Page 157 of Reckless Hearts

My throat itches to scream for everything this place has taken from me… and everything it’s still holding on to.

It would be easy to run. To walk away and never look back.

Mia’s voice keeps echoing through me. Even without knowing me, she managed to cut bone-deep, like she saw a part of herself buried in me. Like a mother warning her daughter not to take the same path.

I inhale again and loosen my fist, letting the last of the dirt fall to the ground.

No matter how I turn her words over in my mind, they always land the same.

This sport may have taken from me, but right now,I’mthe one choosing to give them up.

I’ve been letting the image of my mother falling apart beside me dictate every decision I’ve made since. Letting the memory of my father and all his broken promises shape who I am.

A quiet laugh slips from my lips.

Maybe Alex is right. Maybe he really was just an asshole.

All my fears, everything I’ve built my life around. The fundamental belief that for bull riders, the sport comes first. You don’t risk your life day after day for something you’re only halfway in on. That kind of wild, obsessive love, the kind you’d sacrifice anything for, is unbreakable. No matter what anyone says, everything else comes second. Their wife. Their kids. Their body. Their life. Nothing matters as much as that buckle.

It’s something I’ve understood my whole life. Something I’ve seen with my own eyes and felt with my own heart.

I don’t know when that certainty started to crack. Somewhere this summer, a hairline fracture formed, and Coltand Maverick chipped away at it slowly, steadily until the break was wide enough to let the light in.

Waiting on the other side of that crack was a question I’d never dared ask:

What if I’m wrong?

What if everything I believed was built on one imperfect man’s mistake?

Coupled with Mia’s words, it’s damn near mind-altering.

“Everything you’re afraid of could still be true. They could love the sport more. They could say no. But it would still be worth asking. Because not asking? That guarantees you lose.”

I open my arms wide and try to breathe in the bravery that feels stitched into the bones of this place.

There’s a voice in the back of my head screaming at me to run. Telling me staying here is a mistake I won’t walk away from.

But my heels dig into the same dirt I used to fear, done letting ghosts control me.

Footsteps crunch behind me, and Maverick’s familiar voice calls out. “What are you doing out here?”

It’s hesitant, laced with concern. I can practically feel the love rolling off him in waves.

“Waiting for you.” My smile wobbles as I roll up every ounce of courage and clutch it tight. Whether this ends in heartbreak or hope, I’m not leaving.

Not until I tell them why I left and what I need to stay.

Not until they look me in the eye and tell me I’m not worth it.

“Woah.” Colt’s boots thud across the arena floor, closing the distance in a few long strides. His hand is on my face before I can say a word, thumbs brushing at the tears I didn’t even know were falling. “What happened?”

Nothing.

Everything.

Maverick’s beside him now, scanning me like he’s checking for wounds, like he’s trying to read me in one long look.

I take a step back, needing space, needing to stand on my own for this.

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