Chapter 16 Juniper
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
juniper
Over the last few days, Mikey, the rest of the group, and I explored Houston.
During the day, we perused shops downtown, and in the evening, we watched the rodeos.
Surprisingly enough, the fans left us alone, and the press was too focused on the other athletes actually competing to go after Mikey, although the buzz on social media hadn’t stopped.
Today marked the beginning of the fourth SuperSeries, so Colter and Reid were busy practicing and doing appearances, leaving me, Mikey, Hayden, Jake, Ellison, and Isa to find things to do without them.
“Tonight after the rodeo, I say let’s hit the bars.” Mikey, sitting in a lawn chair next to mine, threw an arm around me, squeezing my shoulder.
“Ugh, we just went out.” Ellison groaned. “Haven’t you had enough? You have a girlfriend, how is that shit still fun for you?”
I eyed Mikey, curious to see what his response would be. It was obvious that he mostly met girls at the bars before we made our arrangement, but now I was in the picture. Or at least that’s what everyone thought.
“Not everyone’s a grandma like you,” Isa piped up before Mikey could defend himself. “You never thought the bars were fun before you started dating Colter, so I don’t think you’re the most representative of the group. I, for one, think going out would be fun!”
“What do you think about all this, Juniper?” Jake asked.
I shrugged. “As long as he’s not hitting on other girls, I don’t see the issue in it. I mean, I work at a bar, so I don’t think I have any right to tell him what he can or can’t do.”
The silence around our circle was deafening, as though they’d never heard someone say that about Mikey before.
“Erin texted me.” Isa broke through the awkwardness. “She’s on her way into town.”
“Who’s Erin?” I asked, wanting to be caught up in the friend group.
“She’s one of our friends that lives here,” Ellison explained. “She was one of my bridesmaids.”
Jake laughed. “Erin’s a fun girl. Thought for sure Mikey would have tried to go after her.”
Mikey just shook his head. “Nah, man, she’s so tall.”
I twisted my facial features, turning my head to look at him. “She can’t help it. Maybe you shouldn’t be so short,” I teased. “Then again, all you bull riders are so short. I don’t get it.”
He shrugged. “We can’t all be J.B. Mauney.”
“Erin’s got a boyfriend now, anyway.” Isa rolled her eyes, sass lacing her tone. “Not to sound like Mikey, but maybe you should focus on finding yourself a girlfriend, Jakey.”
“Fair enough, Izzy Bee,” Jake teased.
I’d never heard that nickname for Isa—granted I’d only known her for a short time—but judging by the expression that flashed across her face, she hadn’t either.
“Yeah, I don’t think that one’s gonna stick.” She cringed, her smile looking more out of pity than amusement. “Anyway.” She drew out the word. “She’s probably going to stick around for a bit until the rodeo.”
“Is there anything you guys want to do until then?” Ellison asked.
Jake kicked his legs out, leaning back in his chair. “Honestly, I just want to chill. We’ve been go, go, go all week.”
Mikey nodded next to me. “I agree. Guys, I just want a day to not have to deal with the media and fans. Why don’t you girls go meet Erin? Have fun, and we’ll meet you at the rodeo tonight.”
“Are you sure?” The question slipped out. Not because I didn’t want to spend more time with the girls, but I didn’t want Mikey to feel alone or left out.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Go. Have fun,” he reassured me, certainty shining in his gaze.
Isa hopped up from her seat. “Well, that’s perfect! Let’s go, then, girls. I’m driving!”
“Oh, no you’re not.” Ellison snatched Isa’s keys from her hands. “I don’t feel like dying today.”
“Fine, then I get the aux cord!” Her bubbly demeanor didn’t change as she half-skipped to the passenger side.
“You have Bluetooth,” Ellison muttered. “You don’t even have an aux cord.”
Amused by their banter, I followed, looking over my shoulder at the guys, who waved. Jake mouthed, Good luck, with a laugh.
I slid into the backseat as Ellison started the car. Isa’s phone connected immediately, and a girly pop song started playing through the speakers.
“What kind of music do you like, Juniper?” Ellison’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror as she backed up the car.
“Uh—” I forced out a laugh. “Not…whatever this is.”
Ellison turned her head to Isa as if to say, See?
“Rude! My music is great,” Isa protested, turning the music up even louder as she sang to the words at the top of her lungs.
“Has Reid ever said anything about your…singing abilities?” Ellison teased.
Isa was not a good singer. Not that I was any better, but there was a difference between just being a bad singer and being a bad singer and knowing you were a bad singer.
The pause in Ellison’s joke didn’t seem to phase her. “Nope! For all I know, he could think I sound like a dying cat. I think I’m better off not knowing.”
“Well, you know what they say about cats and curiosity.” Ellison bit her lip, holding back a laugh, and I did the same.
They weren’t joking when they said Erin was tall.
I considered myself to be slightly above average height at five-foot-seven, and I was taller than both Ellison and Isa, but Erin towered over all of us.
She had to have been at least five-foot-eleven with a slim frame, light-brown hair, and mossy green eyes.
While Ellison and I were alike in our mannerisms, Erin and Isa were almost identical in their personalities.
Isa and Erin immediately started chatting, but it wasn’t something I could follow. It was like they picked up whatever conversation they had left off last time they spoke.
“Do you ever feel left out when other people come to hang out with you and Isa?” I asked Ellison, the question slipping out. I knew Isa and Ellison were best friends, but sometimes when Ava would invite other girls, I didn’t know where I fit in the group.
She raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I tucked my hair behind my ears to give my hands something to do. “It’s stupid, but I was just wondering if you ever felt like a third wheel in the friendship.” It sounded more ridiculous after verbalizing it.
“Honestly, not really.” My stomach dropped, but she continued.
