Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
mikey
Tonight is Championship Night, folks! Let these cowboys and cowgirls hear you!” The announcer’s voice echoed throughout the arena.
I sat behind the bucking chutes, doing whatever I could to get in the zone for my ride.
I closed my eyes and let the rest of the world around me disappear, fading away to background noise, as I visualized my upcoming ride.
From mounting the bull to the nod to the eight-second buzzer going off, I pictured every movement, envisioning perfect execution.
For a few short moments, it was just me and the bull.
No media, no fans, no competition, no pressure.
For the first time in weeks, it felt like I could finally breathe. Ironic, considering tonight was the most important ride of the Houston Rodeo.
But my thoughts were broken apart as the announcer called for the prayer, said before each rodeo to wish safety on the animals and athletes, and the national anthem.
When the anthem concluded, I squatted back down, closing my eyes.
“Getting in the zone?” Maverick’s voice behind me got my attention, and my eyes fluttered open.
I nodded but didn’t stand.
“Got room for another?” He squatted next to me. “You’ve been putting on quite a show for the reporters lately.”
My eyes flicked toward him, and I clocked the amused expression on his face.
“I just want to get them off my back, man.” The admission slipped out easily.
His shoulders shook as his chest rumbled with a low laugh. “And how’s that been working out for you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Man, maybe you should start up a relationship so they’ll focus their attention on you instead. I can see the headlines now. Maverick Oakes: World Champion Bachelor No More.”
He shook his head as he looked down with a wide grin. “Nah, it’d probably be something on the lines of Buckles or Babies: Which One is in Maverick Oakes’s Future.” He laughed, and suddenly the weight of the competition didn’t feel as heavy.
Maverick dealt with the media just as much as I did, but sometimes it was hard to see that when they were always in my face. He was under just as much pressure, but he handled it better. Respectfully and calmly and all that.
“No, but I, uh…” He looked back down at the ground, drawing his lip between his teeth.
“You telling me there’s a girl, Mav?” I elbowed him. “And you’re keeping it a secret?”
“It’s not serious yet. I don’t want to scare her away, you know. Or have it be blown up into something it’s not.”
“Yeah, I get that.” I snorted. He had no idea that was the situation I’d gotten myself into. I knew too well what a relationship getting blown up looked and felt like.
He stood, extending a hand to help me up.
“I’m going to sit here for a little while longer. Thanks, though, man. Good luck tonight.”
He nodded. “Yeah, you, too.”
I shook out my limbs before climbing onto the platform behind the chute, taking some deep breaths to ground myself.
The bull I was matched up against for the night grunted in the chute, huffing hot air from his nostrils like smoke clouds billowing into the air.
He pawed the ground, body banging against the metal gates.
“This is the matchup of the night, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve seen this cowboy successfully ride several bulls over the course of the rodeo, and tonight he’s back again on the bull they call Rampage. Mikey Tucker!”
I tried to tune out the announcer as I settled on the back of the bull, rosining my rope then wrapping it securely around my hand. This particular bull was mean. But like I’d always said, the meaner the bull, the better the score.
“Watch him, folks. This is one you do not want to miss.”
I nodded, and the gate swung open. The bull exploded out of the chute, whipping his hind legs around. I’d watched several others ride this bull, though, and I knew what he liked to do straight out of the gate.
I’d prepared myself for this.
When the bull spun, I adjusted my body to counter his movement, so I stayed centered and wouldn’t be thrown off.
Keeping my hips square to Rampage’s shoulders, I used my free hand to balance.
My thighs clenched around the bull as he bucked and whirled around, but I held my position, working with him.
The audience yelled in the background over the bass of a country rock song, but my mind was locked in on the ride. My only focus was the bull and the eight seconds that were slowly winding down.
This is it, Tucker.
Prove them wrong. All of them.
If you win tonight, there’s no way they can call you distracted anymore.
On the bull’s final spin, he switched directions on me, trying a last-ditch effort to throw me off, but I managed to hold on and the eight second buzzer went off, signaling the end of the ride.
I let the bull buck me off, then I got the hell out of the arena.
Once I had made it to safety, I trained my gaze on the big screen where my score would be displayed.
“Now that’s how you do it, folks! Ninety-three points!” the announcer called out just as the numbers flashed on the screen.
I pumped my fist as the score came in, pride washing over me. Now I just needed to take this momentum through the entire year and to the NFR.
The minute I stepped out of the arena after the buckle ceremony, press and media flocked to me.
“Mikey! How does it feel to be the RodeoHouston bull riding champion?”
“Was your girlfriend in the audience?”
“How serious is your relationship?”
“Is she going to come on the road with you?”
“Do you think you’re going to be competing at the NFR this year?”
Question upon question was fired at me, but all I wanted to do was get to Juniper and the rest of my friends. I pushed through the reporters, ignoring them as they demanded answers.
“Nice ride out there, buddy.” Jake clapped me on the back when I finally got to them.
Colter and Reid were nowhere to be seen, probably doing a few interviews of their own.
They were much better at handling the press than I was, but then again, they didn’t have reporters and influencers hounding them every two seconds.
And the ones who did talk to them weren’t out for blood with personal attacks and ammunition for their gossip websites.
“Thanks, Flynn.” I nodded at him before turning to Juniper and saying, “Just stay with me, all right? They’ll have to go through me first to get to you, and I’m not going to let that happen.”
She nodded, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as I wrapped the dark-gray leather jacket I’d gotten from the NFR last year around her shoulders.
“Let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and started to walk through the sea of cameras, Jake and Hayden flanking our sides.
“Juniper! Tell us more about you! How did you meet Mikey?”
“Mikey, why does it seem like you’re keeping her a secret? Are you embarrassed by her? What is this going to do to your playboy image?”
I bit my tongue, fighting back a response. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of blowing up. I couldn’t. Not when all attention was on me after the championship win.
“I hate that this is happening to you,” Juniper whispered. “What can I do?”
“Just keep your head down. They’ll have to leave us alone eventually.” I shook my head, trying to ignore the flashes and questions coming from all directions, engulfing us like flames.
“What if they don’t?” she asked.
I couldn’t admit it, but that was what I was afraid of. I was worried the media wouldn’t stop until they got answers, or would start speculating themselves, spreading rumors around until there wasn’t a single speck of truth remaining.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get them to leave you alone,” Juniper said, again in a low voice.
Fuck it, then.
I stopped in my tracks, much to the confusion of everyone around me. Loudly, I announced to whoever would listen, “I’m not embarrassed of her. She’s my girlfriend, and I don’t care what it does to my playboy image, so please leave us alone.”
I pulled Juniper to me, cupping her face in my hands and pressing my lips against hers.
Once the shock wore off, she kissed me back, our mouths fitting together like puzzle pieces. Juniper’s fingers tangled in my hair as photographers snapped images, the flashes of their cameras going off like fireworks.
That was what this kiss, even if it was mostly for show, felt like. Fireworks.
Electricity hummed within my body, creeping up my spine and through my limbs to the tips of my fingers.
I slid my tongue past her lips, deepening the kiss, not stopping to come up for air, even when she let out a gentle moan.
Seemingly satisfied, the reporters and media slowly started to dwindle, heading off to find their next victims.
I broke the kiss, although I still held Juniper’s face in my hands. Looking deep into her icy blue eyes, I murmured, “You’re trouble, you know that, Peach?”
“What’s going to happen?” Her eyes widened, like the realization of what we’d gotten ourselves into had just sunk in.
“I don’t know, Juniper, but it looks like we’re going to be stuck with each other for a while longer.”