Page 7 of Forgiveness
CHAPTER FOUR
Maggie
“Come on, man,women can’t rodeo any more than men can have babies, and it’s damn stupid to try their hand at a sport that will more than likely get them seriously injured or killed. A woman’s much better off in the kitchen looking after her man and making him happy.”
Maggie bristled as she caught the tail end of a loud conversation near the bar at Alamo’s while she nursed her beer. When she turned around to assess the supposed voice of reason, nothing shocked her more than when she saw Chet at the head of his little gang of bull riders taking the helm. God, the asshole set the women’s movement back decades simply by breathing.
How the hell did I ever date him? Biggest mistake of my life.Granted, she hadn’t known then what she knew now. And what she knew now made her slide off her barstool and stalk over to their boisterous table. When she stood in front of it, the talk died down real fast. Chet’s gaze swung from his cronies and up at her before his smile lit up his whole face.
Ugh, he needed to spare her the charming cowboy act. Everyone knew it was a ruse. She did, better than anyone at that point, and waving his good ol’ boy southern schtick in her face was like taunting a bull with a moving piece of cloth. Just about now, she planned on goring the jerk with her verbal horns.
“Honeycakes, what can I do for you tonight?” Chet put down his beer and stood up. “Did you have a change of heart about us?”
“Hardly,” Maggie breathed out, not bothering to disguise her disgust at his suggestion. “I couldn’t help overhearing your loud and ridiculous opinions, and I thought you could benefit from a third party throwing her hat into the ring.”
Chet grinned wider and looked down at his cronies before he looked back at her and winked. He never was one to pick up on a hint. She crossed her arms and took a deep breath then narrowed her eyes.
“You do know we live in the century where women are highly competent and capable to do damn near anything they want in this world without a problem. Merely because we don’t line up with your outdated ideas on men being the stronger sex doesn’t make you’re better than us. In fact, I’ve seen you flounder on that bull more times than I can count, Chet, and I’ve fallen off … hmm, how many times now?”
The idle chatter at their table went quiet, and Chet’s easygoing demeanor took a backseat to his scowl.There he is. The real man behind the mask. Maggie straightened her shoulders and cocked her head as her hair fell across her shoulders.
“Men think because I look like I do that I don’t have a brain in my head. Well, I do, and I’m sure as hell better in the ring than any of you. So next time you start assessing women based on outdated gender norms, maybe you should look at your scores in the ring and get back to me, okay?”
“Babe, we didn’t mean—” Chet started in again as his hands flew up trying to smooth over the situation.
“Yeah, you did mean it. You meant every damn word.” She whirled around and walked back to her stool. Without a doubt, they would bring up the subject again. Men like that never caught onto progressive ideas even when it was spoon fed to them, so they would go back to judging her gender and demeaning her purely because it was all they knew how to do—but at least she had said her piece about it. That was more than she had gotten to do in the past, when Chet revealed his true colors after several dates.
“Nice one, kiddo.” Sadie, the bartender and owner of Alamo’s winked at Maggie. “Next one is on the house. If they didn’t buy a hefty tab’s worth of alcohol here, I’d kick ’em out on their asses … but money is money.”
“I get it.” Maggie sighed and took another long drink, ignoring the sputtering of laughter coming from the table she’d just left. Chet’s guffaws were the loudest, and they made her nerves snap in anger.He’s such an asshole.
“Man thinks he’s a god just because he rides bulls, but that doesn’t give him a license to treat everyone with disrespect. One of these days, something big will happen to make him understand that fact.” Sadie slid another beer bottle across the bar and patted Maggie’s hand. “Don’t let him get to you too much, okay?”
“He barely makes a dent on my radar.” Maggie brought the bottle to her lips.
“Not like the one I saw you dancing real close with last night, right, sugar?” Sadie laughed and went to help another customer, but that didn’t stop her from catching Maggie’s eye with a less than subtle wink.
At the mention ofhim, a twinge went through her body and she stiffened as she tried to suppress it. A distraction was the last thing she needed on her agenda, but she couldn’t deny how incredibly attracted she was to him. What woman wouldn’t be? Tall, well-built, intensely blue eyes, which contrasted with his almost black hair, a sexy five o’clock shadow, and a strong jaw that had her wanting to run her tongue along it. The ink on his arms frightened and fascinated her.
Maggie took another gulp of beer and looked over her shoulder—he wasn’t there.Probably for the best.She doubted such a strong and confident guy would come back in the bar looking for her after she’d shot him down the night before. She had to—he exuded danger and sexiness to the fucking max. It’d surprised her how attracted she was to him the moment she laid eyes on him. He wasn’t the normal type of guy she went after. There was nothing clean cut or cowboy about him. No … the man was all muscle and sharp edges, and his brooding eyes hinted at more if only she would get to know him. And that was where the good-time train took a turn, and Maggie knew she had to get off the ride or risk getting too involved with him. He was the type of man that a woman would fall hard for, and she had no time for that.
At first, Maggie had regretted not throwing caution to the wind and ignoring her common sense, but when she’d seen him at the arena staring at her, she about fell off her horse. Of course, she acted like she didn’t notice him, but her heart was pounding and the blood was rushing through her veins and it wasn’t because of her practice session.Hewas the cause of it, and she couldn’t have any of that, right?
Another too-loud laugh from Chet was followed by whistles and claps.Look what a mess it’s been since I dated someone in the circuit. No way I’m repeating my mistake with Flux.Maggie shook her head slightly.What the hell kind of name is Flux anyway?
Sadie plopped another beer in front of her. “Compliments from the loudest guy in the bar.” She tipped her head in Chet’s direction.
Maggie groaned. “I don’t want it. Give it to someone else.” She glanced around and spotted a big burly guy with arms like ham and covered in tattoos. He wore a denim vest covered in metal and rock-band patches. “Give it to him.”
“Oh, you’re bad,” Sadie said as she picked up the beer and walked away.
That was what Maggie didn’t want—to be put into another situation similar to Chet. As it was, the man followed her around like he had her on a pin to his Google maps, and though she’d like to think it was only a coincidence, since they knew the same people and worked together, Chet’s pseudo-stalking was becoming quite alarming. It seemed that every damn rodeo she signed up for, he was there too. That had to be more than a coincidence.
And now Flux worked for the rodeo as a bullfighter—one of the most dangerous jobs of all. Maggie had to admit that she’d never have guessed he’d work at a rodeo. From his baritone drawl, she figured he was from Texas, but him in a rodeo? No way.
She stretched out her back.I really need to stop thinking of him so much. This is more than nuts.But she really had a good time with him the previous night. She’d loved flirting with him, and the second they got out on that dance floor together, it felt so right. “Silly,” she mumbled under her breath.
No matter what, she’d have to take a hard pass and stick to keeping the other side of her bed as cold as a grave. Too bad her body hadn’t gotten that logical memo. She swiveled around on the stool, and her eyes couldn’t help but scope out the crowded bar scene for Flux, even with her newest resolution.What’s the harm in just hanging out together? I won’t go to his room tonight, but we did have a good time talking and dancing.Their banter had been refreshing, and it was nice to be with someone who could keep up with her. Flux also didn’t seem to have an issue with her less-than-southern-belle attitude; where her sass had gotten her into trouble before with other men, Flux seemed to enjoy a challenge.
