Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Master Mace strode into the clearing as if he owned it. She guessed, in a way, he did. Jeans snug on long legs, hat tipped back just enough to show his eyes, voice carrying easy and deep. “Gather around, Little rodeo riders,” he called. “Bounce your bulls over here.”
A line of bright inflatable bouncy bulls—red, blue, neon green—sat waiting like they were itching for trouble. Fiera stuck her arms through her bull’s handles and hugged it to her chest as she hurried over to where her Daddy stood.
Sadie bounced her bright blue bull beside Fiera’s red one, then stood, grimacing, and rubbed her bottom. “I don’t know why my Daddy couldn’t wait until after the races to explain why real bulls were off the table.”
Wren grinned. “You okay there, champ?”
Sadie lifted her chin. “I’m fine.” She winced as she shifted. “This is just a… mild but strategic discomfort.”
Daisy giggled. “Strategic?”
“Yes, strategic. Daddy and I had a strategic discussion,” Sadie muttered. “And I am still racing.”
Fiera bit back a smile. She had no room to talk. Her bottom wasn’t the most comfortable either.
Master Mace stepped onto a large wooden bucket he’d turned upside down and carried to the center of the clearing.
“All right, here’s how our bull-riding race is gonna work.
You will line up on your bull at the red line.
When I say go, you bounce all the way to the stick straight across from you on the other side of the clearing. ”
He pointed to the line of poles planted near the tree line. “You circle it and come back. If your bull throws you during the race, meaning you go fallin’ off, you’re disqualified. Each bull has a weight inside that moves. Means you gotta pay attention. It’s like ridin’ a wild bull at the rodeo.”
Several Littles squealed. Fiera’s stomach flipped.
Master Mace kept talking. “We’ll run five heats.
The first two in each heat move on. We’ll narrow it down to ten for the final.
” He scanned the crowd, his gaze landing on her for a heartbeat.
“You fall off,” he added, his voice teasing but firm, “you can get back on and keep goin’.
You’ll not win that heat but you can join another and try again. ”
Wren pumped a fist. “Prepare to eat grass, peasants.”
Sadie gasped. “Rude.”
Daisy laughed. “I’m just hoping I don’t bounce into a tree.”
Fiera swallowed hard before swinging a leg over her bull. The second she tried a practice bounce, the internal weight shifted. The bull jerked. She tipped sharply to the left.
“Whoa, there.”
Strong hands caught her thighs before she went down. Heat shot through her at the contact. He was always there when she needed him.
“Easy, firefly.”
She looked up at him, embarrassed and anxious.
“My bull hates me. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten the red one.
Red is a high-energy color. It holds energy and action.
But you didn’t have a yellow one… the color of fun and happiness, by the way.
I’ll bet you would have picked a blue one because it matches your name.
You know, confidence and loyalty and purpose. ”
OMG! Her mouth would not stop. She looked at him, and he must have seen the panic in her eyes.
He lowered his forehead to hers and said, “Breathe with me, firefly. I’ve got you.”
And just like that, a calm settled over her. Man, he was good at the Daddy thing.
“Your bull doesn’t hate you.” His thumbs pressed reassuringly into her legs. “It’s testin’ you, but I think red suits you. It’s the color of passion, and I love the passion you put into everything you do. Are you ready to try again?”
“I’m gonna fall.”
“No, you’re not.” The certainty in his tone wrapped around her like armor. “You can do it.”
She had no words, so she nodded as her heart did something stupidly soft. She adjusted her grip on the handles and bounced gingerly. The weight rolled again, this time in a different direction. But instead of fighting it, she leaned into the shift. She glanced up at her Daddy, and he nodded.
She bounced again. And again. Slowly, she got used to the rhythm. Bounce. Lean. Correct. There it was. She was in the groove now. She let out a laugh at the wild-but-not-out-of-control sway of her bouncy bull. “Oh,” she breathed.
