Chapter 1
Sawyer
‘Fractured? Your leg is fractured and you’re telling me this just before you’re about to jump on the back of a fucking bull?’ Boone, a fellow competitor of mine in the bull-riding circuit, points ahead of us towards the chutes, stopping in his tracks. Exasperation paints his face.
Because I’m not about to ride just any bull; I’ve gone for the nastiest of the lot—he’ll be spinning and bucking, giving me hell right out of the chute gate. Just how I like them.
I didn’t get the gold buckle and title of Professional Bull Riders World Champion last year for picking the tame ones.
And everyone knows that’s why the Willow Ridge Roundup Rodeo is bursting with life tonight.
They want to see me—Sawyer Nash, the cowboy with no fear.
So, I’m going to give them a show, no matter how fractured my leg is.
I wave Boone off, walking on as I breathe in the rodeo atmosphere.
The beginnings of the late August sunset pours down on the outdoor arena, glinting off the white metal fences surrounding the pens and stalls.
Lights flicker and flash, melting into the golden sunlight around the arena as people prepare for the next competition, swarming the bar for last-minute drinks.
The thumping music of Brooks you can talk to me.’
His eyes brighten at that, shoulders relaxing too, and finally he takes down a huge gulp of air, as though this is the biggest moment of his life, before announcing, ‘Sir, I am a huge fan.’
I can’t help from chuckling, because I sure as hell have never been called sir before. Ain’t nothing gentlemanly about a lot of the things I’ve done. But Honey doesn’t laugh, instead she abruptly rips her gaze from me, gawping down at the kid for some reason.
‘Is that right?’ I ask him. ‘And what’s my huge fan’s name?’
He swallows, glancing to his mom, before finding the courage to tell me, ‘Noah.’
It takes more strength than I’d like to admit not to let my smile fall.
To fight against the frown that wants to take over.
It’s just a coincidence, it doesn’t mean anything, I have to tell myself. That she wouldn’t name him after something so private between us. Especially after the way she left …
But I can’t let it get to me.
I just need to get through this conversation, this competition, and then I can get the hell out of Willow Ridge for a while. Away from the woman who will forever serve to remind me of how easy I am to leave, how hard I am to love.