“You think she was involved with drugs?” Colt asked.
“I’m pretty much positive of it. The kinds of people we dealt with and some of the places she brought me to only point to that. There was no sense of stability or security. I never knew if I would come home and my mother would be there, or if there would be food in the house. I started digging through the house to find whatever money I could and going to the grocery store by myself when I was about ten just so I could have food. It just got worse as I got older.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said. “There’s no excuse for putting a child through that. Or anyone through that, for that matter.”
“No, there’s not,” I said. “And as soon as I was old enough to realize there could be something else, I started planning to leave. I knew the first chance I got to get the hell out of that small town and find my own life, I was going to take it.”
“And you found the rodeo.”
I nodded, a little smile coming to my face. “The rodeo found me. A tiny little rodeo passed through town. It wasn’t really much of a rodeo. It was more of a carnival like this one, but even smaller. I didn’t care. It was the chance I was waiting for, and I snapped it up the second I could. Of course, as soon as I got in, I realized there were some pretty unsavory characters around here, too. But I was able to handle myself. I knew how to deal with it. I looked around and found the right people to make friends with. I settled in with them and took to the road. Just like that, I put my past behind me.”
“Did you ever look back?” Colt asked. “Question whether you did the right thing?”
I shook my head. “No. Honestly, I feel a little bit bad admitting that. Like I should be more attached to my small town and definitely to my mother. There should be some sort of longing there.”
“Don’t think that way,” Colt said. “With what she put you through, you don’t need to be thinking about her. You did what you had to do. You saved yourself. That’s really what matters.”
“That’s how I thought about it,” I said. “I just wanted to get away from everything and find a life I wanted to live. And I did. As soon as I was on the road, I didn’t have to worry or feel stress. I got to just focus on what I was most passionate about. Riding.”
“So, you already rode before you joined the rodeo?” Colt asked.
I nodded. “I’ve always been drawn to animals. It’s just something I love. Then I met Renegade.” I glanced up at Colt. “He’s not even really my horse. Not technically.”
“What do you mean?”
I let out a little bit of a laugh. It wasn’t that the situation was funny. I just couldn’t think of a different emotion to show.
“He was my mother’s boyfriend’s horse at the time I escaped. I was only sixteen and my mother moved us into his big old farmhouse. She thought it was the big time. We weren’t in a cramped tiny place anymore. He had this big house and was going to let us live in it with him. What she didn’t mention was that he also had two kids there who were even rougher around the edges than he was.”
I stopped for a second letting the memories come to me. “I didn’t feel safe there. I knew it was only a matter of time before things fell apart. Of course, my mother refused to see that. So, I distracted myself by working on the farm with the animals. I even skipped school to be with the horses, dairy cows, goats, and chickens. It wasn’t like my mother cared about my grades, and the animals made me so much happier.”
“I can understand that,” Colt said. “I feel that way about them, too. They don’t have the same issues people do. You might have to earn your way into their affection, but once you do, you know you have it.”
“Exactly,” I said. “That was the way it was with Renegade. He was just a young, untamed horse back then. My mother’s boyfriend didn’t have the time or patience to try to take care of him properly. So, I worked with him. He wouldn’t have anything to do with anybody else, but I managed to soften him. For the first time in my life, I actually cared about whether my mother’s relationship lasted. Not because I wanted anything to do with the boyfriend or his kids, but because I didn’t want to be taken away from Renegade. Eventually, I got to be the only one to ride him.”
“How did you convince her boyfriend to let you have him?” Colt asked.
“I didn’t,” I said. “After a fight turned sour in the house one night, I grabbed what I could, hopped on Renegade, and rode like hell.”
“Has your mother or that guy ever come looking for you?” Colt asked.
He sounded worried. That made my heart warm and I snuggled a bit closer to him. I felt safe there with him. It wasn’t a feeling I was used to. Even with the friends I’d made in the rodeo and having that community, there was still the sense that I was on my own. They would be there for me to an extent, but I was responsible for myself.
With Colt, it was different. That lilt of worry in his voice told me he would protect me. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I was used to taking care of myself and holding my own and didn’t have any intention of being a damsel in distress anytime soon. But it still felt good to know he felt that way.
“They never came looking for me,” I said. “They let me go. I have a feeling it was a relief to them to find out I was gone. It was one less mouth to feed. One less set of eyes watching what they were doing. And it was easier for them without me around always telling my mother she should stop seeing those abusive jerks.”
“How about since then?” Colt asked. “Have you heard from them or gone back to see them?”
I drew in a breath. It shuddered in my lungs and trembled as it streamed out. “No. I got a call about four years after I left telling me my mother had been killed in a drunk driving accident. She was with a new boyfriend at the time. I went back for the funeral, but I am never going back there. Never again.” I let out another sigh. “So, I know a lot about not making amends in time.”
“I’m so sorry,” Colt said.
“I’m so sorry for you,” I said softly.
