Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
mikey
I’ll see you around? Maybe we can do this again sometime?” the busty brunette I’d just hooked up with asked as I tried to usher her out of my trailer as quickly as possible.
Doubtful.
“Yeah, see you around.”
She looked over her shoulder to shoot me a grin and a flirty little wave. I returned a fake smile and closed the door, my shoulders immediately slumping as I let out a sigh.
Reminder to self: double-check girls with the hot-crazy scale before taking them home.
Don’t get me wrong, she was cute, but she was also a stage-five clinger.
Most girls understood that I was here for a good time, not a long time, and they were okay with that.
But some got to the point of being borderline stalkerish.
It only took a few of those for me to stop giving out my phone number.
Luckily, most of the crazy ones were only passing through; I didn’t mess with locals. Well, sometimes I messed with locals, but only when they were in it for the same thing as me. One night. Or on very, very rare occasions, a week max.
The guys gave me a lot of shit for it. They’d joke, Man, you’re thirty. Have you ever had a girlfriend? Or they’d twist it around to say hell would freeze over before I’d ever be in a stable relationship.
They failed to consider that Jake was twenty-eight and still single.
I mean, shit, Reid didn’t actually start dating his girlfriend, Isabelle, until he was twenty-seven, and I’d never even seen Hayden so much as look at a girl.
Colter was the only one out of our group who was on a semi-traditional path, meeting his wife, Ellison, when he was twenty-six.
I also had to cut him some slack since the first girl he was engaged to at twenty-four didn’t work out.
I just considered myself a late bloomer. Besides, I was already married to the thrill of bull riding. And I wasn’t a cheater.
In a couple weeks, we’d be heading down to Texas for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and man, was I ready. For the bull riding and the women. Mostly the bull riding, though. I was entering this season with a vengeance.
At the age of thirty, I was supposedly on the downhill slope of my bull riding career.
At least, according to the media, I was.
They assumed because I wasn’t ready to settle down, I was distracted, and as a result would continue to have a mediocre career—never quite making it to a gold buckle—until it eventually fizzled out.
They claimed I’d be better off retiring now while I still had a shred of dignity.
Everything they said was bullshit, though.
Yes, thirty may have been the average age most bull riders retired, but, in my opinion, I hadn’t sustained severe enough injuries to retire.
I was determined I’d make it to a world championship one of these days and prove them all wrong. With or without a ball and chain.
Besides, last year I’d made it to the NFR, so that was already proving them wrong. You don’t get to the top fifteen in the world with a mediocre career.
After throwing on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, I hopped in my pickup to drive over to Reid’s place. There was a slight chill in the air when I escorted that girl out of my trailer, so I reached into the backseat to grab a hoodie to put on when I arrived.
The guys were all gathering to get some practice in before we hit the road. I technically didn’t have to be there since my training was a bit different from theirs, but I liked the company. And they liked having someone to open the chute.
Gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled into Reid’s driveway.
Hayden and Colter’s pickups were already here, but Jake’s wasn’t, so at least I wasn’t the last to arrive.
I shrugged on my sweatshirt and shut the door to my vehicle, not bothering to lock it.
The last time I actually happened to lock the doors, my keys were inside.
I liked to think I learned from my drunken mistakes… at least sometimes.
As I approached the arena, the sound of hooves against the dirt and some whoops and hollers from the boys greeted me.
“Nice of you to show up!” Jake called out to me in a teasing manner.
Well, shit. He must have gotten a ride with Hayden.
I threw my hand up in a wave, not bothering to walk any faster. “What can I say? I was preoccupied.” My lips quirked up in a grin.
“No surprise there.” Hayden chuckled.
Colter and Reid were on horseback, and Hayden leaned against the fence by Jake. When I got closer, they rode their mounts by the edge of the arena to say hi.
“The day that Mikey gets a girlfriend will be the day that hell freezes over,” Reid joked.
“Man, I’d pay good money to see that,” Colter added. “It’d be a waste of money, because I doubt it would last more than two weeks, but it’d still be interesting to see.”
“Hey! If I wanted a girlfriend, I’m sure I’d have no issues getting one.” I thought back to this morning and the girl who was practically drooling over the idea of seeing me again.
Jake walked over to me. “Wanna bet on it?” He pulled out his wallet and started rifling through the bills. “Fifty bucks says you can’t keep a girl for longer than two weeks.”
“That’s a pretty big wager, you sure he’s gonna take that?” Hayden cocked an eyebrow, seemingly staying out of the betting.
I shot him a glare then threw out a counteroffer. “One hundred.”
“Sure confident there, buddy.” Colter laughed. Both he and Reid had dismounted at this point and joined our circle.
