Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ivy

T he air around Connor changed in an instant. He went from calm and happy to tense and pissed, all from one blink to the next as he turned to look at the person who'd come up to our table. It was that bull rider from earlier, the cocky one with the Chicklet teeth, with the brunette latched onto his side, her left hand pressed to his chest to show off the sparkly rock on her ring finger, the woman whose tongue he'd been sucking on for all to see.

My attention bounced between the two men. There was no missing the animosity crackling in the air between the two of them as they stared each other down, but while they only had angry eyes for each other, the woman's focus pinned on me. She watched me with a combination of curiosity and disgust, like I'd done something to personally offend her.

"Move along, Grimes," Connor gritted out between clenched teeth, his fingers around mine tensing even tighter.

"Don't you want to introduce me to your friend?" He cast that toothpaste-commercial smile at me and extended his hand my way. "Vance Grimes. Pleasure to meet you, little lady."

My top lip curled away from my teeth at little lady . What a condescending prick. No wonder the woman pinned to him hadn't said a word yet. She was only a trophy. Something he touted around for show.

"Seriously?" I said under my breath. "I'm not your little lady."

"Get your fuckin' hand away from her before I snap it off," Connor growled.

"Whoa, no need to get hostile." The pretty boy let out a chortle and held up his hands in surrender like he meant no harm, though anyone with eyes could see plain as day that he'd come over to our table with the intention of starting shit. When he put his arms down, he tucked one hand into his pocket and placed the other right on the woman's ass cheek, giving it a firm squeeze and a light smack.

What the hell was with these two and the nauseating PDA?

"Just wanted to come over and congratulate you on a good ride, that's all."

The corners of Connor's mouth curled upward, his smile looking downright vicious. "You mean you came over to congratulate me for knocking you back to number two again?"

Oh shit . I had a feeling those were fighting words.

Pretty boy's eyes narrowed, and I could practically see the wheels moving behind his calculating gaze. "No, actually. I wanted to congratulate you on breakin' your dry spell. Looks like your appreciation for the buckle bunnies has finally returned."

Connor moved quickly, but so did I, anticipating what he was going to do before he could do it. He shot to his feet and surged toward the asshole in the too clean jeans and too crisp button-down. This prick had poser written all over him. The reason he came over to start shit was because he knew he would never be as good as Connor, and that left an awful, bitter taste in his mouth. As long as Connor was on the circuit, he'd always be number two.

I put myself in front of Connor before he could do something that could get him in trouble. Adopting a similar stance to Rodeo Barbie and bracing my hand against his chest, I plastered myself to his side to stop him from lunging.

"Don't," I whispered into his ear, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest. "He's absolutely not worth it."

"Letting your women fight your battles now, Bennett?"

I turned to face this movie villain wannabe and snorted derisively, giving him a sweep with my eyes before making a face that told him how lacking I found him to be.

"No, I'm actually doing you a favor. I'm worried if he knocked those giant horse teeth down your throat you'd choke to death on them."

Connor made a choking sound of his own, and when I looked up at him I saw he'd lowered his head and curled his lips between his teeth to keep from laughing.

The asshole's cheeks started to turn red as snickers rose up from the tables around us, more people listening in as the tension between the two men became obvious.

"You're a mouthy little buckle bunny, aren't you? Do you even know who I am?"

"Not a buckle bunny," I said, pointing at my chest. "And I get that you're lowkey calling me a whore, but I'm too busy staring at those Chicklets you call teeth to pay much mind to your insults. And what kind of name is Vance anyway? What are you, some eighties high-school-movie douchebag?" I gave him my snarkiest smile. "You look the part with the ridiculous amount of gel you put in your hair. I bet you're dying to pop your collar right now, aren't you?"

"Oh shit," I heard someone mumble behind me as the giggles and laughter around us grew louder.

Connor's arm wrapped around my waist, squeezing me tighter to him, and a flutter worked through me at the feel of all his hard and strong pressed against my soft. My nipples stiffened and pressed insistently against the cups of my bra.

Rodeo Barbie scrunched her nose and curled her lip at me. "Wow, Con. You really scraped the bottom of the barrel with this one, didn't you?" She fluttered her lashes at the man standing beside me, and all the pieces suddenly clicked into place. He'd been with her. That's why she was keeping that gaudy ring front and center.

I'd never been a jealous woman, but I suddenly wanted to scratch this woman's eyes out and stake my claim on Connor for all to see. So I did it in the only way I could think.

I looked up at Connor from beneath my lashes, giving him a pouty look as I declared, "I'm bored with this, honey." Then I took his hand and placed it on my stomach in front of everyone. "And our chickpea's craving a churro. What do you say we get out of here?"

I didn't miss the gasp from the woman or the narrow-eyed look Vance shot to my belly, but I didn't spare either of them another look as I waited to see how Connor was going to play this situation I'd gotten us in.

When he leaned in and brushed his lips lightly against mine, my whole body lit up like a Christmas tree. My hormones went nuts and a voice in the back of my head started screaming at me to climb this man like a tree.

"Let's go, baby. It's gettin' late anyway. Should probably get you into bed soon."

I had to lock my knees to keep from melting at the way he lowered his voice on that last sentence, innuendo dripping from his words. Then I remembered that once we got home, Connor would go to the carriage house and I'd be climbing into bed by myself.

I popped one last chili cheese tot into my mouth before letting Connor lead me away with an arm securely wrapped around my waist. With one last glance over my shoulder, I called out, "So long, Number Two. Better luck next time."

"Christ, you're vicious when you want to be," Connor chuckled under his breath, and I couldn't help but preen at the respect in his tone.

"That guy pissed me off, coming over like that just to get under your skin."

"Aww." He pulled me tighter and lowered his lips to press a kiss to the top of my head as we walked. "Were you defending my honor, butterfly?"

I was, because something had come over me in that moment that made me feel like Connor was mine to defend. It was a ridiculous notion, I knew. We were friends, nothing more. But my head, my heart, and my body suddenly weren't on the same page like they'd been for the past several weeks, and the thick, straight line I'd drawn between Connor and me was starting to look a little wonky.

I felt Connor's body tense up as his gait slowed, and when I tipped my head back to see what had caused the change in him, I saw that his focus was on an old man about fifteen yards in front of us.

The guy was the definition of old-school cowboy, from his boots to his broken-in cowboy hat to the gray, bushy handlebar mustache above his top lip. Whatever silent communication transpired between the two men with little more than a look left the air chilled. Then the old man shook his head and made a face of disappointment before turning his back on Connor and walking away, dismissing him without even saying a word.

The teasing Connor from seconds ago was gone, shadows now blocking out the light and humor that had been in his eyes earlier. This was a version of Connor I'd only seen once before. When I told him I could raise our baby without him. His frame sagged with defeat, and seeing him like that broke my heart.

"Who was that?" I asked quietly.

He heaved out a sigh, his arm falling from around me as he brought the other up to scrub at the stubble covering his jaw. I immediately missed the heat of his touch, my heart sinking at the distance he put between us. He didn't say a word as we left the fairgrounds and wound our way through the sea of cars and trucks to his.

He didn't say anything until he helped me into the passenger seat and rounded the hood, climbing in on his side. He started the engine and placed his hand on the gearshift like he was about to put the truck in reverse, but instead of doing that, he spoke. "His name's Dusty Silver." Christ, the guy even had a cowboy name.

I twisted in my seat to face him better, but he kept his eyes pointed at something beyond the windshield, something he wasn't seeing, given that he was lost in a memory.

"He's a legend," he continued, his voice void of all emotion. "One of the best bull riders of his time. He used to be my mentor. He trained me, taught me everything I know. He was like family to me."

Sadness filled my chest. " Was like family?"

Connor blinked, finally turning his head in my direction, and what I saw in his gaze tore my heart to shreds. "Turned out, while I was looking up to him like a second father, he was thinking about how I could further his reputation. Had a couple bad rides some time back and got in my own head about it. When that happens, your rides start to suffer. I hit a patch of bad luck, dropped in standing, so Dusty dropped me," he said with a shrug. "Scraped me off for a bull rider he thought could carry him further."

"Vance."

He nodded, and I suddenly hated the guy even more than I already had. "Now I'm starting to think I should have let you knock those ridiculous teeth out."

His laugh didn't hold any humor, his smile brittle. "That happened right around the same time I caught my fiancée cheating on me with that same fuckin' guy."

And the hits just kept on coming. I sucked in a sharp, pained gasp. "You were engaged to Rodeo Barbie?"

He nodded, knowing who I was referring to. "It was years ago, and I now know it never would have worked because what I thought was love really wasn't. But losing two people I cared about at the same time, being tossed over by both of them... it fucked with my head for a really long time."

In that moment, everything clicked into place. Why Connor had gone from hot to cold all those months ago. Why we shared what I thought had been a special night—one of the best nights of my life—only to wake up and find him gone. It made sense now, and as much as it broke my heart, it pissed me off even more that two people who were supposed to care about him, who were supposed to have his back, had dismissed him so easily.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, reaching over to wrap my fingers around his thick, corded forearm.

He shrugged and slid the gearshift in reverse. "It's over now. No point in dwelling on it anymore. Let's put this night behind us, yeah?"

I nodded, giving him a smile that I hoped didn't look as sad as I felt, because I didn't want to put the night behind us. Not the whole thing anyway.

Because the truth was, before those assholes had showed up to ruin it, it had been one of the best nights I'd had in a really long time.