Unridden: A Studs in Spurs novel (18 page)

“Chase. Stop.” Jenna debated what to say and finally blurted out, “Slade and I aren’t serious so don’t worry about it. Okay?”

Hmm, uttering that truth out loud hurt more than she’d anticipated.

“Slade sure as hell looked serious when he spotted your lipstick on my face during the draft!”

Jenna decided Chase was too far gone in his hero worship of Slade to think clearly. Giving up on trying to make him feel better while she was too upset to think herself, she turned away. Her intention was to follow the same hall she’d seen Slade disappear and try and find him.

She was about to start searching for him alone when a man wearing some sort of ID badge around his neck and a cowboy hat on his head stepped in front of her.

“Where do you think you’re going, little lady?”

Maybe if she acted as if she belonged there, he’d let her pass. Dragging out her tough New Yorker attitude, Jenna made the announcement with as much authority as she could muster at the moment. “I’m going to see Slade Bower.”

“Only family members are allowed back there. You family?”

Jenna debated which lie to use.
He’s my brother
, crossed her mind, but she didn’t know if Slade even had a sister or if this guy would know her if he did.

“It’s okay. She’s his girlfriend.” Chase stepped up behind her. When the man raised a brow doubtfully, Chase continued. “Didn’t you see her there in the VIP seats? I’ll take her back and make sure she gets where she’s going, if you want.”

That promise got them a nod as the man moved out of their way.

Relieved to finally be going somewhere, Jenna looked up at Chase as they made their way down a long hallway. “Thanks. I owe you.”

Chase let out a laugh. “Tell Slade not to kill me for kissing you and I’ll call it even.”

They entered a room full of what looked like beds or examination tables. Cowboys in various states of undress lounged on a number of them.

She scanned all the faces quickly until she found Slade, pale and laid out on a table, unmoving with his eyes closed. The shirt stained with the blood from his head wound lay crumpled in a ball on the table with him.

Why was no one tending to him? Jenna swallowed hard, afraid. What if he had internal injuries and no one was keeping an eye on him? What if he was dead and no one had noticed yet? That thought nearly sent her careening to the floor.

She took a step closer, shaking so badly she could barely stand. Just as Jenna started to feel lightheaded and as if she might black out right there, she heard boots on the tile floor. She spun to look at the doorway as a welcome familiar face appeared.

“Mustang!” Pushing past Chase, Jenna threw herself at Mustang. All the horror of watching Slade getting trampled, of holding her breath in the deathly silent arena as she waited along with the thousands of others to find out if he was still alive, the fear now at his being unconscious, possibly dead, the way he looked so horrible…it all finally came to a head and she found herself hysterical, sobbing in Mustang’s arms.

Mustang pulled her out into the hallway and she didn’t protest. Once outside, he said, “Shh. It’s okay, darlin’.”

Barely coherent, Jenna asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

“Slade? He’ll be fine.”

Fine? He didn’t look fine. Jenna swallowed past the lump in her throat. “He looks…dead.”

Mustang smiled at her reassuringly. “He’s not dead, darlin’. He’s sleeping. He was snoring before when I left. There’s nothing wrong with him that won’t heal.”

Jenna let her head fall against Mustang’s chest and released a laugh of relief in the midst of her tears. “Thank God. I was so worried. When I saw him under that bull.”

Jenna was about to launch into more specific questions about Slade’s injuries when Chase stepped forward. “Listen, Mustang. I have to apologize, man. I had no idea she was with Slade. Honestly. If I’d known Jenna was his girlfriend, I never would have gone anywhere near her. You know I respect Slade more than I can say. I look up to both of you guys.”

Mustang raised a brow as he looked down at Jenna, before answering Chase. “Relax, kid. It’s fine. Really.”

Chase looked like a little boy who’d just been forgiven for stealing cookies from the kitchen jar. “You sure?”

“Yeah. You and I are good. Don’t worry.”

Hesitating, Chase glanced back at the doorway they’d just left and winced. “What about Slade? He was pretty pissed at me during the draft.”

“I’ll tell him what you said. He’ll be fine.”

Letting out a big breath, Chase appeared relieved. “Okay. Thanks, man. Um, I’m gonna go out now. They need to interview me.”

“Yeah. Congratulations on Rookie of the Year, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Red-faced and still looking contrite, Chase glanced one last time at Jenna and then exited down the hall, which left Mustang to question Jenna.

