Page 45 of Steel

Steel

My little brother thought he was going to handle me.

Over my dead body.

I’d tried to slip away, making it as far as the main road when Axe had pulled his truck in behind me. Damn the man. Granted, I’d already decided I wasn’t in the mood for his antics, ready to head home. Now here I was, heading to the neighborhood jumper bar so I could be ridiculed by the entire team.

Because I knew that’s exactly what was about to happen.

What the hell. Maybe a night out would take my mind off the shit I’d been festering over. I even had the satellite radio on, the windows down, and my foot was tapping to the beat of the music.

As soon as I made the turn onto the road where Ziggy’s was located, I noticed a crowd of people on the right. What the hell were they doing? They were surrounding something in the CircleK parking lot. With the relatively new rodeo stadium, there was a good chance they were all gawking at some cowboy celebrity.

Well, shit. That brought another round of unwanted memories.

Including the last thing my ex has said while hanging all over another new guy. Apparently, she’d dumped my former friend, moving onto greener pastures. I could not believe Axe thought it was a great idea to be interviewed by some news source because of a ridiculous picture. Not in a million years.

“Well, glad to see you’ve got a hobby. Maybe one day you’ll be good at something.”Her words had been said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

That had been after I’d come in second, which I’d been impressed at since I’d never roped a bull in my entire life.

Yep. She’d managed to knock me down again. Or as my father had said, I’d allowed her to drag me through the dirt. Not my finest hour.

The closer I came, the more I realized several of the people were in a panic. It didn’t take me long to figure out why.

There was a bright red Jeep with flames leaping up from under the hood. What were they doing, taking pictures? I slowed, leaning forward. Whoa. Hold the fuck on. They were trying to open the vehicle’s doors. Was someone trapped inside?

I wasn’t the kind of guy to walk away from an accident or anything else. I whipped my truck into the parking lot and was out on the pavement when I realized where I’d seen the Jeep before.

Parked in front of Violet’s rental house. Ah, shit.

With the flames increasing, there was no time to lose. Had she been knocked unconscious? Why wasn’t she getting out? “What the hell is going on?” I yelled while throwing open the back door of my 4 x 4. Thank God I kept a go-bag including a few hand tools.

One of them being an axe.

“The Jeep has an electrical fire and it shorted the locks. She can’t get out.” The answer was one I hadn’t expected and certainly didn’t want to hear. The man issuing the words was beside himself sweating from trying to get her out.

“I’ll get her out, Marty.” I’d know the aging man my entire life. “Get the crowd back for me. I’ll going to need to break the window.”

“Sure thing.”

Fuck. Fuck…

Right now, I was thankful my asshole of a brother had followed me. He was already out of the cab of his truck by the time I’d grabbed the axe.

“Hey, Steel. She’s got a kid and a dog in the car. She’s trying not to panic, but the fire is spreading fast, including under the chassis.”

Shit. The flames were heading toward the fuel line.

Thick, black smoke billowed toward the sky, the stench ungodly. Several people were extremely anxious, two locals beating on the windows. The dog was going nuts, barking up a storm and from where I stood, I couldn’t see her face.

My heart lurched into my throat, every muscle in my body tense as a drum.

“Get everyone back. Okay?” I didn’t wait for his answer, racing through the crowd toward the Jeep. A woman was blocking my way. “Gina. Get back. Someone call the fire department.” I pulled a couple away, gawkers who had no business hanging around a burning vehicle.

“Get them out, Steel. The fire is getting bigger,” Gina warned.

Tell me something I didn’t know.