Page 21 of Buck This (Battle of the Bulls #6)

A banging sounded on the door, and Torrey startled to a sitting position. She scanned the RV, but Buck wasn’t here.

The knock sounded again, followed by, “Buck? Are you in there? Torrey?” The voice was familiar. Quickdraw?

“H-hold on!” she called, scrambling to untangle her legs from the sheets. “Let me get dressed!”

“Torrey, is Buck in there?” Quickdraw asked through the door.

“No.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“No, I just woke up,” she called, struggling into her cut-off jean shorts.

There was panic in Quickdraw’s tone. Something was wrong.

He was murmuring something to someone outside, and when Torrey yanked the door open, he stood there giving First Time Train Wreck and Tuff Enough instructions. “You two head to the venue and see if he’s there. Dead?”

“Yep,” Dead of Winter asked from where he frowned at some deep tire tracks in the mud. It was raining.

“Can you check the practice ring?”

“Sure, but have you seen these? He peeled out of here in a hurry.”

Quickdraw had the phone up to his ear and he was white as a sheet as he waited for an answer.

“What’s wrong?” Torrey asked, baffled.

“Oh shit, you don’t know?” Dead asked.

Raven hopped out of the back seat of Quickdraw’s truck and frowned at the tire tracks.

“I’ll tell her,” she said softly as she passed her mate by.

She squeezed Dead of Winter’s hand gently, then told him, “You boys go find him. The RV can be home base. If anyone hears anything, put it in the text loop.”

Tuff Enough stood off to the side looking troubled as hell, and Quickdraw muttered a curse, and tried to connect a call again. “It’s going straight to voicemail. I think he turned his phone off. Fuck!”

“We have time,” Raven said.

“He has to be to the venue in eight hours,” Tuff rumbled.

“What is happening? What am I missing?” Torrey asked.

Raven blew out a sigh, and there was heartbreak in her eyes. “One of your friends leaked a story to the press.”

“One of my…” Torrey frowned. “What story?”

Raven climbed the narrow RV stairs and came inside, turned for the television and grabbed the remote from the table, then clicked up a couple channels and turned the volume up.

There was a news anchor warning the audience of the graphic nature of pictures they were showing, and a big headline at the bottom that read, Breaking news: Finalist bull shifter charged with the murder of his brother, Teague Storme .

And to Torrey’s absolute horror, there was a picture up in the right-hand corner of an upside-down mangled pickup truck, with blood staining the pavement by the driver’s side door, and every window shattered.

The roof had been completely crushed in, and the tailgate of the destroyed truck was hanging off a ledge after having broken the protective railing that lined the shoulder.

The next picture was a standoff with police and a bull.

The bull.

Her bull.

Buck This Storme.

In what looked like early morning light, he stood wild-eyed and ready to charge as police surrounded him, rifles raised, and the injury to his side was gruesome. His skin was hanging off and his ribs were exposed.

A gasp escaped her, and she ripped her gaze away from the screen. The news anchor’s voice droned on about how they had secured an interview with one of Buck’s personal friends, and the newly ranked number one bull rider in the Battle of the Bulls, and then Torrey heard it…she heard his voice.

Cobalt Blue.

When she looked back up to the screen, he was wearing a plaid button-up shirt and his cowboy hat, and behind his right shoulder sat Reece, dressed in a red sundress, with matching pearl necklace and earrings, and her lips painted red. Her hair was perfectly done up.

Torrey narrowed her eyes and slowly stepped closer to the television as Cobalt spoke. “Hey, Helen, how are you this morning?”

The news anchor smiled somberly and nodded. “My morning is probably going a little smoother than yours. I hear it’s chaos over at headquarters for the Battle of the Bulls.”

“It’s wild right now. We were all supposed to draw our bulls this morning for finals, but that has been postponed until tonight, for obvious reasons.”

“And those obvious reasons would be the scandal that has gripped your industry today. Buck This Storme is being charged with his brother’s death in a horrific accident, is that correct? The reports are flooding in that Buck This Storme was driving drunk.”

