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Matthew stopped with them the moment they were outside the arena. ‘Begs the question: what the hell did you do to him? I grew up with a lot of angry teenage boys, but none of them resorted to attempted murder until they were at least twenty-four.’
TJ managed to smile through the pain.
Skye frowned. ‘What is it with you guys and your twisted sense of humour?’
Matthew just sniggered. ‘Gotta have one if you wanna ride.’
TJ didn’t say anything. It was Skye’s story to tell, and he’d let her say as much as she wanted or needed to.
Instead of explaining, she held out one hand, said, ‘Can I have my phone?’
TJ fished it out of his back pocket. She passed it to Matthew, who still held her saddle in one hand.
‘Call your number so I have it. If I need you to speak to the cops, I wanna know how to reach you.’
Matthew did as she asked and then passed the phone back to her. ‘I’ll keep a lookout for him too.’
‘If he’s smart, he’ll be long gone,’ TJ commented.
Matthew tipped his head. ‘If he has nowhere else to go, he’ll hang around. The rodeo’s safe. There’s cheap food, lots of people, and entertainment. Besides, as far as he knows, we’re not onto him.’
‘Skye!’
They all turned at the voice, frantic with worry. Janey and Ryan were running towards them, their faces set in equally horrified expressions.
TJ knew from a lifetime of their concern to placate. ‘She’s okay. Just banged up some. We’re gonna head to the hospital now.’
But Skye had no such experience, so when Janey pulled her into a tight hug and said, ‘Good Lord, you scared us half to death, baby bug!’ she just stared at her in bewilderment.
‘Ah … I’m okay,’ she managed. She gave his mom’s back a slightly overwhelmed pat, said, ‘Thanks …’
Ryan took Kai’s reins from her hand. ‘I’ll get him loaded up. Janey, if you drive them to the hospital, I’ll take Skye’s truck home and stall Kai. Call Dr Sanchez to come look him over.’
Skye, clearly overwhelmed, started to object. ‘I can do it—’
But Janey cut her off before TJ could. ‘The hell you will.’ Her mom-voice sent a streak of fear down TJ’s spine. He was relieved to notice that both Skye and Matthew jerked to attention at it too. ‘Hospital. Home – if the doctor says it’s okay. Food. Bed – with alarms for concussion monitoring.’
Skye looked to TJ.
He just shook his head. ‘I’m not gonna risk arguing.’
Matthew watched the Jones family walk away, Skye awkwardly supporting TJ’s weight as they both hobbled after TJ’s mom.
He momentarily wondered what that must be like, to have people who cared whether or not you came home after a ride …
When the thought settled uncomfortably between his shoulder blades, he shook it off. He pasted a cocky smile on his face and strutted back through the parking lot.
He’d already ridden for the night. He’d drawn Son of a Gun, and although the fucker had given him a wild ride, Matthew had stayed on – and he’d scored a ninety-two.
With nowhere else to go, and not really wanting to go back to the quiet hotel room just yet, he walked back towards the Equidome.
It was only when he came to the edge of the parking lot that he saw the kid hurrying towards him. The boy couldn’t have been more than sixteen. He was skin and bone, with a mop of dark, shaggy hair. His baggy clothes dwarfed him.
His eyes were filled with panic. He didn’t even see Matthew, just hurried past him as he looked fearfully over his shoulder.
Matthew leaned against a nearby trailer and crossed one booted ankle over the other. In less than twenty seconds, a man emerged. He wasn’t a cowboy. He looked more like an oil man, all slick and moneyed. Matthew supposed this was TJ’s distinguished-looking white man.
Curious despite himself, he tipped his hat down over his eyes.
