Page 21 of Saddle Studs
I took a left down a dirt road, open green pastures on either side of us.
“I got fired from my job today.” Sam kept his attention on the wide, vast horizon. “I knew it was coming, but it doesn’t stop it from sucking major donkey balls.”
“Fuck, Sam, I’m sorry.” I moved to lower the music some more. It was at the same moment Sam was going to adjust it, our fingers touching. Briefly, so briefly.
Yet it was enough to kick off a chain reaction of sparks exploding through my body.
How could such a simple touch, such a quick moment, lead to such a profound reaction?
Sam raised the volume on the country song playing on the radio. I brought my hands back to the wheel, the sparks stillcoursing through me. “Is that what brought you to the ranch? Besides Dennis?”
He nodded, sighing. “I haven’t talked to anyone about this. Not even my mom, and you know I tell her everything. But, well, I fucked up, big time. I had the biggest client of my entire career—a mega pop star you’ve most likely heard of and danced to before. I thought I was set. Completely made.
Then she ends up getting into a social media fight with the Duchess of Essex. Yes, you heard that right. She picked a fight with royalty. And did you know the Duchess has a very active, and veryvicious, fandom? I didn’t, until they doxed my client and started stalking her at her home.”
“That’s terrible, what the hell?”
“It’s not even the craziest part. So as her PR guy, I’m working overtime trying to fix this, coming up with ways I could mend the bridge and make the public either just back off or flip into sympathy mode. It was a challenge, and I waslovingit. Putting out such big fires in that pressure-cooker environment just—I don’t know, makes me horny.”
I laughed even though I almost drove us off the road and into a ditch. “I can see that. You were always a high-stakes kind of guy.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I can’t handle the pressure even though I like it. I was running on empty when I came up with an idea. Stupid, but I figured why not. I created a couple fake accounts and seeded them around viral videos, commenting about my client’s innocence and their personal interactions with her. I’d then buy likes and drive those comments up. Sneaky, but I thought it was working.
Until last week, when I went around making my positive comment trail, not realizing I’d been logged into my client’s account the entire time. It immediately blew up. The narrative shifted from my client’s petty fight to now her sociopathictendencies of creating puppet accounts and commenting about herself.” Sam dropped his head back against the head rest and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Oh fuck.”
“Exactly. My client was rightfully furious. It was such a rookie mistake, right when I was about to go prime time.”
“People make mistakes.”
“Yes, and people get fired for those mistakes.”
I shook my head, wishing I could do something to fix this for him. There wasn’t much I could do, though.
“It’s okay,” Sam said, reassuring me when it was likely him who needed comforting. “I’ve got enough in savings to cushion me for a while. When I got the letter from Frankie about this Rainbow Ranch thing, I figured the timing meant something. Like I just needed the break. Time to reset. So, once I’m done here, I’ll reach out to whatever connections I’ve got and see if I can get a second chance somewhere.”
Talking aboutbeing doneat Rainbow Ranch left a bitter taste in the back of my mouth.
I ignored it. “Everyone deserves a second chance. Sometimes the first go-around is meant to be a stepping stone for the final shape of things. We need those first times, the messy lessons, so we could thrive once another chance to shine comes around.”
“Look at you, being all philosophical and shit.”
I chuckled at that. “I’ve been listening to lots of podcasts about things like that.”
“Might need to start listening to those.”
“I’ll send some recommendations along with my porn ones.”
“Ah, perfect,” Sam said. “It’ll give me something to listen to while I clean up.”
Again, I nearly jerked the steering wheel to the side. “You’re ridiculous,” I said, the both of us laughing, the tension of the moment easing.
Maybe I did have something I could offer to fix this. Laughter. Happiness. An escape.
There was also something else in my arsenal. Instead of taking us to town, I decided to drive somewhere else, somewhere much more remote and out of the way.
Sam looked around as I slowed the truck to a stop. “No way, you brought us here?”
