Page 48 of Forgiveness
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Maggie
“What’re you doing?”Maggie hissed at her phone, devoid of messages before she shook it angrily and stuffed it back in her pocket. Normally she didn’t get bent out of shape if she didn’t see a man she was dating for more than a week, but no matter how hard she focused on other things, all she could think about was Flux.Why the hell don’t you call me?Maggie had scoured the motel parking lot and the fairgrounds, but he was nowhere to be found, and he hadn’t answered any of her texts in the past several hours. While she was independent and he had a reputation for being elusive, after what they’d shared in Tucson, she had every right to think he would text her back in a timely manner so she could make sure he was okay. His motorcycle was gone too, which made her stomach drop whenever the notion of him being in an accident crossed her mind.
Maybe he doesn’t think he owes me an explanation as to where he is.Maggie shook her head. The truth was pretty evident. Every time they made forward strides in their arrangement, which had evolved into so much more on her end, Flux freaked the hell out, or at least that’s how it appeared to her. She didn’t know if she could handle hiding the growing feelings she had for him—not when they must be obvious as hell. There was no way Flux could really think what they had together was casual—but then she hadn’t heard anything from him.
He was baffling. One second he was shoving his deepest, darkest secrets at her, and the next, he was either retreating emotionally or physically as if she’d hurt him. And that was the last thing she ever wanted to do to him. Maggie bit the inside of her cheek and leaned against Odysseus’s stall. She hated the fact that his absence was starting to affect her performance. As much as she hated to admit it, her barrel racing career wasn’t her only concern anymore. She’d let Flux in and she’d never felt such need or want for another man as she did for the biker.
The way Flux looked at her was as if he never wanted anything or anyone else but her. It was intense and humbling all at the same time. Maggie knew he treated her differently than the other women he’d been with, mostly because they were one-night stands, but also because a few of his hookups who worked the backstage circuit had gone out of their way to talk to her about him.
Some of them were well-meaning and sweet, others were bitter and sad, still others were pitying their time with Flux. But with rumors spreading like wildfire, there was no doubt in Maggie’s mind that they all shared a common thread—no one got more than a night with the guy. After that, he booted their asses to the curb the second he was done with them.
A few of them had asked what new moves Maggie had tried on Flux to get him to stick around and she’d shut them down pretty damn hard. That was absolutely no one’s business. Besides, if she knew why Flux was still sticking around, other than for the amazing sex, she’d have a few of the answers she was looking for herself. And yet, here she was with him pulling back again.He’s ignoring me. Oh, Flux. Damn you!
Maggie sighed and closed her eyes. Despite everything, and regardless of how logical she tried to be about things, she’d gone and fallen in love with him. Stupid move on her part, but it wasn’t anything she’d planned. Actually, Maggie had gone out of her way to convince herself he was just very good at scratching an itch without any emotional attachment.What a fool I’ve been.She’d been hoping that Flux felt the same way about her, but that’d clearly been a delusion and nothing more on her part since he didn’t give enough of a shit to let her know that he was all right.
Her phone went off and she dug in her pocket, nearly dropping it as she fumbled to the main screen.
Flux:With friends. Won’t be back ’til the morning.
Curt, short, and straight to the point. Damn it, what was wrong with him? Why was he so hot and cold?
Maggie:What the hell? Where r u?
Flux:I told you—with friends.
She groaned in exasperation.
Maggie:R u in Pinewood Springs?
A long pause.
Flux:Yeah. Gotta go.
“Fuck you!” Maggie said out loud as she shoved the phone back in her jeans pocket. Licks of anger made her tremble, and she needed a place where she could be alone to clear her head. If anyone saw her face now, they’d immediately know the deal. She was never a good poker player and word was all across camp that she and Flux had a thing. The last thing she needed was a bunch of bullshit questions about what was wrong and where was Flux.
Maggie glanced at the big clock above the stands and saw that she didn’t have time to go back to the motel and veg for a bit. Deciding to go to the backrooms where employees went to screw, Maggie stalked down the hallway as she pushed down the well of unspoken feelings that beat against her ribcage. She pushed open a door and burst in on what looked like a meeting of some kind.
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry,” she sputtered, looking at the circle of men, one of whom was holding a prescription bottle in one hand and a boatload of syringes in the other.
The guy wore a biker vest, was tall as a redwood tree, and looked ready to kill. Maggie had no doubt in her split-second assessment that he wouldn’t hesitate to fuck up her day or slit her throat for what she was witnessing at that moment.
“What the fuck are you doing in here,Princess?” the biker growled. “Go the fuck back to where you belong.”
But Maggie stood like a statue with her mouth opening and closing while she digested the biker and Chet, who was standing next to Eddie.
“What the fuck?” Chet lunged forward and Eddie grabbed him by the arm.
It was enough of a distraction that when she heard more footsteps coming up from behind her in the hallway, she whirled around to them. With any luck, they wouldn’t be an enemy. Maggie fumbled out of the doorway then slammed the door behind her before she started down the hall at a fast jog.
She heard a door jerk open behind her but didn’t glance back. Any kind of pause would be the difference between danger and safety; she instinctively knew that with an absolute certainty.
“Oh fuck,” she cried out, startled as she ran headlong into Jack, one of the rodeo clowns, who was leading a girl by the hand.
“I’m sorry. Hi … uh, I’m just going to … uh—”
“I didn’t see you, Jack. Sorry. I’m off to the stables.” Maggie pointed past him down the hallway and tried to move around them, but froze in her tracks when a light whisper brushed against the back of her neck and she sensed another warm body at her back. All of the hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end. She bit back a whimper and brought her hands into fists at her sides.
