Chapter 12 Hestia #2
‘Well, honey, I sure appreciate it,’ Bailey smiled. ‘But I know you’re here for Jesse – he’s up real soon, just over there.’
She pointed to the bucking chute, where a gaggle of cowboys were gathered in a mass of denim and hats, a number of cute, mainly blonde, women among them.
‘How do you stand it?’ I asked them, gritting my teeth against the wave of anxiety taking over my gut. ‘The pressure, I mean?’
Darcy explained her own feelings, grounded in her trust of her horse, as Bailey considered me.
‘You’re nervous as all hell for him, aren’t ya?’
I met her gaze, seeing the unflinching realness in her green eyes, and nodded. ‘I’m ready to fucking throw up,’ I admitted.
Darcy and Bailey shared a look.
‘I’m not gonna lie to you, bull riding is . . . Well, it takes skill and experience to pull it off and walk away without too much bruising. But, honey, Jesse is pretty good. He’s grown up an awful lot since last year, too. All the shit with his mom has put things in perspective.’
I nodded, staring out at the chute.
‘It’s eight seconds, that’s all,’ Bailey added. ‘The whole thing’ll be over in thirty, from start to finish. He’ll be fine. Don’t fret.’
I wished them luck for their event and headed over to the chute, careful to avoid the main throng of cowboys – I was genuinely worried about distracting Jesse.
Taking a few steps up into the seating next to the chute, I spotted two things in quick succession.
The first was the bull, incomparably vast, with short, pointed horns currently attempting to fuck up the small steel pen surrounding it.
Shouts and whoops from the cowboys surrounding it did nothing to calm my nerves, especially as at that moment, I saw Jesse.
He seemed relaxed, perched on top of a nearby gate, talking to two other guys.
In full rodeo gear, from the Diamond Back jacket to the black leather chaps, he looked so at ease, so at home that some small trickle of relief dampened my fear.
I stood for a moment, leaning on the back of the seat to get a better look, and the movement caught his eye.
He stopped talking mid-sentence, eyes flaring as he took me in.
I gave him a small smile just as the other two men turned in my direction, one of them wolf-whistling before I had a chance to sit down.
Resisting the urge to give him shit-eye, I turned away instead, moving down to a seat nearer the arena, out of their sight.
As the event began, my hands clasped together, I had to turn to deep breathing to get me through the first twenty minutes.
The bulls were ferocious, comprised of pure, rippling muscle.
As they tore out of the gates and threw themselves around, the cowboys on top resembled nothing more than rag dolls.
The first three riders did well, all staying on until the bell rang before jumping off to safety, the wranglers in the arena keeping the bulls at bay.
With no one injured so far, my nerves dissipated slightly – until the bell rang for the fourth rider.
Leaping off the bull and away from its head, he somehow caught the edge of its hoof mid-buck, clipping his head as he went down.
He landed face first in the dirt and it took two wranglers to drag him out, dazed but awake.
Even at this distance, I could see his helmet was badly cracked.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck,’ I whispered, thankful that no one was sitting near enough to hear.
I gripped the edge of the seat either side of my legs, and as Jesse’s name was announced, my fingers turned white, nails digging into the hard plastic.
‘. . . He’s back from an extended break. Give it up for a Jackson favourite, Jesse Bennington!’
The scene before me wound right down to slow motion, only the curses and yelling from the chute filtering through as horns and hooves connected with metal. I couldn’t bring myself to look; I just stared straight ahead at the grooves in the dirt where the last cowboy had been dragged through.
Then, with a sound like a gunshot, the gate opened and the bull emerged, writhing in the air as Jesse sat astride.
He was gripping a rope with his left hand, his right raised in the air.
Hand to my throat, I forced myself to watch the green digits of the huge timer on the wall instead, begging them to reach eight seconds – begging anything, anyone listening to my thoughts to keep him safe.
The noise of the crowd built, cheers and roars growing in intensity as my heart thundered, the seven turning to eight. I gasped as the bell sounded and a moment later, Jesse let go and leapt – landing on his feet, well away from the bull.
The whole arena exploded. Everyone around me was on their feet as he punched the air, jumping onto the nearest gate to avoid the still whirling bull, now being herded back into its pen.
Seconds later, as cowboy after cowboy patted him on the back, the announcer gave the score.
The crowd roared again and Jesse whooped, shaking his head as he found himself in first place.
There were several other riders still to go, but I knew I couldn’t handle it. Shaking, I got up, walking as quickly as I could to the end of the row and back down the steps towards the back of the chute.
A whole throng of women had appeared, whistling and whooping as Jesse emerged not twenty feet away.
He was grinning, surrounded by friends and fellow riders.
A few of the women approached from both sides.
I hesitated as he looked around, his head turning in my direction, but as a wave of nausea hit, I knew I would just kill his buzz.
Instead, I walked away, suddenly grateful for the corset, the way it physically held me together as I strode past the practice corral.
I knew the three of them had come in Bailey’s truck, having spotted it near the entrance on the way in.
The car park would be quiet, everyone now inside.
As I approached the exit, the adrenaline slowing, tears quickly rose. With no one else around and one arm wrapped around myself, I let out a sudden sob. Knowing more were coming, I all but ran for the truck as it came into view, stumbling against it as the first tears fell.
Trying to breathe through it, I let myself sink down, leaning against the huge wheel. Jesse was fine. He was fine. No injuries. He might even have won it.
‘Hestia?’
My head jerked up as with horror, I realized Jesse was running towards me, confusion and pain etched so clearly in his features that for a moment I thought he had been hurt.
‘Are you okay?’ I croaked, forcing myself up to standing again, unable to see anything except him, the rodeo flags and stands and noise behind us nothing more than a blur.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ he replied, breathing heavily as he reached me, instantly drawing me into him, half crushing me against his chest. ‘Why are you upset? Where did you go? I saw you leave . . .’
