Free Thrown: Studs in Spurs, Book 6 by Cat Johnson Page A

age plus some tonight.
    Maybe they should use this mid-season break as a vacation. As much as her father liked to try out the new stock at the smaller events, and as much as Riley wouldn’t mind running into Skeeter at them, they could use some downtime at home.
    She’d talk to her father about the break in the morning too. Though getting him to take time off would be as hard as getting him to the doctor.
    Men. Too stubborn for their own good. Yet she still wouldn’t mind having one in her life. What did that say about her? Maybe beneath the stench of bull, under the denim and leather and arena dust, there was a girly girl buried deep. It would just take the right guy to bring her out.
    Riley showered off the stench and dirt that was part of her everyday life. She slipped into shorts and a T-shirt before she braided the still-damp length of hair she brushed over her shoulder. It was long past bedtime and closer to sunrise when she was finally ready to hit the sack.
    Exhausted, she was about to crawl beneath the covers when she realized she’d never heard her father go to bed or even into the bathroom. Knowing him, he’d fallen asleep on the sofa, which wouldn’t help the stiff shoulder he was complaining about any. She’d have to wake him up so he could move to his bedroom and get a proper night’s sleep.
    Barefoot, she padded to the living room and leaned over the back of the couch. Just as she expected, Butch was there and apparently sound asleep. In such a deep slumber, he wasn’t even snoring, which pretty much never happened.
    “Dad.” She spoke softly at first, hoping to not startle him. When he didn’t wake, she raised her voice and repeated, “Daddy.”
    He still didn’t stir. “Daddy, wake up.”
    Frowning, Riley reached down and jostled him, noticing in the dim light of the living room lamp that his coloring looked awful. She laid a palm against his cheek. His skin felt cooler than it should. “Daddy?”
    Her heart clenched as panic began to set in. No. It wasn’t possible. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and forced herself to press two fingers to his throat. The pulse she searched for wasn’t there.
    The one person she had left in the world could not leave her.
    Battling the hysteria rising within her, she ran around the couch and kneeled, pressing her ear to his chest. No sounds of breathing. No heartbeat. She ran for the phone and punched in nine-one-one. It hadn’t been that long since he was up and joking with her while helping to unload the bulls. He could not be gone. They’d have to bring him back.
    Why hadn’t she taken that CPR course they’d offered in high school? If he died, it would be her fault. She should have taken him right to the hospital when he said he didn’t feel well. She should know what to do now to save him.
    “Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?” The voice on the other end of the phone didn’t hold half the comfort Riley needed it to. Worse, the only answer she had to the seemingly simple question was a sob.
     
     
    “You home yet?” Aaron’s voice on speakerphone filled the cab of Skeeter’s truck.
    “Not yet. Soon. I’m about to get off the highway.”
    “You should have stayed here for the night like I wanted you to. We could have gone out. Then you could have started fresh in the morning.”
    Skeeter let out a snort. “If we’d gone out, I wouldn’t be fresh. I’d be hung over in the morning.”
    And he’d had enough of Aaron trying to cheer him up for one weekend. He didn’t need a repeat. That he’d let it happen at all had been a one-time lapse in judgment on Skeeter’s part. He had no issues with meeting a girl and having a little bit of fun, but to have her led to his bed, and have Aaron right there doing what he’d done…it was too much for Skeeter.
    “What are you going to do at home?” Aaron asked, dragging Skeeter away from memories of last night and back to the conversation.
    “I wanna spend some time with my