Rough and Ready (More Than A Cowboy #2) - Vanessa Vale Page 0,15

heart didn’t. What the fuck was wrong with my family? Why couldn’t they just be normal, nice people instead of sociopaths? I wanted to throw up. I wanted to swipe all the papers off my desk. I wanted to scream.

I couldn’t do any of that. Not here, not now. Looking up at the clock on the wall, I had a full afternoon of exams. I could run this off. Later. Or fuck it all away. Yeah, that would be good. The connection with someone else, even for a little bit. An orgasm was like a hit of some hard drug.

The alarm on my cell went off, a daily reminder of my first afternoon class. Fuck. I took a deep breath. Another. Thought of the wall my therapist had told me to visualize. To build it brick by brick around my anger and frustration at my family, at what happened to me, until it was completely walled off. The concept was great, but it didn’t really work. Still, I tried.

I had students waiting to take their semester final on triptych paintings and clerestory windows. Teaching was soothing although exam time was a little hectic. The familiarity of my subject matter was almost comforting. Seven-hundred-year-old cathedrals didn’t talk back, didn’t fuck up your life. They were consistent, enduring. They were always there. The same, familiar, no matter what shit came your way.

6

REED

“Word on the street, you’re going down,” Gray said. He leaned back in his desk chair, fingers steepled in front of him. He was in jeans and t-shirt with the gym logo on the chest. His Stetson was in its usual spot on the hook behind his desk. He wore the serious expression of a guy in ruthless control but would much rather beat the shit out of something. Or someone. In this case, I knew who it was.

“Dominguez.”

It wasn’t the guy I was fighting next week. He was clean. Or at least he’d be clean in the ring. It was his backers, one of them specifically. Instead of having sponsors who touted the latest protein powder or sneaker, Sammy the Sandbag Briggs had Dominguez who was infamous for leading one of the nastier gangs in the area, including as far away as Denver. With Brant Valley’s crime rate only getting worse, it only proved he was one mean fucker.

“How the hell did Sammy get mixed up with him?” I asked, shaking my head. I knew the rough life of the streets, the way things worked, but the shit I’d done didn’t even approach what Dominguez did.

“I’ve heard Sammy’s sister is baby mama for one of Dominguez’s men.”

“Baby mama?” I asked, stunned he’d use that term.

“What? I know my street language.” Gray offered a quick smile then let it fall away. “I don’t think Sammy’s got much choice in who’s backing him.”

“I thought he had that energy bar company taking him out for dinner.”

“That was before Dominguez got his hands on him. Everything’s changed now.”

I could only imagine. Sammy must be shitting himself over this whole thing. Would they kill him if he lost the fight next month?

“So Dominguez will bet on the fight, make some cash,” I said, dummying it down.

“If you lose,” he added, leaning forward, putting his forearms on his desk.

I looked at Gray. We didn’t have to say anything because I wasn’t throwing the fight, and I wasn’t losing. Fuck no. I couldn’t worry about Sammy’s neck with only a few weeks to go.

A tap on the office window had me turning around. When Jack caught my eye, he tilted his head past the front counter. I looked in that direction and saw Harper walking out of the gym with Larry the Loser.

“What the fuck?” I muttered.

Harper was in her work clothes. I wouldn’t forget those hot heels. She wasn’t in the gym for exercise. No. Based on the look on Larry’s face, she’d taken him up on his offer for a quick fuck. I’d heard his lines, and no woman I’d ever met went for it. He was probably zero for fifty. I’d seen for myself the way she’d turned him down the day before. Obviously not. I didn’t give a shit who Larry fucked except Harper.

I stood and walked out of Gray’s office without looking back. “Later.”

If Gray wanted to talk more, he’d have to wait. There was no way in hell I was letting Larry get his hands on her.

I walked past Jack, who had a pile of clean towels in front of him