Master Mace’s hands eased away slowly. “That’s it.”
She shot him a look of alarm. What was he doing? She still needed him. “Don’t go far.”
A slow grin curled his lips.
Gah! Those dimples were going to kill her.
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere, babygirl.”
And again, just like that, she wasn’t afraid anymore.
Once the qualifying heat was lined up, Master Mace crossed the clearing. He stood on the other side, but his voice was easy to hear. “On your marks. Get set. Go!”
Chaos erupted.
Littles bounced across the grass in uneven spurts, bulls squeaking and wobbling. One girl tipped sideways and shrieked before scrambling back on. Someone else spun in a half-circle and had to correct course.
Sadie launched forward as if she was riding for a championship buckle. “Come on, Daisy. We have prizes to win.”
Daisy was having a bit more trouble handling her bouncy bull. She yelled back, “I’m trying. Quick, dare me to stay on this crazy thing!”
Wren cackled as she flew toward the head of the bouncing contenders. “Giddy up!”
Fiera focused. Bounce, lean, adjust. Just as she practiced with her Daddy. The pole she had to circle loomed closer. In five more hops, she rounded it, her heart hammering.
All of a sudden, Laura bounced up beside her. Of course she did. They hit the straightaway back toward the line at the same time. They were racing neck and neck. Fiera wasn’t holding a grudge, but that didn’t mean she was going to let Laura beat her. Yeah, that was not happening.
Fiera pushed harder, thighs burning. She and Laura tied. It wasn’t what Fiera wanted, but it was better than losing.
Master Mace and another Daddy quickly conferred. When they finished, Mace announced, “The heat one winners are Wren Lawrence and Blake Brighton!”
Wren threw her arms up in victory. Fiera joined Sadie and Daisy in cheering on their friends. The Little beside Wren—Blake, her Daddy had said—grinned, breathless but triumphant. He was tall, taller than she was. She hadn’t met him yet, but Sadie had talked about how nice he was.
“All right, everyone who wants to compete in heat two, up to the red line,” Master Mace called out. Fiera, Sadie, and Daisy raced to their spots and mounted their bull bouncies. Two Littles Fiera didn’t know won that heat. Sadie came in third, muttering darkly about injustice.
By the time all five heats were over, ten Littles remained: Wren, Blake, Sadie, Daisy, Fiera, four people she didn’t know, and Laura. Trying hard not to wish anyone but Laura had made it into the finals, Fiera held out her hand to congratulate her wannabe archenemy.
Laura took one look at Fiera’s outstretched hand and walked right past her, close enough that their shoulders brushed. “You should practice not embarrassing yourself,” she murmured, low and sharp. “It’d be a new skill for you.”
Fiera’s spine stiffened. Laura did not just say that. Oh, but she had, the witch. Fiera glanced around to see if anyone was close enough to have overheard, but no one was. Of course they weren’t.
Fiera’s jaw tightened. Everything inside her screamed for revenge. But not now. Laura would just find a way to turn it against her. Fiera took a deep breath and forced her face to smooth. Not now didn’t mean not ever.
She didn’t have time anyway, as Master Mace called out, “Final heat! Let our ten finalists line up on the red line. The same rules apply, and the first five to finish the race will receive medals.”
Excited gasps rippled through the group. Fiera’s pulse pounded in her ears. She wouldn’t let Laura get in her head. Not this time.
They lined up. Mace’s gaze met hers briefly. Smiling, he mouthed, “You’ve got this.” He raised his hand, ready to start the race. “On your marks. Get set. Go!”
They all exploded forward once again. Wren shot ahead immediately. Blake was close behind. Fiera focused on her rhythm. She followed the same bounce, lean, and correct system.
Out of the corner of her eye, Fiera spotted Laura drifting closer. Too close.
Fiera felt the shift before she saw it. Laura deliberately angled toward Fiera’s bull. The next thing Fiera knew, Laura bumped into her, hard and deliberate.
