Oh, yay. Just my luck . . .
“You want that interview now, or . . .”
I sigh. Of course Knox is first up on the list. I stand, taking him in with a frown. Hopefully he’s a minor feature and not an exclusive.
“Someone on the circuit likes you, Maggie girl. I’m your first exclusive.” The way his dark eyes flare with heat makes my gut sink.
Screw my life six ways to Sunday.
“I’m not condu?—”
The door to the small gas station shop opens, the small bell chiming as it does. Knox’s attention snaps over my shoulder. “Huh, I see how it is.”
Hadley stops at my side. “See how what is, Knox?”
Kade’s gaze alternates between Hadley and me. “The blatant favoritism. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out how you ended up with a shit ton more pictures last weekend than the rest of us.” His eyes swing back to me. “Hope his cock is worth it when the broke loser is kicked off the team.”
Knox stalks for the shop, his shoulder hitting Hadley’s as he goes by.
Heat engulfs my face instantly with his insinuation I’m fucking Hadley, or more like Hadley is fuckingmefor favors. The nerve on the guy.
“Maggie—”
“Nope. Not talking about it in the middle of the road.” I rush to the van and slide the side door open. I’m no prude, but the accusation of sleeping with Hadley as some kind of favor sits about as right in my core as setting kittens on fire.
Some of the circuit may see him as a broke charity case, but I’m not one of them. His kindness, despite our disaster of a start early in the season, has cracked through my hardened veneer. Not his cock, or whatever else Knox was trying his best to spit at us.
I slump onto Betsy’s side step and shove my head in my hands. Is that what they all think? And now we’re road-tripping together this weekend. No wonder people are putting two and two together and coming up with seven.
I groan into my hands.
This is going to backfire for Hadley, I can just tell. The sinking feeling in my gut that crept into existence with Knox’s vile words tells me all I need to know.
“That’s not why we’re friends, Maggie, you know that.”
I do.
I lift my head. “It doesn’t matter what you and I think, orknow, it only matters what the rest of the circuit perceives this as. I don’t want you to lose your spot with the Bravos.”
“That’s not going to happen. I won’t let you down.”
I push to my feet and close the distance between us. “It’s not me I’m worried about, cowboy.”
His jaw flexes and the wind picks up, rustling the plastic bag in his hand. “Fuck them all, Maggie. Fuck Knox right the hell off.”
I can’t help but chuckle at his words... The serious look on his face as he saysfuckandKnoxin the same sentence.
“Yeah, well, I’m no saint, but Kade Knox is the last man I’d fuck. Just so you know.”
I know that’s not what he meant, but the need to lighten the mood overrides everything else. His face slackens and I have to tamp my urge to pat his stunned, handsome face. Instead, I round Betsy’s grill and haul my slightly inappropriate ass in behind the wheel and fire her up.
This weekend is a singular event on Saturday, but the teams and crew—that’s me—are required the night before for setup, rundowns, and some kind of training for the riders. Which, you guessed it, the PBR wants photos of.
We should get going, god knows there’ll be hell to pay if Hadley and I are the last ones there, rolling in with every set of eyes watching us arrive together, again.
Hadley climbs in and hands me a bottle of water. The cool condensation on the outside is bliss. I rub it over my face and neck, overheated from being outside with Knox, arguing a moot point.
I sigh, letting my head hit the backrest as my eyes close.
