Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
juniper
Mikey didn’t make it to eight seconds. He was thrown off the bull around seven, meaning he wouldn’t take home any prize money to add to his yearly earnings. It may not have seemed like a big deal, with it being a smaller rodeo, but every little bit counted when it came to a World Championship.
“Let’s get out of here. Sorry it took me so long,” he apologized.
A chorus of No worries, and That’s all right rose from the group before they all started to walk to the trucks and trailers.
“I call shotgun!” Jake yelled to Colter and Reid. “Let’s get food, I’m starving.”
Ellison gave him a funny look. “You made me buy you three hot dogs at the rodeo.” She held them up in her hands, and he snatched one.
“Yeah, and I’ll eat these, too.” He took a big bite out of one, and they disappeared around the corner toward the parking lot.
I stayed behind, squeezing Mikey’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about your ride.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“It’s all right. Not that big of a deal.
” His posture stiffened as he stood a bit straighter, but his jaw ticked with tension.
“Come on, we need to catch up with the group.” Resorting to humor like he always did, he made a self-deprecating joke.
“They can’t just hold on for eight seconds to wait for us. But clearly we have that in common.”
He started to walk toward the group, who was a short distance in front of us, but I stepped in front of him, stopping him.
“What’re you doing? What’s up?” Concern painted his features.
“You don’t have to do that, you know.”
“Do what?”
“Make those jokes. Pretend to be okay when you’re not.”
“It’s all good, Peach.” His eyes didn’t meet mine, and his tone was almost too cheery.
Strained. Like he was forcing himself to stay upbeat and not act upset about the ride.
“I don’t want to bring down the group. Come on.
” This time he took a hold of my hand, lacing his fingers with mine.
His body language was still stiff, though, his grip squeezing a bit tighter than usual, like he didn’t want me to let go.
Our walk to the vehicles was silent, but I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze if only to let him know that I was there for him.
“No, no, saddle bronc is not easier than bareback!” Jake argued.
“I’m just saying, anyone using a saddle has nothing on me.” Mikey put his hands up.
“Try riding a horse at high speeds and needing good aim, though. It takes a lot of coordination,” Colter pointed out, throwing his hat into the ring of whatever this conversation was.
“Mikey’s never even tried to ride a horse before, so I don’t know that he actually has any say here,” Ellison teased.
“I have! I did last year!” Mikey protested.
At the same time I started laughing, about to reveal his secret, Ellison retorted with, “Not sober!”
I finally got a word in. “It’s because he’s—”
Mikey quickly threw his hand over my mouth, the rest of my sentence coming out muffled. My tongue darted out, licking his palm.
He squealed, ripping his hand away. “What was that for?” He wiped the spot I licked on his jeans, shaking his head but unable to contain a smile.
“Come on now, Juniper, don’t leave us hanging.” Reid chuckled.
“Don’t you dare!” Mikey protested as my eyes scanned over the group.
“It’s not that big a deal, he’s just…” I paused.
Mikey beat me to it, blurting out, “I’m scared of horses, okay!”
A wave of laughter erupted around the table.
“You don’t think we knew that already?” Colter wheezed.
Hayden even threw out a joke. “Dude, every time you go near a horse, your face pales like you just saw a ghost.”
“Bullet huffed in his face a couple months ago, and I thought his soul was about to leave his body,” Colter teased.
“They’re terrifying!” Mikey’s voice rose an octave, coming out shrill and not helping his case.
“Mikey, you go face to face with death every time you sit on a bull. You’ve tried to ride a fucking bison!” Jake was almost incomprehensible, his giggles uncontrollable at this point.
While most of the time Mikey’s facial expression would go blank or dark, this time his eyes sparkled with amusement, telling me that he was playing along with it. I think he knew how irrational his fear was considering his career, and he was just having fun with his friends.
“If you think about it, horses aren’t the worst thing to be afraid of. They can weigh thousands of pounds. At least I’m not afraid of mannequins.” He gave Jake a pointed look.
“Excuse me? Explain yourself.” Ellison howled, causing a few tables to look over in our direction, in concern or annoyance, I wasn’t sure.
“That was one time!” Jake elbowed Mikey in the ribs.
Hayden shook his head. “No, it was more than one time. It’s every time we go into a clothing store.”
Jake shrugged. “They just come out of nowhere.”
“They’re inanimate objects!” Ellison had doubled over in her chair, tears staining her cheeks.
“Yeah, well, what are you afraid of then, Ellison?” he retorted.
“Not being in control,” Colter coughed out under his breath.
She just rolled her lips between her teeth, shrugging a shoulder. “Pretty much. I talk to my therapist about it a lot, actually. Might do some of you guys good. Colter goes.”
Colter nodded, while a few rumbles went around the group, some of the guys saying they’d looked into it and others completely disregarding it.
I tuned out their conversation as the topic switched, my mind latching onto the fear of not having control.
For the first time in my life, I felt like I didn’t have a grip on my life.
Catching Brady and Ava together derailed my plans—my well-thought-out plans.
Part of me wanted to claw my way back and take the reins again with a death grip, and the other part wanted to go with the flow and see what happened.
After all, hooking up with and fake dating Mikey Tucker was not something I’d planned for.
Neither was kissing him in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
“Where’d you go there?” Mikey leaned in to whisper at me.
I turned my head toward him, regarding his expression. Concern, maybe a bit of curiosity, shone in his eyes.
“Just thinking.” I patted his leg.
“Just wanted to make sure you’re good.”
“I am. Thanks.” Shooting a soft smile his way, I turned my attention back to the larger group, who were currently getting into another heated debate about the correct way to put toilet paper on the holder.