Page 46 of Wild Lies

Maya

EXCUSE ME!?

Chloe

I’m home on Tuesday, let’s catch up then, he’s about to ride, and I need to get some pics.

I slide my phone into my back pocket and snap a few shots of the crowd. When a group of teenage girls notice me, they primp and preen, posing for the camera. Laughter falls from my lips as I take a few shots before turning back to the arena.

In the pen, a rider sits on the back of a horse, his body leaning back as he prepares for the gate to open. I feel the anticipation swirling in the air as everybody holds their breath, and a hush falls over the crowd.

I position my camera, pressing the shutter a couple of times and capturing the look of intense concentration on the rider’s face. When the gate opens, I’m ready to take more pictures, my camera moving as the horse bucks around the arena, kicking up dust. Before I know it, a buzzer sounds, and the rider jumps down as people rush the horse, calming it down.

My heart hammers against my ribs, not from fear, but from pure adrenaline. I get why Kade loves it, and why he’s keeping it a secret from his family now.

27

KADE

The crowds have already cleared by the time we exit the arena, leaving us with minimal lighting as we cut through the parking lot. Most riders kick it once they’ve ridden, but I like to stick around and take in the atmosphere as a spectator, and Chloe didn’t object when I suggested it. With none of my riding gear on, I’m just another guy enjoying the show, drawing zero attention to myself.

Chloe’s walking beside me, talking animatedly about how much she loved tonight and what her favorite event was. Disappointingly, it was the barrel racing, not the bareback bronc riding, which is my event. That I won, might I add.

Flicking through the pictures she’s taken, she holds the camera up, angling the screen toward me. “And this one, look at how good it looks, the lighting, the way the dust was a paid actor. It’s perfect.”

“A paid actor, huh?” I chuckle.

“Yeah, I couldn’t have asked for a better setup. These are going to look amazing in my portfolio. Oh, and look at this one of you.”

The muscles in my body contract.

Relax, Kade.

This is why I wear a face covering. People take photos all the time; this is no different.

Forcing my shoulders down from my ears, I look down at the picture. I remember this moment. You can’t see my eyes because they’re obscured by my hat, but you can see the buckle my father gave me. It was my Uncle Kurt’s. He won it in the show that made him a household name around here, and there it is, with the bucking bronc shining under the lights, in all its golden glory. Fuck. I meant to swap it out, but I was so distracted with showing her around that it slipped my mind. Here’s hoping nobody else recognized it tonight or my entire world is likely to implode.

I swallow around the panic clawing its way up my throat. “That’s a cool picture,” I choke.

Oblivious, Chloe flicks to the next picture. In this one, I’m on the back of the horse, one arm holding on to the reins with my back resting on the horse’s behind as I’m being thrown around. Again, you can’t see my face, but you’d know it’s me if you recognized that damn buckle.

I come to a stop in the middle of the parking lot. “You can’t show those pictures of me to anyone, Chlo.” The words come out panicked and harsher than I wanted.

A groove forms between her brows, and she drops the camera, leaving it to hang around her neck before she steps up to me. “I won’t, I promise. Kade, I know how much this place means to you, but I also know how much you love your family. You can trust me with these. They’re only for my eyes. And yours, if you ever want to see yourself how I do.” She pauses, like she’s not sure she should voice her next words. “For what it’s worth, I think you should tell them. I don’t think they’d be as mad as you think.”

I scrub a hand down my face. “I can’t tell them, Chlo. Please, just leave it at that.”

She nods, but it doesn’t feel like she agrees, not fully.

Exhaling heavily, I search her gaze, hoping like hell she’ll hold on to my secret. God, how am I supposed to go on like this? It was one thing worrying about me slipping up, but to have another person know, that just adds a whole other layer of pressure to my chest. Was this a mistake?

“I won’t tell a soul. I promise.” The truth shines in her eyes, steady and sincere.

I continue in the direction of my truck, mentally shaking off the funk I’ve doused our night with before saying, “Show me the rest of the pictures, buttercup.”

The last thing I want is for Chloe to feel like she can’t be excited about her first ever night at the rodeo.

After a beat of hesitation, she picks up her camera, falling into step beside me as she continues to flick through the rest of the pictures. She has at least one of every rider, if not more.