Jake thought about it for a moment then said, “How about this? You keep a girl for two weeks and you get fifty. Keep a girl for more than a month and I’ll double it for you.”
Colter and Reid exchanged a glance then nodded to each other before Colter spoke up.
“We’ll even join in at that point. Fifty from each of us for an extra hundred.
Hell, if you can convince a girl to date you until Houston is over, I’ll give you an acre of land.
You can finally build yourself a house and put down some roots.
I’m sure your future girlfriend will appreciate it. ”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then you owe Jake fifty bucks. I think this one’s a gamble we’re willing to take.” Reid shrugged.
“You boys have got yourself a deal, then. A month will be nothing.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
They all looked at each other as though they didn’t believe me. I couldn’t say I blamed them with my…history. But for a bit of cash and land, I could suck it up. It wouldn’t be a real relationship anyway. I wasn’t going to catch feelings for a girl.
Not with a gold buckle in December calling my name.
Whoever the lucky lady was would get a damn good fuck buddy for a month, and then I could collect my winnings and get back to my regularly scheduled programming. It was a win-win.
Now I just had to find a woman worthy of my time.
“All right, then.” Jake extended a hand to shake on it, and I accepted it firmly. “Let’s get back to it, shall we, boys?”
“Mikey, you want to man the chute?” Reid asked, although I knew it wasn’t a question.
I gave him a mock salute and headed back behind the roping boxes.
After about thirty minutes and approximately fifteen runs later—we tended to shoot the shit between turns—Ellison arrived at the arena. She and Reid had made a deal that she could use the arena to give local kids riding lessons as long as it didn’t interfere with any of our schedules.
“Ellie, you’re here early!” Reid called out to her. “Thought you didn’t have a lesson until two this afternoon?”
She shrugged before leaning up against the fence by me and Colter.
“Figured I’d come hang out. Maybe get in some runs myself to put you all in your place.
” She winked after the last part. Ellison was good, but she didn’t compete professionally.
She’d started putting her name in for breakaway at a few of the smaller rodeos and jackpots, but she seemed pretty content at her job in Miles City as well as teaching young kids.
“Hi, baby.” Colter leaned in to peck her on the cheek. Ellison jokingly made a show to wipe it off, but then gave him a kiss of her own.
“You slacking off over here, Michael?” she teased, reaching out to punch my arm. “Sure you don’t want to get up on a horse today?”
I huffed out an amused breath. Ellison asked me this question every single time they roped in the practice arena.
“Nah, I’m good. I don’t feel like risking my health to ride a horse.
” I wouldn’t be caught dead on the back of one unless I was blackout drunk—like last year’s Bucking Horse Sale—or lost a bet.
Those things were terrifying. Not that I’d ever admit that out loud.
“You ride bulls for a living, dumbass!” Jake snorted, throwing his head back in a laugh.
“Yeah, and? I don’t see your point here.”
“Aw, come on. You can ride Lucille. I’ll even lead you around the arena like I do with my five-year-olds.” Ellison chuckled, which caused a chain reaction of laughs around the group. I answered them with a middle finger, but it was all in good nature.
“Have you talked to my girl lately?” Reid asked.
He and Isabelle finally got together last year after Colter and Ellison’s wedding.
Everyone knew they had the hots for each other—from the moment they met, really—but they kept beating around the bush and denying their feelings.
She still lived in Houston, so they were in a long-distance relationship, but she came up to visit pretty often.
“Yeah, she’s good. Excited to see us all in a couple weeks.”
Colter interjected then, nudging Ellison with his elbow. “Speaking of girlfriends, you’ll never believe the bet that Jake and Mikey just made.”
She eyed me curiously. “Oh? What was it this time? Please don’t tell me you bet him to try to ride a bison again.”
“Hell no! I wouldn’t have taken that bet anyway!” I probably would have.
“I bet him fifty bucks he wouldn’t be able to keep a girl for more than two weeks,” Jake answered. “And then I said if he could make it longer than a month he could have a hundred.”
Ellison raised an eyebrow, like she was waiting for him to continue.
“And I might have said that if he could keep a girlfriend longer than the Houston Rodeo I’d give him fifty more and an acre of land.” Colter dragged out the might.
Her mouth gaped open, and she lightly smacked him on the arm. “You did not!”
“If it makes you feel better, I only bet fifty if he could make it past Houston and Hayden didn’t bet at all,” Reid added.
“It doesn’t, but then again, I’m not sure Mikey’s ready for that kind of commitment.” Her eyes glimmered with mischief, and a cheeky smile spread across her face.
I shook my head, crossing my arms and grumbling. “I’ll show you guys. You’ll be eating your words soon enough.”