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I loved him, of that I had no doubt, but we were like fire and gasoline—we burned too fast. We weren’t right for each other.
Love shouldn’t be that hard, right?
I had to focus on my horses and my rides. That cowboy would not distract me from my goal. Winning mattered; it was all that mattered.
I turned up the volume on my stereo, blasting a Miranda Lambert album. With my right hand on the steering wheel, I put my left hand out the window and let it ride the waves on the wind. Up and down, up and down.
I let out a deep breath. This was all I needed. And Wyatt Collins? Never again.
Chapter 2
Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys - Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
Wyatt
The engine of my beat-up old blue and white Ford F-150 rumbled beneath me—a vibration that had been absent for too long. After months of crashing at Finn’s family’s horse stable, helping with the chores, the winter training, and pretending I wasn’t counting down the days until rodeo season, we were finally back to life on the road.
We got to the rodeo grounds earlier that morning, unloaded the horses, got them settled in, and unhitched my horse trailer. Then, we headed back out in search of food since the trucks that usually catered the rodeo hadn’t arrived yet.
Beside me, Finn—my best friend and team roping partner—drummed his fingers on the dashboard to some unheard rhythm in his head. In the back, Grady, who always had trouble sitting still for too long, was getting fidgety while Rhett, his gaze steady on the road ahead, seemed to absorb the passing scenery with an almost zen-like calm. Nothing ever ruffled his feathers, not even Grady’s restless energy beside him or the long hours already spent crammed in the truck that day.
I glanced in the rearview mirror. Grady was swiping his phone with one hand and dragging his other through his straight brown slicked-back hair. I rolled my eyes, got the attention of the other two guys, and motioned for them to brace themselves. Then I slammed on the brakes, coming to a screeching halt.
Grady’s head jerked forward, colliding with the back of my seat. “Hey!” He rubbed his forehead. “That hurt!”
“Yeah, right,” I retorted with a smirk. “The big bad bull rider got hurt? Maybe if you weren’t so busy prowling for a date on your phone, you’d have seen it coming.”
“I was not prowling for a date.” Grady’s guilty glance at his phone betrayed him.
“Yeah, you were,” Rhett said from beside him, his blue eyes flickering towards Grady’s phone screen. “I can see your phone.”
Our laughter filled the truck until we opened our doors and stepped out into the fresh air.
“Okay, fine. I was. But you made me spill my drink all over your truck, so joke’s on you.” Grady threw his empty fast-food cup at me.
“Dammit.” I bent to pick up the cup off the ground and tossed it into the truck with the rest of the garbage accumulated by life on the road.
“Ugh.” Finn stretched his arms over his head. “I shouldn’t have eaten that last burger.”
“Your horse would agree,” Grady said. “He’s not going to like hauling your ass around tomorrow.”
“Are you calling me fat?” Finn, who had always been lanky and lean, had filled out over the past couple of years, but slightly taller than my 6’1’’, it suited him fine.
“Not yet, but...” Grady shot Finn a knowing look.
Rhett and I smirked. We all ate a little too much fast food on the road, but driving from rodeo to rodeo, we didn’t have a lot of options.
Finn and I had been partners since we were kids, and we’d always traveled together to rodeos. Last year, Grady and Rhett started joining us on the road to help save a bit of money. With the cost of gas, lodging, our horses, entry fees, and all the other expenses that came with the rodeo life, splitting cost between the four of us made things a little easier. The only way we made money was by winning, and I hadn’t done a lot of that lately.
We stayed in cheap motels most of the time—the kind with half-lit neon signs and the rooms smelling like stale cigarettes. Whenever we could, we’d camp out under the stars, pitching a tent if the weather was good and the rodeo grounds allowed it. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was our life, and we made it work.
“Let’s go check the horses.” I led the way towards the barns.
It was still fairly quiet on the grounds, but that would change soon as more trucks and trailers would pull in all afternoon.
“Are you seeing Kinsley tonight?” Grady asked.
For a second, my step faltered. “I told you guys. I’m done with all that.”
