“I had Stud drive me to the store.” When she saw his dark frown, she added, “I told him the air conditioner was out in our room.”
“Did he believe it?”
“I don’t think so, but he didn’t ask any questions. Are you still mad at me?”
His anger slipped away at her show of remorse. “It’s a lot better. Don’t worry; if we ever decide to get married, I’ll be able to perform up to your standards.” He hoped.
“What standards?” she teased, lying down next to him and snuggling against his side. “The only standards I have is that they’re breathing.”
“That wasn’t what you told me in the bathroom.”
“Okay, that may be true. Sex is important to a marriage, you know?”
“It’s important, but you do know that men do have trouble getting it up when they get older. You going to divorce me if I can’t?”
“You’re not going to get old. Besides, they make pills for that, so we’re good.”
He gazed down at her. Joking around about them getting married gave him a fuzzy warmth in his stomach that he had never felt with another woman. He had also never been so comfortable with another woman whom he had actually spent a great deal of time alone with. She came across with an attitude that was in your face, tough enough to grind men under her boot, and was a smart-ass who could rip a man’s pride to shreds with one sharp word.
He had also seen her teach a group of little girls to dance gracefully, let Star and Harley call her Aunt Anna-Kate, and wasn’t embarrassed to hold a cold compress on his dick.
Taking everything into account, including his sore dick, he came to the firm conclusion she was his kind of woman.
20
“Are you sure you don’t want to go back to the room?” Crazy Bitch asked as they took their seats in the stands.
She smiled, relieved when he took her hand, as the speakers blared, announcing the entrance of the cowboys.
“Mom, can I learn to ride a bull?” Harley asked excitedly from his seat, watching the bull throw a cowboy off its bucking back.
“No.” Sex Piston repeated the same answer she had ever since they had taken their seats and the little boy’s fascination had built with every skillful maneuver the cowboys were exhibiting for the oohs and aahs of the crowd.
“Can I buy one of the stuffed horses?”
“You’re too old for stuffed animals. You made me give the ones I bought you for Christmas last year away.” His disappointed reaction had her relenting. “We can buy one of the tumblers with the picture of the bull.”
Harley’s face brightened. “Cool.”
She and Calder shared a smile at the little boy’s happiness.
Meri and Keri were just as enthralled with the cowboys as their brother, but for another reason. They whispered between themselves who was the better-looking and wondered if they had girlfriends.
“Mom, can we go stand at the fence?”
“No.” Stud’s firm voice had the teenagers’ faces falling.
Crazy Bitch couldn’t blame them. The men drew the gazes of all the women in the crowd. The ability to best almost two thousand pounds of raging bull that could crush them under their hooves even managed to get her attention.
She was relieved when the two-hour show was finished, noticing that Calder was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. They waited until most of the crowd had left before going down the steps.
“Can we get their autographs?” Meri pleaded, while Keri looked at their parents with silent entreaty.
“I’m not going near that bull poop with my heels on,” Sex Piston told Stud when he looked toward her. “You and Calder can take them, and me and Craz—Anna-Kate can wait by the fence.”
Crazy Bitch winked at Star and Harley when Sex Piston almost slipped and used her nickname in front of them. Ever since Star had gotten in trouble at school for talking about her to one of her friends, she had started using her given name when she was in public.
“I don’t mind. I wouldn’t mind getting a few of their autographs, too. Calder can stay with you, and Stud and I can go with them,” Crazy Bitch hastily offered, not wanting Calder to walk farther than he had to. She had tried to get him to take a couple of pain relievers, but he had refused.
“You stay here with Sex Piston,” Calder said. “You two can go buy the tumblers and meet us back here.”
She wanted to argue, but didn’t, remembering her promise not to say anything to Sex Piston about his dick. She couldn’t understand why he was so uptight about it. It wasn’t like Sex Piston would ask for a picture of it.
They found one of the vendors pushing a cart, selling the tumblers near the gate where the cowboys entered the arena. Star and Harley started climbing the fence, watching as the workers began rolling the barrels toward a small truck.