Chapter 18 Juniper
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
juniper
After the second semifinal round—the one that Mikey, Colter, Reid, and Jake competed in—concluded, we piled into another bar downtown.
This one had a mechanical bull, and Mikey was hell-bent on convincing me to get on it.
The boys were all up at the bar grabbing us drinks, and Isa, Ellison, and I sat at a table in the corner away from the entrance.
At this point, people recognized me from social media and all the public displays of our relationship, even without Mikey by my side, and I was either being gawked at or glared at.
I had to make my social media accounts private, because I was also getting an influx of random followers, some of which were not kind in their comments on my old posts.
“Do you guys have people spamming your social media all the time?” I groaned as I removed yet another account who was lucky enough to follow me before I went private.
“My account has been private since I created it.” Ellison laughed.
Isa shrugged. “I get the occasional person. However, Reid and Colter aren’t as…controversial as Mikey.”
“I think Isa just secretly likes the attention,” Ellison teased, prompting Isa to lightly smack her on the arm before mumbling, “God forbid a girl wants recognition.”
“I didn’t sign up for this.”
Ellison and Isa both raised their brows at my complaint. Which was fair. I may not have explicitly asked for the recognition and attention and everything that came with it, but I was with a world-famous bull rider. One whose notoriety wasn’t exactly positive.
My mouth gaped, my brain trying to come up with something to say, but any excuse I could have come up with would have been disputed.
I couldn’t claim that I didn’t know who he was; everyone in the near vicinity of Miles City knew who he was.
I couldn’t say I didn’t know his reputation, either; it was obvious just looking at him and the way everyone talked about him.
I decided on, “Okay, technically, I signed up for this when I started dating him, but that doesn’t mean I wanted this!”
The girls’ response was to giggle at how flustered I’d gotten.
“You’ll get used to it.” Ellison patted my arm in reassurance.
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. No one knew that Mikey and I wouldn’t be together long enough for me to get used to it.
And no one could.
“What are you three talking about?” Jake asked as the boys set down all the drinks they’d ordered.
“Oh, you know. Just the life of a rodeo WAG.” Isa grinned.
“Well, I wouldn’t know,” he replied, a touch of humor in his voice. “Kind of missing an important part of that.”
“What part? Having a girlfriend or being a girlfriend?” Ellison poked his arm as she joked with him.
“Technically both.”
“Nothing’s stopping you from fixing that, man,” Reid pointed out.
Jake hesitated, like he was debating whether he wanted to say something.
“Are you kidding? Jake’s had the hots for Colter’s sister for years,” Mikey cut in.
Jake glared at him. “Yeah, and she’s married.”
Mikey scoffed. “Just because there’s a goalie, doesn’t mean you can’t score. Besides, I never liked the guy. No offense, Colter, given that she’s your sister and all, but I’m betting they’ll break up in the next year or so.”
I hit him on the arm, protesting with a, “That’s rude!” But no one else spoke up. I tilted my head, confused.
“It’s a lot of backstory. Trust me, you don’t want to have to listen to all of it,” Ellison muttered when she noticed the look on my face.
“As long as she’s happy, I’m happy. Let’s change the subject, yeah?” Colter took a big swig of his beer, and the topic of his sister’s relationship died right there on the spot.
“Hey, bet you can’t stay on that bull for eight seconds.” Jake elbowed Hayden, pointing to the mechanical bull in the middle of the bar.
Hayden raised his hands in defense. “I’m not betting you anything.”
Mikey perked up. “I’ll take you up on that.”
“Nah, nah, you do that shit for a living. How about this, though. If your girl can stay on for eight seconds, I’ll give you twenty bucks.” Jake grinned. “Shouldn’t be an issue, all things considered, am I right?”
“Make it thirty and you’ve got yourself a deal.” Mikey stuck out his hand for Jake to shake on it.
“Hold on, what?” I interrupted. “Why are you betting on me?”
Colter shrugged. “It’s kind of our thing. We make bets on all sorts of things, you know.”
My eyes narrowed. “Like what?”
Mikey answered quickly. A bit too quick, but I wasn’t sure why. “It’s usually just stupid shit. It’s not a big deal.”
Everyone around the table fell silent.
“Am I missing something?” Suspicion rolled through my mind. I didn’t like this.
“Here, I’ll bet you, too.” Reid pulled out his wallet, throwing out a twenty-dollar bill. “Isa’s damn good at the mechanical bull.”
The energy shifted, and suddenly everyone was back to their normal selves, joking and messing around. I still had a weird feeling in my gut, but I let it go as Mikey led me over to the mechanical bull, whispering tips as we walked.
“Make sure you’re comfortable up there. If you start in a bad position, it’s going to be hard to stay on. Focus on your balance and use your legs to hold on. Move with the bull, not against it. It’s not real, but even so, you’re teammates.”
I couldn’t help but choke out a laugh at how ridiculous this all was. “All right, Coach.”
“Hey, can’t blame a guy for wanting to win a bet, right?”
Shaking my head in amusement, I replied, “Guess not. Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.”
His eyes shone with some emotion I couldn’t quite place. He quickly snapped out of it, though, not letting me in on what he was thinking. “I know you won’t.”
We stood in line for the bull, and when it was my turn, I climbed up into the inflatable ring and pulled myself up on the bull.
Mikey patted the operator on the arm and looked at me as he said, “Don’t go easy on her.”
“Wait, what?” I screeched as the machine turned on and slowly started to turn. I gripped the rope like a vise, knuckles turning white as the bull sped up and whipped me around. My hair flew into my face, but I held my position, moving my torso with the bull like Mikey told me.
Hoots and hollers from the boys erupted from the sidelines, and a few cameras flashed in the bar. My ears rang, and I mentally counted down until I could be done with this ride.
I didn’t think it was possible, but the bull spun even faster, changing directions and whipping me back and forth.
Was this what Mikey dealt with every night? At least with the fake bull there was no risk of dying. A buzzer went off, signaling that my eight seconds was up, but out of the corner of my eye, Mikey told the operator to keep going.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled at him.
“Jake and I doubled it! For every additional four seconds, I get fifteen more dollars!”
The rest of the group cackled as I mentally cursed Mikey. I’d get back at him for this.
Around what had to be the twelve-second mark, I was almost thrown off, my legs losing their grip with each turn. Somehow, I managed to hold my ground, even though I almost slid off the back.
“Sixteen seconds!” the operator called out, and I decided I’d had enough.
In a dramatic show, I flung myself off the bull when it spun, landing near the wall of the inflatable.
“Hell yeah! Pay up, Jakey-poo, you owe me sixty bucks!” Mikey celebrated as he helped me out.
“I think I deserve at least half of that,” I muttered.
“Don’t worry, baby, I’ve got you.” Mikey winked, and I tried to ignore the feeling in my stomach that arose at the nickname.
He was just pretending because he won the bet.
The way he was looking at me right now—like he wanted to devour me—wasn’t real.
It was all pretend.
Fake.
But what if it wasn’t?