“Cord?” He took off his hat and scratched his head. “Oh! You mean Cord Dennison? Yep. I found him.”
“Well?” she growled, as the first bull sprang from the chute amid audience cheers. “What did he say?”
“About what?” Nick cocked his head.
“You know what I’m asking. Did you talk him out of competing tonight?”
“As a matter of fact, no.” His stare was so intense, she looked away.
“Oh.”
The crowd cheered and clapped, though the cowboy got bucked off well before the eight-second mark.
“I’m surprised you care what Cord does,” said Nick, squinting his eyes at something.
She followed the line of his gaze and noticed Parker’s hand on her knee. How long had that been there?
With a side swipe, she knocked the offending hand away. “For goodness sake, Parker. Keep your hands to yourself.”
“But baby, I thought—”
“Be quiet. I’m talking to Nick.” She turned to glare at her brother, who looked even more smug than usual. What had he meant with that subtle jab about Cord? “What did Cord tell you?”
“Cord told me a lot of things.” Nick crossed his arms, his gaze on the arena below, where the bull circled around and finally trotted back toward the open gate.
“Like what?” Jessica’s patience was wearing thin, and Nick seemed to be enjoying it.
He leaned forward and lowered his voice, though it was still loud enough that their neighbors could hear. “He might’ve mentioned seeing you and Parker hugging and holding hands.”
She sucked in air so fast she choked.
“I guess your secret’s out,” Nick said sarcastically. “Everyone knows you two are back together, now.”
“I’m glad everyone knows,” said Parker, his lips stretched in an arrogant smile.
“There’s nothing to know,” Jess said. “We are not back together. Didn’t you explain that to Cord?”
“I would’ve explained everything to Cord,” Nick said with a shrug, “if only my baby sister had explained it to me. But evidently, she’s been keeping a lot of secrets. So, my hands were tied.” He demonstrated, stretching his wrists out together.
“Do you even wonder why I don’t tell you things?”
Her eyes stung as she fought to hold onto her frayed emotions. Everything was going wrong. The crowd exclaimed as one, rising to their feet. What had happened? Was it Cord? Was he hurt? She stood up, craning to see between the people in front of her. A rider was down, but one bullfighter quickly lured the bucking bull away while the other helped the rider to his feet and out of harm’s way, as it happened 90% of the time. But she couldn’t shake the sick feeling in her gut, that something bad was going to happen on Cord’s ride.
Jess sank to her seat, dropping her face into her hands. She felt a gentle touch on her shoulder, then heard a whisper. “Sorry, J.J.” Nick’s hand tightened. “I was only teasing you. Cord’s not riding tonight.”
Jess whipped around so fast her neck hurt. “Do you mean it? Cord’s not getting on a bull?”
“He’s not competing.” Nick had the good grace not to smirk. “But I wasn’t kidding about the other part. He really does think you’re back with Parker.”
Her stomach did a double flip. She had to see Cord. To set him straight about Parker. To apologize for hurting his feelings. To tell him the truth about how she felt. But how did she really feel?
The truth was that winning the barrel race was like an empty victory without Cord there to share it. She didn’t want to be friends with Cord anymore. She wanted to be more than friends. A lot more.
“Wait a minute…” Jess tugged on Nick’s shirt to pull his attention away from the arena, where the buzzer had sounded, indicating the rider had made the eight-second mark. “You’re not upset? About me and Cord?”
“Who’s Cord?” asked a grumpy-looking Parker.
“None of your business,” said Nick and Jess in unison.