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“Thanks, babe,” he said when he was done. Luckily the Viagra had kicked in because he had another call. He lifted her headphones briefly off her ears. “Take off your clothes and bend over the desk. I’ll be with you in a minute.” He replaced them and gave her tits a little squeeze. She giggled at him.

While she stripped, he dialed his man on the inside. This time, he kept the camera off.

“Great job with Sverre. I need you to do it again for Odessa. We’ve got a big exhibition event planned for him and I want him insane when the rider gets on him. Just like we did on Mick’s bull last year. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered on the tests. You can drug him anytime. You don’t have to wait.”

Debbie’s ass looked nice and juicy as she positioned herself in front of him. He hit mute when he poked a finger in her to make sure she was lubed up.

“Oh.” She moaned.

“Quiet,” he said, smacking her ass.

“You got it, boss,” his man on the inside said. “I thought we were going to have trouble with Reba Keller, but when I told Diane that she was fucking Calland, she took her off the project.”

Jackson toggled off mute. “No one asked you to do that.” Just because it worked out this time, didn’t mean the next time he improvised on his orders wouldn’t be a disaster. “Do what you’re told. No more. No less.”

“Sorry.”

“And don’t get caught.”

He hung up the phone and then he raw-dogged Debbi. He waited until he was finished before making his last phone call. “Take a hike,” he said, when she took off the headphones. He sank back into his chair. “Get me some lunch.”

“Yes, sir,” Debbi said, stepping back into her panties.

“I said get out of here.” He tossed her bra at her. “I’ve got to make an important call.”

She hurried out of his office, holding her heels and her clothes. She was a stupid heifer, but she could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch.

He called his bookie once she shut the door behind her. “Ten thousand dollars on LeAnn Keller to get tossed off her bull on Saturday.”

“She’s been doing really well in the arenas. How sure of a bet is this? You know we’ve got several interested parties in this action,” his bookie said.

“As long as they’re willing to kick a little back to me for making this happen, I’ll be glad to keep doing this. We made a mint on that Mickelson wreck last season, didn’t we?” Jackson was still miffed that they missed having Killer Keller on the bull that time. It would have taken care of two problems. Getting Shelby Miller to back off on her women “athletes” permanently, as well as giving them a shitload of publicity.

He hoped, this time around, it paid off. He was sick of having women take the spotlights away from the real stars of the rodeo, the cowboys. And if Killer Keller met the same fate as Ronnie, well that was pure entertainment gold. Jackson opened up his special box and did a line of coke.

Things were looking up.

Chapter Fourteen

Reba

Fort Worth, TX

Monday before the Odessa Weekend Rodeo

Reba wasn’t in the mood for the family meeting that Dolly had called tonight. She was left to pack up the veterinary trailer for the five-hour drive to Odessa. As it was, she was pulling double duty, still sitting in for Dr. Victor’s on-call hours because she owed him one for when she went to Montana.

But Dolly had sounded almost hysterical on the phone and Reba owed her, too, for all the times she smoothed things over with free tickets or VIP passes. When she finally got to the Fort Worth Steak Emporium, she was the last to arrive. She was surprised to see that not only were LeAnn and Dylan there, but Shane was seated as well. That was a nice surprise, even if he looked as confused as she was that he was there.

“Hey, cowboy,” she said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

LeAnn snickered and elbowed Dylan. “Kissy face.”

“I thought you were heading out to Brady today,” Reba said, ignoring her sister.

“I got pulled into a bunch of meetings about Sverre and I didn’t want to do it while driving.”

“Sounds like the opposite of fun.” She sat down next to him. “Sorry I’m late. Why are we all here?”