Whiskey Smash (It's all in the Whiskey Book 7) Read online

  Whiskey Smash

  It’s All In The Whiskey

  Jen Talty

  Jupiter Press

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Jen Talty All rights reserved.

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Book Description

  While he prefers a double shot of whiskey, he’s not opposed to taking a stroll down champagne lane, but not if it’s going to cost him at the track.

  Two years ago, Hayden Fox wasn’t sure she would walk again, much ride a bucking bronco. Being on the backside of a horse was bittersweet and while being a cowgirl was all she’d ever dreamed of, it came at a price.

  One she knew this time she might pay with her life. However, she didn’t know what else to do. Her uncle had paid all her bills. He’d made sure she was well-taken care of and he never let her forget he’d given up everything to ensure she had the best doctors and the best training money could buy.

  For the last ten years, Sawyer Lawson has been making his way from one country bar stage to the next. All he cared about was plucking his guitar, keeping his head, and staying out of trouble.

  Only trouble had a way of finding him and this time it came in the form of a sexy cowgirl who needs the same kind of help that once landed Sawyer behind bars.

  Contents

  WHISKEY SMASH

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Jen Talty

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  WHISKEY SMASH

  It’s All In The Whiskey book 7

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  JEN TALTY

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  1

  Hayden Fox stepped into the corral and closed her eyes. A sharp pain of something snapping in her back tore through her system just like it did two years ago. The gut-wrenching torture sliced through her muscles as if she were a piece of meat on a butcher’s slab.

  Her body could feel every single memory, but her mind couldn’t recall anything that happened after the first buck of the bronco, except for the fact she’d never secured herself in the saddle, and the second the horse was released, Hayden was flat on her back, gasping for air, begging for the physical pain to end and the emotional torture to be over.

  In a matter of six seconds, she’d broken her back in two different places, separated both her shoulders, broke her right wrist and left elbow as well as her left leg in three places. Not to mention she’d managed to puncture both lungs.

  But that wasn’t what nearly killed her that day two years ago.

  She rubbed the back of her head.

  A brain bleed had nearly put the nail in her coffin at the ripe old age of twenty.

  “Hayden,” Cheyenne’s voice rang out from somewhere in the distance. “Are you ready for this?”

  She blinked open her eyes, wiping away the few tears that had escaped. She took her sunglasses from on top of her head and placed them over her eyes. She had no idea how the hell she would get through this. Every fucking time she got on a damn horse, she relived the decision that changed her life, and not in the way she’d hoped.

  Turning, she waved to Cheyenne, who walked up the path with her husband, JB Whiskey. Cheyenne was a few years older and had an up-and-down rodeo career of her own.

  As a little girl, Hayden thought Cheyenne was fearless and she wanted to be just like her. When Cheyenne retired the first time, the rodeo world turned their eyes to a young rising star named Hayden Fox.

  But by that time, all Hayden wanted was her freedom from the hell that had become her reality. The skeletons in her family closet had fallen from the top shelf and her uncle had done the unspeakable.

  Hayden felt as though the world had turned its back and she had nothing and no one.

  “You’re looking very pregnant these days.” Hayden opened her arms and hugged the woman whom she’d admired for many years.

  “Any day now,” Cheyenne said, patting her belly.

  “How’s little Jimmy?” Hayden asked.

  “Not so little.” JB took off his Stetson, then leaned in and kissed Hayden’s cheek. “He wanted to be here, but he’s actually training for his first rodeo appearance with his uncle JW and Luke. He’s quite excited.”

  “I’m shocked that you’re not there being an overbearing parent.” Hayden had the pleasure of meeting the precious Jimmy Whiskey, who had his father’s charm and his mother’s raw talent and sheer determination.

  Cheyenne laughed. “We’ve been kicked out of all lessons for
just that reason.”

  JB poked his wife gently in the shoulder. “She’s worse than me because she thinks she knows how to ride a bull better than my brother, who still holds the world record.”

  “That’s funny because you’re the one who was correcting JW in the middle of a lesson, which got us thrown out in the first place.” Cheyenne did a little bow. “And let’s not forget who in this family holds the records and all the trophies.”

  “Show off,” JB mumbled.

  Hayden’s stomach twisted and churned. It had been a long time since someone actually cared about what happened to her and not what she could provide them. Her uncle Kevin often meant well, but at the end of the day, he still used her as a meal ticket.

  Especially now.

  “Is my hubby feeling like his wifey takes all the glory?”

  “Something like that.” JB ran a hand through his wavy hair before firmly placing his cowboy hat back on his head. “Are you ready to get started?”

  Leave it to JB to go right to the heart of the matter.

  “I need to be ready for the Wild Buhl Round Up. I know it’s more of an exhibition rodeo, but everyone who is anyone is going to be attending. I don’t need to win, but I need to be competition ready. More importantly, I need to know where I stack up with everyone else.”

  “Well, as we talked about in our meeting a couple of months ago, we’re happy to work with you, but you haven’t given us much time.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. But I had some things I needed to handle back in Arizona.” Specifically, selling everything she could to pay for her time at Whiskey Ranch because training with the woman who currently held the record in bronc riding at the top rodeo school in the country wasn’t cheap. Not to mention her keeping up with Kevin’s gambling debts, both past, present, and future, along with paying back some loan shark he borrowed money from that currently owned both their asses.

  Hopefully, living in the middle of Idaho, Kevin wouldn’t get them in any more financial trouble and he’d hold true to his word.

  No gambling. He’d keep the drinking to a minimum. And he’d stay out of her way.

  She really needed to lighten up on him. For the last year, he’d really been trying, and he’d been doing well. Better than well. But still, she didn’t trust him.

  Not yet.

  She rubbed her biceps. She was a grown woman and her life was not supposed to have turned out this way.