“Isa’s extremely extroverted, so she’s always making friends.
Everywhere we go it’s like she runs into someone she knows.
I’m content being alone and pretty secure in myself, so it’s never bothered me before, but I think you’re valid in having those worries.
At a certain point, you just realize that the people who are meant for you will stick around.
And if you’re having to wonder, then maybe that person was never for you. ”
“I guess I’ve just always wanted people to like me, so I did what I could to keep them around.”
“That’s important, but so is how you feel about them.
Your friends should make you the best version of yourself.
I know Isa does for me. Her friendship serves me and my life as much as my friendship serves her.
I wouldn’t be where I’m at if it weren’t for her.
” Ellison looked toward her friend and smiled.
I’d never looked at it that way. With Ava and Brady, all I’d wanted was to be seen, to be heard. But I shouldn’t have to beg for someone to be in my life, to care about me. I saw that now, in the way Ellison interacted with Isa, Colter, and even the other guys.
Real friends saw your value in your true, authentic self.
After the second night of Colter and Reid’s series, we headed back to the trailers, none of us wanting to go out.
“I think we’re doing a good job of this whole fake relationship thing, don’t you think?
” Mikey lay on the pullout couch on his side, propping himself up on his elbow.
From the beginning, I’d insisted that we not share the bed when he had a perfectly good couch that I could sleep on.
It still didn’t stop him from lying on it until he went to sleep, though.
I nodded as I took a sip of water. “I don’t think anyone suspects a thing.”
The media attention, though not ideal, had also been helping make our relationship seem more believable the past couple weeks.
I wondered if Ava and Brady had been seeing it on social media at all.
We were well over halfway through the rodeo, so I wouldn’t be surprised, given Mikey being Brady’s favorite bull rider, but what did shock me was that neither of them had tried to reach out.
I’d blocked their numbers, but not all of their socials, so if they really wanted to talk to me, they could have.
Before I could say anything else, hushed voices from outside the trailer caught our attention.
“Who’s that?” I whispered.
Mikey shook his head and raised his shoulders.
“The guys?”
“I don’t think so. They wouldn’t be quiet if it were them.”
“Wait, I think I hear something. They’re definitely in there,” one of the muffled voices from outside said, their voice attempting to be a whisper but failing.
“I need to get a statement about their relationship. Readers will eat it up,” another one replied as footsteps approached the door.
“Quick! Moan!” Mikey hissed at me.
I pinched my brows. “Excuse me?”
“Pretend we’re having sex and they won’t try to come in,” he explained. “They’ll leave. There’s nothing more awkward than walking in on someone.”
You have no fucking idea.
“I can’t just—” My protests were cut off by him grabbing my hand and pulling me toward his lap.
“Come on, Juniper,” he rasped in my ear, his voice low and gravelly, as he tugged me down onto his lap. “Just grind on me a little.”
“You can’t be serious!” I whipped my head toward the door just as the reporter walked up the steps. Their silhouette was now right outside the window. “This isn’t in the rules.”
“Would you rather have to talk to them about our fake relationship and have them spin it in an unfavorable way?” he challenged.
“No. Fine.” I huffed. I moved my hips a little against him, putting as little effort into it as possible.
Mikey grabbed my hips, holding me down slightly and adding more pressure. He was growing harder beneath me, and I inhaled a long, slow breath.
“That’s it, Peach.”
Before I could respond, he stood, flipping us so we were lying on the couch, him on top of me. He lifted one of my legs so it hooked around his torso. His hips rocked against mine and, through our clothes, his hard length brushed against my clit, dragging a moan from my lips.
I clamped my hand over my mouth, eyes widening at what I’d just done, but Mikey took my hand and pinned it over my head.
“Let it all out. Don’t hold back. I want everyone outside to know exactly what I do to you, even without being inside you.”
I knew the rules of our agreement, and this was explicitly against them, but at the same time, the reporters outside didn’t know we were pretending, so technically this was within the rules to make it believable…right?
Shaking my head to dispel the thoughts, I pulled my arms out of Mikey’s grasp and reached down to undo his belt and unzip his jeans.
He pulled them down and kicked them off, leaving him in a T-shirt and his boxers.
His cock strained against the fabric, and my core clenched.
I palmed it through his shorts, and he groaned.
Even with the barrier of clothes between us, every roll of his hips against mine was heaven, sending waves of pleasure down my body to my toes. I tilted my body up toward his, so every time he grinded against me, a jolt wracked through me.
Mikey’s chest rose and fell as he panted above me, rough grunts falling from his mouth with every thrust. His pace quickened, and I gasped, breathing heavily. The couch below us creaked along with our rhythm. He was going to make me come, and we weren’t even naked.
My back arched from the couch, and stars clouded my vision as heat spread in my toes and I moaned. Loudly. If anyone outside hadn’t heard us before, they did now. My legs shook around him, fingernails pulling at the fabric of his shirt, bunching it up behind his back.
“Fuck, Juniper. I’m going to come.” Mikey’s eyes closed as he bucked his hips. His arms trembled beside me as he let out a garbled breath then collapsed onto me. “The things you do to me, Peach. Look at me. You’ve made me come in my pants like a damn teenager.”
I pulled my lip between my teeth, heat pooling in my core at the thought of being able to get him off just from dry humping. Then the silence hit me, and I looked toward the trailer door.
Laughing, I said, “I think they’re gone now.”
@therodeoroundup.official: Last night we tried to get a comment from Mikey Tucker on his relationship.
@thetipsycowgirl: @therodeoroundup.official Tried?
@therodeoroundup.official: @thetipsycowgirl Let’s just say we CAN confirm that there’s SOMETHING going on with Mikey Tucker and the girl he brought to Houston. If you know what we mean.
@texaswrangler2943: @therodeoroundup.official