“Soooo, you’re Slade’s girlfriend now, huh?” Mustang ran one hand up and down her back, comforting her even as he looked amused.

Still shaky, Jenna shook her head at Mustang. “I never said that. Chase assumed it. I couldn’t exactly tell him the truth, now could I?”

“No. Guess not. It’s okay. I don’t get my feelings hurt that easily. I’m sure if it was me there laid up in that bed instead of Slade, you’d be just as upset.” Mustang raised a brow expectantly, waiting for her answer.

Jenna was in no mood for teasing. All she wanted to do was go back in and see Slade open his eyes and prove he wasn’t dead. “Of course I’d be just as upset if that was you!”

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure.”

Losing patience, she spat out, “It’s true!”

“I know, darlin’. I’m just teasing you.” Mustang grinned as he ran his hands up her back, finally settling them on each side of her face as he lowered his head and kissed her softly.

Jenna pulled back and frowned at him. “Mustang. Slade could have died. I’m not in the mood for this now.”

“I told you, Slade is going to be fine. He may be out of commission right now for what I have in mind for you and me, but he’s good.” He pushed closer to her, nibbling briefly on one of her earlobes. “Mmm. I was worried you weren’t coming tonight you were so late. I’m glad you’re here now though.”

Mustang’s mouth covered hers again, before she pushed him away. “I can’t do this.”

She glanced back at the doorway to the room where Slade lay unconscious.

With his lips tracing a path down her throat as his hands headed down to her rear, Mustang said, “I know you’re worried, but there’s no need. He’s only sleeping. Slade sleeps like the dead normally, and between being exhausted from last night with you and groggy from the muscle relaxers the doc gave him, he’s totally knocked out. He’ll be up and around in a few hours. He can join us then for round two.”

Jenna reached down and stilled Mustang’s one hand as it headed for the crotch of her jeans. “Really. Mustang. Not now. It would feel like…I don’t know…like we’re cheating on Slade.”

Mustang pulled back and considered Jenna carefully. “For real? That’s how you feel?”

Jenna shrugged. “Yeah.”

Looking surprised, Mustang let out a soft, “Huh. Interesting.”

Jenna frowned. “Why? Don’t you feel the same way?”

Mustang laughed and glanced down at the large bulge in his jeans. “Not exactly, no.”

She let out a laugh that she didn’t know she had in her. “I see that.”

One of the riders came down the hall and Jenna took a step back from Mustang. If she was supposed to be Slade’s girlfriend, she shouldn’t be pressed up against Mustang.

She looked up to find Mustang watching her closely again. “Want me to drive you back to the hotel?”

No. She wanted to see to Slade.

Jenna glanced back at the doorway but before she could say anything, Mustang continued. “They’re going to take him to the hospital in a few minutes.”

“The hospital?” she squeaked. “You said he was fine!”

“For some x-rays,” Mustang said, interrupting her next breakdown. “You don’t want to hang around and wait for that. God only knows how long it will take. He’ll be in much better shape tomorrow. You can see him then.”

“I leave tomorrow.” The reality of what that meant struck her hard. She’d leave tomorrow and possibly—probably—never see either Mustang or Slade again.

“What time is your flight?”

“I’m taking a cab to the airport at ten.”

“No cab. We’ll drive you.”

Somehow that made Jenna feel better. Why, she didn’t know, since she was still leaving and mostly likely never seeing them again. At least they’d be driving her to the airport and she’d get to see for herself that Slade was fine...or at least not dead.

“Will Slade be okay to sit in the car for the drive?”

“Slade?” Mustang laughed. “Darlin’, if this wasn’t the final night, he’d be on the back of a bull again tomorrow. Hell, I would too if it were me. We bull riders are tough.”

As another bull rider limped past, vividly recapping his ride to another cowboy and laughing, even while an icepack was strapped with gauze to his shoulder, Jenna began to fully appreciate just how tough.

“So, will you let me drive you home now?”

“Will you take my cell phone number and call me if anything changes with Slade?”

Mustang grinned. “Hell yeah. I’ll gladly take your cell phone number, darlin’.” As Jenna rolled her eyes, he added, “For Slade. I promise.”

“Don’t forget, you can call the hotel and get transferred to my room if for some reason my cell doesn’t have signal. Right? Just in case?”

