Page 42 of Ride the Sky

Eight seconds of my life.

And then—

The world blurs.

My tongue feels numb. My body has no roots. Sounds and color kaleidoscope.

Fuck.

The bull kicks his hind legs.

My grip on the rope slackens as all the lives I’ve lived flash before my eyes.

Fallon has a solid launch out of the shoot.

“You got this, you got this,” I whisper. So damn proud of her, so damn terrified.

Holding my breath, I track her on the monstrous bull. The bright blast of sunlight illuminates her helmet like a halo as Goliath Jim spins and spins in a blind rage.

That’s when I blink.

Something’s wrong with Fallon. Her spurs don’t grip the body of the bull, and her hand—

A cold sweat sweeps my skin. I leap to my feet, rip off my hat. My heart beats hard in my chest; my breath rattles. “Something’s wrong,” I say to no one.

“What?” Dakota grabs my arm.

As if in answer, Fallon loses her grip on the rope.

Time slows as Fallon goes limp at the exact same time the bull kicks its back legs. We all watch in horror as she flies into the air. Her body contorts, almost impossibly, before landing in the soft dirt of the arena floor with a thud.

The crowd is deathly still. Not a ripple of sound.

“Get up, get up.” Dakota’s wide brown eyes stay glued to the ring. “She’ll get up, right?” she asks Davis, and his silence sinks my stomach.

Until the silence is broken.

Fallon screams. Her voice an anguished, broken cry that fills the arena.

Time stops. Warps. Turns inside out.

I can’t breathe, can’t think. “FALLON!”

My roar’s devoured by the gasp of the crowd. They see what I see.

The bull. It turns around, bows its head, stomps and snorts.

Terror twists in my throat like a blade.

He’s going to charge her.

Fallon sees it, too. With effort, she rolls herself on her belly and begins frantically crawling toward the chute. But she’s too slow. She’s hurt.

She’ll never make it.

Fallon turns her head just enough to find me in the stands. We lock eyes. Her mouth moves. Over and over again, she says my name. Begging me to move, to come and get her, to save her.

My heart feels like it’s being torn from my chest. Her panic, her pain. I can feel them.

---