Thrown: Studs in Spurs, Book 6 Read Online Free

her father’s Achilles’ heel. Instead, she kept the trick in reserve, like a secret weapon. She only pulled it out when it was absolutely necessary. Such as now when she needed to slip away for five minutes. If she’d wanted to shut him down for the remainder of the night, she would have told him she had to run out to the truck for a tampon. That would have had him red-faced and tongue-tied for a good few hours.
    With a smirk over her own cleverness, she headed in the direction Skeeter had gone. She walked down the hallway of champions, barely glancing at the images hanging on the walls. The guy she was intent on seeing wasn’t a champion—yet—and he needed some cheering up.
    The door of the riders’ room was open. Riley paused on the threshold. “Hey. Can I come in?”
    Skeeter’s body language said it all. He sat slumped on the wooden bench, eyes downcast as he slowly unwrapped the tape around the wrist of his gloved riding hand. As his gaze moved to focus on the doorway and Riley, he looked surprised to see her.
    “Hey.” He sat a little straighter and his voice wasn’t quite as sad as she’d anticipated. “Yeah, sure. Come on in.”
    She took the few steps inside the room and perched on the bench opposite him. “It was a good ride.”
    One corner of his mouth tipped up. “Until the end.”
    “Until the end.” Riley nodded. There was no denying that, since he’d been bucked off. “So what are you gonna do now?”
    “I’m heading home.” He shrugged. “Nothing else for me to do.”
    She opened her eyes wider. “You quitting?”
    “Nah, I can’t do that. There’s nothing else I know how to do. I’m gonna take a look at the touring pro schedule and see how many events I can get to. Try to get my point total up and get back on the tour as soon as I can.”
    “That sounds like a good plan.” Riley figured that even as depressed as he seemed over getting kicked off, Skeeter wanting to work his way back was very good news. At least he hadn’t given up.
    “I guess. Only one I got so…” Skeeter shrugged again. “You heading home after this is over?”
    She didn’t miss how he’d changed the subject. “Yeah. We’re leaving right after the short go. Dad wants to get the bulls back to the ranch.”
    Skeeter treated her to a small but sad-looking smile. “It’s strange hearing Butch called Dad .”
    “Yeah, I know.” She smiled in return at the truth of what he’d said.
    Her father sure had built himself quite a reputation as a tough guy. Riley had a feeling he worked extra hard nowadays to reinforce that hard-as-nails image with the riders. Pretty much ever since she’d graduated high school and started traveling with him full time.
    And it was all with the goal of keeping her from dating any of the guys. Even one as sweet at Skeeter, who attended cowboy church every Sunday and took a knee before every ride. He wasn’t like some of the other more infamous riders. She’d never heard of him hooking up with any of the buckle bunnies. Of course, that didn’t mean he didn’t, just that she hadn’t seen or heard of it.
    In front of her, he usually ignored the girls. Riley saw the looks the groupies along the rails gave Skeeter, so it wasn’t for lack of interest on the girls’ parts. Riley figured it was because while he was in the arena, he was super focused. It seemed like he was there to do two things—ride bulls and win. That was all. One reason why his poor performance today had devastated him so much.
    But the truth was that after the competition, when all the guys went out to the local bars and the girls followed them—that could be a different story altogether. Riley wouldn’t know what happened then. She wasn’t old enough to be in bars. Not that that mattered. She’d never be allowed to go to one as long as her father was even in the same state she was. He’d somehow know if she snuck into one. She had no doubt. But maybe that’s what came from a man being both mother