Get Bucked (The Valentine Boys 4)

“You want to fight tonight?” he asked hopefully.

I was already opening my mouth to deny that when Darby answered for me.

“Not only no, but fuck no,” he snapped. “Where’s this trailer?”

Paul chuckled. “Just as well,” he said, gesturing for us to follow him. “If she’d said yes, I’d have then had to deal with her dad.”

“He’s weakened right now thanks to the flu,” I said. “You could’ve taken him.”

Paul snorted and led us through the throng of trailers, stopping at one of the nicest ones there.

“Here it is,” he said.

Darby and I came to a sudden standstill.

“What?” I asked. “Whose is this?”

“It’s the one we’re giving away today,” he said. “We’re selling raffle tickets.”

My brows rose.

“You’ll have to be out of it by Sunday afternoon when the winners pick it up. But for now, it’s all yours. Everything is hooked up and ready to go. We got the dealership to make sure it was all working and stuff so we didn’t have to do that ourselves.”

Darby looked at me and grinned.

“Sweet,” I said, winking at Darby. “Vacation for me, work for you.”

“Actually.” Paul held up his finger. “Not if you don’t want to. I could use you if you’re willing.”

“Sure, anything. Put me to work.”

Anything to get away from the sexual tension that was building and building between me and Darby.

“As long as she’s not the one dealing with the bulls, I’m happy,” Darby interjected.

I rolled my eyes, but the thought of him worried for my safety had me feeling things I probably shouldn’t be feeling. At least when it came to Darby Valentine.

Especially when a group of girls walked past and said, “Hey, Darby!”

Darby didn’t bother to look their way.

That was what was wrong with Darby, though.

He was a one and done man.

I’d also heard he was a one and done and mean man.

Meaning when he was done using the women, and he wanted them gone fast, he’d go for the gut and hit them where it hurt.

I’d heard it from multiple people that he could be rough when it came to getting rid of the girls.

Not physically or anything, but when they didn’t leave as fast as he wanted them to, he’d become nasty and say things that he never would’ve said had they only obeyed the first time.

“My announcer has the flu, too,” Paul continued. “So you’d be up in the box the whole time with Jim.”

Darby cursed. “You can’t put her with Jim.”

“I’m not going with Jim,” I shook my head. “Not happening. No way. Nuh-uh. Nope.”

Paul looked ravaged. “I’ll pay you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care what you offer me. It could be seven hundred bucks and I wouldn’t.”

“What about a thousand?” he goaded.

I was already shaking my head. “No.”

Though the thought was a good one. I could do a lot of stuff with a thousand dollars. Like put a down payment on a car.

“How about two?” Paul offered, dangling the shiny carrot right in front of my face.

I opened my mouth to say no for a second time, even though it was hurting my heart, when Paul sweetened the deal.

“I’ll even offer you ten free tickets to enter to win the trailer you’ll be staying in,” he offered.

“You pay her two thousand dollars, pitch in the raffle tickets, and buy us dinner tonight as well as keeping Jim as far away from her as you can, and she’ll take it,” Darby paused, eyes on me. “But she gets to do her announcing from where she wants. The mic travels. And Jim is disgusting.”

Darby was right. Jim was disgusting.

I really didn’t know why the hell he was still working for this rodeo.

Well, that was a lie. I did. Jim was actually Mayor Jim Falconi of Houston, Texas. He was a touchy-feely weirdo that didn’t know boundaries when it came to touching women.

He, more than once, had let his hand slip down a little far on my ass. And had ‘accidentally’ grabbed my boob more than once.

“Deal,” Paul said, pulling out some tickets from his pockets. “Fill these out and go put them in the tub at the front of the stadium. We’re drawing for the winner tomorrow night.”

Darby rolled his eyes and took the tickets.

Once Paul had left, we looked up at the trailer that we’d be staying in.

Then we both bolted inside at the same time.

“Holy shit,” Darby said, eyes wide as he took everything in. “This is even nicer than Banks’ trailer.”

I felt my mouth fall open in surprise.

“This thing has marble floors.” I kicked the floor with my sneakered foot. “And accent lighting. I can get up to pee and walk out here without stubbing my toe.”

Darby snorted and walked farther into the kitchen.

“There’s a full-sized fridge in here with a television in it bigger than the one in my bedroom at home,” he said.