15. Reid
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
reid
T he boys and I were out at Rudy’s again, killing time while the girls were all in western Montana for Ellison’s bachelorette party.
Colter was mapping out the Montana rodeos we’d be competing in for the next few weeks before the wedding. We normally didn’t compete in the smaller ones, choosing to travel to a larger circuit, like Wilderness, for the chance at the bigger prize pots. But instead of being on the road, we’d be weekend warriors until after the wedding.
It wasn’t a big deal, though. There were large enough rodeos near the end of the Montana circuit, like the Home of Champions, Livingston Roundup, and the NILE. If we won those, we’d still be fine in the world standings.
Jake, Mikey, and Hayden didn’t have to travel with us—they could travel on their own—but they still chose to. That was the way it had been the past few years. We always went on the road together—a band of brothers. A family.
“Next week is that super small town, right?” Hayden asked .
I nodded. We’d be heading over to Cascade County next weekend. I hadn’t been to a rodeo over there in years, but it still had decent prize money. The weekend after, we’d head to a rodeo just outside of Billings and also celebrate Colter’s bachelor party. Needless to say, we had a busy month ahead of us; the Livingston Roundup took place over the Fourth of July holiday, and the wedding was the weekend right after.
My phone started vibrating in my back pocket, the specific heartbeat vibration pattern telling me Isa was texting me.
Isa
*video attachment*
I opened the text, finding a video of her riding the mechanical bull at the bar they were in. Whoever recorded the video was screaming in the background, and the filming was a little shaky but what I needed to see was all clear to me.
Her blonde waves flew behind her with every spin of the bull, and it took a whole lot of willpower not to stare at the curve of her ass or the swell of her breasts in her low-cut top.
Fuck. I shouldn’t have been having those thoughts about Isa, or be looking at her in that way. But even if my mind knew we weren’t together, my dick sure didn’t. It had a head of its own, literally, and I discreetly tried to adjust myself before any of the boys noticed. The last thing I needed to do was explain why I got a boner from watching a video of my friend riding a mechanical bull.
I resorted to putting my phone back in my pocket and tried to find my way back into the conversation the boys were having about the upcoming rodeos. That plan quickly failed, though, because my phone vibrated once again.
Isa
like what u see?
Yes. A little too much. I tried to think of a response to send to her. Play it cool, Reid.
Looked like a natural out there. Those riding lessons must have paid off.
Yeah, because that’s totally casual. And couldn’t be taken in any other context .
Isa
ridig horses and that fake bull was definitely fun but i can thik of sumthing else that would b fun to ride
Are you drunk right now?
Isa
absultey nit
asultly not
ABSOLUTELY NOT
I don’t believe you
Isa
okay i may have had a few shots
tequila not whiskey
just to be clear
I tried typing out a response, but then my phone lit up with a photo of me and Isa together—the one she made me take with her earlier this year at the Houston Rodeo .
My heartbeat pounded in my ears as I waited atop my horse in the roping box.
Deep breaths, Reid , I repeated in my head.
Colter glanced over at me, waiting to see if I was ready. I nodded back at him, pushing down any last-minute nerves trying to surface.
He nodded, the signal for the chute to be opened, and the steer ran out in a straight shot. Colter and Bullet took off in a sprint, my horse, Phantom, following closely behind.
“We’ve got Colter Carson on the head,” the announcer bellowed in the background.
Colter caught the steer—a half-head—and dallied his rope as he turned the corner. I had started to swing my rope not too long before Colter threw his, so I was right on the steer’s heels and ready. I threw it, mentally cursing myself as I thought I might have been a split second too late.
Shit, shit, shit.
But, to my surprise, the rope wrapped around the steer’s hind legs, and I quickly pulled out the slack, making a legal catch.
“With that catch from Reid Lawson, that brings these Montana boys to a four-point-seven second time!”
Colter tipped his hat to me as he led the steer out of the alleyway at the end of the arena.
Once we had gotten out of the arena, I made a split-second decision to run up the stands.
“Hey, I’m going to go say hi to the girls.”
Colter gave me a weird look, but didn’t say anything, shrugging his shoulders.
I took the steps up to where I knew Isa and Ellison were sitting, two steps at a time.
“What are you doing up here?” Ellison asked, clearly surprised I’d come up.
“Thought I’d come say hi.” The real reason was I wanted to see Isabelle, but it didn’t seem like the best answer .
“Great run, by the way!” Isa smiled. “Hey, smile!” She had turned around so her back was facing me and had her phone up to take a selfie.
It caught me off guard, but I smiled anyway.
“Had to make sure I got a picture with the future three-time Houston Rodeo team roping champion.” She winked.
Later that night, she had sent the photo to me, and I immediately set it as her contact photo.
“Reid, dude, are you going to answer that?” My phone was still vibrating in my hand, and Jake was nudging me. Probably because he noticed my phone was going off and I was staring off into space.
“Oh… Yeah, yeah.” I knew Isa was fine, but what if there was something wrong? I couldn’t just ignore her. “I’ll be right back.” I gestured to the front door.
Colter and Jake nodded back, and I headed outside where it was quieter so I could actually hear her on the phone. I answered the call, and her face filled the screen.
“LAWSY, I’VE MISSED YOU!” she practically yelled. Isa never called me Lawsy. It was always either my name or Cowboy .
“You’re definitely drunk.” I chuckled. “I’m glad you’re all having fun, though.”
She ignored me and flipped the camera so it was panning over the rest of the girls. They all seemed to be inebriated, even Caitlin, and I’d rarely seen that side of her in the years I’d known Colter. They all waved to me and then, instead of flipping the camera back, Isa turned over her phone so her back camera was facing down toward her. She couldn’t see my face right then, and I was glad for it. It was hard to disguise my amusement—and attraction to her. Her hair was falling in front of her eyes, but she was making no effort to brush the strands away. She was still bubbly and fun as her personality had always been, but this version of her seemed even more carefree.
I needed to get off the phone, or off the street. Back home. Somewhere private. I was already sporting a semi that was slowly starting to turn into a full hard-on.
“Isa,” I said, but she obviously couldn’t hear me, considering she was still holding her phone up like it was 2002 and phones didn’t have front cameras.
She started dancing to the music—some modern pop song I didn’t know about a girl who can’t think or talk straight when she’s with the guy she likes—and was swaying her hips in this intoxicating way. I was willing myself to look away, but my eyes were glued to my phone screen.
“ISA!” I raised my voice.
Finally, the camera flipped and she was looking at me. She was a little bit too close to her screen, the image of her looking like it had a fish-eye effect, but this way I could make out every freckle on her nose.
I wanted to memorize them, draw lines between them with my finger like constellations in the night sky. That’s kind of what Isa was to me. A constellation. Because, even if she was out of my reach, I was still going to admire her from afar. Every single time.
“What?” She pulled the camera back, her sweet voice pulling me out of my thoughts.
“I need to go.”
Disappointment flashed across her face, but it was gone in an instant as she replied, “Okay.”
“Have fun, be—” I started to say, but the FaceTime call ended before I could finish. “Safe.”
I sighed and went back inside to catch back up with the boys, trying to think of the most un-sexy things possible to get my boner to go away.
Cow shit.
The bathroom in Mikey’s trailer. Mikey’s trailer in general.
This isn’t going to work.
For the time being, I adjusted myself as best I could to not give anything away. I’d also come to the conclusion that I was going to have to take care of my issue later when I was alone in my house.