Chapter 16 #3
“Every bull is a risk. That’s the point.” I hold her eyes while I say it, letting her see the truth. “The difference is people will pay to see this. Brutus coming out of retirement for one final ride. That’s headlines. Tickets. The kind of stunt that makes the whole state look at this town again.”
Seth has been listening, expression tight, and now he shakes his head once, slow. “Your heart’s in the right place, Kai. It always is. But you have a talent for throwing yourself into the fire.”
June’s fingers squeeze mine again, like she’s silently agreeing with him.
“I know my limits,” I say.
Carter scoffs. “Do you? Because from where I’m sitting, this looks like you volunteering to get launched into the bleachers.”
I don’t look away from June. “If I get thrown, I get thrown.”
Her lips part. “Kai.”
I dip my head a fraction closer, voice going low so it’s just for her. “I’m not reckless. I’m motivated.”
Her cheeks flush at that, like she hears the second meaning in it. Like she knows exactly who my motivation is.
I lean back and address the table again. “Pete’s already working on flyers and advertising. We raise ticket prices for the Brutus event, make it a special attraction. The revenue might be enough to convince your father that this town is worth keeping on the circuit.”
“And if you get hurt?” Seth asks, flat.
A beat.
June’s eyes stay on mine. Worried, yes. But there’s something else too. Something that looks a lot like she cares more than she wants to admit.
“The plan isn’t for me to do the whole eight seconds, but to show people Brutus, and in all honesty, I’m happy for Brutus to win here,” I say. “I’m not doing it for glory but for ticket sales.”
Carter drags a hand down his face. “This is my fault. I made that stupid joke about you riding Brutus, and now you’re doing a whole civic project with your skull.”
I grin at him. “You gave me the idea. So really, this is on you.”
“That’s not how any of this works.”
June lets out a small, shaky laugh, and my chest loosens. Like even scared, she’s still here. Still with us.
I lift her hand to my mouth and press a quick kiss to her knuckles. “Pretty sure it is,” I say, eyes on hers. “Trust me. I’m not an idiot.”
“Debatable,” Carter mutters.
I ignore him. “I only do what I know I can handle. I wouldn’t have agreed to this unless I was confident I could pull it off. And I’m one mean bull rider. I’ve been doing this for years. Brutus is a challenge, yeah, but he’s not impossible.”
Her gaze drops to the ink peeking from under my sleeve, then back to my face. Like she’s trying to read the parts I keep locked down. “You always sound like you’re fighting something,” she says softly.
I huff a breath, half laugh, half truth. “Old habit.”
Carter tilts his head at my arm. “Tell her, Kai.”
Seth leans closer from across the table. “He’s not big on talking about his past,” Seth says, like he’s covering for me instead of calling me out.
I glance down at my sleeve of ink. “This,” I say, keeping my voice low, “is my family’s heritage from Maui. I got it so I don’t forget who I am… beyond everything I left.”
Her fingers hover, then lightly trace the linework. “Everything you left,” she repeats, gentle.
I nod once, throat tight. “I didn’t grow up with the kind of family you miss.”
Her brows pinch.
“My old man drank,” I add, blunt and small.
“When he got mean and raised his fist, I learned to get out of the way. Then I learned to get gone.” My fingers brush the edge of my sleeve like it’s an old scar.
“I took off young. Didn’t have much besides whatever I could carry and a chip on my shoulder the size of Texas. ”
Her hand closes gently over my wrist, steadying instead of pitying.
Carter clears his throat, suddenly less of a smart-ass. “He ran with nothing and still ended up the most solid one of us.”
Seth’s hand taps my shoulder—quick, like he’s got my back. “He’s the reason this pack works,” he says. “Even when he pretends he doesn’t need any of us.”
“I didn’t do it alone,” I say, and it comes out rougher than I mean.
My gaze flicks away for half a second, long enough to see a memory I don’t usually let in.
“I got lucky. I was sixteen when John took a chance on me,” I add.
“Dragged my sorry ass into the rodeo world, put a roof over my head, and gave me rules that didn’t come with fists. Gave me a way out.”
I look back at them—at her—and the truth sits steady in my chest. “Without that… I don’t know where I’d be.”
Seth’s mouth quirks, eyes steady on mine. “And you’re the reason you’re still standing, Kai—don’t forget that.”
My thumb brushes her knuckles again as I give Seth a nod of appreciation, then I’m focused back on June. “So yeah,” I say quietly. “Brutus isn’t impossible.”
And for a beat, with her looking at me like I’m already worth keeping, I don’t feel impossible either.
She searches my face for a long moment. I don’t know what she’s looking for, but whatever it is, she must find it, because some of the tension leaves her shoulders.
“I do trust you,” she finally admits. “But I’m still going to worry like hell.”
“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”
She laughs, and I pull her against me. She fits there perfectly, her head tucked under my chin, her hands fisting in the back of my shirt. I breathe in her scent and let it ground me.
This is what I’m fighting for. Not just the town or the circuit or the abstract idea of doing something good.
Her. Them. Us.
A pack. A family. Something worth protecting.
When I finally let her go, Seth and Carter are both watching us with heartfelt expressions. We’re all in this together, and they know it as well as I do.
“So,” I say, stealing a rib from Carter’s plate just to annoy him. “Anyone else got any terrible ideas they want to share? No? Just me? Cool.”
Carter flips me off, but he’s smiling.
The country music shifts to something slower, and the evening settles into that golden-hour warmth where everything feels possible.
Somewhere out there, a legendary bull named Brutus is probably terrorizing some poor bastard’s garden, completely unaware that his retirement is about to get interrupted.
And me?
I’m sitting with my pack, my Omega pressed warmly against my side, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Whatever comes next, we’ll face it together.
Even if what comes next involves an angry bull with a grudge and a ninety-seven percent success rate at destroying anyone stupid enough to climb onto his back.
But hey.
What’s life without a little danger?