He leaned down and kissed me softly. It filled me with a sense of peace and comfort like I’d never experienced with another person. I felt truly connected to him in a way I’d never experienced. I trusted him with my deepest, darkest secrets. Secrets I had never told anyone else. And it was without hesitation, without reluctance. They poured out of me like I had just been waiting for him to unburden my heart.
I knew I was completely smitten with him. But it felt like there might be more. I couldn’t help but wonder what the warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest could be. It was far too early for it to be anything serious.
Wasn’t it?
Chapter 17
Colt
I woke up several times through the early morning but elected to doze back off. I was warm and cozy and Leah fit so perfectly in my arm with her head on my chest that the very idea of moving from that position was one of the worst sounding ones I had ever had. After an amazing night of passion, we had curled up on the floor of the backseat, one blanket beneath us and one on top of us, and passed out. Despite how little room we had and the fact that the truck was cold, it was some of the most restful sleep I had in a long time.
Finally around seven thirty, my alarm went off and Leah’s eyes fluttered open. She smiled at me with her head on my chest. I smiled back and turned the alarm off.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Seven thirty,” I said. “Still early.”
“It’s cold,” she said, shivering.
“Hang on,” I said, sitting up. I cranked the engine and the heater came on. I turned it up to full blast and lay back down. “It will blow out cold air for a minute or so, but the heat kicks on fast.”
“Okay,” she said, tucking back down into my arm.
It only took a few minutes before the truck was much warmer and we reluctantly began looking for our clothes. After getting them on, we climbed back into the front seats and I put the truck in gear. My stomach rumbled loudly and she noticed.
“Hungry?” she asked.
“A bit,” I said. “I could most certainly go for some coffee.”
“Coffee sounds amazing right now,” she said.
“Coffee, it is then.”
I pulled the truck out of the spot we spent the night in and drove down the road back toward the rodeo. A favorite convenience store of mine was on the way, and they had put in a drive thru. This meant I could get some breakfast sandwiches that I had been known to drive out of my way to go get before and fresh coffee for us both without leaving the comfort of the truck. It was like I knew if I got out of the truck for any reason, it would break the spell we had inside it. I didn’t want to do that until the last possible second if I could avoid it.
“How do you drink your coffee like that?” she asked as I paid for our meal and pulled into a parking spot to eat.
“Black? I don’t know. I just like the taste of coffee, not creamer.”
“Ugh,” she said in disgust. “It’s like licking the bottom of an ashtray.”
I laughed. “Well, it’s probably better than having a glass of milk with a little bit of coffee.”
“Hush now,” she said, sipping her nearly white cup of joe.
We ate and chatted and, when we were done, drove back to the rodeo feeling like I was on top of the world. I pulled the truck in near her trailer and we saw her friend Macy on her way over to greet us. She had a grin on her face like she had a pretty good idea that we hadn’t just run out for an early morning breakfast, and I realized that we were both dressed the same as the day before. We weren’t getting out of this one.
“Hey there,” Macy said as she approached Leah’s side of the truck. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” Leah said cheerfully as she got out of the truck. I didn’t know if she was going for a pretend-nothing-happened approach or if she was simply that happy, but either way, Macy’s grin got bigger.
“I came by to ask if you wanted some breakfast, but it looks like you already had plans,” Macy said.
“We stopped at a place up the road,” Leah said.
“Stopped, meaning you were heading back from somewhere else?” Macy asked. Her eyes flickered over to me and the knowing smile flashed brightly.
“Mind your own business, Macy.” Leah laughed. Macy returned the laugh and they briefly hugged before Leah came back around to the front of the truck where I was waiting.
“I’m going to go get a shower,” she said. “I’d invite you, but it’s rather small.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I have a gym membership with a place that franchises close by. I’ll go there and shower and meet you back here in an hour or so?”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said. She looked back at Macy, who was suddenly inspecting the sky as if she had never seen birds before, then reached up to plant a kiss to my cheek.
“See you then,” I said.
She nodded. “Hey, Macy, I’m going to get a shower. If you want to come hang out in my trailer, we can talk for a bit.”
“On my way,” she said. As she passed me, she nodded, that smile still plastered across her lips. “Nice to see you again, Colt.”
“And you,” I said, tipping my hat.
After dropping by the gym to shower, I headed back to the rodeo grounds, getting there almost exactly an hour after I left. Feeling fresh and clean and in new clothes, I made my way to Leah’s trailer. There was a note on the door, stuck with tape and I pulled it off to read it.
Headed into the bullpen with Macy. Meet me in there for some warmup time before the crowd gets in.
-Leah
I smiled and folded the paper, putting it in my back pocket. It might have seemed silly and sentimental, but that was the first note she had ever written me, and I felt like keeping it. Eventually, I would toss it into the glove compartment in the truck or put it in the little wooden box I kept under the driver’s seat. Either way, I was keeping it for a while.
