarette. If her mama knew she was smoking… Stepping out of the trailer, she looked around, and that was when she noticed something odd.
Jensen’s rig was gone.
What the fuck?rolled through her mind, and then she saw a bunch of cowboys come strolling through the parking area, loud and rude. That was when she spied Shyanna, sitting on the steps of her trailer, her face in her hands. They made some comments to her?no doubt ugly?and she saw her friend lift a shotgun and level it at the guys, all of whom beat a hasty retreat.
Something looked very wrong. Amber ducked back into the trailer, jumped on the bed, and shook Amos. “Hey! Wake up!”
“Whaaa… what the fuck? What’s wrong?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Something’s happened. Jensen’s rig is gone and Shyanna is sitting on the steps of her trailer. By god, I think she’s crying,” Amber said, pulling her clothes on. “Come on! I’ve got to go check on her.”
“Aw, shit, did it ever occur to you that maybe they had a lover’s quarrel and he just took off?” Amos asked as Amber pulled her boots on.
“I’ve never gotten the impression that Jensen would argue with Shyanna. Yeah, she’d argue withhim, but not the other way around. Besides, she doesn’t cry. I’ve never seen her shed a tear, and she’s not even real emotional in any other way. If she’s crying…” She sat there staring at Amos. “She’s my friend. If something’s wrong, I need to be there for her. Come. Don’t come. Doesn’t matter. I can’t just sit here.”
“Well, fuck me,” Amos said and crawled over to sit on the edge of the mattress. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll come. Strader’s a friend of mine, so I’ll go with you. Hang on,” he said, pulling on his jeans, a pair of flip-flops, and a tee shirt.
Shyanna wasn’t on the steps and the lights were on in her trailer when they walked up, so Amber knocked on the door, but she didn’t answer. She waited for a half minute or so and then just opened the door and stepped in. “Shy?”
The woman who greeted her there in the dim light was one she’d never seen before. Shyanna’s eyes were swollen and red, and she had a tissue in her hand. “What?”
“What’s going on? We saw those guys razzing you. Where’s Jensen?”
Shyanna’s hands were shaking, and it startled Amber to see her in that state. “I… I don’t know. I have no idea. But DaleGresham’s dead.”
“What?” Amos shrieked. “Dale’sdead?”
Shyanna nodded. “Yeah. And they’re claiming Jensen did it.”
“No. That can’t be,” Amber whispered, shaking her head. “No. He would never do something like that.”
“His rig’s gone. His horse is still here. Somebody broke in here and stole his Smith & Wesson. I don’t know what the hell’s going on.”
“His parents?” Amber started.
Shyanna shook her head. “Nope. His mother says they haven’t heard from him. Something’s wrong, Amber. I can feel it.”
“I’ll say. Something’sverywrong. We need to find him, Shy.”
“I don’t have any idea how to do that,” Shyanna said, her voice little more than a whisper.
“Okay. What do we know?” Amos asked, and Amber could see where he was going with it.
Shyanna sat down at the dinette table and Amber could see the cogs turning in her head. “Okay. They scratched me without any warning. When they didn’t load my bull in the chute, Jensen went to ask about it and the chute boss said he’d have to ask management. That’s when he went to find somebody in the office. And he never came back.”
“Okay. So if Jensen didn’t kill Dale, who else would’ve been up there?” Amber asked.
“Jimmy Fuller,” Amos answered.
“And MaxBarlow,” Shyanna offered.
Amos looked slightly confused. “Why do you think Max would’ve been up there?”