Thanks to the system she’d been following, Fiera compensated instinctively, leaning into the weight shift as her Daddy had taught her. It caught Laura off guard. Instead of Fiera losing control, Laura bounced off her.
Startled, the girl overcorrected. Her bouncy bull bucked sideways, and suddenly Laura went flying. She hit the grass with an indignant shriek.
Fiera didn’t look back. She rounded the stick and raced back toward the finish line. She pushed herself harder than ever. Her thighs screamed in time with her lungs, but she kept pushing.
After what felt like forever, she crossed the finish line in fourth place, behind Wren, Blake, and Sadie. Daisy squeaked in just behind Fiera, laughing her head off. “I got distracted!”
Cheers erupted.
Master Mace reached Fiera in the blink of an eye. He caught her around the waist and lifted her off the bull as if she weighed nothing. “Congratulations,” he said against her hair. She clung to him as he carried her to a bench on the side of the clearing.
He set her down just enough to cup her face and brush a gentle kiss over her lips. “I am so proud of you,” he said. “You didn’t quit.”
The words cracked something open inside her. Had anyone ever been proud of her? Maybe, but if so, they’d never told her. “I almost did,” she whispered.
“But you didn’t. That’s what matters. It matters more than any medal you’ll ever wear around your neck.”
Fiera couldn’t wrap her head around what he’d just said. He wasn’t proud of her for her medal. He was proud of her for not giving up. That meant he didn’t care about her because of what she accomplished. He cared about her for who she was. He liked who she was, quirks and conditions and all.
The question was what she was supposed to do with him? The better question was how she was supposed to leave him at Rawhide Ranch?
Before she could answer him, Laura stomped over with scraped knees and grass in her hair. Pointing at Fiera, she shouted so loud people probably heard her all over the Ranch. “She knocked me down! Again!”
Silence fell. Fiera’s stomach dropped. How could this be happening again? No one would believe that, this time, what Laura said wasn’t true.
Daisy stomped forward and stood toe-to-toe with Laura. “No, she didn’t. You’re a big fibber. You tried to bump her.”
Laura’s face flushed red. “That’s not—”
Daisy didn’t back down. “Oh yes, it is. I was right there. I saw you ram into Fiera. Serves you right that you fell instead of her, Little Miss Fibby MacFibber.”
Fiera couldn’t be sure, but she thought Master Mace snorted with laughter.
When she looked, however, his face was as stern as ever.
“Laura, I don’t like hearing that one of my campers tried to sabotage another camper.
I’ll be reporting this to Master Derek this evening.
I won’t be surprised if he wants to speak with you and your Daddy. ”
“I have a few things to discuss with you as well, little girl.” Laura’s Daddy rested a firm hand on Laura’s shoulder. He wasn’t shouting, but his voice had that Daddy edge to it. “If you’ve stooped to telling lies, we’ll go back to our room and have that discussion right now.”
Laura’s mouth snapped shut. She glared at Fiera, but she didn’t argue with her Daddy.
Master Mace’s arm slid around Fiera’s shoulders. “Everybody get some water,” he called out, breaking the tension. “The stick horse race is up next.”
Excited chatter returned instantly. Fiera sipped from the water bottle he handed her, the medal warm against her chest. She should’ve been floating over her placing in the bouncy bull race. Instead, Laura’s glare burned into her skin.
Something bad was coming, and Laura was going to be driving the bus it rode in on. She could feel it. But there was nothing she could do about it right now. She’d have to keep her eyes open and her guard up. She had to look after herself.
Mace brushed his thumb over her cheek, and she leaned into him. How did he do that? How did he know exactly what she needed, even before she did? In that one gentle touch, he reminded her she wasn’t alone. She wasn’t invisible. She wasn’t too much.
At least she wasn’t while she was at Rawhide Ranch. While she was here, the only thing she was… was his.