18. Conner

"What happened yesterday?" Gideon asked while Conner was brushing Zephyr. "I know that arena was clean. We check it over every day before every event, too."

"My guess is Beth's mother. She is bound and determined to get rid of me. I think that right now, she is showing me her power, trying to scare me. Today, Beth found a hex bag under the driver's side seat of my truck."

Gideon shook his head. "I'm surprised that she hasn't tried to kill you yet."

"I thought that, too, at first, but I came up with two theories. One is that she enjoys trying to scare me. She reminds me of the cat that likes to play with the mouse before she eats it. The other is that she might be waiting for the rodeo to move on, hoping that I'll leave with it."

"My guess is that you aren't going anywhere. I've seen you with Beth and Taryn," Gideon said.

"You make the rodeo life work with your wife," Conner said.

"We don't have children and she has a job that allows her to travel a lot. She comes to a lot of my events." Gideon leaned in closely and whispered, jokingly, "Why do you think that I rarely go out drinking and carousing with the others?"

"Because you're tired, like me, and you just want to go to the hotel and hit the rack after a nice, long, hot shower."

"That could also be a reason." Gideon laughed. Then, he got serious. "Just be careful and watch your back. I remember how badly you were hurt all those years ago, and that was just courtesy of an angry bull. There's no telling what could happen if an enraged bull is encouraged by a nasty witch."

"You've got my back," Conner said.

"I'm just a clown. I can't fight a witch," Gideon said. "It's time for me to put on my face."

"Isn't that what women say?"

Gideon shrugged and laughed as he walked away.

Taryn walked toward him but stopped. Conner knew why. He could smell her overbearing perfume before he heard her steps or her annoying voice.

"Hello, Conner."

"Kelly."

"How are things going?" she asked.

"Fine."

"That was crazy to find a rock in the middle of the arena like that. I wonder where it came from?"

"Did you put it there?" Conner asked.

"Me? No. I would never want to hurt any of the horses that way. Besides, you never know who might step on it. It might be the horse of one of those precious little girls, like Taryn, who is out there racing. If her big horse went down, she could be dreadfully hurt."

"I guess that would amuse you, wouldn't it?" Conner asked.

"Of course not," Kelly exclaimed. "I would never want to hurt a child. Although, if the kid was out of the way, then so would be her mother."

Rage flooded through Conner. He turned and snarled, "If you do anything to hurt any of the kids here, I swear I will end you. I don't mean that I will end your career. I mean that no one will ever find your body. Do you understand me?"

All of the color drained from her face and her eyes widened.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Nope," Conner said.

"I could report you for this," she said.

Conner grinned and said, "Go for it."

She stalked away, rigid. Conner honestly didn't know whether she was going to report him or not. He laughed because he really didn't care. His days in the rodeo were drawing to a close, anyway.

Taryn joined him. "You just can't get away from mean women, can you?"

"It seems that I can't," Conner said. "Between your grandmother the witch, and Kelly, the queen, I'm surrounded. It actually sounds like a corny fairytale."

"The good thing about fairy tales is that they always have a happy ending," Taryn said.

"I guess that all depends on which fairy tale you're reading and who wrote it."

"We'll go with Disney's version." Taryn laughed. "I've read some of Grimm's tales and they are a little gruesome."

The emcee announced that the events were about to begin so Taryn scooted off to get Pegasus. She and her horse practically flew across the arena, around the barrels, and then back to the starting line. The crowd stood, clapped their hands, and screamed when her time was announced – fifteen point five seconds. That was the best time that anyone had come in at that arena in the junior barrel racing events in a long time. Jenna came in right behind her at a flat sixteen seconds.

Taryn and Jenna beamed as they accepted their prizes. Even their horses seemed to do a little dance in front of the crowd. Taryn ran to Conner who gave her a huge hug and congratulated her.

"I did well before you came, but now, since you've been around, I've done a lot better," Taryn said.

"It's because now you have two people who believe in you and are rooting you on."

"Maybe that's it," Taryn said, running off to compete in the next event.

For whatever reason, the rodeo manager changed the order of events. He put steer wrestling first, then bareback bronc, saddle bronc, and then bull riding. Conner got third, first, and second, respectively, in each of the events. He was determined to get first in the bull riding.

