Page 42 of Swift and Saddled

“Done.”

Luke gave us the go-ahead, and we started running toward each other. I whipped my lasso above my head and immediately aimed for Gus’s feet. When I threw the lasso, he jumped over it and threw his right as we passed each other. I tried to jump over it, but I ended up jumping into it. He pulled it tight, and I stumbled, fell, and hit the dirt.

“Two points!” Brooks called.

“No shit,” I called back, still on the ground, looking up at the sky that was changing from blue to pink. I sat up and unwrapped Gus’s rope from around my feet. Gus reached his hand out to me, and I took it.

I walked back over to Brooks, who handed me my beer, reminding me that losers chug.

Brooks and Dusty were next, and even though Dusty got his rope around one of Brooks’s ankles, Brooks was too damn fast and pulled his rope right around both of Dusty’s legs, and he went down immediately.

At least Dusty and I got a point.

When it was time for me to go against Brooks, he said, “If I win, you have to tell us what’s going on with you and Ada.”

“The designer?” Dusty asked.

“Nothing is going on,” I started, but Brooks cut me off.

“I’ve been there before. I said that too, and I was full of shit, so.” Brooks shrugged. “I don’t believe you.”

Really, nothing was going on. Well, something was going on, but I didn’t know what it was, and whether it would ever be what I wanted it to be.

So there wouldn’t be much to tell him, anyway.

“Fine,” I said.

The difference between Brooks and Gus when it came to their competitive edge was that Gus wanted to win at any cost and wanted to win big, while Brooks wanted to win but was willing to give up a few points along the way, which always lured me into a false sense of security. When I got my lasso around his feet, I relaxed, and that was a big mistake. I got so focused on making him fall that I didn’t notice that he hadn’t thrown yet. He didn’t try to lasso my feet. Instead, he threw his lasso right where I was running, and as soon as I stepped in, he pulled it tight, and I went down.

Again.

It was his signature move, and it got me every fucking time.

To be fair, he went down after I did, but he still got more points.

Both of us were on the ground and Brooks was laughing—a big, hearty laugh that had started appearing more often after he and Emmy got together. We got up and made our way over to the chairs on Gus’s front lawn for a break.

“All right, then, Wes,” he said. “Start talking.” We were sitting around Gus’s fire pit, but there was no fire going. We’d probably start one after the sun had set.

“I don’t know, guys.” I ran my hands through my hair. “I like her.”

“Obviously,” Gus said.

“Does she like you back?” Dusty asked.

I said, “I think so,” at the same time Brooks said, “Yes.” Dusty looked at us in turn.

“I caught them making out at the bar,” Brooks said.Jesus Christ.People thought that the older women in Meadowlark were the biggest gossips. Well, them and Teddy’s dad, Hank, but Luke Brooks and his big fucking mouth had all of them beat. It was a miracle that he’d been able to keep his and Emmy’s relationship a secret for so long.

“I didn’t even know her then,” I said. “But now that I do, I like her a lot. She’s whip-smart and funny and she works so fucking hard. And I think she likes me too, but I don’t think she wants to, and that’s what sucks.”

“Woof” is all Dusty said.

I looked at Brooks. “What did you do?”

Brooks looked confused. “What do you mean? About what?”

“With Emmy. I mean, you two used to hate each other. What changed?” Brooks smiled, and his face took on that dopey look that it got whenever someone talked about Emmy.

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