CHAPTER 2 Maverick #2
“Nice to meet, y’all. I’m Quinn.” She points to where her friend is about to get on the padded mat and walk up to Brutus. “That’s my friend—”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Brutus has a brand new rider coming up to see if she can tame the big bull!” The announcer says over the speaker as her selected entrance song plays.
“Gimme More” by Brittany Spears starts playing.
“Please put your hands together for Miss Charlotte! Give her some cheers, y’all!” The crowd that’s been watching people getting bucked goes crazy when the song comes on.
“That’s my baby!” Quinn starts hollering at her and whistling.
We all give her a good luck cheer.
Charlotte had a radiant smile across her face and, in the blink of an eye, morphed into a woman on a mission, her face set in determination.
I can see now her eyes are a bright shade of blue.
She walks up to the far side of Brutus and hoists herself up with ease.
The orange and deep pinks of the early evening sun silhouette her frame.
Wow, that move in itself is pretty impressive, but the sight of her settling into the saddle and grabbing the horn—she looks like a natural up there. She gives a nod to the booth attendant and raises her right hand.
A buzzer goes off and Brutus starts bucking.
Her unbound golden hair is going in every direction, and those little strings of fringe flare out too.
There’s a heartbeat where she looks like she’s about to slide off completely, but to my shock, she’s doing a good job of keeping her seat and staying loose.
Brutus’ bell is ringing with every move that the controller is giving it.
It looks like the bull is at full speed and force too.
She’s counterbalancing with her right hand in the air to counteract the bull’s movements, looking like a natural. I thought she would have been bucked in the first few seconds, that this is just something she can say she did to her friends, but I just heard the buzzer signal time.
The bull goes back to the neutral position to allow her to get down.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Charlotte just mastered Brutus the Bull!” The announcer shouts into the microphone. “She’s the first person all day to hit all eight seconds at full speed.”
When he announces this, I turn to my friends who are staring at this girl with their mouths open then back to Charlotte who is jumping down like she’s getting out of a big truck and bouncily walks on the mat towards her shoes.
Quinn is running towards her shouting, “Hell yes, darlin’!”
I hear Garrett say, “Holy shit, I think I’m in love.”
Sorry, Garrett, love you like a brother, but that magnificent creature is all mine.
“Again, ladies and gentlemen, give another cheer for Charlotte! Maverick Bennett, if you’re here, you’re up next!” I hear my name called, and Caleb comes up behind me and pats me on the ass.
“Giddy up, son.”
I’m walking over to the entrance when I hear, “I hopped off the plane at LAX…” I stop walking, turn around, and see my entire crew doubled over with laughter.
“Sorry, Mav! I had to!” Caleb yells over the music.
I am going to kill him. He’ll die an unwed, insufferable asshole at my hands, and I’ll have to tell Kennedy that he died over a Miley Cyrus song. I love this song, they know it. But that’s supposed to stay back a decade or two, everybody loved that song.
I could play this two ways. One, slump my shoulders and sulk at my entrance song when I’m trying to impress the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Two, I can pretend it doesn’t bother me, own it, and get the crowd pumped up.
I haven’t ever backed down from a challenge in my entire life.
So I start to swing my hips to the beat and lift my hands in the air to get the crowd in it with me.
The announcer says, “Interesting song choice, but, uh, give ol’ Maverick a round of applause. Come on boy, let’s see what you got!”
They cheer even more as I make my way to the ring entrance. Charlotte is still putting on her boots when I get up to the mat. She turns to me, her gaze starts at my cowboy boots, rises up to my face, and lingers on my eyes.
“I would have pegged you for a country music fan, but Miley’s great too.”
I flash a grin and feel my cheeks warm.
“Uh, yeah, my friends.” I motion back to the assholes behind me. “Thought it would be a crowd pleaser.” She peeks behind me, covers her smirk with her hand, and giggles.
“The guys with Quinn?”
“Yeah. They’re my assholes.”
“So many, most guys only have one.”
She’s got jokes.
“Uh, Maverick, stop flirting with the champion and get on the bull, son,” says the announcer. Now I’m getting called out by the damn announcer?
“Go in like a wrecking ball, Maverick,” she says and gives me a cheeky little wink. I watch her walk back to the guys and Quinn, her blonde curls bouncing.
I walk up to Brutus, hop up, and put my hand on the horn. I barely have a second to get myself ready before the bull starts going front and down. I probably look like a wet noodle. I’m holding on for dear life.
In the words of Miley, we can’t stop, we won’t stop.
Only a few more seconds. That’s when I feel like the bull will go right and down, but goes left and up. No, that’s me going left and up. I’m going over and land flat on my back, looking up at the clouds left in the sky.
Fuck.
The crowd is laughing. I feel utterly deflated, like Brutus just took his horns to my ribs and left me on the ground. The white smoke billows out of his nose and the red lights of his eyes shine in the dusk.
I don’t hear what the announcer says when I walk back to our group. The guys are laughing, but not Charlotte or Quinn. Charlotte asks, “Yikes. You okay, champ? That looked like it hurt.”
“Uh, yeah. I mean, no, it didn’t hurt. Maybe just my ego. No one could possibly think to do well after your ride. Have you done that before?”
Confidently, she grins at me and states matter of factly, “No, this was my first time.”
I must look at her like I’m a wide-mouthed bass because Garrett comes up and pushes my chin up so fast my teeth clink together. I swat him away.
She laughs and says, “It was just beginner's luck. I’ve always wanted to try it but none of my friends would ever do it with me.”
She points a look over to Quinn.
“Your new friend, Maverick, did it with you,” Quinn replies.
“Well, Charlotte ‘The Bull Tamer,’ can I buy you a drink in exchange for your tips and tricks?”
“Yes!” exclaims Quinn, “But you have to get her cotton candy too. She’s the champion. Her time’s not free.” Charlotte goes into a full blush across her face.
“I feel like you’re my madame, selling my time for lemonade and cotton candy,” she says to Quinn.
'“Just make sure not to get any funny ideas, mister,” Quinn says, waving her finger at me in a stern voice.
“No, ma’am. I’ll not do anything untoward.”
Quinn eagerly says to the group, “Guys, snacks? Have y’all eaten yet?”
My friends lead us towards the food and, somehow, I feel like I just beat Brutus.