“For the love of God, just call him back and leave a message, you pussy!” I said out loud.
I hit his number again, and this time I left a message.
“Hey, Ty. It’s Kaylee. I had a bit of a problem earlier: a mama cow was standing in front of my house with a calf coming out of her back end. Not something a girl sees every day, I can tell ya that. I couldn’t get ahold of anyone and ended up calling 911. If it’s not a fire, it’s a baby calf being born in my front yard. Anyhoo, Channing heard it, and . . . well, he came over to help out. That was the only reason he was here. I don’t know why he answered my phone. I was down at the barn at the time. Anyway, I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this on the phone either. I’m leaving in the morning to head out of town. I’ll see you soon. Okay, bye.”
I hit end and then stared at the phone. Jesus, did I really just ramble all that off on his voice mail?
With a roll of my eyes, I got back to packing a bag. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and crawled into bed. I had hardly closed my eyes when my alarm went off at five thirty in the morning. I quickly got dressed, made some toast and a cup of coffee to go, and grabbed my bag, charger, and purse. As I was walking out onto the front porch, Brock was pulling up.
I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“Lord, please don’t let this be a huge mistake. Please.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
TY
Bright lights caused me to squint. Tires sliding on the pavement pierced my ears before the sound of metal crunching caused me to scream out in pain.
Jerking up in bed, I dragged in a breath. Then another. My heart raced in my chest, and I could feel the sweat on my forehead. The room felt cold, so cold I swore I could see my breath as I panted to regain some semblance of normal breathing. I dropped back down onto the pillow and closed my eyes.
Fucking nightmares. When would they stop?
My phone rang on the nightstand, causing me to groan and reach for it.
“H-hello?” The word barely came out of my dry mouth. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “Hello.”
“So, it’s true: you were at the bar last night getting shit-faced.”
I groaned and looked up at the ceiling. Thank God I’d shut the curtains last night and the sun wasn’t shining in. “Rich, I’m not in the mood for your bullshit.”
He laughed. “I also heard you were talking to two women.”
My heart stopped, and I quickly looked around the bed. It was empty. I closed my eyes and let last night flood back into my memory.
I had gone to the bar with the two girls. We sat at a table, and I had a few beers, a couple of shots. The blonde managed to hook up with some guy; I had no clue who he was. The brunette stayed at the table. It was me and another bull rider, Mike Warner, by then, and Dirk showed up a little later.
Then I remembered the brunette reaching under the table and rubbing on my dick.
It took me not even two seconds to push her hand away. Why, I had no fucking clue. I needed to be screwed. I needed to have mindless sex with someone to get Kaylee out of my head.
Slowly, I sat up, then scrubbed my hand over my face.
“Yeah, I didn’t hook up with either one of them. Pretty sure Dirk did, though.”
Rich laughed again. “Listen, Bill and I are meeting for breakfast in the restaurant down here in the hotel. You want to join us?”
I didn’t, but that was no way to start off what was possibly going to be a working relationship with these guys. “Sure. Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up, then I’ll be down.”
“Sounds good. See ya in a few,” Rich said.
Once the call ended, I stood and made my way into the bathroom. After a quick shower, I brushed my teeth, then got dressed. I grabbed my wallet and phone and put my black cowboy hat on. I noticed I had a few voice-mail messages. One from my mother, one from Brock, and one from . . .
Kaylee.
My heart wobbled a second in my chest as I held my finger over her message, then hit my mother’s first.
“Good morning, sweetheart. How are things in Billings? We miss you already. One of the neighboring ranches had a cow wander onto Kaylee’s place, and she started laboring in front of her house. The poor thing panicked and called 911. Anyway, give me a call.”