9. Jax
jax
Nerves were something that I was used to.
When I was five, I rode my first broke horse. By the time I was nine, I rode my first bronc at the Acton County Fair, just to prove to my brother, Mitch, that I could. Mom had been pissed, even though it was on the older broncs that could barely get their legs off the ground.
When I was thirteen, I joined the local rodeo school and started to ride anything I could get my hands on. Horses, bulls…Hell, I even rode a buffalo once. Even though it couldn’t really do much damage, it was still something to tell everyone.
I was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, and knew, no matter what, that rodeo was in my future in one form or another.
Adrenaline was good for me. It made me feel a high I didn’t ever want to find in any other form. So why was I nervous about this?
Mitch nudged my shoulder, and I looked at him to see him nod behind me. When I turned, my eyes locked on my girlfriend and my heart started pounding in my chest.
Hell. She was so freaking gorgeous I could barely stand it.
Felicity Vogel was the only person on this planet who could make me feel that way, and I was sure she knew it.
I met her years and years ago when we were just little tiny kids heading to preschool for the first time. Throughout the years, our paths crossed many times. When she became good friends with my cousin, Dani, she started hanging around our little group.
When we were fifteen, I finally asked her on a date and had to endure one with my brothers and cousin tagging along, since that was her parents’ rule.
It had been worth it though, because ever since then, we’d been attached at the hip.
I was madly in love with her and ready to say just that. But first, I had to ask her something.
“Nervous?” Mitch asked, leaning against my locker.
“Shut up,” I mumbled, running my hand not holding a bundle of flowers over my jeans to get the sweat off.
“Why are you nervous? You think she’ll say no?” Stetson, my little brother who was only a freshman and decided he could hang out with us whenever he wanted, was watching my situation with a confused expression. “Aren’t you guys boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Shut up,” I repeated as Felicity drew closer, using my free hand to push against my brother’s head until he was against the lockers. I couldn’t focus with them yammering on and on.
I wished Logan hadn’t graduated already, or that my niece was here to break the tension that I was feeling. At least Logan wouldn’t be needling me, but might actually have solid advice or encouragement.
Felicity, who was bombarded with friends the moment she stepped into the hallway, finally lifted her head from where she was listening to some girl—Becky, I think her name was. When her gaze met mine, her smile grew.
Hell. I was a junior in high school and had been dating this girl since we were fifteen, and asking her to the prom was making my stomach riot with nerves.
Felicity said something to the girl and smiled before leaving, ignoring the calls for her attention with her focus completely on me.
I was a lucky son of a bitch.
She reached me, her arms coming around my shoulders and her smile broad as she took me in. “Good morning, cowboy.”
I watched her, resisting the urge to slam my mouth against hers and getting caught again by the principal for PDA. “Good morning, City Girl.”
She moved back, knowing I couldn’t do what I wanted, when she finally noticed the flowers in my hand. Her gaze softened, and she moved her eyes from mine to the bundle. “What’s this?”
I cleared my throat, looking at the bundle of wildflowers I painstakingly picked at the florists early that morning. I could tell that Ms. Mary, the florist, was giddy over it, but she kindly didn’t say a word against me.
“City Girl, will you go to prom with me?” I asked, holding out the flowers and holding in a breath that was going to make me faint if she didn’t answer soon.
I couldn’t get any part of my body to function right.
“Are you serious?” Felicity took the flowers, her eyes glistening with tears. I knew that crying came easy to the girl. She was a sensitive soul who required tenderness, and I was dead set on treating her with the love she deserved for as long as she would have me.
“Dead,” I replied, letting loose the air that I held tight in my lungs. “I wouldn’t want to go with anyone else.”
“Of course I will!” she replied, her emotions overcoming her and her arms making their way back around me, throwing caution to the wind when her lips came to mine.
Cheers rang out around us, and we pulled away to see some of our friends and fellow students surrounding us.
Felicity laughed and looked back at the flowers again. “I’m keeping these.”
“I’m keeping you,” I replied, and in that moment, I meant every word.