Stockman’s Stormcloud (Stockmen #3)

Thirty-five

Sophie was seated on one of the old wooden crates that made up the circular part of the arena, nervously chewing on her thumbnail. Never in her life had she seen such a place as this, where men and women of all ages met under the heavy cloak of darkness to fight each other. ‘When is Dex’s fight on, Charlie?’

‘Soonish. I’d better put a bet on.’ Charlie poked up the brim of his hat to crane his neck to peer at the crowd. ‘Are you going to make a wager?’

‘I’ve never made a bet in my life.’ She was so sheltered from this dark underworld.

‘Well, you stay right there and save our stoop. We’ll need it to see the fight.’

Sophie was afraid to be left alone. She didn’t know anyone amongst this crowd of stern faces when it parted for Dex.

‘What are you doing here?’ Dex glowered at her, so dark and dangerous.

She whimpered. ‘I… I… I had to come.’

Dex exhaled, wiping his hand over his face, instantly softening his facial features as he sat down beside her, sliding his arm over her shoulders. ‘I don’t want you here.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I need to concentrate and not worry about you with this crowd. Not with everything else that’s going on.’

‘I have to see.’

‘See what? Me get punched in the head? ’

‘To see that part of you. I know you’re a fighter, and I know why you’re doing this, but I’m also here if…’ She swallowed, fiddling on her simple string bracelet. ‘Bree suggested I be here to help in case you were injured again.’

‘I’ll have some stern words with Bree later.’

‘She cares, like I do, and I’m here to support you.’ She grabbed his large hand, sandwiching it between hers, giving her last-minute plea that she’d been rehearsing all afternoon. ‘I don’t want you to fight, and I know I can’t stop you, but there is no way I’d be able to stay at the hospital, pacing the halls, waiting for news.’

His grin grew, the sexy one that made her toes curl. ‘Does that mean you like me?’

She playfully nudged him with her shoulder. ‘I might.’

‘Enough to come home?’

‘How about this…’ She sat straighter, rolling her shoulders, formulating a new plan. ‘If you skip this fight and never fight again, I’ll move in with you.’

He frowned, with his voice lethally low. ‘Tempting as that may be, you have to want to move in with me, not let me win you over a wager. You’ll only feel trapped if I won, and I’d be forever wondering if I didn’t have more than one fight left in me. How would you like it if I told you to quit your job as a nurse, and give up your cat for a dog?’

She straightened her shoulders to glare at him. Dex could be so cold at times.

‘See…’ He tapped the tip of her nose to temper her anger. ‘That’s the same for me.’

‘Well, I’ll be here.’ And she wasn’t moving.

‘Okay then, you can watch my fight kit.’ He dumped his duffel bag at her feet.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To see a man about a dog.’ And he disappeared amongst the crowd building up behind her.

She could never understand why men had the need to fight. At the cattle station, Dex was such a different person, patting the dogs, taking time to brush down the stockhorses, checking over the cattle in the drafting yards, play fighting with his young nephew, and ending his day watching the sunset while cradling a beer in his lap talking with his brothers.

Here, Dex was a loner. Guarded, and oh so fiercely dangerous. And he should be, considering he was about to enter a fighting bout, which meant putting his life in danger. Dex had way more to lose than anyone.

The nerves were killing her as she tugged on the stupid string Bree had given her. It was such an ugly brown colour, coarse against her skin, but it did its job of making her think hard about what she wanted.

Dex was right to get mad at her stupid deal, because she would have felt trapped. It’s how she’d felt about her ex, too scared to do anything until it was too late that she’d lost everything.

Here, now, in a completely different world, those rose-coloured glasses she’d been living behind changed, as if the camera’s lens filter had been switched to show a new way of life.

Life was rugged, it was dirty, and it was dangerous. If you didn’t fight for what you wanted in life, someone was always lurking in the shadows, only too willing to take it all away.

In that moment, she truly understood why Dex was doing this.

Sophie had never had to fight for anything, not like Dex or Bree. But she wanted to fight now. She wanted to fight for her future, and she finally realised what it was.

And the simple string fell away from her wrist to land in the dirt, like magic.