Still grinning, Mustang nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I think I can manage that.”

With one last glance back at the room’s doorway, Jenna sighed and finally nodded. “Okay.”

Chapter Twenty

Slade opened the door of the trailer and slowly stepped in with a groan. “God. I feel like I’ve been run over by a train.”

“Bull. Train. Same thing.” Lounging in bed, Mustang grinned at Slade. “So what’d they find out at the hospital? Anything?”

“Nothing I didn’t already know. Hairline fractures on a couple of ribs. Concussion. The usual.”

Mustang pointed to the bandage on Slade’s forehead where a hoof had clipped him at some point during Ballbreaker’s trouncing. “Did you need stitches for that?”

Slade leaned against the edge of the cabinets, sure he looked as worn out as he felt. “Nah. They used some liquid bandage on it.”

“That’s good. Wouldn’t want a scar to mess up that pretty face of yours.” With that, Mustang swung his bare legs onto the floor, grabbed a piece of paper out of the pocket of the jeans lying crumpled there, and thrust it at Slade. “That’s for you.”

Slade frowned down at the scribbled phone number. “What’s this?”

“Jenna’s cell phone number. I thought maybe you’d like to have it.”

Slade stared at the slip of paper for a second. When he looked up, Mustang was watching him. “So, you talked to Jenna?”

“Yeah. She somehow got back to the infirmary to see you. I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but it seems as though she got through security by saying she was your girlfriend.” Mustang raised a brow and waited as that statement caught Slade’s attention.

“She did?”

Mustang nodded. “Yup. Oh, and by the way, I talked to Chase and the kid wants you to know, and I quote, if he had any idea Jenna was with you, he would never have gone anywhere near her in the first place.”

Jenna. His girlfriend.
Hmmm.
Slade glanced down again at the number in his hand as he considered that. When he finally raised his eyes, he found Mustang studying him again.

“So, what else happened while I was out of it?” Knowing Mustang, and having seen personally exactly how much Jenna enjoyed Mustang’s company the few times they’d all been in bed together, Slade hated to consider the possibilities.

“If you’re asking if Jenna and I had sex again without you the answer is no. I tried to take her to bed and she outright refused me.”

Slade felt his eyebrows shoot up and consciously wiped the expression from his face.

“That wasn’t what I was asking,” Slade denied, though it was harder to deny how happy he felt at hearing Jenna had turned Mustang down.

“Yeah, sure it wasn’t.” Mustang raised an amused brow in Slade’s direction. “Oh, and I told her we’d drive her to the airport in the morning.”

Slade’s mood did a reversal and turned once more, for the worse this time at the thought of Jenna flying back to New York. “She’s leaving in the morning?”

“Yup, she is. You wanna know something? I’ve bedded women while I’ve had broken ribs before. With a dislocated shoulder a time or two, also. None of that gets in the way too much if you pick your positions carefully.” Mustang left the unspoken suggestion hanging in the air.

Slade laughed, jarring his sore shoulder and ribs. “You’re suggesting we go over there, to Jenna’s, now?”

“No. I’m suggesting
you
go over there to Jenna’s now. Alone.”

Slade drew in a deep breath, immediately regretting it when he felt another painful tug in his ribcage. “Why do you want me to go alone? You have other plans?”

Mustang glanced down at himself. He was in nothing but a t-shirt, boxer shorts, and socks. “Do I look like I have other plans?”

Suspicious, Slade pushed further. “Then why don’t you want to come with me?”

Mustang shook his head, laughing. “You really don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?”

“The way she looks at you. Slade, Jenna’s got it bad for you.”

“No she doesn’t.” If she did, Slade wouldn’t have had to bear seeing the satisfied look on her face all the many times Mustang had made her come over the last few days. And she wouldn’t have been kissing Chase in the arena.

“Yeah, she does. Why else would she turn me down flat tonight?”

“I don’t know. She had her reasons I’m sure. Maybe it’s her…you know…female time.” It was the easiest explanation Slade could come up with, considering.

Mustang laughed. “No, it’s not her
female time
. She came right out and said being with me alone would feel like she was cheating on you.”

Really? Slade’s stomach gave a little jump. “She said that?”

“Yup. Go over to the hotel alone, Slade. See if there really is something there when it’s just the two of you. If you don’t, I’m afraid you’ll regret it.”