Chapter 10
Verge
Stalking out of the bar, I grab my smokes and light up, trying to calm my temper.
I know why she’s hiding. I’m not stupid.
If I wasn’t a bull rider, she probably wouldn’t fight her attraction so much.
Like I said before, I need her. She makes me feel something, and lately I haven’t felt anything but grief and numbness.
I put on a good tough-guy mask, but I’m hurting deep down.
After my mother passed, I didn’t really even have time to slow down and properly grieve her.
All of her life insurance that was left to me I had to use to pay the bank because I was trying to save the ranch, and yeah, that didn’t work out for me.
I should have just let it go to foreclosure and let that be that.
I didn’t even have enough money for a proper funeral at that point and had to have her cremated.
I spread her ashes by a tree right outside our property.
That way she was close enough to the place she loved most.
The ranch was the only place I had ever lived and knew.
It was like my whole life was just stripped away from me in a matter of weeks.
The only thing I have left is bull riding.
The look on my mom’s face when she would watch me ride, even when she was sick, makes me smile.
She’d never let me settle for a woman who didn’t support me.
I don’t think I should have to either. That said, I don’t think Shi would ask me to change.
She said so herself. My only option now is to change her mind about the sport.
As I’m leaning against the wall, I hear the door open and the whole crew pile out.
Cross and Shiloh in the back together, and as much as I know they are just friends, I can’t help my rage when I see his fucking arm slung around her.
Where the fuck is that girl he was with?
I keep my jealousy in check, though, when I see Tyler following after them and he turns to her, walking away from Shiloh.
I look the other way while putting my cigarette out, pushing myself off the wall walking toward them.
“You ready to go, Verge?” Beau asks.
I nod, walking toward the truck now, not uttering a word.
Cross tells Tyler goodbye, exchanging numbers, then walks to the truck with us.
As we all pile in, Cross slides in beside me and Shiloh takes the window seat. She hasn’t looked at me since our conversation on the dance floor, and the truck is awkwardly silent.
Cash and Beau begin to talk, and Cross occasionally chimes in, all of them ignoring Shiloh and me. Glancing over to her, I see her leaning on the door looking out at the passing cars.
Once we pull up to the motel, we walk up to the counter to get our rooms. I am opting to pay for my own room because anyone who thinks I’m sharing a bed with them can get fucked.
I wouldn’t mind sharing a bed with Shiloh, but that’s not on the table for now, and I refuse to sleep in the bed with another man.
I don’t give a shit how they did it in 8 seconds, not happening.
Cross and Shiloh are sharing a room, and Beau and Cash share another.
I can’t say it’s not driving me crazy that she's sharing a room with Cross, but I try to remember they are basically like brother and sister and keep my opinions to myself. The guy seems to be on my side with how he teases her and the fact that he’s the only reason she got up to dance with me in the first place.
After checking in, I take my room key and stalk past them.
I don’t have the mental capacity for this shit tonight.
All of my feelings are coming to a head, and it’s honestly pissing me off, so I just need to be alone.
Once I make my way to my room, I shut the door, throw my bag on the bed, and sit down, letting out a sigh of frustration, remembering the look in her eyes when she said, I wont change who you are, Verge. To which I replied, Then don't.
I’m about to take a shower and wash this day off but decide better to go ahead and have one last smoke so I don’t go to bed smelling like an ashtray.
I step outside, packing my cigarettes and lighting up.
As I inhale, I hear a door beside me open and glance over to see Shiloh step out of the room with an ice bucket in her hand. I turn my eyes to the parking lot.
She starts to walk away, and I can’t help myself, saying, “How long you gonna fight it, Shi?”
She stops, slowly turning around to look at me, and I turn my head to look at her and she says, “Fight what?”
I throw my cigarette to the parking lot and walk toward her and stop when our boots touch, and I put my hand on the nape of her neck, putting my thumb under her chin, bringing her gaze to mine.
Our lips are an inch apart, and her breath catches at my closeness, but she doesn’t back up before I say, “You know damn well what.”
She doesn’t say anything, but her eyes linger to my lips, and before I know it her lips are on mine and she drops the ice bucket to the floor, running her hand along my jaw.
I bring my other hand to her hip, pulling her closer as she latches on to me, sliding her tongue in my mouth.
I groan, biting her lip, sucking it in my mouth before sliding my tongue in hers.
She grinds against my throbbing dick before she abruptly pulls back, covering her mouth with her fingertips, gasping.
Her eyes grow wide as if she can’t believe what just took place, and she then backs up without a word and her hand meets the door.
She turns the handle and slips back into her room, forgetting all about the ice bucket she dropped on the floor.
I smirk, wiping my lips and picking up the ice bucket, putting it by the door and walking back to my room to take that shower and relieve the fucking raging hard-on she just gave me.
She can fight it all she wants, but it’s not going to last too much longer.
If that kiss told me anything, it’s that her walls are falling and I’m the wrecking ball that’s going to tear them all down.
The next morning I hear a banging at my door.
I look to the nightstand and grab my phone.
It’s 6 am. What the fuck, I think to myself, groaning and sliding out of bed.
Making my way to my door in my boxers, I open it to see Shiloh dressed and ready to go.
She swallows, looking me up and down before she says, “We’re all ready. Get dressed.”
I lean on the door, squinting my eyes at how bright it is, and say, “Shi, it’s six a.m. rodeo doesn’t even start till 10.”
She purses her lips and says, “Well, unlike you we have to warm up our horses and check out the steers. And we are going to eat breakfast first, so hurry up.”
I stand up stretching and her eyes trail down my stomach and back up to my eyes, and she clears her throat, saying, “Put some clothes on.”
Smirking, I say, “You don’t look like you want me to.” I wink at her, turning around, leaving the door open as an invitation for her to come in as I grab my jeans and belt from my bag.
“We're leaving in ten minutes with or without you,” she says, stepping in the doorway just the tiniest bit.
My lips curve up as I find my t-shirt in my bag, throwing it over my head before I reach around for my smokes and ball cap, saying, “I don’t think you’d leave without me, Shi.”
“What makes you so sure?” She challenges.
“Your lips last night on mine,” I tease as I walk by her, and her cheeks turn red and she bites her lip before she follows me out the door and I grab my lighter.
“First thing in the morning, really?” She asks, gesturing to my cigarette.
I take a pull and blow it to the side before I say, “They don’t call it an addition for nothing.”
She nods, kicking a rock in front of her. Then she looks up to the truck before she says, “You didn’t tell anyone, did you.”
Laughing and blowing my smoke, I say, “Shi, I took a shower and passed out after. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to since, so your secret of being obsessed with me is safe with me.”
“I- I’m not obsessed with you,” she scoffs.
I take one last puff, blowing it to the side, and I see the other guys walking out of their rooms, seemingly just as sleepy as I am.
As I walk past her, I put my hand on her hip as I walk by, and she shudders at my touch before I lean down, whispering in her ear, “You keep telling yourself that, babe.”
Taking my hand off her, I walk to the truck with a shit-eating grin on my face. The wrecking ball is in full swing, ready or not, Shi. Here. I. Come.