The relief – the shattering realization that he was okay, that he’d run to find me despite this being his big moment, was suddenly more than I could ignore.
‘I was so fucking worried,’ I whispered. ‘I still feel sick. Watching you get thrown around in there . . .’
His expression changed in an instant, one hand moving to my cheek as he gently moved us back against the truck, wedging me firmly between the solid metal and his body.
‘I’m fine, sweetheart. Stop now, you’re killing me,’ he murmured as another tear slid down my cheek. Then, almost to himself, he whispered, ‘I didn’t realize you cared so much?’
I couldn’t answer, could only gaze back into his eyes, reading me as closely as I was him. He knew the answer, I realized. Just as I’d started to.
‘I can’t help it,’ I replied as he leant down, tilting his hat up and out of the way. ‘It’s just how I feel about you.’
All of the moments to date between us, from that first hook-up in the kitchen to what had almost happened in his truck after visiting his mum, flashed before my eyes. The restraint we’d both maintained since then, a string pulled taut with the constant tension, finally snapped.
My hand wound round the back of his head, and I tilted my face up as he met me in the middle.
His lips were soft at first, a sensation of relief waking up every nerve in my body.
The kiss intensified, building, until we were almost crushing each other with the desperation to feel more, to take in more of one another.
I knew I’d never felt this before, this deep sense of something settling into place. Any sense of fear evaporated, replaced by a need for more. For all of it – all of him.
‘I can’t describe how I feel about you,’ he breathed as we parted for a moment, removing his hat with his free hand, the other woven into my hair. ‘But I do know that if I can’t have you right now, I’m gonna fucking explode.’
He reached into his pocket, and I heard the truck locks click open.
I smiled between breaths.
Before I could reply he moved us over, opening the door to the back of the cab. Picking me up by the waist, he lifted me onto the edge of the seat, waited for me to shift back, then climbed in, closing the door behind him.
Behind the darkness of the window tint, as he pressed the key again to lock the doors, I reached behind me to undo my corset.
He shook his head, moving towards me, settling between my legs.
‘Leave it on,’ he said, leaning down to kiss the tops of my breasts. ‘You look so fucking beautiful like this.’
He made his way slowly up my neck, his tongue following the curves of my flames. Following instinct alone, I reached out for his jeans, flicking the button open and pulling down the zipper.
‘I swear to you,’ he whispered as he reached my mouth, kissing me gently, reverently. ‘Next time will be slower, somewhere with space that I can take my time on you, just you. But right now, I need to fuck you. Can I do that?’
I grabbed his jaw with my hand, deepening our kiss in response, not wanting words to get in the way.
Not when I knew he understood me physically, maybe better than I understood myself.
He took over on his jeans, pulling himself free before working on my shorts, his expert hands working them down, followed by my underwear, in seconds.
Despite the space restrictions, I lay back and watched as he braced himself over me, lightly brushing his fingers between my legs, holding my gaze and smiling as I squirmed.
In seconds his cock followed. He used a hand to guide himself into me, not trying to be gentle this time but hearing my moans for what they were – a plea for more, to thrust harder, go faster.
‘Hestia,’ he groaned as I ground into him over and over, only slowing slightly when I realized this would be over in seconds if we kept the same pace. He watched me, his eyes bright, as unlike before I sought out his mouth, putting every ounce of feeling into a kiss instead.
He slowed to a stop, still inside me, and kissed me right back. It began to change, our lips gradually slowing, a softness developing that I couldn’t prevent from taking over. I wanted to cry all over again, traitorous tears threatening at the corners of my eyes.
As I gazed at him, watching as he gently brushed a thumb under my eye, I realized his expression mirrored my own. Those beautiful storm-cloud eyes were glimmering with the same emotion.
I reached up, brushing under his eye as he’d done for me, melting into his mouth once again as he responded.
I was holding his face as seconds later we began to move again, his cock somehow pushing deeper than before, making me gasp aloud.
Covering my mouth as if wanting to absorb every sound, he groaned, the sound reverberating as my body responded, tightening around him as I started to come.
‘I never want this to end,’ he breathed against my ear as I cried out, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as the feeling cascaded over me. His own breathing became ragged, pushing harder and harder until he followed.
We lay there, just breathing. He was braced on his arms to stop himself crushing me with his body weight.
‘Jesse,’ I whispered, waiting for him to look up, then bringing his mouth back to mine. We kissed again, even slower than before, a hundred words compressed into a handful. ‘Does this make me your buckle bunny?’
He laughed, shaking his head as he stroked my hair.
‘Only if I’ve won, honey.’
We stared at each other for a moment, knowing the spell was breaking, the threads of life outside winding back around us.
‘Want to go and see if you have?’ I asked as he kissed my forehead before drawing back. Never more thankful for condoms, I pulled my underwear and shorts back up as he leant into the front of the cab and grabbed tissues from the glovebox.
‘Sure you want to go out there again?’ he asked, checking my expression as he cleaned and zipped up.
‘If I can stay with you,’ I admitted, using the rear-view mirror to check the state of my make-up. Thankfully, waterproof everything was my go-to, covered with violent amounts of setting spray. Almost nothing had moved.
He just smiled, reaching over one more time, no hesitation on either side as our lips met again. Fire flared in my core. I knew that in a different setting, we’d be straight back to it.
‘Nuh-uh,’ he half moaned as I gently bit his lip. ‘Next time I want you for hours.’
When we both jumped out of the truck, exchanging sheepish grins as we checked for anyone around us, it felt only right that he took my hand.
I locked my fingers through his, staying as close to his side as possible as we walked back into the rodeo together.