Indignantly, he turned around to face her. “I’m about ready to call it quits and build myself another bike. And if I hadn’t bet my jacket, I would.”
“Calm down. It’s only a little shit and piss.” She sniggered.
As they turned a corner, her laughter died. Shade and Lily were walking in front of them.
“Hide.” His whisper had them searching for a place to keep from being seen.
“There.” Crazy Bitch pointed at a stack of hay.
The two of them managed to hide before Shade or Lily were able to see them.
“Excuse me, do you have a pass? This area is off limits.” A tall man wearing a hat stopped Shade and Lily.
“I just wanted to see the horses.”
Crazy Bitch rolled her eyes heavenward at the man’s face when Lily smiled up at him.
“Would you like me to show you around?”
“I wouldn’t want to take up your time.”
“No trouble. I have twenty minutes before I need to get ready. My name’s Reno.”
“I would have bet a twenty on that being his name,” Crazy Bitch muttered.
“Shh… Shade will hear you.” Calder pushed her head down when Shade turned to look toward them.
“He’s probably trying to find a place to stuff Reno’s body.”
“My name’s Lily, and this is Shade, my husband.”
The man’s face had Crazy Bitch putting a hand over her mouth. Poor Reno couldn’t hide his disappointment.
Neither man made a move to shake each other’s hand.
“Like I said, no one is supposed to be back here without a pass.” The cowboy gave a shrill whistle that had several men coming toward them with bright yellow shirts.
Shade went taut. “My wife just wanted a chance to get a look at the horses. Horses frighten her, and I was trying to show her there wasn’t any reason to be afraid.” The protective arm that went around Lily’s shoulder had the security hesitating. “I promised her when my unit was no longer on call that I’d take a vacation out west.”
Reno gave Shade a speculative glance. “You’re in the service?”
“Yes, I’m in the Navy.”
“Why would you have to take her out west to see horses? Kentucky is known for their horses.”
“Kentucky doesn’t have cowboys.”
Shade’s response had Lily blushing and trying to tug her husband away.
“No, they don’t.” The cowboy’s laughter had Lily turning violet, stormy eyes on her husband, promising him retribution when she got him alone.
“Clint, give Lily and Shade a quick tour.” Reno touched the brim of his hat. “Ma’am, nice meeting you both.”
As Reno and the rest of the security walked past them, Crazy Bitch didn’t miss the look Lily gave the cowboy. Neither did Shade.
Crazy Bitch wished she could be invisible in their bedroom that night. Both of them would be out for payback.
A lanky young man introduced himself before leading the couple down the long row of horses.
“These are the horses that are used for the trick roping. That’s Sunset, Blaze, and Sapphire. These two horses are used for the barrel racing.” Clint ran a gentle hand over a brown nuzzle. “This is Buster and Dusty.”
They moved farther away so it became difficult to hear him. Crazy Bitch was about to tell Calder they were wasting their time when Lily and Shade’s guide stopped at a solid black horse.
“And this is the star of the show. He’s Reno’s Cactus.”
Crazy Bitch and Calder sharply turned toward each other. She was so excited she wanted to jump up and down. Calder, seeing her reaction, grabbed her arm, holding her in place.
“Hurry. They aren’t watching.” He jerked her up from their hiding spot.
They were so intent on getting away before Shade and Lily saw them that they almost ran into Sex Piston and Stud. The couple took one look at their excited faces and turned back in the direction they had come from.
“You found the clue?” Sex Piston shuffled forward, trying to keep up with them in her high heels.
“Let’s go. We can talk about it outside in the parking lot. I don’t want any of The Last Riders overhearing us.”
“There are thousands of people here. They aren’t going to hear anything over these loud speakers.”
“We need to go to the parking lot, anyway.” Crazy Bitch didn’t break her stride, forcing the other three to follow behind her. “We need to hurry. Shade and Lily will be behind us, and when they introduce Reno and his horse, all three clubs will be going there, too. If we’re lucky, we’ll get there first.”
Once they were outside, they took a second to catch their breaths.
“The star of the show is a horse named Cactus. Look around at the names of the sections of the parking lot.” The one closest to them was a wooden barrel, the next over was a cowgirl grinning down at the parking lot with a lasso swinging over her head.
Sex Piston and Stud grinned back at them.