  Well, she was taking the bull by the horns. So to speak.

  After she paid off what her uncle owed to a bunch of crazy criminals, she’d be able to walk away from this life. She could go find a nice small town somewhere in Ohio or even Pennsylvania. Hell, Delaware had a ton of land where she could find a small farm to work on. She could easily hide away in one of those states, where her uncle didn’t owe anyone a single dime and no one knew her name.

  She’d rebuild and hopefully, Kevin could do the same.

  “You’re here now and we have three weeks until the competition.” Cheyenne rubbed her protruding stomach. “This child will probably enter this world before the rodeo, and as you know, working on the mechanical horse with Paget, she and Annette are pregnant as well.”

  “You mentioned me working with JB and Heather once you go into labor.” At this point, Hayden didn’t care who on Whiskey Ranch she trained with. She was lucky they were willing to take her on where other schools weren’t willing to take that risk for a variety of reasons.

  Of course, she’d say that out loud, but as she glanced over her shoulder, watching a couple of the other cowgirls train with a few of the lesser known trainers, she was more than grateful for the team she had in her corner.

  “I’ll be in charge,” JB said.

  “He’s the best. I can attest to that.” Cheyenne looked up at her husband with a bright smile. “Thanks to him, I still hold the record.”

  “I plan on taking that title from you.” It was a bold statement for Hayden to make, and at one point she had every intention of doing just that. Only now, this was a performance.

  The most important one of her life.

  And she better win an Oscar. The world needed to believe she was back with staying power, even though she just wanted enough money to save her uncle’s ass.

  “If anyone is going to knock me off my high horse, I hope it’s you.” Cheyenne strolled to the side of the corral and slipped under the fence, taking a seat on a large log. “You’ll be riding Cricket today. She’s older and not as wild, so you need to master her quickly so we can move you to Rocky, who no one has ridden yet. He’s going to be yours, but only if you can get close to my score on Cricket.”

  “Bring it.” Hayden clenched her fists and released them five times, breathing deeply each time. She’d been training back home, but not on a world class horse.

  As a matter of fact, what she’d been doing couldn’t really be called preparation for any kind of rodeo. She’d barely been able to last more than a couple of seconds on the backside of any horse.

  And her form was beyond pathetic.

  How she thought she’d be able to win any competition was beyond her, but she had to if she was going to beat her uncle at his own game.

  JB squeezed her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? Because you have nothing to prove to anyone.”

  “Except I do.” If this was going to work, the world needed to believe she was hungry to win. That she’d spent the last two years working hard for this moment, and this moment alone. And she needed to sell it to JB and Cheyenne more than anyone else.

  “All right.” JB jogged over to the opening near the barn where one of the farm hands had walked a bucking bronc into the stall. “Come on over and say hello to Cricket.”

  After Hayden’s fall two years ago, she never thought she’d want to get back on a horse again, much less compete. Not out of fear, but because of why she’d fallen in the first place.

  Cricket kicked and bucked as Hayden approached.

  The hair on the back of her neck prickled. She swallowed the anxiety that tickled the back of her throat. The doctors had given her a clean bill of health and told her she could live her life as she saw fit, but warned her that if she ever hurt or broke her back again, she could end up paralyzed.

  Or worse.

  A concept her uncle didn’t seem to be too concerned about.

  And something she hadn’t considered when she’d made the decision to let go of the strap two years ago.

  JB handed Hayden a helmet.

  She strapped it on, tightening it under her chin a little tighter than she needed to, but this would be the first time in a long time she rode a professional bronco. This would be the true test if she could even pull this off.

  “So. I want you to just focus on the roll of your hips the second the gate is open. Just like when you were working on the mechanical horse with Paget. She pretty much had that set to the way Cricket tends to buck. She’s gotten pretty predictable in her old age.” JB climbed up on the metal rungs, tapping his hands on the top one.

  Hayden stepped around the other side and placed her boots, one at a time, on the posts, hiking herself up next to JB, resting her butt on the ledge.

  Cricket neighed a deep, dark, angry tone and kicked her hind legs.

  JB took Hayden’s arm, raising it up over her head. “Start your circle in the direction that Cricket leads and then let your hips follow, from there you’ll have to feel where she’s going to go next, but like I said, she’s predictable, so she’ll go exactly where your instincts will tell you.”

  Hayden blew out a puff of air. “My instincts are a little rusty,” she whispered as she reached for the rein and gripped. She mounted the house in the chute and focused her eyes on the back of Cricket’s ears. This was one controlled ride after a week of training on the mechanical horse. Physically, she knew she was as strong as she was ever going to get.

  Her pain level was at a two, which was as good as it was ever going to get. At the end of today, it
was probably going to be an eight.

  At the end of the month, Kevin would be out of her life and she’d be—well, she had no idea and she didn’t care.

  “Are you ready?” JB asked with his hand on the gate.

  She nodded. “Ready.” Only, out of the corner of her eye, right before JB let Cricket out of the chute, Hayden saw her uncle leaning against the fence.

  Fuck.

  He’d promised to stay out of her training and out of trouble in general and she in turn agreed to help him out of his mess.

  Cricket lurched forward and Hayden flipped backward, sideways, and right to the ground. “Goddammit.” She rolled under the fence seconds before Cricket kicked her in the ass.

  Nothing like a first poor showing.

  She jumped to her feet, brushing the dirt off her shirt. “Excuse me while I go have a word with my uncle.”

  “Sure thing,” JB said as he helped corral the bucking bronco. The frustration in his voice wasn’t lost on Hayden.

  A throbbing sensation rippled across her lower back as she stomped across the open field. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked under her breath. “This was not part of our deal. You made me look like a fool in front of my trainers, not to mention I could have gotten injured and that isn’t going to get us out of this situation you created.”