Page 11 of Rodeo (Marked Skulls MC 2)
“You are crazy. Get the fuck out of here!” I barked at Girth and Lila slammed her hand into my chest, not that it hurt at all.
“Stop it, Rodeo! Stop it! Just hear him out! I don’t want you two fighting, please!” she was screaming at me.
“You know nothing about us, nothing about Fred. You just fucking got here and now you’re making accusations about a dead guy!” I growled.
“I am not accusing anyone. I’m just making a suggestion that maybe we should look into Fred’s past, his personal life—and see if there’s some connection there with the Hell’s Drifters. Maybe it isn’t even that large scale. Maybe Fred had a beef with just that bald guy from the MC,” Girth continued and I charged at him.
I was about to strangle him, grab him by the neck but Lila had blocked the path. She was standing between Girth and me now.
“Step out of the way, woman. Let him fucking come at me,” Girth growled as I glared at him.
“You two are going to stop this right now! Girth, just stop talking and Rodeo, just take a fucking walk,” Lila yelled at both of us. Girth and I were still glaring at each other.
“Rodeo, listen to what Lila is saying. Take a walk. Clear your head and get back here,” Lewis said from behind us and I had no other choice. I couldn’t start a fight with Girth right here.
“We need to fucking stop fighting amongst ourselves,” Lewis continued as I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
“No, what we need to do is stop doubting Fred’s integrity!” I barked.
“Nobody is doing that, you stupid boy! Fred was a good friend to all of us. All Girth is saying is to look into his personal life,” Lewis replied and I scoffed and turned away from them.
“There is nothing to look into there. I knew Fred inside out, and there is nothing going on here. This is an attack on us, it wasn’t a personal attack on Fred!” I dished out the words and without waiting for a response from the others, I strode right out of the bar.
Out in the cool night, I waited a few moments for my breathing to subside. What was I going to do? I couldn’t go back in the bar right now—I needed to put some distance between my brothers and myself.
I could feel myself gravitating towards Jordan. I wanted to see her again. We had only been apart for a few hours, and I was already feeling the withdrawal symptoms.
I jumped on my bike, forcing myself to ride towards my own apartment. I needed to give her space. I couldn’t come on too strong and scare her.
Chapter 10
Jordan
I practically ran back to my apartment from the diner when my shift ended. Flora’s behavior had scared me even more, as though I wasn’t scared enough already. I looked at everyone suspiciously, I jumped at the slightest provocation and I wished that Rodeo hadn’t left me by myself.
I ran up the stairs of my apartment building and when I reached my floor, I saw someone sitting outside my door in the dark.
My heart stopped for a second, till he looked in my direction and my eyes adjusted in the dark. I saw the ponytail and the beard, Rodeo stood up and walked towards me.
“It’s me,” he said in a deep voice and I could breathe again.
“Did I scare you?” he asked, when he came closer and I shook my head.
“No, you just took me by surprise. What are you doing here?” I said, looking up at him.
There was a change in him, I could sense it in his body language and see it in his eyes. He was looking down, his blue eyes seemed dim…he looked agitated.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said. Something had happened, I could sense that he wasn’t his usual confident self.
“Do you want to come in?” I asked and he shrugged his shoulders. We walked back to my door together and I opened it. He followed me inside in silence. I’d left most of the lights in my apartment on, so now I could see his face clearly. I was right, Rodeo seemed upset about something and I was surprisingly concerned for him.
He bolted and locked the door behind him and we walked towards the couch.
“Are you okay?” I asked him and he looked up at me with hesitant eyes. I could see that he was struggling with his emotions. He didn’t want to admit to me or to himself that he wasn’t his usual self.
“Did something happen?” I nudged him again and Rodeo let out a deep sigh.
“I think it’s finally sinking in,” he mumbled. It was strange to see Rodeo in this new light, almost vulnerable. It made him seem more human, but I was surprised that he had decided to come see me. Did he feel as comfortable talking to me as I felt with him?
I sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to me. He sat down beside me and we faced each other.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Rodeo. I know how it feels to lose someone who you love but couldn’t save. I went through something similar with my mom,” I told him. Rodeo was refusing to meet my eyes. I could sense that he was embarrassed of his own emotions. Had he never experienced something like this before?
“Fred was the one who saved me,” he admitted and I gulped. I had never imagined Rodeo to be this vulnerable, to speak in this tone. I wanted to pull him into my arms and comfort him. Even somebody like Rodeo was capable of sadness. I remained silent, encouraging him to continue.
“I used to be an actual rodeo,” he said, with a lazy grin on his face. He looked up at me and I arched my eyebrows at him in surprise.
“Like an actual rodeo? You rode bulls?” I asked. That explained a lot of things—for instance, why he had a body like the one he did, why he was so strong and muscular.
“Yeah. I was a street kid for most of my life. Broken home, addict parents, lots of siblings—I wasn’t interested in school. I was a strong kid, and I realized that there was some money in riding bulls,” he continued.
“You must have been very good at it,” I said and he shrugged his shoulders.
“I got by,” he replied.
I was curious but I didn’t want to push him too hard and ask him too many questions. I wasn’t sure how much he wanted to tell me about his life.
“I used to get badly beaten up. It wasn’t exactly a healthy profession,” he said and ran a hand through his hair. The sight of his thick
large hands made my stomach clench. I remembered what those fingers felt like on my pussy, how he had used those fingers to pinch my nipples.
Just looking at Rodeo made me weak in the knees. Every movement he made, was a reminder of how strong he was when he held me, how hard his cock was in my mouth. Was I wet already?
“What happened?” I found myself asking and our eyes met again.
“Fred used to come to the rink, he used to gamble a lot and he used to bet on me. I made him a lot of money, just like I made a lot of other gamblers a lot of money,” he continued.
I watched him as he spoke, the way his eyes darkened and his face looked different—almost dangerous. I could sense that he was talking about a very difficult time in his life.
“The punters wanted me to keep doing what I was doing. I was earning all of them a lot of money. It didn’t matter to them how badly I got hurt, how badly my body got broken,” Rodeo said and I couldn’t control myself, I reached for his hand. I wanted to hold him, just touch him a little.
Rodeo snapped his head up to look at me and there was a fire in his eyes. He clenched his jaws and I drew closer to him.
“How did you get out of it?” I asked him and Rodeo breathed in deeply.
“It was Fred. I don’t think I would have ever gotten out of it if it wasn’t for him,” Rodeo said. I could see the sadness brimming in his eyes. He didn’t know how to deal with the loss of a dear friend.
***
“What did he do?” I asked him and Rodeo shook his head.
“He got me out of there. I was badly broken, sitting on a hospital bed with an injured spine. They wanted me to go back. All they cared about was my recovery, only so that I could go back there and earn them some more money,” he said. I gulped, I squeezed his hand.
“How old were you?” I asked.
