Page 9 of Spurred On

“Yeah, when I told you to quit being a grandma, this isn’t quite what I meant. Show off,” Erin jokes. Picking up the pillow to my left, I whack her with it until her laughter fills the air and the dread in my chest lessens a little.

Well, at least someone can find some humor in this.

“Yeah, I’m literally never going out with you again. You can get Cami or Jos married off next time.” Hopefully, they marry someone who takes getting an annulment as fast as possible seriously.

“Let’s look at the bright side. You get to be a hot bull rider's wife for the next six months. You should take advantage of it. Did you know he won like, six million dollars recently?”

Shaking my head, I reply, “No, I did not know. But I don’t want his money. Or any of the benefits of being his wife. I just want to start my career, and I don’t know, maybe relax a little.” I feel like I've been spinning my wheels for years between school, work, and trying to keep the bills paid. At some point, life has to get a little bit easier, right?

Erin shrugs, “Well, I think that maybe you should consider using that time to relax. When do you have to move by?”

“I need to be there in two weeks. Our time won’t start until I step into his apartment.” Complete and utter dread fills my system. I don’t want to do this.

“Well then, I think we need to dive headfirst into researching the man you married. No way in hell am I going to let my best friend go live with a man without doing a basic Google search.”

“It sounds like you already got a head start on that,” I say as she hops off the couch and walks over to our little desk nook in the corner. She unplugs the laptop from its charger and saunters back over to me. It’s four in the afternoon, and she’s still wearing her pink striped PJ shorts and button-up top.

“I may have briefly looked into his name. But now is not the time for brief research. Now is the time for an FBI-style deep dive. We need to know his family by name. His exes. His high school. The whole thing.” Sometimes, I forget Erin is borderline crazy. But having a crazy lady in your corner is never a bad thing.

“With how deeply you research your Tinder matches, I bet you have really developed the skill.” She has a knack for finding every little detail out about a person with only a first and last name to go off.

She looks over at me, beaming with pride. “And you thought Tinder was pointless. I mean, maybe it is, because you did meet someone the old-fashioned way.” She winks at me and I roll my eyes at her innuendo. Meeting someone at a bar should not count as the old-fashioned way, maybe the dumb fashioned way or the too drunk for my own good fashioned way.

Erin opens up her computer and after it powers on, she rubs her hands together in glee before she gets to typing. Her fingers fly across the keyboard as she goes full investigator mode on my freshly acquired husband.

“Alright, obviously, he’s a badass rodeo star. Never married. No kids, so you won't be playing stepmom. Let’s keep digging.” She clicks on another news article with an interview about him.

Erin's face falls as she reads on. “Oh, how sad. It looks like his dad died in a rodeo accident. He was a bull rider, too.”

My eyebrows knit together; the pain of losing a parent isn’t something that I would wish on my worst enemy. “Oh my God, that’s awful.” My hand goes to the ache in my chest. “I can’t believe he continued to ride after that.” I lean into the glow of the computer screen, reading the article myself.

Maverick Ryder, rising star in the circuit. If his name sounds familiar, it is because his dad, Bruce Ryder, was the best during his time. He paved the way for the next generation, generating higher payouts and filling arenas. Many wonder how Maverick will compare to his senior. They are big boots to fill.’

Yikes. Talk about pressure.

More articles pop up, some of them are brutal. Stating he only got his boot in the door because of his dad’s tragic accident and the legacy he left behind. Who knew rodeo could be so soap-opera-y?

“Well, the good news is it doesn’t look like you have any past girlfriends to contend with. There’s no public pictures of him with any girls on social media.” I find that almost hard to believe because even if he is absolutely on my shit list right now, he’s not exactly terrible to look at. In fact, quite the opposite.

“I’m not trying to contend with anyone. I’m doing my six months and then coming right back.” The idea sparks a thought in my head, and I snap my fingers. “Speaking of, what do you want to do about the rent situation?”

She waves her dainty hand at me. “Don’t worry about it. If I get in a pickle, I’ll temporarily sublease it out. You’ve got plenty on your plate right now. I’ll have your room ready for you when you come back.”

Six months has never seemed that long, but I have a feeling I am about to change my tune about that.

Chapter 7

Maverick

You could cut the tension in this room with a knife. I knew this wouldn’t be fun, but damn. This is downright miserable. There’s nowhere to run in this tiny little conference room either.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me, Maverick.” Coach Sully spins in his office chair as he yells at me. He’s pushing sixty now, the hair underneath his cowboy hat more salt than pepper these days. His round face is turning that slightly scary shade of red. I’m almost worried he will have a stroke. The giant vein in his forehead pops out and makes direct eye contact with me. I almost forget I should be listening to him as I look at it. You can see it pulse with his heartbeat. “Are you even listening to me?”

My eyes move from the vein to his hazel eyes. “Yes, Coach.”

“You are at the height of your career. This is not the time to be shitting the bed with bad choices. We need you to look like you are as on top of your personal life game as you are your riding game.” Doug’s words come out in an angry snarl as I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

Bull riders are characteristically rowdy. Yes, I do need to be a little better than most, being the back-to-back champ. And yes, the sponsorships are important. They pay a lot. The fancy trailer I have, the nice truck I drive. I know exactly how important the whole thing is.

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