Free Holdin' On for a Hero by Ciana Stone

you lose then you have to tell me all about the trouble with the casino and these Holling people I keep hearing about. Deal?”
    Billy’s smile faded to be replaced with a look of anxious indecision. For a few moments Chance thought he was going to turn her down. Then he grinned at her. “What the hell. I’m not gonna lose. Deal.”
    She dug the money out of her pocket and gave it to him, then watched as he set off to the other side of the bar. He disappeared into the crowd and she walked over toward the door where there were less people. As she neared the door, Wyatt walked in.
    Both of them stopped cold and stared at one another. Finally he walked over to her. “I’d like to have my Jeep back, if you don’t mind.”
    She pulled the keys from her pocket and handed them to him. “Can I buy you a drink?”
    “I can buy my own.”
    “Fine.” She was determined not to let him make her mad. “See you around.”
    She walked away but turned and looked back as she reached the bar. Wyatt was watching her with a dark scowl on his face. He saw her look at him and abruptly turned and left. Chance started to go after him but stopped when Billy walked up to her. “Okay, I’m up next. You gonna be my cheering section?”
    “Sure.” She couldn’t turn him down, he looked so excited.
    He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him toward the pool table. She waited with him until it was his turn to play, then gave him a hug. “Good luck.”
    Billy won his game quickly and she congratulated him. “Well, I guess I won’t be getting any information from you,” she teased. “If the rest of the games are like that one. Unfortunately, I can’t hang around to watch. There’re some things I have to do.”
    “What about your cut of the prize?” he asked, clearly disappointed that she was leaving.
    “I’ll catch up with you later to collect,” she promised. “See ya.”
    “Yeah, okay.” He gave her a smile. “Later.”
    Chance went outside, got in the Wrangler and started it. If she had any sense she would just go back to the motel and get a good night’s sleep then get up and go home first thing in the morning. The trouble was, when it came to Wyatt, not only did she not have good sense, she had no sense at all. She couldn’t help it. Despite everything, she loved him, and she had come this far so she might as well give it one more try. Pulling out onto the road, she headed in the direction of his house.
    * * * * *
    Wyatt pulled up in his drive and stopped the Jeep but did not turn off the engine. At that moment the thought of an empty silent house was as distasteful as a root canal. He needed to be somewhere there was noise, somewhere loud enough to drown out his own thoughts. But Chance was at Ralph’s and he did not want to be around her.
    “So you’re going to let her run you out of your own hangout?” he asked himself. “Hell no. Let her leave.”
    He backed out of the driveway and headed back the way he’d come.
    * * * * *
    Wyatt’s Jeep was not in the drive when Chance arrived at his house. For a few minutes she sat in the Wrangler, trying to decide what to do.
    “Well, he’s bound to come home sometime,” she spoke to herself.
    She turned off the engine, got out and walked to the house. The door was unlocked so she went inside. The den was chilly but there were live coals in the fireplace. Stirring the coals, she added wood then took a seat on the couch. Wrapping the quilt that was thrown across the back of the sofa around her, she lay down and propped her head on a throw pillow.
    Her eyes fell on the sketchpad on the coffee table. She wondered why Wyatt had brought it in there. More than that, she wondered why he had even drawn those pictures of her in the first place.
    There were so many questions she would have liked to ask him. If only she could find a way to talk to him without making him angry. But how to do that was a mystery. Closing her eyes, she snuggled under the quilts and watched the