“That’s correct.”

“And how did this come to your attention?”

Cobalt made a tick sound behind his teeth and shook his head once, faking somberness.

“The bull riders all received an anonymous tip off late last night, and we met up at the request of the event. I’ve been unfortunately placed in charge of finding out the facts, and sent the police reports to you so the public can have a copy of the facts.

Obviously, Buck This Storme can’t be allowed to buck tonight.

I could understand a bar fight, or being late for an event or something, but murder?

Drunk driving? Buck This Storme is a terrible example for anyone to look up to, and that’s what our industry is about.

We are up on a pedestal and the way we behave reflects directly on our industry. This is not what we’re about.”

Buck’s mugshot flashed onto the screen as they trashed him. His eyes looked empty and haunted, and his face looked gaunt, like he was a corpse. His lips were thinned into a grim line, like he’d never smiled in his entire life.

“I knew something was off about him,” Cobalt said. “Everyone knew. I don’t know why he’s been allowed in this event at all. Everyone saw him go after those innocent bystanders in Albuquerque. He’s a killer.”

The video of Buck This Storme jumping the railing at a rodeo event and charging into the crowd played.

When the camera flashed back to Cobalt, Reece had lowered her gaze in the background and didn’t look up for the rest of Cobalt’s brief interview about how he felt being the number one bull shifter rider at not only the event, but in the world right now.

“Something isn’t right,” Torrey murmured in a shaking voice.

“Explain,” Raven said softly.

“This accident is two years old. I’ve seen the scar on his ribs.

It’s long healed. He doesn’t even favor it.

And if he was charged with murder, like Cobalt is preaching?

” She turned to Raven. “Then why the hell is Buck walking free right now? Why isn’t he in prison?

Cobalt had to have doctored the police reports he sent to this news station.

Or at the very least, omitted the date on them. Listen. Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Raven asked.

“The police at the door?”

Raven shook her head.

“Because there are none. You think it would be difficult for police to find his RV? It’s got a license plate, facing the street, easy peasy to track down. Furthermore,” she said, jamming her finger at the television. “Cobalt is a liar.”

“About what?”

“One, he lied that he is a personal friend of Buck. They aren’t friends. Never were. And that anonymous text to all the bull-riders? Where did that come from?”

Raven said, “Good girl,” softly. “I could hear the lie in his voice as he talked about it.”

“He dug into Buck’s past looking for dirt, and twisted it, didn’t he? He did this.” Torrey was shaking with fury. “He had to make the big scandal right before the event. He had to find a way to get him kicked out of the competition.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a fucking prick. He’s a hater, and even worse? He’s fucking scared. He doesn’t want to draw Buck This. Not now that he’s in first place and has a chance at that purse. How much is on the line again?”

“A million dollars. The finalists will all ride tonight, and then at the end, it’s the best rider vs the best bull shifter. Winner of that ride takes home a million dollars. Second and third place get paid out too, but not like first. Not even close.”

And it all made so much sense. Cobalt was a rat who didn’t want to battle with Buck This Storme. Not with the growing hype around him.

She thought of Buck, and the weight this must’ve placed on his shoulders. He could barely talk about his brother, and now this? Those images splashed across the news. Everyone calling him a murderer.”

Torrey’s entire body was covered in chills as she texted Buck.

You’re okay. Everything is okay. Come back. We will figure this out. Send.

This was a test. She waited and waited for the text to go through, but it came back not deliverable. He’d done something to his phone, and she couldn’t reach him. Not like this.

Shit.

“I have to find him,” she whispered desperately.

“The boys are out looking. They will tell us the second they find him. Do you have a laptop?” Raven asked softly.

“Yes. In the back of my car. Why?”

“Because I think Buck needs our help, and I think we need to be quick about it.”

“I don’t know where he is, Raven. I need to make sure he’s okay.”

“That will have to hold,” Raven said as she held the RV door open for her to retrieve the laptop. “We have work to do first.”