Cowboy Jackpot: St. Patrick's Day by Randi Alexander

abandon him at the gas station—they
hoped. They’d piled into Dallas’s truck because Kira had the keys
in her pocket when he’d met them in the casino. They agreed timing
was critical, and had been racing down the freeway in less than
five minutes.
    Kira and Gigi had texted their men, but they
were still rodeoing, and their phones were locked away. That gave
the women a little time before all hell broke loose with Boone and
Dallas.
    Kira had called Stormie then, and told her
they needed to talk. She told Stormie that Jayden was looking for
her, and Kira didn’t know what to tell him. She asked Stormie to
pull over in the next town and call her so she wouldn’t be driving
distracted.
    Stormie had agreed to pull over at a gas
station just past Boulder City because she’d need gas anyway. She’d
call Kira back from there, but she needed Kira and Gigi to distract
Jayden so she could put distance between him and her.
    Hearing that had damn near killed Jayden.
    Now, staring out the windshield, he clenched
his hands, willing the truck to go faster. Needing to have Stormie
in his arms so he could explain.
    Kira’s phone rang. She pulled it out. “Uh oh.
It’s Dallas.” She looked at Jayden, a worried expression in her
eyes. She thumbed the phone, sending the call to voice mail. “He’s
gonna be plenty hot now.”
    Jayden had to smile at the way Kira had
picked up country slang.
    Then Gigi’s phone rang and his smile left
him. This stunt had these amazing women in deep shit with their
men. “Hi, Boone. Sorry I missed your award cere…”
    Jayden could hear Boone’s voice rumbling
through the phone. His brother was even-tempered and loved his
wife, but he was also concerned about her.
    “I’m just fine, cowboy.” Gigi’s voice sounded
sweet and calm, but her face was set in a grimace. “We’re just
taking Jayden to meet Stormie.”
    Jayden’s phone rang. He looked at it and
repeated Kira’s words. “Uh oh, it’s Dallas.” This wouldn’t be the
even-tempered, loving call Gigi was experiencing.
    “Hey.”
    “What the fuck are you doing with my woman?”
Jayden had to hold the phone away from his ear, and everyone in the
truck heard that.
    “Sorry, man, we decided to take a drive.”
    “Goddamnit, let me talk to Kira.”
    She held out her hand, Jayden deposited the
phone into it and tried to tune out the dual conversations as he
concentrated on how he’d handle things with Stormie. He couldn’t
fuck this up. He had one chance to make it go right.
    ****
    Stormie wandered through the gas station’s
mini market holding her phone to her ear. Kira was rambling on
about something totally unrelated to the abysmal funk that was
Stormie’s life right now. “Can we talk about this tomorrow, Kira? I
need to get on the road.”
    “Just hear me out.” It sounded like she was
driving.
    “Where are you?” Stormie picked up a bag of
chips, then set it back on the rack. Then picked it up again.
Comfort food. She walked over to the candy shelves.
    “Here’s Gigi. She wants to talk to you.”
    “Wait, I don’t—”
    “Hi, Stormie. How are you doing? Feeling any
better?” Gigi’s gentle voice always put Stormie at ease.
    “I’m okay, but I’d like to get going. Okay if
we—”
    “Ouch!” Gigi sounded like she was moving
around. In the background, a male voice apologized. Was that
Jayden? No, couldn’t be. Then the sound of a door slamming came
over the phone. “Good luck!”
    Stormie held the phone away from her ear.
What was going on there? “Gigi?”
    “Okay, thanks for talking. I’ll see you soon.
Bye.” She hung up.
    A laugh burst from Stormie’s chest as she
slid her phone into her purse. “Yeah, great talk, Gigi.”
    She paid for her chips and candy and the
apple she grabbed as a balance to the junk food. Stuffing it all in
her purse, she headed out into the warm evening, walking to her
car, which still sat at the gas pump.
    In the bright neon lights, she recognized the
cowboy leaning