He held his breath as he waited to hear the name of the bull. Conner drew Dillinger and grinned. Dillinger wasn't nearly as hard a ride as the others.

Tonight was different, though. Dillinger was barely out of the chute when he started leaping, twisting, and bucking like he never had before. It was almost as if the animal was possessed by a pack of demons. Conner held on. Three seconds to go.

Dillinger twisted one way, then back another while midair. Conner felt himself start to slide off. He pressed his legs to the side of the bull, but he continued to slide. Conner tried to let go of the rope, but it snaked itself around his wrist in a painful knot, holding him onto the side of the bull as the enraged animal thrusted about, dragging Conner through the dirt. Conner heard and felt the bones in his wrist snap. One of the hooves barely missed his head. Another hoof connected with Conner's shin, snapping it.

The clowns rushed out and managed to corner the bull just as the rope untangled itself. Conner fell to the dirt. The crowd was hushed as he struggled to get to his feet.

"What the hell happened?" Gideon hissed at him.

"The rope got tangled around my wrist. I couldn't pull it away," Conner said, groaning in pain.

Gideon and the other clown lifted Conner up, carried him out of the arena, and set him next to the paramedics, who started to rush over to him.

Beth beat them to Conner. "I'm a doctor. Wait," she told them.

Taryn was hot on her heels.

"What happened?" she asked as she held his wrist.

Conner told her.

"Mother," Beth growled.

"Broken. I'll take care of it," she said.

She closed her eyes and muttered an incantation. Conner felt the tingling of electricity flow through his arm and then an intense heat. He gritted his teeth through the pain of his bones moving back together and mending.

"Thanks. My leg, too," he said.

"Is there anything you didn't break?" Beth asked, teasingly.

"Most of me is okay, I think. My brain might be a little jarred."

"Let me fix your leg," Taryn said.

She knelt down in front of Conner and gently pushed up his pant leg, trying not to jar it.

"This might sting," the little girl said as she put her hands on Conner's leg.

Taryn concentrated and muttered a spell under her breath. Sting was an understatement. Putting the bones back together and mending them hurt worse than breaking them did.

"You should be good as new," Taryn announced. "Try standing."

Conner did and was amazed that he could put all of his weight on the leg without screaming in pain.

"Nice job," Conner said. "Thank you."

"We'll send you a bill later," Beth said. "Having your own personal physicians constantly on call doesn't come cheap."

"Guess I'll have to get a side hustle," Conner said. "Maybe I can drive for one of those car companies or something. I'll get a cheap little car and zoom all over town."

"Don't see that happening." Beth laughed.

Beth and Taryn took care of Pegasus while Conner headed over to Zephyr, amazed that he could walk.

"Are you okay?" Kelly asked, coming up behind him.

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"Just what you saw," he said.

"Poor Baby. I could take care of you," she said. "I could give you a massage and make you feel better. I know that you must be aching and hurting all over."

"Do you really want to help me feel better?"

"Yes," Kelly said eagerly.

"Leave me the hell alone," he said.

He gave Zephyr the last piece of apple, slapped him gently on the rump, and left Kelly standing in the middle of the corral, staring after him.

Once they got back to Beth's house, they played a rousing game of Uno. Conner lost when he reached five hundred points first. Taryn came in second.

"Ooh, I get to win something. Ya'll win at the rodeo, so I get to win at cards." Beth laughed. "A lot safer than bull riding or steer wrestling."

"That all depends on who you play cards with," Conner said.

He and Taryn pounced on her. She fell out of the chair, and they tickled her until she cried out, "Uncle. I surrender."

Taryn and Conner each grabbed a hand and pulled Beth to her feet. They read a chapter from the book, and then Taryn went to bed.

"I'm so very sorry about what happened today. I saw my mother there and knew that she was up to no good. Short of literally making her heart quit beating, I don't know how to stop her."

"It's not your fault. You have no control over your mother. She wants control over you."

"Yes. Mother said that if I made a potion for her, then she would quit trying to hurt you. I can't do that. Any potion she would want me to make would be dangerous to a lot of people. I just can't take that chance."

"I wouldn't want you to. We do not negotiate with terrorists," Conner said. "We'll figure something out."

Beth looked up at him and grinned. Conner's heart skipped a beat as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply.