Page 50 of The Pieces We've Lost

I watched the jumbo screen as team after team roped.Six-point-two seconds, five-point-five, five-point-nine.Each time was beatable.

“Folks, you’ve seen them dominatethe arena all week. Help me bring out our next cowboys, from Silver Creek, Montana: Colter Carson and Reid Lawson!”

Hearing our names amplified the sense of dread in my chest that I didn’t realize had been lingering.

What is happening to me? Fuck.It was rare that this happened so soon before a competition. If anything, I just had bad dreams the night before or light nerves that I could shake off without any problems. Never anything like this.

I blinked a couple times, trying to clear my vision and make the black dots around the edge of my line of sight disappear. The stadium was suddenly too hot, and my heart pounded in my ears in a painful rhythm.

I’m not sure if I can do this.My brain threatened to shut me down, to throw me into one of those flashbacks that sometimes kept me awake at night.

You’re nothing but a failure. Weak. You’ll never amount to anything.

I frantically scanned the arena, trying to find something I could focus on to ground me.

It was at that moment that the cameras panned over the crowd and I saw her on screen. Her eyes were trained ahead, focused and hard as stone.

She came here for you.

I couldn’t see her from the floor, but that moment the camera paused on her section in the crowd was all I needed to catch my breath and steady my heart rate. My hands were still shaking, but my body no longer felt like it was trying to attack me.

You can do this, Colt. Don’t let them down.

I mounted my horse, nodding at Reid and taking deep breaths. We’d done this so many times.

Muscle memory. You are a well-oiled machine. You are twoof the best.I repeated the phrases in my head as Reid entered the box and I followed on the left side of him.

Deep breath, Sparky.Ellison’s voice played in my brain.

I took a deep breath and looked at Reid who gave me a short nod, telling me he was ready.

This is it.I nodded and the steer was released from the chute.

I raced after the steer, Bullet taking only a couple strides as I swung the rope over my head.

Come on, Carson.

The voices of everyone who believed in me echoed in my head instead of the ones who told me I was a failure. I had my opening and I took it, the loop catching both horns and tightening as I pulled back. My part was done; it was up to Reid now.

Come on, buddy,I willed silently.

Cheers erupted as Reid legally caught the hind legs and we turned to face one another. I jerked my head up to the screen to see what our time was.

“Let’s give ’em four-point-five seconds!” the announcer called.

I beamed at Reid as the noise in the stadium became no more than that: noise. The sounds of cheering were dulled, and all I could see was Reid mouthing something, likely celebrating the time. It wasn’t over, but four-point-five seconds was a damn good time to beat.

CHAPTER THIRTY

ellison

Four-point-five,” I breathed out. It was the best time of all the team roping competitors, out of any round.

There was one team between them and the last team, the team I knew Colter was worried about. We had texted about them yesterday, when he was watching the rodeo.

Ace

Dash Kingsley and Wayne Marlow are our biggest competition tomorrow, but they are also the biggest assholes I’ve ever met.

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