Masterpiece by Juliette Jones Read Free Book Online

nothing but a cloud of dust in my rear-view mirror.
    When I get back to my house I take a beer from my fridge and grab the bottle of Jack Daniels and sit outside for a while, savoring the peace and the quiet.
    I have this feeling I won’t be riding bulls anymore. Maybe not ever again.
    My phone vibrates in my pocket.
    I pull it out and look at the screen. Fleur .
    “Hey.”
    “Max, are you okay?”
    “Yeah, fine.”
    “That fall looked like it hurt.”
    “It would’ve if he’d landed two inches to the left.”
    “Max, you left before I could talk to you. I’m sorry, I know this probably isn’t the best time to talk about this but it’s about your paintings –”
    I’m seriously not in the mood for this. “Sweetheart, I love you like a sister. Always have. But if you don’t drop all this art shit I’m going to drive over to your house , take those paintings I gave you and burn them right there in your barbecue pit. Then I’m going to drive back over here and burn all the ones I have here in the biggest bonfire Montana’s ever seen. You might even be able to see the smoke from all the way over there. Let’s make a party out of it, in fact. You and Travis are welcome to join me while I chug the hell out of this bottle of Jack until I’m passed out on the floor. Then you’ll have nothing to hound me about and you can get on with your life.”
       “Max . Please. Something’s come up that I really think you’ll want to hear about. Seriously. I wouldn’t bother you with it if I didn’t think it was worth your time.”
    I take another drink.
    “Max?”
    “So go ahead.”
    “You’ll wait until I’ve said everything before you react?”
    “I can’t promise that, no.”
    “Max.”
    “I’m gonna hang up if you don’t start telling me what you insisted on calling me about.”
    So she starts blurting it out real fast. “Her name’s Elle Parker. She’s from New York. She’s on her way over to your house and – I swear – Travis had absolutely nothing to do with this. It was all me. I just thought it was such an incredible opportunity and no one here even has to know. No one in New York knows who you are. I mean, the money , Max – she totally knows her stuff and she –”
    “She’s on her way over to my house ?”
    “Please don’t be mad at me. I know we were sworn to secrecy but this offer is too damn good to refuse. Please just listen to what she has to say. ”
    I can feel my patience starting to fray at the edges. “Being sworn to secrecy means you don’t tell anyone , sweetheart. That’s what a secret is.”
    “ I know. I’m sorry, Max, but she’s so incredibly persistent . And totally obsessed with your art. She saw the paintings at my house and she just about died. She couldn’t stop talking about what a genius you are. She owns her own gallery, Max. Or she will soon. And she’s some kind of expert. S he says she can probably get you a hundred thousand each , Max. A hundred thousand dollars. Each! Think about what you could do with that kind of money. You could quit rodeo, if you wanted to . Like today. You wouldn’t have to put your life on the line anymore just to earn a crust –”
    “I’m hanging up now, Fleur. And you can tell Elle Parker that I’m not opening my door. So she can get that little hot librarian ass back to New York where it belongs.”
    “Hot librarian?” It sounds like Fleur’s smiling.
    “Whatever. Bye, Fleur. You have a nice evening now. And tell my brother the next time I see him I’m going to kick his ass.”
    “But I told you, he had nothing to do –”
    I end the call, turn my phone off and take another big swig of whiskey. That’s what I’m going to do tonight: get wasted. Maybe, later, I’ll paint a picture .
    Fuck.
    A hundred thousand dollars each? No fucking way. I don’t believe that for a second. And even if I did, I still probably wouldn’ t go for it. My brother Caleb, the wanderer of the family, took up fly-fishing