I made my way down to the stables and checked inside. There were a few of the riding horses in there, along with some of the show ponies. I figured Leah took Renegade out to warm up, but didn’t want to just take someone else’s horse, so I continued walking toward the bullpen. If she invited me to warm up with her, I was sure she knew someone who had a horse I could work out with. Not that I wouldn’t be happy to just stand there and watch her ride.
Getting into the main building, I could feel the eyes on me from the other men. Tension was so thick it felt like I could cut it with a knife. There was no getting around the jealousy and dislike coming from some of the fellas that either felt like they were better than me or that they had some sort of ownership over Leah. I was an outsider to them, and Leah was “theirs,” and I was coming in and taking something that didn’t belong to me. As if she had no agency over her own body or her own choices.
It made me want to punch them all directly in the nose and see which ones had the balls to stand and deliver after that.
It wasn’t the first time in my life I had gone through tension like that. Growing up in a small town where everyone was in everyone else’s business, it was damn near commonplace. Someone was always mad at someone else over some real or perceived injustice. Cattle ranchers having land disputes or city government dealing with angry taxpayers or roughnecks having a barroom battle over the last drinking aged single girl in town, it was always something going on.
That wasn’t even to mention the Hayes boys.
Roy Hayes specifically was his own brand of trouble. As sheriff of the town, he had an inordinate amount of power for someone as petty and cruel as he was. From their daddy Howard, who had frequently stolen cattle from my father, to Ben, who still ran their ranch, to Roy, the whole bunch of them were poison. Even Addie, their sister, was a barrel of hate, and had stated on more than one occasion that she would dance on the burned remains of the Montgomery Ranch as soon as our family was shamed and run out of town.
She was in her mid-thirties now and had been wishing that all her life. It didn’t look too promising for her anymore, but from what I heard, she was still causing trouble back home. With Roy enjoying arresting one of us on a regular basis, I was rather used to being picked on for simply being myself. Not one look any of these guys could shoot me was worse than the ones I got every day from one of the Hayes family.
One way or another, it was all going to come to a head soon. Both with the Hayes boys and with the men here at the rodeo. I could only hope I would come out on top.
I got to the area where Leah was hanging out with Macy and Renegade and said hello. Macy was leading another horse who was already saddled and ready, and I realized they must have brought it for me. I smiled as I approached them and Leah waved me over.
“This is Dancer,” Macy said as I patted the horse on the nose. “I brought her down to warm up for Georgia, but Georgia isn’t feeling well today and won’t be competing. It would still be good for Dancer to warm up even if she doesn’t race. Would you like to give her a few rounds?”
“I’d love to,” I said. “Hey there, Dancer.”
“She likes you,” Leah said. “Just don’t tell Georgia how much.”
I laughed and mounted Dancer, guiding her to follow Leah as we trotted around the empty track. Soon, our conversation began to get interrupted when she would trot Renegade a little faster and I would have to catch up. It wasn’t long before we were both trotting at a pretty decent speed and I saw a look come over Leah’s face. She was grinning like she was in her element, and she looked back at me.
“Race ya!” she said, kicking at Renegade to get him moving faster.
I didn’t have time to respond. Either I was racing or I wasn’t. I kicked at Dancer and she took off like a shot. Suddenly, I realized why Georgia was always in the top three with Leah. Dancer was a hell of a horse.
Leah was running like a shot and we had a few friendly races and competitions in the arena. Leah could ride like hellhounds were nipping at her heels. It was amazing to witness and ev
en more thrilling to experience. She kept me on my toes and I was running harder than I thought I would. Leah would be a worthy adversary in just about any competition I could think of, and part of me believed she might even be able to best me in quite a few of them. I had no illusions that if she wanted to do bareback bronc riding, she’d be good at that too.
In a way, she already proved she was.
We had a blast racing around the track, challenging each other, and my troubles seemed to fade away as I goofed around with her. She was funny and smart and had no issues teasing me when she was flat out beating me either. I loved the banter and the sexual tension that was building up because of it. For as much fun as being in the truck was, I was starting to really like the idea of being in that bed of hers. Having room to stretch out and pay attention to every inch of her skin was alluring, and as we rode back into the pen to wait for the crowds to start filing in, I wondered just how much I would have left in the tank when the day was done.
No matter how hard I rode, I figured later on, I might be ridden harder.
Chapter 18
Leah
Colt out in the rodeo ring on the back of a bucking horse was nothing short of magnificent. I stood to the side and watched him compete, totally absorbed into his incredible display of skill and talent. The horse was doing everything it could to force him off its back, but Colt stayed steady. It made me swoon to watch him exert his control that way while performing feats that would be next to impossible for other riders. He made it seem effortless.
I didn’t think I could ever get tired of watching him.
There was such beauty in the way he rode and, at the same time, such intense strength and power. No two competitions were the same. The will of the animal he was riding made sure of that. He didn’t know how the horse was going to react to him at any given moment. It was bred to buck and he knew it would thrash and fight his control from the second he sat down. But he didn’t know which direction it would go or how hard it would try to throw him.
His Sexy Smile Page 10
