Page 1 of Beau
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LAINEY
Behind the scenesof a rodeo was chaotic, even more so when combined with a county fair. Organized, but still crazy. Not only were there tons of people milling about, but animals, too. Horses. Calves. Sheep. Bulls. Their pungent scent mixed with the buttery goodness of popcorn and greasy funnel cakes. Echoing cheers and clapping from the crowd overhead. The announcer’s voice over the loud speaker.
I wasn’t like my brother, Trig, who spent over fifteen years on the pro rodeo circuit. For one, I was a girl and they didn’t let us ride on the back ofa bull to win a championship belt buckle and large financial purse. No, I barrel raced atop Junior, my quarterhorse. I stuck to Montana to compete because most of my time was taken up by running my family’s ranch.
I was content to stay in one spot. To be near my family. To work our land. But it sure was fun to compete… and the prize money I earned wasn’t half bad either. To be in sync with Junior as I guided him around the barrels, then fly like the wind down the straightaway at the end. I thrived on that adrenaline, in the chaos. Craved it when it got too quiet on the ranch.
The barrel racing semifinal was going to start soon and I needed to get to the warm-up area. I was in the field where all the participants parked their vehicles and trailers behind the arena. Junior’s lead was tied to the back of my trailer as I adjusted the cinch on his saddle, taking one last moment in the quiet before the chaos. Shep and Zeb, my two youngest brothers, just left with Ma to watch the event from the stands. She’d been out of the hospital for a few days and insisted on watching me compete. Not even a head injury from a thrown can of beans was going to keep her away. We’d all been worried when she got hurt bya crazy woman who had the hots for Bray and got upset when he got together with Katie. Crazy enough to confront him at the grocery store and then hurt Ma in the process. The doctor’s said she had a hard head and only had a mild concussion. The crazy woman? Ma had decided not to press charges because, as she explained it, of course women would lose their minds over one of her sons.
Even though the doctors said she was fine and she said she was fine, Shep and Zeb were still keeping a close eye on her.
I’d just patted Junior on his flank and about to untie his lead when I heard the woman’s voice.
“Please. I changed my mind.”
I couldn’t miss the panic.
“I thought you wanted to hang out with a cowboy,” a man countered.
I knew that kind of talk, the words that came after flirting and when things went too far.
“Not back here,” she replied. “I thought in the arena.”
“Thought we could hang out with my friends.”
“No. I’m not going off with you.”
I heard a slap, then a whimper.
It was dark in the back lot. The arena’s exteriorlights didn’t filter too much this far away. The crowd was either at the fair with the midway and rides on the far side of the arena, or in their arena seats watching the mutton busting, so it was quiet this far back.
Weaving around the vehicles, I went after them. No way could I leave a woman in trouble.
“Hey!” I called, winging it. “Sharon, I thought we were gonna go do the rides!”
The man stopped, which forced the woman at his side to bump into him. They turned as one. The woman was young, probably nineteen or twenty and very pretty. In jeans, a pale pink t-shirt, and sneakers, she definitely didn’t belong with this older, rough guy. Her blonde hair was long and shiny, but so were her tear filled eyes. I couldn’t miss the red cheek where she’d been struck.
“Ready to get going?” I asked, trying to paste a smile on my face. Her name wasn’t Sharon and I’d never seen her before, but my words did get them to stop.
She nodded and yanked at the man’s hold.
He looked between us, then muttered to himself. “Fuck.” Over the years, I’d gotten to know a lot of people at these events, but I’d never seen him before. Short, stocky, and sporting a thickmustache, he wasn’t doing anything for me, especially because of the tight grip he had on her and the nasty look in his eye.
I stepped close. Maybe it was stupid, but I wasn’t letting him take this woman anywhere.
“She’s not going with you,” I said, tipping my chin up.
“Oh yeah, how you gonna stop me?” he snarled.
With eight brothers, I learned a few self-defense skills, like a hard kick to the balls, which I swiftly delivered like a field goal kicker trying to make a fifty yard win.
With a rush of air seeping out of him like a weak balloon, he released her as he bent forward into himself.
“Run!” I told her. Her eyes widened as she looked my way, at the guy bent over, then bolted like a bull out of a chute, around the corner of a trailer and toward the arena. After I knew she was gone, I followed, but that few second delay was a mistake. Maybe the asshole wore a cup. Maybe he had steel balls. Or none at all. He grabbed me by the back of my shirt and pulled me into him.
I struggled, but his grip was tight. “Doesn’tmatter. I think you’re the one I want anyway,” he said, breathing hard.
