Chapter 1
Beckett
Going home is something I never thought I would be doing.
Home.
What a crock of shit that word is.
I have no home.
Home is where I was left to fend for myself, make my own meals—if there was anything in the pantry to eat, get myself dressed and ready for school; I was the only one who looked after me when I was sick.
Most people have memories “before trauma”; I don’t. Instead, I was born and not wanted, and I searched my whole life for a place I could be a part of something. Trauma was the start of my mental development early on; there was no dodging it.
So, as I stand here at the check-in counter at the Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport on a bright and sunny Wednesday morning in the middle of June, my anxious mind is running with thoughts about my next step and choices.
I should be back at the Bellagio Casino with the team, getting ready for the interviews we had planned for this week.
This is an important week for my career—Bull Horn has started sponsoring me as a professional bull rider and this week was going to be my first time on air while they announce the news. They specialize in all things bull riding and only the best of the best gets sponsored by them.
Instead, I woke up this morning, beside a beautiful blonde whose name I do not remember; some buckle bunny I suppose. I received a text from a random number that sent me into auto pilot, a feeling I normally do well to ignore but couldn’t this time.
Unknown Number: I am not sure if you have heard the news or not, but Jane Taylor has passed away. Her funeral arrangements will be tomorrow, Thursday from 1-3 at Honeysuckle Cowboy Church, graveside burial to follow. She thought the world of you. Hope you can come.
I just knew I only had one choice—get back to Georgia.
So, I left a note for my agent to find later—I am sure she will be pissed when she finds it which is why I have my phone on Do Not Disturb. And the blonde? Well, she was still fast asleep, so I slipped out without her knowing. Not like I was going to keep her around the rest of the day anyways.
“Can I help you sir?” The beautiful auburn-haired woman at the front counter grabs my attention and I smile. Her green eyes twinkle with the best customer service face.
“I need a ticket that will get me to Georgia, as fast as possible.” My body was humming with anxiety as the words came out.
She doesn’t seem to notice while runs her fingers over her computer keyboard with a smile, “Only flight I have is boarding now. The second one won’t leave until mid-morning tomorrow.”
I contemplate it for a second. “How’s my chances if I take tomorrow’s flight you would end up in my hotel bed?”
She laughs and holds up her left hand. “I don’t think my husband would be too happy about that.”
“Oh, but you would?” I wink, and she blushes.
“Give me the one that’s boarding now, I suppose. Your husband is a lucky bastard.” I pass her my credit card.
“I will be sure to relay that to him.” I don’t miss that flirtatious tease back.
After a few more moments, she hands my card back along with a ticket. “It’s just a one way. You will have to get another ticket once you get there if you wish to return. Gate C,” She gestures to the right in the direction of my gate.
“Thanks, sugar!” I wink and hurry as fast as I can toward my terminal.
“Oh my gosh, it’s Beckett King!” a group of women scream as I run by, raising their phones to take photos as I pass them. I make sure to give them a soft grin, and they all but fall over.
Just a normal day in the life of Beckett King—Famous Bull Riding Cowboy.
I left my hometown right after high school. At first, I thought I was going into the military, but one drunken night at a bar somewhere in Texas—I still do not know how I ended up there—I met some cool dudes who were looking to recruit some rookie bull riders for their new rodeo management.
I rode bulls all throughout high school in our Junior Georgia Rodeo, along with my ex-best friend, Carson Taylor. If it were not for his mother, some nights I would not have a meal to eat or a pot to piss in.
My parents were drug addicts.
Have you ever grieved the death of someone, but they were still alive?
That’s how it felt being raised by parents who were not a part of my life, nor did they want to be.
They were never at my rodeos, they never came to school events, and I was lucky if the electricity in the trailer we lived in stayed on long enough for me to cook something on the stove.
Mrs. Taylor and her husband, Holden, were the parents I always wanted.
But no matter how bad I wanted them to really be my biological parents, that nagging thought in the back of my mind always reminded me; you will never be theirs. Your parents don’t want you. No one does. Everyone feels sorry for you, that’s all.
So, when my parents died from an overdose the day of my senior high school graduation, I decided to go out West.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor tried talking me out of it, but I have always been as stubborn and hardheaded as a bull, so instead of pushing, they put a couple hundred dollars in my hand and told me to go make something of myself.
They are the reason I am alive today, and it is only right that I show Mrs. Taylor the respect of attending her funeral.
I’ll figure out how to deal with Carson Taylor when I get there.
I put my bag in the overhead compartment and slide down in my seat.
“Oh my gosh, are you Beckett King?” a light and fluffy voice says beside me.
I grin, turning to the girl sitting next to me. She has dark caramel hair, and her tanned legs from the summer sun are silk and beautiful. She is wearing a loose two-piece shorts and shirt set, with a Kindle in her hand.
“I am.” I wink. “And you are?”
She blushes, “Living every single fantasy I have ever had right now.”
I lean in, “Let me guess, you read smutty cowboy romance books?”
She nods, embarrassed.
“How about you let me take you back to my hotel when we land, and I will do some of the things in those books to you.”
She gulps. “Am I dreaming?”
I chuckle. “Nope. And I am horny.”
“I so wish I could say yes.”
“And why can’t you?”
She looks away from me timidly, but her eyes find me again. “Because I have somewhere to be soon as I land. But I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.”
I lean back and close my eyes. “Me too, sugar.”