AllFreeNovel
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I remember being a boy and feeling the buzz in the air while I walked around the off limits areas, seeing what the audience couldn’t. The cowboys that needed to be mended but were too tough to say they were in pain, no matter how bad the injury was. The way the animals needed to run to work off the energy after a ride.
Bursting through the doorway that keeps the separate suites from the general admission stands, I stop and let myself take it in for a minute. The chatter and cheers from the crowd roars through the space as another rider prepares to leave the chute. The smell of beer and barbecued meat fills my nose as I close my eyes. I want nothing more than to show Dakota the rodeo that I grew up with. The one that I loved until I thought I was too old to enjoy it once I started to see the business side.
“Chance?” Dakota’s worried voice and hand on my arm pull me out of my thoughts. “Are you okay?”
I open my eyes and look down at her. “Yeah, I…” I look around, not knowing how to explain this to her. Everything has changed so quickly in the last year; it’s been a long time since I’ve felt everything was ‘right.’ With my dad dying, taking over the ranch, needing to run the rodeo, plus everything with Dakota, I realize that I’ve been everything but ‘okay.’
“Chance, you’re worrying me.”
I pause and look over her shoulder. “You need pulled pork.”
“Sorry?” My answer only adds to the concern that’s etched across her face.
“It’s the best in town. I made sure Buck came back with his truck.”
“Buck and the truck?” She tilts her head and studies me before lifting her free hand and placing the back of it against my forehead. “Are you feeling alright? How much did you have to drink?”
“No, nothing like that.” I shake her off. “He’s got the best pulled pork you’ll ever taste. He’s been coming to the rodeo since I was a kid.”
I lead her through the crowd and get in line.
“But the events?”
“It’s the rodeo clown show now. We’ve got time. Unless you want to see grown men tell bad jokes and shoot free stuff into the crowd.”
“What comes next?”
“Mutton Busting”
“And that is?”
I look down at her, eyebrow raised. “You really haven’t been to a rodeo, have you?”
“I mean, I came once with Addie when I first moved here, but we didn’t really do much other than drink and watch the hot cowboys.”
“You what?” I know she has a past, but I don’t want to think of her as being anything like a buckle bunny or even just hooking up with one of the guys on the circuit. The relaxation that I’ve achieved is quickly being replaced with wanting to punch out any rider that may have even been in the same room as her all those years ago.
“Relax, cowboy, I never went after any. Anti-buckle bunny, remember?” She laughs, pointing at herself.
“Right.” I feel better hearing her say that, but I can’t help almost breaking a tooth with the way I’m grinding my jaw together.
“So tell me,” she says, moving closer to me and laying her head on my shoulder. “What is Mutton Busting?”
“Kids riding sheep.” I let out a loud exhale, letting the relaxation back in.
“Aw, that sounds really cute!” We take a few steps closer in the line. “What else is there?”
I think back to the schedule that I approved just a few days ago. “Barrel racing and then the bulls.”
“Barrel racing is the women, right?”
“Yup.” We take another step in line.
“Why did you want to leave the suite?”
Normally the number of questions she’s asking would drive me crazy. I never liked having in depth conversations with the women I was seeing. Hell, there wasn’t usually a whole lot of talking going on at all for our time together, but with Dakota, it’s different. Part of me likes that she wants to get to know me. It’s been so long since anyone has even tried that I almost don’t know what to do with it. The old Chance would say ‘fuck it’ and walk away, but I can’t do that. Not with her. I want her to get to know me. The real me, not the one I put on for the guys at the ranch or the one for the people in town. The real me. The only other person who knows this side is Wyatt, and even he doesn’t know everything.
“My dad would never spend more than one event up in the suite. He’d only go to placate the sponsors and pay his dues. The rest of the time, he was out here with the crowd or behind the gates.”
