For as many questions as Dead of Winter answered, each answer raised three more questions.
“You okay?” Cheyenne asked from the bathroom doorway.
“Aaah!” Raven squelched out, shoving her tank top down to cover the scars. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I’ve been told I’m quiet for a human.”
“No one in their right mind would ever call you quiet,” Dead said from outside.
Raven laughed. Laughed. Her head was spinning with all this new information, but she was laughing.
Cheyenne sighed heavily and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “She’s fine, Dead. You can run along and fuck up the rest of your interview now.”
“Nah,” he said, barging into the bathroom. “I already put my three minutes in.”
“You broke a chair, said four cuss words, shot-gunned a beer on camera, and you called Rhonda a lily-headed-ninny-poof.”
Dead leaned against the bathroom wall with a smirk. “I used my three minutes wisely.”
Raven was having a giggle-fit because she could actually imagine him doing those things.
“Okay, well, I have to go introduce myself to my new client.”
“Tell First Time Train Wreck to sleep with his eyes open,” Dead growled.
“It’s not his fault he won!” Cheyenne quipped. “Get our herd back together next event. Train Wreck is a jerk. I don’t want to manage him. He’s already texted me a list of snacks he wants in his changing room before events.”
“We can do that?” Dead asked. “Add candy to mine. And cheese puffs.” He pointed to Raven. “Any requests?”
“Uh, no? I won’t be at the next event.”
“Yes, you will.” He turned to Cheyenne. “And dark chocolate squares. Bitches love chocolate.”
“Dead!” Cheyenne gasped out. “You can’t call women bitches!”
Raven was pursing her lips against a smile because Cheyenne was right.
“Fine. Heifers love chocolate. Better?”
Cheyenne parted her full lips but nothing came out. She looked confused. She shook her head, her dark hair twitching in its ponytail. “I’m not sure if it is or not.”
She disappeared out of the bathroom and left Raven and Dead staring at each other.
“Sooooo,” Raven drawled, “fancy meeting you here. In the bathroom.”
“You were staring at your brand, weren’t you?”
“No,” she lied.
“I’m hungry.”
“Me, too. I was too nervous to eat before I met you.”
“Want me to feed you?”
“Uuuuh, feed me what?”
“It’s late, and the only places open now will have a lot of rodeo fans.”
“That’s a bad thing?”
“Not at all, but I will definitely get in a fight. Usually the team eats together after an event, but I messed all that up by accidentally breaking my friend, getting dropped a rank, and getting kicked off the team, yada yada yada.”
“Well, then, there’s only one thing we can do,” she said. “Eat out of the dumpster out back like a couple of raccoons.”
“I like that idea, but I have a better one.”
“I’m all ears.”
“We’ve been dating for a while now—”
“Oh, my God, again,” she muttered.
“And I feel like it’s time for you to see my mansion.”
“Your mansion?” she repeated.
“Yep.”
“I don’t like boys with mansions.”
“Rich boys aren’t your type?”
“Nope. Not looking for a sugar daddy.”
“Well, good thing for you I’m on a downward spiral of my career and probably won’t be rich much longer. Enjoy my mansion while you can. I’ll cook for you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back on the bathroom sink. “If you think you’re going to take me to your fancy house and seduce me with a good meal, I don’t hop into bed easy.”
“Lucky for you, I’m not even trying to get you into bed.” He opened the door and gestured for her to go first. “I’m a gentleman.”
She made her way through and said over her shoulder, “I’ve caught you staring at my boobs, like, four times.”
“Well, they’re perfect, so maybe if you don’t want me appreciating them, dress them up as saggy boobs for Halloween next year. The perky ones have my heart, and my heart is directly connected to my dick.”
“That’s sweet. I’m serious, Dead of Winter.” Her voice died in her throat, and she had to take a couple steadying breaths before she finished. “I don’t go to bed with men easy. That’s not a challenge. That’s me saying what I will and won’t do.”
He caught up and walked beside her toward a big, glowing orange exit sign. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Call me Dead. Dead of Winter is a name for the fans. And I promise I’m not taking you to my place for that reason. Listen to my voice. You’ll hear the truth there. I don’t want to say goodbye yet, but I’ve stalled at this place as long as I can. They’re gonna lock the damn doors on us.”
She gave a shy smile at the ground and said, “You want to spend more time with me?”
“Yeah, raven girl with a big animal and a human life. You got my attention tonight. Plus, I need you to vent with me about how I was robbed of my rank.”
“Totally robbed.”
“Train Wreck is such a splinter.”
“Suuuuch a splinter.”
He chuckled and opened the exit door for her. A few cowboys were hanging around outside, and one of them told Dead, “You did good buckin’ tonight, boy!” But the other two called him names and one of them said, “Now you’re headed where you belong, Dead. To the bottom. Fuckin’ bottom-feeder. Hey, lady, do you know what he is? An animal. Don’t go home with animals. Have some pride in yourself.”
Her stomach turned, and she clenched her hands at her sides to steady the animal that roiled in her middle. That’s what riders thought of the bulls? “I guess I’m an animal too then, mister,” she ground out.
Beside her, Dead was silent but, oh, his body shook, and power and anger vibrated straight from him to fill her lungs when she tried to drag in a breath. Raven had seen enough trash talk in her life to know they were just trying to get into his head. Dead probably dealt with that it all the time, but she didn’t like it. Didn’t like what it did to him or his bull either. A part of her wanted to change and let her animal have those assholes.
“Who was that?” she asked quietly as he led her toward an old lone truck parked under a streetlamp in the middle of a field the venue had turned into a parking lot.
“No one important,” he said easy.
When he opened the passenger side door for her, she had to try three times to climb up into that jacked-up monster truck. On the third try, he placed his hands firmly on both of her butt cheeks and hoisted her into the seat.
She would’ve pretended to be offended, but she laughed and gave away her amusement.
“See?” he asked. “Gentleman.”